A discussion with a fellow lifter who was discouraged last week made me really think about this...
The rise in popularity of powerlifting has made for a large crop of lifters who are very strong and highly competitive, but are also very early in their careers (first 1-4 years). The phenomenon of social media and online powerlifting adds another layer to the early success of lifters and can make it easy for a lifter to “feel” advanced (and their strength levels mirror that of a lot of advanced lifters to their credit), but they’re really still in the beginner-intermediate stage in terms of Training Age. This is not a knock against them as a lifter, just the facts of training.
The issue with this is, EVERY lifter hits a point as an intermediate where lifting SUCKS. The PRs slow down, maybe some injuries happen, some bad meets occur (likely on big competition platforms for these elite lifters); and these lifters panic. They feel like “they’re better than this”, “This is embarrassing”, “How could I screw up on such a big stage.” Etc etc.
Here’s the problem.. Despite elite levels of performance, if you’re in your 20s and have been training competitively less than 8-10 years (no you can’t count when you were 12 lifting cement weights in your garage); you’re still in the intermediate stages of your training age and these trials are literally INEVITABLE.
Think about this for a second.. The average age of most powerlifters when they reach their prime (and an Advanced level) is 30s or even 40s.. So if you’re a 23 year old having a rough year of competing, you’re literally 10 years away from being your best. Even if you bombed out of 3 meets in a row, it’s NOTHING in the grand scheme of competing if you’re in this for the long run.
Learn to embrace the slow progress; and the experience that the trials, the criticism, the embarrassing moments, the bad meets, the injuries can bring. Because if you scoff at a 5-lb PR now… You’re not gonna have the right perspective when the tough patches of intermediate lifting come.
This is as much a reminder to myself as anyone else.
Competitively - My last competition was the UPA Summer Showdown August 6th - And my gameplan is compete in another raw meet this winter; and continue to build towards qualifying for a larger raw meet for next year. I've been competing for about 6 years and spent the last 3 competing in multi-ply gear before now doing some raw competitions again.
I'm currently the Fitness Director at Ohio University as well as Event Coordinator for EliteFTS. I'm also involved in coaching and public speaking on topics relating to powerlifting, coaching, education, student development, and mental health.
For Coaching & Programming Questions, feel free to contact me at joeschillero@gmail.com
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