On Friday I did Raw – Bench / Deadlift, and on Sunday I did Classic Raw – Full Power (Squat / Bench / Deadlift). I entered in both APF and AAPF in the 75kg weight class, females age 20-23. Because there was no competition in my age class, I took home 6 medals for all the events entered. I broke my previous national deadlift record by a couple kilograms and set state records in everything else.
Lowlights/Highlights:
- Day 1 Bench Press: Only made my first attempt. Went too heavy on my 2nd attempt, didn’t get 3rd attempt either.
- Day 1 Deadlift: Made my first and second attempts. Tried for a 20lb PR on my third attempt, which was too heavy and I didn’t make it.
- Day 2 Squat: Only made my first attempt. On second attempt, I started before the start cue. On third attempt, I didn’t make it for depth.
- Day 2 Bench Press: Only made my first attempt. Went lighter on my second attempt than the previous day, but still didn’t make second or third attempts.
- Day 2 Deadlift: Was feeling pretty fatigued when going into the deadlift, but I finished strong, managing to make all 3 lifts and set a new personal and national record of 92.5kg!
“I can never seem to get it right on the platform.” Whenever I am on the platform, I seriously struggle to get in the zone like I can in the gym. I have a habit of failing to listen to the judge’s cues, and mess up badly on my technique. After the second day of benching was over, I tried so hard to not get emotional, but I couldn’t. I went and shed a few tears in privacy, and then I was okay.
Though I did not bench and squat as well as I had originally planned, the meet ended up meaning so much more to me than the result of my lifts. I met some seriously amazing people who do not go to my gym, and I also connected with some people that do. I made new friendships and connections with other like-minded powerlifters, and this makes me happier than anything else.
My next meet is on April 16th and it will be my first USAPL meet. I was right between 2 weight classes, so I decided to register in the higher one so I don’t have to cut any weight. My goal for this meet is to gain the experience of a USAPL meet, stay in the meet, and get a total!
BONUS! My boyfriend took photos of my awesome lifting faces:
