~Michele~’s BodyBlog

I had such a great experience at my first powerlifting meet, it was awesome! I meant to update this blog sooner but I have had so much to do since then! I manage Big Iron Gym’s YouTube channel and the content of our website, so making sure that all of the videos, photos, and results were posted was my first priority.

When I first started training for this meet I was just going to do the Push/Pull. Well, one of the girls I train with asked me to squat with her one night and then I started squatting every week after that! I only have about 8 weeks of squat training getting ready for this meet and it became my strongest lift!

I wasn’t too nervous at the meet, except for right before my first squat. Rick opened me with a light weight so I would get comfortable on the platform. I don’t even know what my first two attempts were because they were in kilos and I didn’t want to know! I thought if I just knew I had done it in training then I would be able to just get under the bar and do it! I got all three attempts on my squat, with my third attempt being 402 lbs.

My bench is my weakest lift, I never have felt as comfortable benching as I do squatting and deadlifting. I opened with 187.5 lbs and it was easy. Rick gave me 209 on my second and I beat the press command, so no lift. On my third I tried 209 again and almost dumped it on my face! Thank you, spotters! So I ended up with 187 on my bench and I was happy with that.

I really like deadifting, so I was having a ton of fun on the platform when it came time to pull. I got my first attempt at 319 and it was way to easy! I was so excited though because it meant I didn’t bomb! My first goal was to not bomb! My next attempt was 342 and that one came up really fast, it felt just as light as the first attempt. On my third I went for 363 and I hitched it at the top, so no lift. I wasn’t upset though because the most I have EVER attempted in the gym is 350.

So all in all, I totalled 931 lbs at my first meet. I set AAPF Junior national records for my squat, bench, deadlift, and total. I didn’t even realize that until the meet was over! I made my goal of qualifying for APF Senior Nationals, so now I am back in the gym training for that. It is now just less than 10 weeks away. Training for powerlifting is way more fun than training for figure! Not gonna lie!