Powerlifting

I started Powerlifting at 40 and felt completely out of my depth in the first class. Most people were twenty-something and athletic. I was neither. But the coach adapted sessions to my level and nobody made me feel unwelcome. Recovery takes longer at my age, and gear costs adding up hit harder than…

I've done gym, running clubs, and team sports. The Powerlifting community is different. There's something about shared struggle around sumo deadlift and weight classes that creates a genuine bond. People at my gym remember everyone's name. Higher belts and better athletes make time for beginners. t…

Around the 16-month mark in Powerlifting I hit a wall. My progress with bracing and Valsalva wasn't improving and I felt like I was spinning wheels. It's apparently common but that didn't make it less frustrating. What helped: going back to fundamentals with my coach, spending more time drilling th…

I started Powerlifting six months ago with zero background in the sport. The first few weeks were humbling — I couldn't do leg drive in bench properly and had no idea what the big three even meant. My coach kept pulling me back to fundamentals, which was frustrating at the time but clearly the right…

Powerlifting has been one of the best decisions I've made for my fitness and mental health. The low-bar squat and the deeper wilks score keep training mentally engaging in a way the gym never did. But I want to be honest: injury risk at heavy loading. Nobody told me about that before I started and …

I've been competing in Powerlifting for three years now, training five days a week. I want to give an honest picture of what the competitive path looks like. The technical demands compound. bracing and Valsalva at beginner level and at competition level are almost different skills. Understanding to…

After 10 months of training Powerlifting I entered my first competition. I lost. It was the best thing that's happened to my development in the sport. Competition exposes gaps in your game that rolling or drilling never will. My low-bar squat fell apart under pressure. My understanding of peaking f…

I've been training Powerlifting for 6 months and the moment sumo deadlift finally clicked was a turning point. Before that I was going through the motions. After, the whole game opened up. My coach breaks things down well and has a good understanding of peaking for a meet, which made the difference…

I want to separate the sport from my specific experience. Powerlifting as a discipline is genuinely compelling — the leg drive in bench, the depth of weight classes, how the big three build total-body strength. All of that is real and valuable. My gym, however, has been mediocre. Coaching quality v…

I'd been training Powerlifting for two years when I picked up an injury that kept me out for four months. Coming back was harder mentally than physically. My hip hinge had regressed and RPE-based programming I'd taken for granted needed rebuilding. how the big three build total-body strength was wh…