My First Powerlifting Event - I WON! And Placed 7 Records!

For the past 1 1/2 years I've been training with weights with Andrew Berry, my trainer. In January, a powerlifter suggested we focus on powerlifting and he taught me the form and gave us training programs to follow.

On May 2nd, I competed in my first competition--and I won the whole thing! I won overall best female lifter (meaning I lifted the most amount of weight based on my body weight), and I won the awards for the 148lbs Women Junior division and the 148lbs Women Open Division (this is women between 24 to 32).

I placed 7 records within this federation, the World Powerlifting Association. Four records in the Junior, and 3 in the Open.

Powerilfting consists of three lifts: the Deadlift. the Bench Press. the Squat.

On May 2nd, I did:
Deadlift of 300 lbs.
Squat of 265 lbs.
Bench Press of 170 lbs.
(I got a 185 lbs bench up, but I racked it too soon and it was disqualified.)

To see the videos of the event, visit here!!!

These numbers were very exciting because I deadlifted 30 more pounds than I ever had during training, and twice my bodyweight, and I squated 40 more pounds than I ever had before in training.

The training itself is the hardest part. You can't just show up and hope to lift strong. I won because I train with Andrew 4 days a week and I do additional cardio training on the stairmaster and dragging a weighted sled. I never miss a day of training with Andrew. It's really important to be consistent and focused!

Another huge thing I had to do for the meet was make the 148 lbs weight class. I usually weigh around 156 since I started powerlifting in January because I had gained so much muscle. To make the 148 lbs I had to temporarily drop ten pounds of water weight by applying classic wrestler methods for their weigh-ins. I guzzled water monday through wednesday, and drank no water on Thursday. By Friday morning I had dropped 9 pounds of water. I had to lose another quarter pound to make the weight class, so I ran on the stairmaster for 18 minutes and I was good to go.

For the rest of Friday, I ate and drank to replensih my system and retain my strength. As long as I gained the weight back, that temporary deprivation wouldn't affect my strength.

During Thursday, I managed to keep my blood sugar between 100 to 180 all day. Mostly around 130! I checked every hour or so and had cut back my lantus insulin by 6 units the night before because I knew I would need a lot less to keep me from going low.

Obviously, this is not something you should do unless you TRULY understand your diabetes and know how to do this safely. I educated myself and researched a lot before doing this.

And I gained all the weight back for my competition on Saturday! During the competition, my adrenaline was so high because of the events that I was lingering around 200 all day. At one point it dropped, but for competing, I think I was safer and felt better around 200. I wouldn't want to risk dropping low and draining my glycogen stores in between lifts.