Coming off of my first official powerlifting meet in February, I felt incredibly energized and motivated to push myself harder and reach for some big numbers. Somewhat on a whim, my husband and I floated the idea of competing to my dad and his mom. Both of them had been lifting for around 9 months at the time. They surprised us with an enthusiastic “yes,” and so all four of us signed up to compete at the Liz Freel Classic in Long Beach, CA.
It was a very quick turnaround for me from my previous meet — just about 8 weeks of training. I definitely would not recommend this timeframe in general! However, for me it felt right, and I wanted to capitalize on my high level of motivation to eke out a few more kilograms on the platform.
I had a pretty good meet overall. I was really pleased to hit 135kg for my final squat attempt. That put me just a couple pounds under 300lbs, which is a number that had felt utterly and completely ludicrous to me as recently as 6 months prior. My bench remained at 55kg, leaving me still hungry for my ultimate goal of 60kg. At the February meet, my third deadlift at 150kg had been very fast, so I had been feeling pretty good about 155kg as a new goal. After a hard yet still fast second attempt of 147.5kg, I ended up hitching my attempt at 155kg, resulting in a no-lift. (“Hitching” refers to the bar traveling up and down during the pull, and is not allowed in powerlifting.) I did get the bar up to lockout; the failure was due to deficiencies in technique, not strength.
Although I was disappointed in going 7/9, my squat PR was huge (5kg in just 8 weeks!). I also increased my total by 2.5kg. Most importantly, the meet was super fun, and it was an amazing experience to compete alongside my husband, my dad, and my mother-in-law, with other family members spectating and cheering us on.