By Elliot Coulombe Woznica
Published 10 march 2022
Introduction
As with any hobby, powerlifting exists, in a sense, as a spectrum. What I mean by this is you can’t be defined as simply good or bad at powerlifting; everyone exists somewhere in between the strongest and weakest powerlifter in the world. With that being said, it’s easy to lose sight of this when you start getting caught up in what others are doing. I, for one, am constantly comparing myself to the best of the best. I like to think that this helps motivate me and aids in my performance, but I’d be lying if I said there weren’t a lot of negative repercussions of this when I lift. Today, I want to discuss my most recent training session, as well as some thoughts I had as it came to an end. Thank you for reading, enjoy!
On Wednesdays, We Deadlift…
As with every Wednesday of my life, yesterday, March 10th, me and the boys got after it and deadlifted! Deadlifting has become much more enjoyable for me recently because of this, actually. It’s really fun to lift in a big crowd and to feel the energy of the group, and I think all my buddies feel the same. Deadlifting has also been feeling really, really good, though, which is another reason why I’ve been into it recently. Anyway, I had an RPE 9.5 (very heavy) paused single programmed in yesterday, and because of all of these factors, I had extremely high hopes. Here’s how it went:
There are a few things to note here…
- This was 415lbs, an all time paused personal record
- The rep actually moved pretty well
- I lost balance and couldn’t manage to push my hips through, resulting in a shaky lockout
- All day I had been anticipating pulling something north of 430lbs…this was supposed to be my last warmup
In Conclusion
Although you can’t really tell, I was extremely disappointed with this rep. It’s a really awful feeling to have a number in mind all day and not be able to hit it. It’s also disappointing that I know I had more yesterday, I just couldn’t execute properly. All in all, I left the gym feeling awful and weak.
I think the majority of my disappointment with this rep stems from social media and comparing myself to others, though, and from this point on, I’d like to address everyone, not just powerlifters, with this advice. Pulling 430lbs would certainly have been amazing for me, but there’s always another motive in today’s day and age: Social Media. I’m so often comparing myself to these amazing people on social media that I, myself, want to appear like them. In reality, I should be ecstatic about a 415lb paused deadlift. It moved really well and it was still an all time personal record. What I wanted, though, was for everyone to know that I had 430lbs in me…so where do we go from here?
One thing that I genuinely believe in is the power of introspection and self-competition. Throughout my journey, I should really only be comparing myself to myself. This will help me focus on how much progress I’ve made, not how much progress I need to make to be where I want to be. I think a lot of people need to hear this. When you stop comparing yourself to others, entirely new possibilities open up for you. It’s difficult, but it’s also helpful.
Thats all, I hope you could pull something from this! Bye
