Powerlifting is a sport that involves the participant attempting to lift as much weight as possible.  I power lifted at Shawnee high school for two years. I started off at the beginning of my ninth grade year.  I started going to practice in Shawnee’s Student Activity Center(sac).  I decided to powerlift because I wanted to get stronger.  I was scared to start although  I knew it would create a good muscle foundation for my future.  I was timid about joining due to the fact that I had never gone to a gym or really used weights to work out, I could not lift heavy weights.  I went to my first practice with my friend and neither of us could lift heavy weights, but it was okay because no one on the team could, so it turned out not to be a big deal.  I practiced three times a week for about two months until I had my first meet.  A meet is when your team goes and competes with other schools.  People are divided into weight classes, so you compete with people that are about the same weight as you.  Everyone competes and tries to lift the most in their weight class.

At a meet that the Shawnee team goes to, we do two lifts.  Bench Press, which is where you are laying on a bench and you lift the bar above you, you bring it down to your chest and press it back up.  If you can get it back up in one motion, it is a good lift.  Also there are deadlifts, a lift that starts with the bar on the ground, and you walk up to it, pull it up with your hands in one motion, and then once it is at your waist, then put it back down.  You get three attempts to lift your max on each lift  If you do not lift it, it does not count.  Everyone's form  has to match these steps. At the end of it I think my max on bench was 105 pounds, and my deadlift max was around 240 lbs.  Not that good, especially in my weight class.  By the end of my first year, my max on bench press was 140 pounds, and deadlift was 315.  The season ended after the last meet.  After the first season was over I lifted with the football team to keep gaining muscle.  I did that until the end of the school year.  I got a job over the summer and did not have much time for other things. I was already tired after work but I still went to the gym at least 3 times a week.  I went to another gym rather than the school gym.  It was not fun but I knew it would not hurt me.  I did that all summer.

I did not lift for the first month of school.  The first powerlifting practice was in early December.  It had been a complete year since I started lifting. I felt weak because I have not been consistently lifting weights, although  I was able to lift my usual weights shortly after returning to the gym.  My training partner last year would not return to compete, then I convinced another one of my friends to join.  This year I really wanted to do the best on the team, so I trained as hard as I could each practice.  

  We practiced everyday until our first meet.  Our first meet was late into December.  I got really nervous because I have not competed in about a year.  There are also many people that attend each meet.  At my first meet of the season I decided to start  off with an opening lift on bench press of 165 pounds.  My deadlift opener was 285 pounds.  An opener or starter lift is the first weight you start at when you go to a meet.  You can only add weight after it, you can not lower your starter after you choose it.  I lifted them easily and ended the meet lifting 320 on deadlift and 185 on bench press.  My second meet I finished deadlifting at 350 pounds.  I went to attempt my last bench press lift at 205 pounds and missed it. My judge said that there was a mat under me that was slipping and he would let me go again.  I got another chance, this time I got it up although he called it a bad lift due to my form.  So that meet I got 195 on bench.  I had my last meet this January, it was in Piketon an hour and a half away from Shawnee.  I had a starting bench of 190 and a starting deadlift of 350.  This was our last meet of the year, it was also the only meet with squats.  My starting squat was 285.  I got all of my three lifts.  I increased to a bench of 200, I hit the equipment on the way up and I failed, so I had to try again for my last lift and got it up too easily.  I got my squat to 295 then 305 but I failed the last one.  I deadlift 370 but failed the last lift of 390.  I got sick on the way home.  I didn’t place, I was competing against 5 schools and all grades in my weight class.  

Dieting that goes into the sport depends on what weight class you want to go into.  To build more muscle you want to eat more, although you will gain fat along with muscle.  If you want to cut fat and a little muscle you will get into a lighter weight class.  The lighter lifters are, the less they can lift.  My goal is to get the lowest body fat percentage.  That is a common goal because you can lift as much as you can and weigh as low as you can.  An essential part of your diet while working out is protein.  Protein mends together micro tears in your muscles.  To grow muscle you workout, which tears the muscle fibers.  When they fix themselves, they are stronger and bigger than before.  Protein is used to fix these tears.  It shortens recovery time, grows muscle faster, and makes muscle sores go away quicker.  Eating healthy and working out also has a great positive affect on mental health as well.  Another big factor in growing muscle is consistency, in order to create and retain muscle you need to not only need to work out consistently but also keep up on a proper diet.  Muscle atrophy is likely to happen if you do not keep working out.  Muscle atrophy is when your muscles get weaker after not using that muscle for a certain amount of time.  This is not good because it counteracts all the hard work it takes to build the muscle.  It takes around two to three weeks without working out for your muscles to start atrophying.

After this time it has been about a year and three months since I started lifting.  I love doing it so I can be in better shape, be happier, and get stronger.