It is a dream I have!

Two weeks ago, I participated in the German Drug Free Powerlifting 2023 competition. My goals going into the competition were:

• Bodyweight 105KG
• Squat 180KG
• Bench Press 130-135KG
• Deadlift 210KG

The entire event was quite an experience, with 64 lifters – male, female, teenager to septuagenarian, all lining up at 8am to register, get their equipment checked and weigh-in. I had opted not to skip breakfast and there was something surreal about seeing a bunch of big guys in spandex shoving food down their necks as soon as we were all weighed. Over the course of the 11 hour event, we all needed all the food we could get our hands on.

Spandex aside, it was really inspiring to see so many truly strong people performing. We’re all normal amateurs doing this alongside a day job and raising families; it is good to calibrate what is really possible and set goals that may have seemed absurdly ambitious except that you just saw a bunch of people do it.

One of the nice things about this sport is that you compete, alone, against yourself. There is no team dynamic to account for, and no competitive jostling. Everyone at the meet is friendly and wants you to be your best.

So how did I actually perform?

I weighed in at 106.3KG which was closer to my goal weight than I had expected or deserved. While I had been eating plenty of protein and vegetables, I had not been taking weight-loss very seriously in the months leading up to the competition, and had expected to be closer to the top of the 110KG class I had registered for. So it was a happy start to the day, but luck rather than judgement.

The format for a powerlifting meet is three attempts for each of Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift. Your starting weight for each exercise must be declared up front and you can keep the same or increase weight for subsequent attempts. If you miss a lift, you cannot reduce the weight. So there is some strategy involved in picking the weights.

For squat, I started with a “safe” 162.5KG. It is probably worth noting that I only lifted more than that a handful of times but with the ambition set at 180KG this was a good opener. The plan was a second attempt in the range 170-175 depending on how I felt, followed by the big lift in the range 177.5-185.

I was a little concerned about my range of motion – going deep enough in the squat so that the crease of the hip is below parallel with the knee. I had managed to hurt my knee gardening a couple of weeks before the competition and it was slightly swollen, so hurt when bent deep. But the 162.5KG went fine so I announced 175KG for the second lift.

All three judges failed the second lift as not deep enough, so I abandoned the dreamed-for 180KG and repeated the 175KG. I was focused on depth this time around, but again two of the judges failed the lift leaving me with a disappointing 162.5KG squat and clearly out of the running to win in my class.

It was nearly two hours before I was up for the bench press, which was an exhausting wait. I was very disappointed after the squat. A performance like that will erode your confidence and motivation. On the upside, Bench Press and Deadlift do not require knee bending, so I just had to suck it up and focus on delivering the rest of the lifts.

Bench Press opened with a safe 122.5. I had made a 125 in the warm up so was confident of the lift, but it did not go up as easily as I had expected, so I went with 127.5 for the second lift.

Watching the other lifters with their pre-lift rituals (chalk, smelling salts, hard back slapping to trigger an adrenaline surge are the common ones but by no means unique), I saw that most people had a friend or one of the crew lift the bar out of the rack for them. I normally lift it out myself, which uses some energy.

In a moment of mental weakness, I asked one of the crew to un-rack the bar for me; changing my normal process. I then started to perform the bench press without waiting for the start command, resulting in a technical failure and another missed lift. I kept the 127.5 for a successful third lift, again shy of my ambition but better than the squat.

Some 90 minutes later, it was time to deadlift. I had been walking briskly round the gym to stay warm and limber, so I was relieved when the deadlift began. My first lift, 182.5 was smooth. This time the only complication was the judge telling me in German to take my watch off. I was far to focused on the lift to translate the command and stuck until someone translated for me… I followed with a comfortable 200KG on the second lift and asked for 210 for the final attempt, hoping to get at least one of my goal weights.

There was a bit of discussion before the attempt and they got special plates out so that they could rack up 210.5KG. I queried, assuming someone had misheard my request but it turned out that they were adding 0.5KG so I could make a record attempt! The last lift went up smooth and after all the mishaps and drama, I walked away second in my class and holding a German Powerlifting Record – How cool is that?

Did I learn anything worth sharing?

To say I was a bit disappointed with my squat performance would be a mastery of British understatement. It sucked. Having missed the second attempt, I was determined to just drive through the pain and push through on the final squat. I was gutted when I missed it a second time, and immediately questioning the weight I selected and thinking to be more cautious on the bench press and deadlift.

If I had done that, I would have been totally disappointed with the whole event instead of walking (OK… limping) away with a record. Stuff happens. Sometimes you cannot just power through and need to recalibrate, but it is important to understand what went wrong and why. In this case, my knee was not going to limit my other lifts so I needed to keep going with full power.

The second big disappointment was missing the bench press because I deviated from the standard process I have practiced for years. I didn’t miss the lift itself and would have made a 130 or 132.5 on the last attempt if I had stuck to my training. It is important to stay confident in your abilities when you’re suddenly in a new environment. Don’t overthink the situation and don’t deviate from what you know works, just because!

Another big one of course; don’t injure yourself before a physical competition. Maybe easier said than done as no-one plans for an injury. In this case, I was digging though hardpacked earth and stone that had been a parking space for years, not turning over a flower bed. It didn’t need to be done two weeks before the competition and maybe I could have anticipated the risk if I had stopped to think about it.

Aside from all the negative learnings, being in a new place watching a group of fabulously strong people performing at their best was truly inspiring and shows what can be achieved by normal people, not just the super human full-time athletes we see on TV. I am setting my future goals higher in response.

The aftermath; sore calves and knee conditioning

The day after the competition, I was tired but no special injuries except that my calves were very tight and sore. That happened again a couple of days ago after heavy deadlifts, so I guess that is the cause, although it is not normally associated with deadlift. It may be a mobility topic and that is something I need to work on anyhow to improve squat range of motion. I clearly need to retrain my squat form to get consistently deeper, so I am dropping the weight way down and going back to box squats to get this right – I have a year to fix this and rebuild my squat weight before the next competition….

What comes next?

I need a break from powerlifting. The build up to the competition was pretty intense and while I enjoy it, I do not believe powerlifting alone is a properly balanced sport. There is not enough focus on back and shoulders which I think will result in imbalances and injury risks long term, so I am now focusing a bit on shoulder and back exercises.

I am still deadlifting heavy with the ambition of making a new record next year, but I do need to see if my calves continue to get sore and, if so, find a solution.

I am looking at retraining my squat so dropped the weight way down. My next big goal is to try for an 80KG overhead press to close out the year on a high.

The title for this piece is again a quote from the 1981 classic Excalibur. Apparently I can’t get enough of that film! This line comes from the scene where Arthur visits Guinevere before going off to his final battle and she returns Excalibur to him.