Written by: Kevin Cann
What is a powerlifter? I have been thinking about this question a lot and have had this conversation with quite a few people at this point. This is not to throw shade on people, and the fact that some would take it as an insult just proves my point about the problems associated with identifying with a specific title.
Too many people put these expectations upon themselves once they give themselves the title of “powerlifter.” These expectations can easily suck the fun right out of a hobby. Am not too sure we actually do this in many other corners of the world.
A person that plays a couple pickup basketball games during the week and plays in a rec league on weekends, is that a person a basketball player or does he play basketball. Someone that runs a few times a week and does a turkey trot and one other fun 5k race throughout the year, is this person an endurance athlete?
99% of powerlifting is not different from these scenarios. You train a few times per week and sign up for a local meet which has no standards to sign up for it. Literally anyone can sign up. Does signing up make you a powerlifter?
Then does coaching these people make you a “powerlifting coach?” Where now each party is sharing insight into their training and coaching decisions. I know I have certainly done this. Making it something that it is not and wondering why I get so frustrated at times. These are personal training clients that will do a couple meets and then move onto the next endeavors.
To take this even further, if you don’t know how and why bands and chains are used are you a powerlifting coach? If you don’t know how to use lifting equipment are you a powerlifting coach? In no other sport can you coach without knowing the tools and the equipment of that sport.
I think in every other sport that I have been involved in there was a journey before you called yourself an athlete. I played soccer until my teenage years, then I became a soccer player. When every thought in my brain was geared to getting better. I never missed practices, I watched film, played on elite teams. This is when I became a soccer player. The fun shifts from just running around to putting your life energy into the thing to see where you can take it. Based off this personal observation are you a powerlifter if you skip accessories and training sessions?
When I became a soccer player instead of playing soccer, there is an enormous amount of pressure to make teams, to keep getting better so I continued to start, and to get noticed by colleges. Let us call it what it is for most of us, we play powerlifting. We like to lift weights and compete with a community of similar people a couple of times per year. There doesn’t need to be any added pressure to it. It can be much more enjoyable that way.
I have been training for over 8 years now. I don’t miss training sessions, I don’t skip accessories, I kept showing up and giving my all for 3.5 years without a PR, I have trained while hurt and trained while injured. I enjoy that grind of sport and powerlifting offers me an outlet to do it as I age. I never was interested in playing in an adult rec league for soccer. That isn’t fun to me.
The mistakes that I made were thinking everyone thought just like me. I put a lot of pressure on people that were just trying to lift some weights and have some fun. Now, that isn’t for me still, but there are plenty of other places people can find that.
I feel equipment gives me a community of people that are like me. You make a big investment in money and time to learn the equipment. The shit hurts and you keep doing it anyways. It feels more like a sport to me. That is the cool part about lifting weights, you can find your group because there are so many of them.
I am not sure what actually makes a powerlifter, but I am sure that a few meets doesn’t make one. Coaches and recreational lifters need to chill out and stop putting so much pressure on themselves by making something more than what it is. The godfathers of BJJ, the Gracies, say that our insecurities are what ties us to these definitions and what leads to us quitting something. We identify ourselves as the sport and then we identify with the excuses that are ultimately leading to a lack of perceived success and ultimately quitting.
Have some fun with lifting and when the time comes, and you want to really push it and be competitive the options are there. You will know when you become a powerlifter. There is nothing wrong in just playing powerlifting, if you feel triggered by this perhaps you are identifying with the sport from insecurities. Remove that pressure and have some fun, and I bet you even hit more PRs. This also applies to coaches. I think there is a lot of strength in being honest with ourselves in this situation.