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(On Saturday, October 3rd, our first ever real [FIT] life Powerlifting team entered the Northeast Iron Beast USAPL Push Pull meet in Latham, New York.
For five of our team members, this was their first powerlifting meet experience, and they all did an amazing job.
Each day this week, real [FIT] life will feature one of our team members, their stories, their struggles, and their amazing successes.
So be sure to check back tomorrow and every day this week to learn more and to be inspired by everyday real people just like you!
To learn how to bring out your own inner athlete, be sure to read our recent real [FIT] life newsletter topic, “Do you believe you can achieve fitness greatness? (you should)” Click here.)
A little info about Katie
Katie has been training at real [FIT] life since the spring of last year and her noticeable transformation has been physical and mental.
Katie is a bundle of energy. It’s the running joke in training that Katie is usually finished with her session before anyone else has even started. If you want to keep up with Katie, be prepared to move!
Back in the spring, Katie was one of the winners of our real [FIT] life Body Transformation Challenge. This was the first time I got a true sense of how competitive Katie can be. It was also the first time I got to see, first hand, how disciplined and determined she is.
In our training program, everyone keeps a personal chart, so we can record their workouts and have a definitive way of seeing how much progress is being made. Katie responds really well to this type of tracking. Seeing where she started, where she’s headed, and mapping a plan as to how we’ll get there, works well for her.
I give Katie a lot of credit, too. Even when she finds a particular goal to be challenging, she keeps at it. She doesn’t give up on something just because it requires extra effort over time.
The meet
I have to say, Katie’s seriousness and enhtusiasm for the sport of powerlifting is absolutely endearing. She will message me with questions about lifting shoes, or with an inquiry as to the best kind of lifting belt to get. She also reads a lot of fitness articles and continues to learn on her own, not just in her sessions.
Katie’s primary goal in this meet was to complete her lifts successfully. She had even told me, if she missed a command accidentally, she’d be happy as long as she made the lift.
When I emailed her the attempts we had selected for her, a couple days prior to the meet, she said she felt relieved seeing everything planned out, and knowing that all of her attempts were numbers she knew she could complete.
I was happy to hear her say that, because mental preparedness and mental confidence are half the battle when competing in a meet. The main person you’re competing against, really, is yourself.
Bench
Katie was the first lifter for the whole meet. That in itself can be nerve racking, especially since this was Katie’s first competition. Her first bench was flawless.
Her second attempt went equally well but then we hit a slight glitch on attempt number three.
First, Katie completed the lift STRONG. The only problem was that she had accidentally started to lower the bar to her chest prior to the ref calling the command, “Start”.
Katie recognized her blunder immediately and in the silence, as the bar descended toward her chest, everyone heard her say, “F#@$”. Kowing Katie, this was pretty funny. She says the spotters found it funny, too. But she kept going and completed the lift. To be able to stay focused and do that, even when you know you’ve made an error, says a lot about Katie as a competitor.
When she came off the platform, she looked a little disappointed. I was there to remind her what she had said in practice. Plus, 82.7 lbs was a personal bench record for Katie!
Here’s the video
Deadlift
Katie’s first two deadlifts went beautifully. On her third attempt, however, she let the bar get a little too far away from her, and it stalled at her shins.
Keeping the bar close was a key cue we had been focusing on in training, so when Katie walked off the platform, I asked her if she knew what had happened. She immediately said, “I let the bar get too far away from me.”
I’m willing to bet that when Katie competes again, that will not happen. She is someone who learns from her mistakes and doesn’t look back. In my book, that’s a quality of a real winner.
Katie’s second deadlift was 181.9 lbs. Here’s the video.
Since the meet, Katie has been one of the most vocal about looking forward to our next meet in January.
Her enthusiasm is infectious and her resilience is inspiring. I can’t wait to see her compete again.
Congratulations, Katie!
Be sure to check back tomorrow, when we’ll feature another one of our real [FIT] life team members and their meet results!
Jeannine Trimboli, CEO, real [FIT] life
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