I have now spent a little over a year training and competing in powerlifting. After several years of spinning my wheels without making any meaningful progress in the gym, the last year has been a breath of fresh air. I finally have a system that consistently produces results.
At times, training is boring. It’s repetitive. It’s exhausting. But it works, and it usually only takes an hour or two out of my day. There are little moments of satisfaction sprinkled throughout the training process, but none of them compare to the thrill of stepping onto the platform on meet day.
I signed up for my first meet in 2025. I had never competed before. I looked up the numbers of some of the lifters already registered in my weight class, and they were far stronger than I was. I barely knew the rules. It was uncomfortable. It had the potential to be embarrassing. I wasn’t going to win—not even close.
Despite all of that, I had always wanted to be strong. Like really strong.
At 27, I felt like the clock was ticking to take advantage of some of the benefits of youth, so I signed up. After all, what better way to get stronger than by competing in a sport dedicated entirely to strength?
I don’t have a coach. I’m not naturally gifted at lifting. I never played football or another sport where strength training was a major part of the culture. So what did I actually need to compete and feel good about my performance?
At the most basic level, all you need is the ability to squat, bench, and deadlift. To get the most out of your training, it helps to learn a little about nutrition and programming, but I keep both incredibly simple. I aim for roughly one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Most days I’m probably about 20 grams short, and that’s okay. Since I wanted to gain weight, I also made sure to eat a little past the point of being full at each meal. Eating mostly whole foods made kept my gut in check. I kept a spreadsheet of my daily bodyweight so I could make sure I wasn’t gaining too quickly.
For training, I stuck with cookie-cutter programs.
Are they optimal compared to personalized training? From what I’ve read, probably not.
Do they work?
Absolutely.
I’ve run Starting Strength, 5/3/1, Texas Method, the free 16-week Calgary Barbell program, Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol, and several others. Every one of them made me stronger and was appropriate for where I was as a novice and later an intermediate lifter.
For anyone struggling to make progress, I think it’s worth asking three simple questions:
- Am I following a structured program (this entails actually following it as written)?
- Am I eating enough to support my training?
- Have I done both of those consistently for long enough to expect results?
Those are really the only three questions I ask myself.
I think that’s enough for 90% of recreational lifters to become much stronger than they are today. If your goal is to become an elite powerlifter, a professional athlete, or a world-class strongman, things become much more complicated. I’m none of those things, so I won’t pretend to have the answers.
I will say though, my first meet was a success. I hit personal records on all three lifts. All nine of my attempts were successful. I enjoyed the experience enough that I immediately signed up for another meet.
Looking back, all of my worries turned out to be unfounded.
The athletes weren’t judging me. They cared about two things: making their own lifts and cheering for everyone else. They know how crushing it feels to miss a lift. They know how exciting it is to come back and make the next one. They understand the months of training, the discipline, and the sacrifices that brought everyone there.
Meet day isn’t just about putting weight on the bar. It’s a celebration of the work that every athlete has already put in.
The spectators are there because they’re supporting a friend, spouse, sibling, child, or training partner. Everyone wants to see people succeed.
So if you’ve been thinking about trying powerlifting, just sign up.
You don’t need elite numbers for your first meet. I certainly didn’t—and after my second meet, I still don’t.
Just compete.
If you keep training, you’ll get stronger.
If you keep competing, you’ll become more confident.
And if you stick with it long enough, you might just become really strong.
