My Strength Journey: Part 3
On May 12th, 2018, I stepped onto the competition platform at the Victorian Weightlifting Stadium for the first time. My first ever opening lifts were 50kg snatch and 60kg clean and jerk, and I lifted only a few grams above the 58kg weight class. I successfully made 4/6 lifts and was ecstatic with my performance, despite a very stressful week trying to get my body to weigh less that 58kg, which it REALLY didn’t want to. I will interject here and say this was a very misguided endeavour on my part, and, speaking as both coach and athlete, making a weight cut the predominant focus of your first competition is NOT a vibe. ANYWAY.
The rest, you could say, is history.
Since 2018, I have competed in 23 sanctioned competitions, including Senior States, Masters National championships, online events during Covid-19, my first international event in Florida, plus two competitions in my hometown of Auckland, NZ. I’ve bombed out (failed to make a total) won medals, and experienced the absolute highs and extreme lows that is characteristic of this (and I’m sure many other) sports. I’ve represented two different clubs, two different countries, and been guided by several coaches during this time; all who have had a significant impact over the past few years. As with any former habit, hobby, of full blown obsession, I’ve been, and continue to be, all in. (You should see my cat tin collection).
The reason that I have found such solace in weightlifting is partly because of the constant parallels I have discovered in terms of my non-weightlifting life. Previously I felt as though I lived a life of complacency; blaming others for my lack of ability or success, and failing to take accountability for how my life had turned out. I didn’t feel as though I lived a truthful or purposeful life, and had the sense I was missing a major piece of the puzzle. Weightlifting, or any pursuit that requires a high level of focus and discipline, leaves you nowhere to hide, and this has been very much mirrored in the rest of my life over the years. Essentially I’ve learned that there’s no one person or habit that is the answer, despite the fact that society tends to tell us this is the case. We already possess the answers; and it’s through confronting and navigating the challenges we face that we get closer to learning who we really are. For me, there is no metaphor that represents this better than weightlifting.
As I write the final part to this series, we are four weeks out from what is to be the most anticipated competition of my weightlifting life so far; the Masters World Championships in Rovaniemi, Finland. In fact, as you’re reading this, I will be boarding my first flight from Melbourne. I don’t like to use the word ‘career’ in relation to my lifting, as it implies that I’m some sort of professional over here, and, as I am rather exhausted by repeating at this point, I am not, nor will I ever, be going to the Olympics (thank you though). Also, my crippling Imposter Syndrome prevents me from giving myself any form of compliment (super fun).
If you follow the gym on social media, you’ll have potentially seen the past few weeks of my pre-competition thought processes via the series on our YouTube channel, which features the roller coaster that is my mental health in the lead up to this event. Whilst I go into a complete existential crisis prior to creating and releasing each episode, I think it’s important to put the real version of myself out there, just in case anyone was under the impression that I am a business owning, weightlifting super human person. In reality I am just a person who chooses to do a lot of really hard things at once, and then habitually melts down over the self imposed difficulties as if someone other than me has chosen all of this.
Whilst this story has been written as three parts (mainly so everyone can get on with their lives) it’s by no means the end. Finland may be the current biggest obstacle that I face, but it won’t be the last. I can truly say that leading up to this event, I have never given more to anything in my life. So that’ll just have to be enough.
