So it has taken me a while to post my results of my August 17th competition. Part of that is because I have been busy preparing for my return to Naturopathic school, but a bigger part is because I wasn’t particularly pleased with my performance. So for the past couple of weeks I have worked on personal reflections to reevaluate my self-judgments and to see the positive side of my competition experience.
Lets start off with the results. I was able to make weight, which was awesome as it was the aspect I worried the most about. I weighed in at 51.2kg which really ended up helping my wilks. My total lifted was 252.5 kg and my wilks score came to 318.6. I squatted 85kg, benched 47.5 kg and deadlifted 120kg.
Now, lets talk about the day. I was a wreck! I slept for maybe 1 hour –I was so nervous. I completely botched my squats, only making my first attempt which potentially cost me first place. I was particularly frustrated because I knew from training that I could do way more. Here is where I learned my first few lessons: “sleep is powerful”, “account for weight loss” and most importantly, “the gym is not the stage”. Thankfully I hit my first and second attempt at bench press so my confidence came back a little. As the day went on I socialized more and finally found a relaxation method to calm my nerves. This allowed me to find a way to transfer my nervous energy into focused energy for the deadlift. I managed to hit a personal best in that event, thankfully, allowing me to leave the competition in better spirits than when I had arrived.
Overall I placed 2nd in my group and set records for my age and weight category (mainly because there weren’t any previously). Although I didn’t meet my personal goals, reflecting back I now realize that I was putting way too much pressure on myself to excel. I see now that going into your first competition wanting first place perhaps isn’t the most realistic ideal. I am happy however I did this meet and gained competitive experience as it will only help me moving forward with this sport.
Thanks for following me on this journey!
Olivia
“If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.”- Zig Ziglar
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