That Deaf Weightlifter…

I told my husband I wanted to do a weightlifting meet. He was really supportive of it but I just couldn’t bring myself to sign up for one. I’ve never been to one, I have no clue how it works, and only knew a small handful that do or have done meets.

I used to be really good at lifting. Especially snatching. Like smiling, snatching was my favorite…

I pretty much lost most of my strengths during school. After graduating, I had more time to workout but I would get pretty frustrated when I couldn’t pick up weights like I used to. I had to start all over again, taking it easy, scaling a lot of the workouts. Sure, I got stronger but I wanted something to really help with my strength and push me even further.

After many overanalyzing thoughts later, I finally got myself on the USAW website, became a member and signed up for a local weightlifting meet. That also entails picking a weight class. In kilograms. Everything is in kilograms. Good lord I am terrible at math. I even had to get myself to order a singlet. I complained about how expensive it was. I complained about how unfashioned it looked. I almost dropped out over the thought of having to wear a singlet. Then Fleo had cute ones! I patted myself on the back for ordering one and told myself to shut the hell up.

Little did I know, I had just gotten back from vacationing overseas and had legit only 3 months to prepare for it. I had some weight to lose and needed strength to gain. I started tracking my meals and trained almost every day. That meant getting up at 4 am to lift before work which made it easier because of the afternoon heat, tiredness from work, and having to meal prep when I get home. Basically mitigating any and all excuses!!

I still had no idea how it worked. Meet day was here. I didn’t even make weight. I had an hour to shed a few LBs. On to the treadmill… Made it just on the spot. Whew! Okay, it was time to lift….first the snatch. Now, this is my favorite lift. I can do this. Just pick it up. I looked up and realized I had everyone’s eyes in the room on me and less than 45 seconds to pick up as beautifully as you can. The first lift felt great. But shit, I couldn’t catch my 2nd or 3rd lift? My clean and jerk better be awesome. Channeling all my energy into this lift and got all 3 lifts flawlessly.

Thankfully, my coach and husband was my ears and directed me making this meet easy on me every way possible.

I seriously love picking up heavy shit. There’s nothing more that I love than knowing I can be strong and capable of anything in front of a barbell. It’s empowering. Look good, feel good, do good.

I unexpectedly got 3rd place. I am humbled. And look forward to another meet this fall.