CHALKED UP: Challenges of being a Competitive Weightlifter
Gracie Rice discusses diet and women in weight lifting in this week’s blog.
Welcome back to Chalked Up. This week’s blog is about the challenges of being a competitive weightlifter.
One of the biggest challenge is nerves. In practice, we lift on platforms that are side by side, but in competition we lift on a platform individually. I think hitting your first snatch helps the nerves tremendously.
Everyone handles their nerves in different ways. I usually stand up rather than sit, stay off my phone, and try to only think about my lifts, while some of my teammates handle it differently.
Even being a new lifter comes with challenges. When I first started and even now there are moments where you don’t feel ready for a meet or you’re worried about not being good compared to your competition.
Mary Steward, a new lifter, says, “I haven’t experienced super intense nerves yet but when Iget nervous I try to remember that it’s not the end of the world if I miss a lift or if a lift looks ugly…. I mean, even the best weightlifters have bad days. I also try to remember that everyone starts somewhere and that I’m not going to be able to lift crazy weights right away.”
I feel the next biggest challenge is the competition itself. Competing against girls who look bigger or stronger than you and even your friends can be challenging at times.
I handle this by only worrying about hitting lifts I know I can hit rather than trying to be the best all the time.
Makayla, also known as, Red said, “Being a competitive weightlifter is challenging. Having to compete against other girls your age and weight is always a close competition, especially watching them in the warm up room right before you go on for a lift. Cutting weight is definitely one of the bigger challenges, which only happens once in a while, when trying to qualify for bigger meets.”
I haven’t cut weight yet and don’t plan on cutting weight anytime soon, but I can see how that could be another challenge as a competitive weightlifter.
With a meet coming up next weekend, we’re all dealing with most of these challenges. Continue reading these weekly blogs to keep up with my weightlifting journey.