Hello BBM
I am 28 yo male 6,2 and 216lb
I started powerlifting 2 years ago and i fell in love with the sport
I never worked out consistently before that
my lifts
SQ: 160 kg, BP: 140 kg, DL: 215 kg
My goal is to be competitive in my country (Greece)
A lot of competitive athletes(in my country) are already in 700+ total in their 20s
My problem is that even if it takes 10+ years to be at that level everybody else will be at a higher level and that makes me feel that i am too late to be competitive and that i will always finish last.
The problem affects me mentaly when i dont improve week to week or when i have a minor set back (ex missing a day ) i feel sad when i think about it
How to battle this mentality ?
Hey Chris,
Simple answer, no, you are not too late to be a powerlifter, though I can’t say whether you will be competitive or not in your country or otherwise. That depends on your competition, your response to training, lifestyle, and many factors outside of your immediate control.
In sport, people do not generally continue to get better at the same rate across their career. Some folks are late bloomers, others peak early, and everything in between. Again, there are a number of factors here that influence how people do with respect to competitiveness over time. If you respond well to training and continue to do so, I have no doubt that you will narrow the gap between where you are now and the top performers (present and future) in your area. Whether or not you overtake them is unknown, but how will you know if you don’t try?
As far as progression rate, I do not expect people to get stronger week-to-week for the majority of their training career. Demonstrable strength adaptations tend to take longer to materialize, in general. I think focusing more on process-oriented goals, e.g. completing all training sessions, sticking to the plan, prioritizing nutrition, sleep, etc. as best as possible are likely to serve you better than outcome-oriented goals, e.g. hitting certain numbers by a certain date. The best you can do is put in the effort and see where the chips fall.
I will say, that if the only thing that will make you happy with respect to powerlifting is being a national- or international-level lifter, then the sport is probably not going to be that rewarding for you and I’d recommend a different athletic pursuit. Most lifters who do this for a long time love the process, enjoy trying to best their previous performance, and the camaraderie. If they happen to be uber-successful, all the better.
-Jordan
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