Fire up!

During meets, I see many of the guys smacking each other as hard as they possibly can anywhere they can get their hands on. (Besides very sensitive places) I was at a meet this August and I saw this happening almost every single time a male went up on the platform. One guy smacked his buddy so hard on the top part of his back that the hand print welt was purple and almost bruised looking. I shuddered in my seat, but the guy just grunted loudly and excitedly ran to the bench. Seeing that welt made me feel pain, too, and I couldn't imagine being hit that hard for the sake of getting 'fired up'. Power-lifting isn't the only sport that you see this in. Football, baseball, wrestling, etc, all have guys hitting their team mates in an attempt to get them pumped up. Now, I say male only because the woman at the meet did more of a pat on the back or light smack on the shoulder or butt or nothing at all. In my experience of being on girl-only teams and watching girl-only sports such as softball, I've never seen another girl hit their friend as hard as possible. Sure, sometimes I'd get a swat on the back or butt during games in high school, but never to the extent that males take it.  Seeing that pattern made me wonder if there was more to it than just the psychological aspect.

    While I was sitting in my seat contemplating this thought, a woman about 23 years old came over to sit in the last available seat next to me. While waiting for the spotters to finish racking the bench for the next lifter, she started chatting with me. After going through generalities about our basic information, I wondered aloud to her about why these men would smack their friends so hard. She told me that the hard smack was a shock to their system, primarily nervous system. I was skeptical. So what? and what was her credibility? She began to explain about her working at the University of Michigan and is going to school for bio-psychology. I learned that most of the guys keep ammonia sticks in their bags and just before their big attempt, they sniff the stick. The ammonia causes the body to release a large amount of adrenaline, which is the alert system of the body. Basically, it's like cheap crack. This, coupled with the hard slap, makes you pretty much numb to any pain for the next twenty to thirty seconds. Therefore, the lifter can go 'all-out' without the crippling consequence of pain. I was astonished. I had seen the lifters cup their hands to the nose before, but who the hell would've guessed a stick of ammonia was the reason. Not only that, but how strange. When anyone hits their fellow lifter or team mate, that attempt to numb them isn't what's going through their head. Well, maybe for some. Though, I think most people do it just for the sake of helping their buddy get fired up.  

How to start

    A common myth about a power-lifting is that you have to be a big person to do it. Wrong. Anyone can successfully do this sport. Even if you only want to become stronger and healthier, this is a great way to achieve that. It's not easy, but the workouts won't let you down in the long run. The 'how-to' of starting is simple.

    First of all you should choose a gym centered on weightlifting. Depending on where you live, there may be a gym dedicated to only power-lifting, and if there is, that's a perfect place to sign up with. The reason being there are less treadmills, elliptical's, and other cardio equipment. In a gym like Planet Fitness, there audience seems to be more centered around people who are trying to lose weight. There free weights, squat racks, etc, are limited to one small portion of there gym. Compared to a gym that's completely focused on lifting weight. 

    Once you find a gym, you want to begin training on a power-lifting based routine. If you're lost on that there are many templates you can follow. For instance, the Westside template and the 5/3/1 philosophy are tried and true. You can also use those templates as a starting place for building your own routine. In basic terms, you want to focus on low repition training of the squat, bench, and deadlift. In between that you want to do some high-rep accessory training, like ab workouts. 

     Before you get too deep in training you'll want to figure out which federation you'd like to lift in. There are more than 30 different federations that all have different rules and allow the use of different equipment. I was given the advice by my father and some other lifters I've met to start off 'raw'. This means I do not use squat, bench, and deadlifting shirts, which are spandex type clothing that gives a kick back when worn, or other gear such as a knee wraps, etc. Raw federations do not allow those shirts to be worn or the use of knee wraps while Gear Federations do. It's better to start off raw and than choose a few years down the road to train in gear or stay raw. 

     Lastly, take part in a competition. This is not necessary if you're not into competition, but it's good for personal growth. You can see how you fair against others and see you're progress out in the open. Plus, it's fun. You get to hang out and compete with friends and strangers and meet new people. If you do well, you can go home, celebrate, and you get bragging rights. If you don't do well, than you know exactly what you need to work on in the gym to become better. 

Crazy face

     I used to always be babysitting children. From infants to pre-teens... the age didn't matter. My favorite thing about watching kids was seeing the ridiculous faces they'd make. It always made me laugh because no two faces were ever the same. My experience lifting has shown up these children when it comes to making crazy faces.

      Normally, I'm serious when I lift. Or when others ask me to watch them lift to critique them. However, when you watch someone pop a vein in their forehead while their face is the color purple it's hard to not start laughing on the spot. Sometimes the faces people make are not what you'd expect. The first time I watched my boyfriend squat was at a meet in Grand Rapids. He stepped up to the squat machine for his first attempt and down he went with 400 pounds on his back. The entire bottom part of his face became perfectly square partly from his beard, but mostly from him clenching his jaw so hard. The skin turned a deep red within seconds and his eyes looked like saucers. My mother and I couldn't stop giggling. He didn't have the worst face, though. One man walked up to perform his third attempt at the squat. He was quite short for a guy, but huge none the less. His head was completely bald and shined from the sweat. As he was going down his face and head turned magenta. When he was holding the squat, waiting for the judges to tell him up, his whole head looked like a beat up plum. One long vein was ready to burst on his forehead and I was cringing in my seat. Others, though, kept straight faces like myself. I'm not sure exactly what my crazy face is, but I know it's only a matter of time before I find out. Or see someone in the crowd cracking up at me.