Women’s Power-lifting:
Ladies, it’s time to toss aside those plastic-covered dumbbells and grab some iron. If you’re thinking about heading down the powerlifting path, here are some tips to help you find your way.
In case you haven’t noticed, powerlifting is no longer just for men. More and more women are realizing that becoming a better, stronger, more powerful, and more confident person is really how they naturally are!
This step-by-step guide can help you get started right.
1. Find A Program Or Coach
If you’re a newbie to the gym or a beginner powerlifter, start by finding a training program or a coach—or both. Online coaching is becoming more available, but you’re better off asking around and seeing if you can find someone local who can train your face-to-face. Once you get your feet on the ground, you can transition to an online coaching or training program, and maybe even organize your own women’s powerlifting group so you can train together.
2. Master The Basic Lifts
Learn the proper form and technique for the three main power lifts: squat, bench, and deadlift. Mastering these lifts requires experience, which is why you should do your best to find a local coach.
3. Schedule Your Training Sessions
Just like you schedule your work and the rest of your life, set up specific times when you will go to the gym to train. As you probably know by now, if you don’t set time aside to do something, you’ll find something else to fill that time—and it probably won’t be something as challenging as powerlifting practice.
Schedule your workout time—and your rest—so you can stay on track and work slowly but surely toward nailing your powerlifting skills. You’ll be lifting some heavy weights as part of your powerlifting training. That means you need more rest than you would with a typical bodybuilding split.
Warming up is also a critical part of powerlifting training. Make sure you make it part of your daily training, including on recovery days.
4. Attend A Local Powerlifting Meet
It’s fun and exciting to watch people lift heavy weights and smash records. It can also be highly motivating and a great way to network with other women new to the sport, as well as with the pros. There’s no better way to learn how a meet is run, how lifters train for contests over time, what they do in the runup to the event, and how the judges make their decisions.
5. Set Realistic Goal Numbers
At first, your coach can help you set reasonable, attainable goals. As you progress, they can then help you identify records and rankings for each weight class and division that might be within your reach. Bookmark powerliftingwatch.com so you can start getting to know the culture.
6. Start Training!
You can get all your ducks in order, but you have to push them in the water so they’ll learn to swim! Once you have your coach or program lined up and have your gym clothes and gear ready, it’s time to hit the gym and start training! And when you hit it, hit it with energy and consistency!
