New Respect for Powerlifters

I just want to use this first post as a way to express my newfound respect for what powerlifters do. I’ve always done some kind of weight training since I was 14 (today I’m 23) but most of the time, without pushing myself too hard. Well, the point is this: Ever since my first year of college, when I quit baseball, I’ve felt my competitive fire burning and kept holding it off 'till now. I decided to enter a novice competition in Feb. '07 and give myself quite a lot of time to prepare(at the same time I just entered law school so it’ll be interesting to see how I schedule things). I’m doing one lift a day: squat, row or romanian dl, bench, deadlift ( my best lift). I decided to do 10 sets of 5 at 75% 1rm for the first week. When I did it with the squat,I didn’t feel well for at least another 4 hours. My sister had to drive me home, and I didn’t feel like eating. I feel like a girly man just cause it didn’t sound too hard. Now I know just how pathetic my previous 9 years of toying with weights have been. Congratulations to all of you. I hope I can call myself a powerlifter in a few months.