Where to Start for Women's Powerlifting

Hey Jim! Ive been lifting on the basic 5/3/1 program off and on for a while. I absolutely love lifting heavy. I’m starting to feel like I should compete in women’s powerlifting. I have absolutely zero experience competing and even less knowledge of the sport. So I have a couple questions:

  1. Where do you recommend I start? I’ve googled a couple things to find competitions nearby but there’s so much info I just get lost.
  2. I don’t want to embarrass myself. I feel like I would do ok. I’m not under the impression that I’m going to win anything, but I’d like to give it a shot! Here are my 1RM’s. Deads: 280, bench: 130, press: 100, squat: 225. Am I kidding myself here or is this an ok place to be? I’m 31 years old, 5’6" 142-145lbs, 22-24ish body fat.
  3. I’ve been coaching myself with both my diet and exercise programs. Should I find a coach?
  4. Any other info you can offer would be amazing. Thanks!’

[quote]Kaylamull wrote:
Hey Jim! Ive been lifting on the basic 5/3/1 program off and on for a while. I absolutely love lifting heavy. I’m starting to feel like I should compete in women’s powerlifting. I have absolutely zero experience competing and even less knowledge of the sport. So I have a couple questions:

  1. Where do you recommend I start? I’ve googled a couple things to find competitions nearby but there’s so much info I just get lost.

  2. I don’t want to embarrass myself. I feel like I would do ok. I’m not under the impression that I’m going to win anything, but I’d like to give it a shot! Here are my 1RM’s. Deads: 280, bench: 130, press: 100, squat: 225. Am I kidding myself here or is this an ok place to be? I’m 31 years old, 5’6" 142-145lbs, 22-24ish body fat.

  3. I’ve been coaching myself with both my diet and exercise programs. Should I find a coach?

  4. Any other info you can offer would be amazing. Thanks!'[/quote]

  5. I’m not sure of all the places to check online for meets but assume PL Watch would be a good place to start. There are a million federations out there but a lot of has to do with where you live.

  6. You won’t embarrass yourself. The things you see online and celebrated on social media are the “stars”. You go to a meet and there may be 100 people lifting and one or two people that are moving some serious weight. Never shy away from anything due to some irrational public fear - that kind of thinking kills lives. Life is short - do your thing. Fuck everyone else’s opinion.

  7. You are a lifter - part of being a lifter is being good at lifting. Part of that is understanding the process. While I know people champion “coaching” and all that - learn what you can and be the owner of your destiny. Embrace it. Don’t hand your success/failure to another because no one cares more about your success than YOU.

  8. Don’t go crazy trying to peak - and don’t “make up” for 12 weeks of training with overdoing the final 2 weeks. That’s bullshit and weak. Train hard, be smart and have fun. And finally, don’t do the meet before the meet. Trust in your training. I don’t understand bowing under the weight of competition and never will - this is when you have a CHOICE to shine. Take it.

Amazing advice. It’s exactly what I needed to hear. I don’t always have a lot of confidence in myself but I’m working on it.

Thanks for your time and info!