Dreams - Some are attainable, some are not. How do you know? You try. You put yourself out there and you see what you can do. You obsess, you sweat, you bleed, you research, you practice, you sacrifice..........put in work. Having a dream is one thing, telling someone is a whole other thing. Saying it out loud makes it real. What if don't reach that dream? Then you have to explain to people what happened? Nope. You don't. Your dream is yours. You choose who you share it with. You choose what you say about it.
Typically with sports/athletics you have one big dream and a bunch of stepping stones to get you there. I'm going to share my dream - not because I'm close to getting it, but because that's what I'm working towards. It's why I put extra weight on the bar, spend extra hours a week practicing, and love every minute of it. I want to make it to Regionals (team or individual). Whew. That was scary to put out there. Now you know. I'm not trying to make it 2015, it's a long road and a process. Last year I was ranked 2020, this year I was ranked 1321. It's all about progress. I'm getting stronger and faster every week. One of my smaller steps is to start doing RX competitions. That's scary too.
It's very hard to reach a dream without 100% commitment. They are big. When you get there all the hard work was worth it. You earned it. Dreams do not happen by chance, but by hard work.
A friend of mine has recently put 100% effort into his dream. Going to Nationals. His dream is to go to the USA Powerlifting Raw National Championships, in Colorado. I really admire his guts. Not only is he reaching for a dream he is traveling for it! The meet is in Colorado and he needs some help getting there. He has a GoFundMe page to accept donations for this dream.
Here is Philip doing a back squat that I actually got to witness. So inspiring and fun to be there when people go big. Let me tell you about Philip with some pictures - that's the most fun way :)
First in Deadlift and Bench
1st in Deadlift 2nd in Bench
Training with friends always makes it more fun
2nd place Raw
Training that dead lift
Even at the gym when he's hurt. Dedication
This picture always makes me laugh. Every. Time.
Philip trains hard and plays hard. He loves what he does and is taking that big leap into the world of "Dream Big".
You can help Philip reach his dreams by donating HERE
I survived my first power lifting meet! Yeah!!!!!! I had a great time, learned a lot and met my goals. What where they?
1. Don't cry. seriously. There is no crying in weight lifting
2. Make 6/9 lifts
3. Don't poop my pants (this is always a good stand by goal)
Yep. No tears. I'm a big girl. I made 7/9 lifts. No poop in my pants. No poop anywhere actually. If you have read ANY of my race/competition write ups you know I hit the bathroom dozens of times. Not once for this one. Weird.
Here are my lifts:
Back Squat: (1) 175 (2) 195 (3) 214 - failed at this on the way up. my max is 210
Bench: (1) 90 - made the lift, but didn't follow commands so it didn't count (2) 100 (3) 110
Deadlift: (1) 200 (2) 235 (3) 253
My husband decided to do the meet the day before (!) and ended up PRing two of the lifts! What a guy :) He was my handler for the lifts, which was great. Turns out I am horrible at assessing how I did, what I should increase by, etc. I just need someone to say "do this". It was cool to see other people lift, see their routines, and what they can lift. There were some really really heavy lifters there, super impressive.
It was a long day of being in a gym, cheering, lifting - exhausting. It really helped that I was with a lot of friends. Would have been one long and boring day. I would totally do another one - learned SO much.
