Our World Championship competition was awesome!
We went to Jonesboro, Georgia on Thursday to weigh in. Russ weighed in for the same weight class he competed in back in August. I, however, weighed in, dropping down a weight class. This was the game plan all along for me. I knew there was a possibility to set some records in this new weight class. So, after weigh in, on the way home we stopped and had a good steak and potato meal. This was a good way to get our bodies prepared for the upcoming competition.
Yesterday, we awoke bright and early to get prepared for our first World GPA Raw Benchpress competition. We prepared our gear, our minds, and our attitudes and then drove back to Jonesboro, Georgia to compete in our very first World GPA Benchpress competition.
Opening ceremonies started at 1:00 pm. There was a performance from a lovely dancer from a local school of dance. She completed moves with a hula hoop that I have never seen. It was very entertaining. After the show and a beautiful rendition of our National Anthem, there was a speech from the GPA founder.
With opening ceremonies complete, it was warmup time! Talk about intimidating! There were a lot of very large, very strong men there warming up. I finally got a chance to lay down on the warm up bench in the warm up room to do a few warm up reps. It is always a little embarrassing to see the guys strip all the large 45 pound plates off the bar and place on some of the smallest weight plates. I warmed up anyway. I just have to set in my mind that I am not a 250 pound man that presses 500 pounds. My mental focus at this point turns to visualizing pressing the weight I know that I can do.
The competition started at 2:00 p.m. sharp. As in August, I was the first one on the competition flight list. Before the competition got underway, the head judge came in and announced all the rules. Some of the rules were different from our last competition. The main difference was how long we had to get the bar down to our chest after the "bar loaded" call was made. We had one minute. Think about it. That's 60 seconds to get mentally prepared, psyched up, lie your body down on the bench, get your body and muscles adjusted, give your spotter your queue that you are ready, have the bar lifted off to you, have a short pause, and lower the bar to your chest. That time flies!!!!! When you lower the bar to your chest, the "press" command is given by the head judge. I could swear that he waited a full two seconds to give the command. If you don't know how this works, a long pause on the chest can be devastating to a bench press. You can use all your energy holding up the weight so that you don't relax your muscles and lose the weight. Luckily, I was able to push the weight back up. So, a "rack" command was given and the "lift is good" announcement was made. Shewf!!! My first World lift was successful. My next two lifts were not successful due to the loooong pause at the bottom. As it turns out, my one successful lift was enough win my age/weight class for women for which I received a medal and a beautiful pink variegated rose, set American and World records, and win women's benchpress "Best Lifter" for which I received a heavy trophy that had a marble bottom with a winners' cup atop it and a bouquet of more beautiful roses. I became the very first woman to win any award ever for the GPA Raw World Benchpress/Powerlifting Championships. We had not realized until the opening ceremonies that this was the very first GPA Raw World competition. What an honor to participate. What a title to cherish. What great stories I will be able to pass down to my grandchildren someday.
My husband was able to complete his first two presses. The third attempt was just a little to much with the looooong pause at the bottom. It was still enough for him to win his age/weight class and increase his World Record by five kilos. He also came home with a medal and a beautiful rose.
I am so proud of him. It has been so much fun working out, training with him, and competing with him. I don't think this is anything I would have ever done on my own. His past experience was enough to get me interested in it. It has turned out to be a hobby that he and I can participate in together while having the side benefit of getting our bodies in great shape.
So we came home with more awards, records, and a trophy. Our girls met us at the door all excited to hear about our day and see our awards we had called and told them about on the way home. I can't help but think that our six year old must think that we are the strongest parents in the world. But after all, we do both actually hold "World Records". It is still so surreal and almost unbelievable.
Now we will start another round of training in preparation for our next competition. We have not decided which competition to enter. We will make that decision in the next couple of months.
As a side benefit, with the pledges we have taken for Stronger Than Hunger (www.strongerthanhunger.tumblr.com), we have raised over $900.00 for our local food bank. We are please to be able to help feed families who otherwise may not have food to eat.
When it is all said and done, I love when we walk in the door together having accomplished something awesome!
