Sunday 15th November, Atlanta Gym in Derby was hosting the British Powerlifting Federation Push’n’Pull. I was at the venue early, weighing in participants, one of the roles of practising being a head referee, amongst checking equipment was set up right, the three whites and reds were lighting up A ok and generally being nervous in having to speak up in front of a crowd.
Another pair of people who may have been nervous were my clients, Rachel and Chris.
In their day job’s Chris is a Tax Director, and Rachel is a Marketing Manager . Today however, they were amateur competitive powerlifters. Chris, I had been working with for 2 months up to the meet date, assessing and correcting form, building up his strength. Rachel had started training with me for 3 weeks before the meet, having only deadlifted with me twice before competing. Suffice to say being on a lifting platform and having their trainer as the head referee put them under a little pressure to do well.
  

Having a speech impediment from a young age, a stutter, has always made me nervous speaking in front of a group, so naturally when I was asked to announce the competitors order prior to start time, I wanted the ground to swallow me up. Instead, I faked confidence, put on my best ” Let’s get Ready to Rumble voice” picked up the Mic and rattled off the running order. Well done me.
Bench began at 10AM, Chris was first up on the platform, opening lift of 70kg. Three white lights, a good lift. 2nd lift, 75kg went up for another 3 white lights, another good lift. Then came the final lift, 80kg, Chris set up under the bar, received the pass out, took a huge gulp of air and lowered the bar with speed to his chest, the bar then flew straight back up to lock out, 3 red lights, unfortunately Chris didn’t wait for my press command. 
After a 45 minute break, Deadlift began, up first was Rachel, bar loaded at 100kg. Now I mentioned Rachel had only trained twice with me beforehand, the first session was sets of 5 on 60kg working on form, the second we somewhat tested her 1 rep Max and I stopped her at 120kg. She had way more in the tank but I wanted to save it for the meet.
So back to Rachel’s opener, nervous as she was, 100kg came up a treat. Next up was Chris with his opener of 120kg, again easy 3 white lights. The pair both sailed through their second lifts of 120kg for Rachel and 130kg for Chris. The final round of lifting, Rachel stepped up to a loaded bar of 135kg, set up like we practised and pulled 135kg up easy. Way more in the tank. In her enthusiasm, she hurried to the desk for a 4th lift, however your only allowed 3. Chris then followed up with his final lift of 140kg. Nice strong lift, Personal Bests for both.
  

The day finished off with me receiving constructive feedback with my refereeing and was followed by the awards ceremony. Chris received first place in the 82.5 kg open weight for both bench and deadlift, Rachel received first place in the 67.5kg open class for deadlift and won Best Female Lifter 60kg +, also netting her a cool free membership to compete in the BPF for 2016. Happy clients, Happy Trainer.
This event had a touch of remembrance for Chris, November 15th was the birthday of his late friend Erick. Before he passed away last year from complications after a devastating car accident, Erick made Chris promise to get into strength training, coincidentally through the same beginners programme that I myself began with. Chris’ performance on the day helped to push him through the benchmarks Erick had set for him and made a fitting tribute to a much-missed friend.
  

A final mention to Karen Taylor, another client of mine who unfortunately had to pull out of the competition due to health complications. She had performed well in training building up to a 80KG opening deadlift at 56KG bodyweight. Wishing her a speedy recovery.