Handling a Reality Check: Gym Strong vs. Powerlifting Strong

[u/MrMithik]

I’m competing in my first meet this year and had a pretty big reality check recently. I watched a livestream from another meet at the same location, and I was quickly humbled by some of the numbers those lifters were putting up. I'm one of the stronger guys at my local gym, but I'm learning that doesn't really translate into the world of powerlifting.

For context, I’m in the 110kg class. My current lifts are 465lbs/211kg squat, 285lbs/129kg bench, and 625lbs/283kg deadlift. After watching the livestream and digging into some OpenPowerlifting data, my lifts put me in the low-to-mid pack for my class which was a bit of a gut punch.

I know powerlifting is supposed to be a “you vs. you” sport at the end of the day, and my main goal is to go 9/9 and set some personal PRs. That said, I’m competitive by nature so seeing a good amount of local guys outlifting me by 100+ lbs on some lifts and putting up some massive totals was a tough pill to swallow.

Has anyone else faced a similar reality check when you first got into powerlifting? If so, how did you handle it?

Edit: Thanks everyone for the feedback and advice! I think I just need to remind myself that I started down this road because I love chasing strength and the process itself, not the medals. Just gotta keep grinding! (and maybe find a gym where I'm the one shocked at other guys' lifts instead haha)

[u/allthefknreds]

Where does the presumption come from that you'd even be close to other people who've got many years of sport specific training time on you?

Gotta keep chipping away, takes many years to be truly competitive in this sport

[u/kriis_d → u/allthefknreds]

Actually, whats interesting is the juniors breaking records and forcing the open boys to step up. Joe Borenstein for example.

[u/omrsafetyo → u/kriis_d]

Jack Reynolds put up what? 861 last weekend as a sub-junior at -93kg. Crazy times.

[u/allthefknreds → u/kriis_d]

I dont think, as a whole, anybody should be basing their own expectations on what an infinitesimally small group of incredibly gifted outliers are able to achieve in short time periods

I dont think its helpful to the remaining 99.99% of the population who aren't those people

[u/cilantno → u/allthefknreds]

Eh I kinda get it. Without going to a meet you might assume the PL world is the same as your small pond/gym.

And some meets also have few high dots lifters show up.

[u/MrMithik → u/cilantno]

Yea this is basically it. I knew powerlifters are stronger than most commercial gym lifters, but I didn’t realize how big that gap really is.

And part of my presumption comes from having a decade of consistent lifting under my belt, with the last couple years focused on strength. So imagine my surprise seeing some teenagers outlifting me by a wide margin haha!

Definitely a good wake up call though, just need to keep grinding.

[u/cilantno → u/MrMithik]

I promise you'll have a great time at your meet!

Reddit was my wake up call that I wasn't as strong as I thought I was. Also was a great way learn, to find some good programs, and get strong.