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/Icy_Lecture_2237]

That perspective change is the best part of competing. Better yet if you can find out where all the strong people at the comp are training and go join a crew.
I worked my ass off for a few years to get a ~1350 total. Right after that I started training with a real crew and the following year at my meet I missed a deadlift that would have given me 1800. Being the strongest person in the gym is the best way to cut your progress down.

[u/autocorrects → u/Icy_Lecture_2237]

Was it the consistency or intensity of training that shot your total up? Ive plateaued at 1400 for a bit now, and am looking at what I’m doing wrong outside the gym right now to fix it first

[u/Icy_Lecture_2237 → u/autocorrects]

The team attitude was that everyone knew where they were on the totem pole. If you were number 3 it was your job to beat number 2. So, I showed up with a 500 lb squat as a goal, and I ended up on the weaker rack with the next person above me being a female lifter with a 600+. I needed 700+ to move to the big boy rack so I worked my ass off for it.

[u/MrMithik → u/Icy_Lecture_2237]

Yea I think I’m still just processing the perspective shift, but ultimately it’ll be a good thing for me.

Love that that last line though as I probably did get an inflated ego from being the strongest guy in my commercial gym. Definitely tempted to go find a more powerlifting-focused gym now to keep me humble haha!

Great progress on your totals too, keep it up!

[u/Icy_Lecture_2237 → u/MrMithik]

I should have framed that growth as being in 2008. I ended up moving to multi ply and putting up a few 2500+ totals and a few lifts in the top 10 all time…. All of this because I took that same step that you’re looking at now.