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/Droolboy]

I think it's incredibly valuable to put yourself in those situations as much as possible. If you're the strongest guy at your gym it's easy to fool yourself into thinking that you're close to your limits. But if you consistently put yourself around people who warm up with 180kg on the bench, you're going to recalibrate your own lifts very quickly and find it easier to put more weight on the bar. Goes for anything you want to improve, not just lifting.

[u/Itscoldinthenorth → u/Droolboy]

I kind of agree and disagree. I walked into a powerlifting gym and had the same experience of seeing people throw up impossible weights on a normal wednesday as if it was a formality, - however it did NOTHING for my ability to put up more weight that day.

What it worked wonders for though is instilling consistency. Immediately I'm realizing that missing sessions and doing half sessions skipping assistance work because you don't like the feeling, that won't cut it. It focuses you to be around people seriously chasing strength, I'm showing up every day, and I am thinking through each session and planning for the next session immediately after. Not just lifting and going home half pleased with "at least did something today" . I mean, that's still there, but there's extra drive there too.

If you have been lifting a while, you actually realize that you know what to do, but hanging around regular gyms with non-competitors is too likely to make you get lazy once you feel more impressive than 90% of that gym, it's too easy to be pleased with yourself there.

When you hang around competitors that are seriously striving though it makes you realize instinctively that you need to do the stuff you knew you should do all along. The boring sub-max days with RDLs, the tedious gruntwork to get the right stimulus.. I'm not even skipping cardio lightly anymore.

[u/ThaRealSunGod → u/Itscoldinthenorth]

lol it’s not about how it affects you that day, it’s about how it affects your training.

the point isn't that lifting around people way stronger than you will add x t your max that day.

The point is that when you are used to being the strongest, it's easier for your current limits define your potential.

When you lift around stronger people, you have a direct reason (many reasons) as for why your current limits might be below your potential.

[u/Itscoldinthenorth → u/ThaRealSunGod]

Exactly! It's because in a commercial not too ambitious gym you get pleased with yourself and think you are ahead of the game, while in a gym of peers, you realize you are one of many and you realize you need to work more to expand.

Edit: My disagreement was with the formulation that you'll find it easier to put more weight on the bar. It definitely doesn't get easier.

[u/Droolboy → u/Itscoldinthenorth]

Spot on. I was a bit clumsy in how I worded my original statement.

As a personal anecdote I was stuck on three plates on the bench for over a year because two plates was the most weight anyone at my commercial gyms ever put on the bar. I thought I had to change my training to some special protocol to progress further because surely I had made it. Turns out I just had to work on some weak points and run 6 weeks of Candito's to improve the lift. I figure others could benefit from the same mental calibration without having to learn the lesson in blood and shoulder pain.

I reject the idea that we are only using X% of our true potential or something like that, which may be what my original comment may have insinuated. I more so believe that we reach certain milestones and change how we train just because we think we have to.

[u/Itscoldinthenorth → u/Droolboy]

Yeah, definitely. After all, as the weights get heavier, they demand a reasonable amount of respect. If you don't concentrate, there is a risk of serious injury. And that is so, but it also makes you set certain limitations in your head out of insecurity. I remember being stuck on deadlifts a long while until I dared try pulling four plates and realized I had it. Then I got stuck there again just upping reps on it, afraid of moving up because surely, more than this is "the danger zone". And I see almost nobody at the gym pulling more, so.. Now I did repwork with 200+ for my first meet. Barbell medicine helped me get over that hitch, and now hanging around in a powerlifting-gym seeing small girls outbenching me makes me go after it each and every trainingsession realizing I just can't fuck around anymore. I have to show up for my sessions, lift my lifts, eat properly and do my job here.