Bert’s Lady Friend – Part Two

Last Monday, I posted an article by a long-time reader, Bert, about how he introduced his lady friend, Marijke, to lifting, and what a dramatic difference it quickly made in her life. It had a great response amongst dudes and dudettes, and I promised a follow-up article on her first meet, which happened just 4 months after she started lifting. Here it is. A huge thanks to Bert for this well-written submission, and extreme props to Marijke for getting out there and competing after her first four months in the gym. How long have you been lifting? Have you competed? Have you trained a significant other?

In my previous article, I outlined the training and diet I had my girlfriend use during her first four months of powerlifting to have her recover from intestinal and spinal problems. In this article, I’ll review her experiences and results from her first contest.

The Results

First off, we both had a great day of lifting.

The Olympic Ghent Team

She went 7/9, doing 70 kg (PR) in the squat (154lbs), 35kg in the bench press (77lbs) and 70 kg (PR) in the deadlift (154lbs). Her second squat attempt was not approved because she racked the bar before the command, and she missed her last bench press attempt of 42.5kg (91lbs) because she gripped the bar closer than normal. Her bodyweight was 54.4 kg (120lbs) in the 56kg weight class, senior category (+24).

Cloud says “get your shins vertical!”

I went 9/9 and hit 170kg (375lbs) – 110kg (242lbs) – 220kg (485lbs) at a bodyweight of 75.25 kg (165.55lbs) in the 83kg weight class, senior category. I chose not to cut weight for the 74kg class since 75 is already light for me and I’m not yet near my actual all-time PRs yet, so I’m just going to “grow into the class” and get back into competing.

Other impressive performances were a 105 lifter of our club who hit 300 – 195 – 300 (geared) and a 125+ lifter who squatted 360kg (geared) and deadlifted 330kg (raw).

Experiences at the Meet

Going into the meet, she was nervous: “What if I am the only girl?” (she was); “What if I’m the odd duck there?” (she wasn’t; much odder ducks were present), “What if my butt looks big?” (it does, but that’s a good thing).

All these worries proved to be unfounded. All lifters were extremely supportive and friendly towards her and myself, and encouraged her each time she stepped up to the platform. Seeing her be accepted in this way pleased me enormously, let me tell you (this made the Hank Hill in me happy, btw, I tell you what. – Jacob). By the end of the day nearly every lifter had come by for a talk and words of appraisal for our lifting execution and lifts.

The camaraderie at the meet was exceptional and there was no rivalry at all to be found.

Post-Meet Impressions

My girlfriend claimed this was the most fun and friendly competition she had ever entered (having experience from competition in martial arts, gymnastics, dog and horse sports).

She was shocked how well-mannered (and often highly educated) the lifters were. No less than 2 lifters out of 20 had a PhD. Also, she received compliments that her back position was very good, without anybody knowing that she had such grave problems in her spine only months before.

She had an amazing time and felt accepted from the first moment. Besides constantly bombarding me with questions about how her new training schedule will look, she’s registered for the next comp on March 2nd. I’m enormously happy for her and hope that we’ll continue to have such a great time as a couple in this sport. I can recommend it to anyone.

Video of Bert and Marijke’s attempts:

I hope everyone learned something from Bert and Marijke’s experience. Training a significant other can be much more difficult than Bert let on, but can also be extremely rewarding. My lady friend is capable of hitting 10 reps with what she hit at her first meet now, but those early days weren’t easy, though she did experience a lot of camaraderie when she entered her first few meets, including USAPL Nationals. Ladies, I’d lofe to hear from you about your experiences as you got into lifting. Let’s get more females involved with competitions, and spread the word about how rewarding being 70sBig can be. I will always be a huge proponent of females competing, because I have seen the smile that ensues. Get big! 

Look at that smile!