On a personal note, I still love doing graphic and print work once in a while. So when a few folks asked for a flyer for the meet, of course I made one.

Fun fact, I drew every bit of this flyer “by hand” in adobe. AI did not need to make this silly image for us, and that’s a nice feeling.

I’m really hoping this will go well enough to be an annual thing. I know I’m not the only one who misses both the convenience and community we used to have with 4/year. We’re very lucky to have so much within a few hours drive, but just 1/year will be amazing for our local lifting communities.

My role here is mostly logistics, and I’m doing my very best to make SF’s first sanctioned meet since 2019 feel like a party. Not just handling signups and scheduling, but also medals, prizes and sponsors, designing shirts and arranging swag bags, livestream, signs, feeding volunteers, food vendors…

Seriously, I’ve blocked so many unrelated ads that there’s only ONE normal post visible.

This is a silly straw man argument.

Olympic weightlifting doesn’t have “men’s” and “women’s” records, we have dozens of records at various bodyweight categories and age groups.
There’s way more trans lifters than you realize, and if this was a real issue, they would have all the records already. 🙄

In other news, this extra nice weather is making it a lot easier to be myself out early like in supposed to. I hope it stays long enough to get my routine back together.

I like fluffy foods for this. Giant salads with lots of greens and some crunchy veg. Popcorn too. Don’t let yourself starve, just choose something light and on the longer digesting side and add a little protein. Then question whether the times of day I’m eating are working for me.

So this is my soapbox on why I keep telling new lifters not to cut weight. You’re not too chubby, or too weak, to try competing and see if you like the process. You’ll have plenty of time to work towards competitive goals later, if you enjoyed it. If you wait… what if you hate it when you get there?

A first comp, in any sport, should be about figuring out if you even like competing. If you’re going to like the wider sport community. You only get one first, and no matter how you feel about going back? I want everybody to look back fondly, to have felt supported and had at least a little fun.

Something I see a lot of is people feeling a ton of pressure for first comps: a need to drop weight or qualify for bigger things at their very first, or like any less than 6/6 + PRs is failure. That pressure is a thief, it steals joy AND exploration.

And if the answer wasn’t yes, you shouldn’t feel like you’ve lost anything by competing - sleep, time with friends, snacks for the last few weeks. Your coach will still support you, your gym friends will still like you.

It’s a chance for lifters to dip a toe in, experience the #weightlifting/#powerlifting/#strongman/#hyrox/whatever community, and see if this is a place they want to be more.

If the answer is yes, great! NOW we can talk long term competition goals. Gradually.