Why I Keep Lifting

This is one of those posts that exist to remind myself why I need to continue what I’m doing. (Also, for those of you who are curious as to why I even chose lifting.)

Yup I know, for some people, it’s a fad or a way to look cool.

Why I first started: 1) vanity and 2) something to replace running. I enjoyed running but the reality is I could feel those aches in my knees and I don’t have the best technique – just kept getting the feeling that I would wear my body out prematurely before its time so I looked for an alternative. Then back to the first reason: vanity. Running didn’t help me keep a flat tummy. In fact, my physique didn’t really change much. So I was like, hmmm I wanna look good. How do I go about it?

When Florence invited me to join her on these Community WOD sessions organized by some gung-ho fellas in random gyms – calling themselves Honey Badgers – I went along. That’s when I realised how WEAK I was. By the time we were done with the stretching alone, I WAS DONE. So I thought, hm let’s give it a shot, plus I wanted broader shoulders.

After moving back to KL, I bit the bullet and joined Honey Badgers. It was gruelling at first. But I thought, hey at least this is a sport I can do with my bf (at the time). Then we broke up and I considered giving it up. By this time, however, I’d met some craaaazy peeps and made some awesome friends at the gym that I decided to stick with it. And lifting then became a form of therapy, to deal with all the anger and all the grief. Plus, we also had really long chats about live, love and everything else in between sets (HAHAHAHA sorry coach Kelvin) and that was always nice.

Somewhere along the line, Gee started joking that I should compete and create the GPA World Record for females in the U44kg category. That renewed my motivation to push myself further and to be disciplined. We tackled that in earnest and while I lost, I still broke my PRs at the comp which felt really, really good. In fact, I bought a powerlifting suit to force myself to keep competing.

Now, the suit sits in my closet but I know, someday, I will compete again. And even though today I feel like quitting, I won’t. Because if I quit in this, I might set a precedent for other things. That thought horrifies me.

[When I was in primary school, we learnt a Chinese idiom called “半途而废”. When I understood what it meant, I made up my mind that I will always do my best to see something to the end. If I quit something, it has to be well thought through and for very good reasons – not just because I feel like it. And if I can’t even persist in lifting when it gets tough, how am I going to run the race of life? Hebrew 12:1 always comes to mind when I want to give up on something.)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us …

So today sucked. Big time. I didn’t even finish my WOD. In fact, I sat on the side and had a good cry. But tonight I will rest and tomorrow everything won’t seem as hard.

First powerlifting meet

A lot of things happened in 2017. This was one of them. The pinnacle of my fitness journey so far.

But I know the credit for this firstly goes to God, because I genuinely didn’t feel that great in the weeks leading up to it. My sleep was still interrupted at times, and I still felt constantly tired. So the fact that I hit 2 PRs for my deadlift and bench is cray-cray for me.

Subsequent credit goes to Coach Kelvin, who designed my training program and basically pushes me to lift more and rest less, since I like to take naps and talk talk talk at the gym. Coach Gee is next in line to thank, because if not for his crazy idea of me aiming for GPA record, I probably never would have thought to join. It started as a joke, and then afterwards every time I walked into gym he’d go, Wah don’t play play orh….world record holder just walked in. And after a while, I started believing that it was possible, so I thought, why not give it a go? Gee was also the one who woke up at 6am in Russia to help me register. He talks big, but really he’s such a softie.

So many from my fitfam competed that day too. It was good to cheer on Isabel, Zhan and Luke. Positive vibes everywhereee ❤ And although it was all the way in Shah Alam which is super far for some people, they came to support and cheer us on. My fitfam is honestly da bomb.  *terharu*

The only downside for the comp was that the place was semi-outdoor, so unfortunately the heat was rather taxing. I drank so much water, which I proceeded to sweat out.

There was very little pressure as I only had one other competitor, who proceeded to clinch the GPA record for U44kg. She deserved it in every way….. I’m not like a couple of kg behind her, more like in the multiple tens hahaha. Essentially I was competing against myself-lah because she was in another league of her own.

Still, it was good fun. And I bought a suit at the end of it. Which only means one thing – more competitions in the future! 😛

If you wanna see my competition lifts, go here!