I was quite the fan of the Outlander series until Claire went back to Scotland again through the stones to find Jamie a second time. Then it all got a bit much for me. The Bonnie Prince Charlie would often say, “Mark me…” before making some declaration of intent. It stuck with me as a powerful, albeit archaic way of starting a sentence. Let that serve as the preface to this powerful statement: Mark me; I am done with Powerlifting.
I know I recently posted how excited I was to hire a coach and take my Powerlifting to the next level. With a decade ahead of me as a Masters III lifter, I was prepared to do some damage. However, my foray into that of a coached athlete in training was short lived. After a mere two weeks, my coach decided to terminate our relationship posthaste. She took umbrage with some comments I made about a competitor of hers, something very commonly done by sports fans worldwide known as smack talk.
I have no qualms about being asked to cease and desist such taunting, particularly using our coaching platform to express it. In fact I would agree the locale was not ideally selected. Termination was what I would have considered a worst case scenario, certainly not a likely one. Nonetheless, that scenario indeed came to pass.
So why quit Powerlifting? Why not just find another coach, or even use the Juggernaut AI coaching app instead of a human coach, who has feelings and opinions? A fair question, and one I pondered in the immediate aftermath. Anyone who knows me knows how hard it was for me to relinquish control. It was not a decision I came to easily. To have it end so quickly for merely expressing myself in some good natured taunting is almost like having my trepidation validated. What if the next coach decides to cut me loose as well, at a time of their choosing, for a reason of their choosing? To me, a relationship is one of an open exchange of ideas. A sharing of information. The ability to communicate freely and deal with conflict like adults when it happens. I think it may be too much to ask that I can have that with a virtual Powerlifting coach. In terms of the Juggernaut AI, I did try that coaching system for a time and eventually canceled it. I don’t care for their style of programming.
That leaves me right back where I’ve been before: on my own. Choosing a program from one of the many I’ve collected over the years, watching videos on YouTube to try to improve my technique, making all the decisions myself. Then it hit me: why? Powerlifting is barely a sport. It is really only interesting to other people who pursue it. It’s not spectacular to watch, whether in person or on a little screen. It’s basically an expensive hobby that requires a lot of personal sacrifice and brings with it lots of aches and pains. I’m willing to bet if I remove my exposure to it, i.e. stop following lifters on Instagram, I may forget about it entirely. I stopped watching Football 28 years ago and it has never regained its status as something I care about. I think I’ve seen half of one Super Bowl game in the last two decades. And that’s an actual sport!
No, I think I will spare myself the pain, anguish and the exorbitant expenditure of time and energy and leave the subculture altogether. I will continue to lift weights of course; don’t be ridiculous. But Powerlifting is not lifting weights, it’s Powerlifting. Let the unfollowing begin, for I am done with it. Mark me.
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