Para Powerlifting and finding purpose

I have been fortunate to work in the Paralympic sport of Powerlifting (often known as Para Powerlifting), for the last 14 years. Being a Paralympic sport, it is funded by UK Sport and as a result can provide athletes who are selected onto the program wrap around support in a number of services including physiotherapy, psychology, lifestyle support, nutrition and coaching. Para Powerlifting is unique in some ways as a Paralympic sport as the standard of Bench Press performance is on par if not a higher standard than current IPF World records!* Working in this system has allowed me learn, develop and implement a number of things, of which today I would like to share some thoughts about finding purpose.

Find your “Why”

Powerlifting is a sport that can be objectively judged for progress / success. You complete the lift or not! However, as we continue in the sport, progress is not linear and as you get stronger the ability to raise your 1RM to new heights often becomes harder. Lifters often become involved in the sport because it is fun and we often don’t ask ourselves deeper, more meaningful questions as what to not only what drives us to do the sport, but also how that might transfer to other things in life. I believe this is also important when things get tougher in the sport, to find enjoyment in the process of training and competing not just on the outcome. Therefore, finding your own specific “why” I believe, is key to longevity and a sense of fulfilment in Powerlifting. The beginnings of this experience didn’t actually start in Para Powerlifting. I was speaking to a coach from another Olympic sport and she explained the project their team had embarked on, where athletes would delve into important life moments in the past and how that informs what matters most to them in the present. They would then synthesise this to share (not necessarily the experience but the theme) with the wider team, which they thought brought better empathy and connectedness within the group.

Although Powerlifting is not a team sport, the process of delving into what is important to athletes and why, was really intriguing and something I encouraged some of the lifters I coached to do, you can do this in a lot of different ways but I thought I would share one way for brevity in this post.

The following ideas are based on ideas from Simon Sinek’s book “Find your why”, work done within an Olympic sport outlined above and idea’s around developing my own leadership philosophy as a coach. They are based on three aspects:

• Why (Beliefs/Values),

• What (actions) and

• How (daily habits/processes) we incorporate this into daily life, for clarity I am sharing one way to look into this area please feel free to use, adapt or discard any of this, my hope is that this is a start point for introspection, not a dogmatic framework.

Why – a series of questions to probe

• What would you like to be known for or aspire to be?

• When have you felt most fulfilled, alive or in “flow”?

• If you stripped away job titles and money, what kind of impact would you still want to make?

From the above, are there certain themes or ideas emerging? Could you pick 2-5

themes to expand on in the next part?

What – Based on any themes that have appeared, what actions do you think could

best demonstrate these values in your life?

Some questions to delve into this:

• If this value was visible in my life every day, what would I be doing differently?

• Where in my life do I feel free to express this value — and where do I hold back?

An example of this might be someone values honesty. They feel free to express this at the right time (one to one with someone), in the right way (tone, content) and with self deprecating humour to ensure the person receives the message appropriately and that it comes from the right place with no agenda. This can lead onto the next part.

How - The last part are what small actions can make these values be tangible and

communicable each day?

Some questions to guide direction:

• What daily habits would you want to implement to allow these values to be present?

• If I feel detached from this value, how would I present to others and what would I need to do in the moment to course correct?

With all of the above it can hopefully lead us to understand what motivates, excites and gives us purpose in this sport, athlete and coach burn out is real and hopefully delving into this area enables us to stay in this awesome sport for longer and be more fulfilled through our journey through it.

*5 out of the 9 Women’s World records in comparable weight classes were higher in Para Powerlifting vs the IPF, with Agata Sitko (POL) having higher World record benches in 3 of the other weight classes and Alexis Jones (USA) lifting the same 167kg as the World Record in the 84+/86+ weight category. 7 out of 7 Men’s Worlds records in comparable weight classes were higher in Para Powerlifting.