Less than a year after getting involved in powerlifting, Grande Prairie’s Kaity Sparks is already preparing for her first national powerlifting competition.
This week, Sparks will be competing at the 2016 Powerlifting Nationals in Regina and representing Team Alberta in the 57kg junior division.
“I think the best part about it is the strength. It’s really cool,” recalled Sparks, of the last year.
“It’s one thing to see muscle gains and to see your body change and stuff, but it’s another thing to see people squat two or three times their bodyweight and to pull crazy numbers off the ground. You get a little high every time you hit a new PR and the powerlifting community in general is just super supportive.”
After her first ever powerlifting competition in June 2015, Sparks then went on to take first in her category at the Alberta Provincial Championships in Calgary.
Now, she’s training six days a week in preparation for Nationals.
“I’ve been doing pretty good so far. I’m just doing the last little bit of weight cut, so it’s a little bit stressful, but we’ve started tapering off, so I start not lifting as much this week and ya, it’s just a lot of mental stuff at this point and just trying to stay focused…,” said Sparks.
“I think the mental part is harder than physically getting ready, for myself anyways, and not psyching myself out before I get on the platform and just being aware of what I’m capable of and figuring out what I’m going to be capable of.”
Sparks trains at Winston’s Health and Fitness Centre with a group of local powerlifters. Within the group is Sexsmith’s Darwin Eckstrom, who will also be competing at Nationals in Regina in the Men’s Equipped 120kg event. Eckstrom has previously competed at several provincial, western and national powerlifting competitions .
Sparks said she’s been able to learn a lot by training alongside an experienced powerlifter in Eckstrom.
“A lot of the mental game comes from Darwin and he’s just always there. He’s always your support.. whenever you’re having a day or whenever you need to tell someone about your most recent PR, that’s who you go to because he pumps you up and he kind of keeps you going,” she said.
At Nationals, Sparks will be up against British Columbia’s Rachel Anyi. Alberta’s Alexandra Stodalka, and Ontario’s Kelly Lien.
“Nationals just seems a little surreal (right now),” said Sparks.
“I would like to squat 250 pounds, which would be a double body weight squad, which would be a major PR. I would like to bench 132 in the competition style because I’ve hit it in the gym before, but I haven’t actually done it on the platform. And, my major goal at this one is to pull over 300 pounds in my deadlift.”
Sparks said her approach to Nationals is taking it as a learning experience and noted she wouldn’t be “mentally game” for World’s if she qualified, noting competing on the international stage requires a much different training regiment.
Sparks said her plan later this year is to compete at Western’s and potentially, location-dependent, the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships.
Courtesy of: Daily Herald Tribune