Yesterday we hosted the November Novices here. We had a great number of volunteers meaning that we could run it like a fully sanctioned competition. 
Meaning that our lifters could do it without the intimidation, or fear of a full competition. (Not that there should be anything to be scared or intimidated of).

We had 8 lifters in the end, as some people had to pull out due to injury or illness. But the standard was high! Most people got a total, and the one that didn't definitely understood what they need to work on for next time. 

I just want to take this moment to thank all of the volunteers, lifters and spectators again - they all came together to make an excellent atmosphere, full of support, for the day. I'm very happy with, and grateful for,  all of them! 

As a NWPL affiliated club we can host fully fledged competitions, and we do so with the next one being July of 2025. However, we recognise that on a grassroots level there isn't a lot on offer for powerlifting competitions at the moment (particularly after the IPF rule updates over the last few years). 

So, our aim is to offer competitions that may seem a little less intimidating, friendly and easy to access for a new lifter. We do this with Novice competitions, club competitions and charity events/competitions. 

We also try to offer this on a membership/coaching level with our Strength Training Trial and options like that. A lot of our lifters initially come to the gym just to get a bit stronger but then they see that powerlifting is fun, and competing with yourself can be productive.

Grassroots in powerlifting, and weightlifting - which we also offer, headed by Coach Beá - is super important. The sports both grow well, but that growth can be maintained and the lifters involved can be supported by events and continued projects like what we aim to offer.  

We want to ensure the future of powerlifting, and strength sports in general, are in good hands. So, we're doing our best to coach, mentor, advise and put on events to encourage this. 

What would you like to see in regards to this? What events? What coaching or gym options? 
Let us know in the comments, or send us an email! 

As always, thank you for reading! If you want more information on the gym or coaching then please check out more of the website! 

Since opening the Barbell Club, one of the things we wanted to focus more upon was education. So, far we have achieved this with things like the Barbell Club Mentorship (both the in person and online options) and with seminars and workshops. In the past we've had Dr Richie Kirwan in to talk about nutrition for the strength athlete, Chloe Brennan in to talk about her experience in strength training and strong woman, Bobbie Butters in twice to talk about her personal experience as well as her PhD research in the menstrual cycle and strength training. Most recently we had Matthew Brown in to talk about Pain and Injury Management. 

You can see from the above that Matthew is uniquely qualified to explain the concepts of pain and injury, as well as teach us how to manage and adapt with pain and injury. 

This was the first thing that Matthew asked us - what is pain? It became apparent that it wasn't an immediately straightforward answer. The answers amongst the group essentially said that it was the brains response to a perceived signal of damage. 
But then we look further into it, a bigger pain response does not necessarily mean more damage. And, some cases may even have no damage but result in some kind of pain, and other cases will be the opposite. 
So, straight away it is worth understanding that pain is not a simple concept. It can be a mixture of the physical feeling of damage and the brain's response to it. 

How we feel, or interpret, pain can be affected by biological, sociological or physical factors too. How we're raised, the people around us as well as the actual damage we've incurred can all affect our pain responses. Understanding this can be crucial during rehabilitation from an injury as catastrophising, or even the opposite - not taking it as seriously, can effect our recovery. The former could make it seem worse than it is, whereas the latter could lead to exacerbating it further due to training more intensely than we should. 

We used to be told to follow the RICE protocol - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. However, this is a little outdated, and we're now told to focus on PEACE and LOVE - Protection, Elevation, Avoid anti inflammatories, Compression, Education and Load, Optimise, Vascularisation, Exercise. 
You can see from this that we have gone from a focus on resting and icing injuries to focusing on moving, loading and getting some blood flow going in that area (obviously, this depends on the severity and definition of the injury). A lot of people will avoid movements entirely due to pain, or more succinctly - the fear of pain. While you may have to adjust some movements - maybe a shorter range of motion, tempo work, lighter weights, etc - it is not always best to just rest. 

Getting some movement in, or even just adapting training around the injury is imperative to encourage recovery. As well as this, the psychological effect of keeping your routine and habits in place can be super important. 

It is not uncommon to come back from an injury and be incredibly cautious around certain movements, or things that affect the previously injured area. As established above, our level of pain is more due to a brain signal than it is necessarily to do with actual level of damage - and this can present as a pain occurring in an area that is no longer injured. 
Anecdotally, I have seen lifters in the past recover from an injury but then either feel completely under confident with movements relating to that area, or suffer tightness in that area a lot more easily. This can be due to the brain essentially panicking and trying to protect you - when this happens it is often a case of gently pushing that area to convince your brain that it is actually okay. 

Pain isn't just a case of damage = signal. It can be different for different people.
​If you are unfortunate enough to get injured or suffer pain then you should 100% get checked out by a healthcare professional (for most strength athletes you're best seeing a sports physiotherapist or something similar, rather than a GP or an A+E doctor). But after this, you should find a way to get back into training, even if it is completely adapted. Movement is good and "rehab is just training in the presence of injury." Rehab isn't a magic form of training, it is just an adapted version of it. 

Injuries and pain suck. But that isn't the nail in the coffin for your training - you will just need to find a way to train around it and progress from there.

If you do get injured, please do get it checked out, but also don't just give up on your training goals. 

​Thanks for reading. I hope this helps! 

​You can check Matt out here - 

You can check this out here -