It has been a heck of a journey over the last 9 months and the next 2 are also shaping up to be pretty amazing. Here is my journey, from 143kg beast to 120kg lean machine.

The Weight Drop
When I got back from the world champs in Russia I made the decision to drop weight. I was convinced that I could be leaner and meaner. But I also know that it is extremely hard to drop weight and build strength simultaneously. For that reason I did not commit to any competitions in the second half of 2013. My focus was on dropping weight.

At my heaviest at the end of July 2013 I was 143kg. I began the task of cleaning up my nutrition and training with as much intensity as I could, but without any specific strength related goals. I had fixed my mind on a single goal: dropping weight and leaning up. Once I hit my target weight, I could focus on how much I was lifting. My target was to get in the under 120kg class.

I actually believe that moderating calorie intake is harder than simply drawing a line and restricting it. For example, for me, it’s easier to simply say no bread, no potatoes or white rice, no takeaways or sweets, than to allow myself some and try to limit it. I cut it back and in the process learnt a fair bit about nutrition. For example, I know that frequent small meals works much better than the traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner.

If I ate frequently my energy levels were better and I dropped weight far quicker. I also learnt that when I was training on low calories I needed to put the hardest work at the beginning of a session as my energy levels often dropped off after an hour of intense training. But I also saw training hungry and tired as a battle I could take head on.

The difficulties were challenges I did my best to take on and rise to.

The Powerlifter
A lot of people said that dropping 23kg would knock me for six. In a lot of ways it did.

Training was hard, energy was low and my changing body shape created new challenges for my technique as my centre of gravity and leverages changed.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I weighed in for the Australian open nationals at 119.85kg hungry and depleted, but never backing down.

I had a rough session a few weeks before when I attempted my openers, losing balance and getting hit in the head with a 290kg barbell. Then my attitude was to take the weight again, never back down from weight, if it beats me fair and square so be it, but I was not going to back down. In that session I went on to squat 290kg and then 300kg.

At the competition I ended up with a 315kg squat, which set a new Australian, Oceania and Commonwealth record, along with a new world masters record. I also benched 200kg and pulled a 320kg deadlift and in the process took a 835kg total, which broke the existing under 120 Australian total record by 55kg and set a new world masters total record.

This was my 8th national title and my 5th in a row as best lifter overall. I have no doubt it was the hardest for me due to the weight loss. I had trained and then competed depleted. But the encouraging thing is that now that my weight is down the prospect of training while maintaining weight (rather than losing it) is exciting.

I have 8 weeks of hard training ahead until I hit the platform in South Africa at my 3rd IPF raw world champs.

I know I am going to knock this one out of the park. I can feel it.

- Steve

Steve Pritchard is Australia's No.1 Powerlifter. He has won 7 National Powerlifting titles, 3 National and 2 Oceania Bench titles, plus a Commonwealth Powerlifting title. He finished 3rd in the 2012 Raw World Powerlifting Championships. You can read more about Steve and see what he trains with here.

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