(Editor's note: I had written a few questions to Bailey and she wrote this. It was fun to watch her lift)
LIFT fitness is where it all started for me. When I couldn't play basketball because of my concussion history, I turned to CrossFit, thinking it would be temporary and I would be back on the court in no time. That did not necessarily happen, so I became consistent with CrossFit starting in 2019. From there, I was all in. I signed up for competitions and started to really invest myself in the sport and the science behind it. That is when I realized I wanted to major in exercise science and become a physical therapist. When I got to college, I did not want to pay to go to a CrossFit gym, so I worked out at the campus gym doing whatever workout I could come up with in Bozeman. After I moved to Utah, I joined the "weightlifting club" at Utah Tech, the college I currently attend. I figured it would be fun to keep me busy and give me some new ideas for my workouts. Little did I know it was the Olympic Weightlifting Club. I met the coaches, and they roped me into joining the team pretty fast. Thankfully, because of Julie Myers and LIFT, I had a pretty good idea of what I was doing, but I still had so much to learn. I started with Zion Barbell Team in November of 2021 and have been with them since. I have two incredible coaches who invest so much time and energy into my team and me. One of my coaches is actually a professor in the Exercise Science department at Utah Tech, so I learn a lot from him in the gym and classroom. I came to love it because of my coaches. It is by far the most frustrating sport I have ever done, but the most rewarding. One odd thing at first was learning how to count in kilograms. All the weights we put on the bar were in kilos, and I had no idea how much I was lifting for the first few weeks. Thankfully, I am used to it now....almost so used to it that I don't know how to count in pounds very well!
I just returned from Columbus, Ohio, where I competed at the USA Weightlifting University National Championships at the Arnold Sports Festival. Essentially, it is a bunch of college students lifting as heavy as possible. The cool part about University Nationals is that all of us are focused on the same things; getting our degrees and lifting heavy. I worked on lab reports on the plane and studied for exams between lifting sessions. You could see other competitors doing the same, sitting in the halls, in their weightlifting shoes, with their laptops open, and turning in assignments before taking on the competition platform.
We perform the two Olympic lifts in our competitions: the snatch, clean, and jerk. We get three attempts at each lift, aiming to go as heavy as possible. We have judges that make sure we lift properly, and they ultimately decide if the lift should count or not. For scoring, they take the heaviest weight you raised in the snatch and the clean and jerk portions, add them together, and whoever has the highest number wins. We also compete in weight classes and age groups. For this meet, I was competing in the 64-kilogram weight class and only lifted against other girls in college. To qualify for this meet, you had to lift a certain amount to be allowed to compete. Qualifying for this was one of my big goals for 2023! I got to check that one off the list! I ended up snatching 60 kilograms and clean and jerking 86 kilograms. The clean and jerk was a personal record for me, which is always exciting to achieve on the competition platform. I made 2 of my 3 snatches, but only one counted. The judges decided that my 2nd attempt at 63 kilograms would not count because my arms were not completely straight at the top of my lift. That was a bummer, but I still technically made the lift; it just didn't officially count for my score.
I attempted 63 kilograms one more time but missed that. For the clean and jerks, I made all three of my attempts, and I was so happy about my personal record on my final attempt that I skipped off the stage and jumped to my coach, almost knocking him over! I qualified for another National Meet in June, another big goal for 2023. The meet in June is harder to qualify for, so I am ecstatic that I get to go! I placed 2nd overall in my session, won the clean and jerk, and got 2nd in the snatch. I was in the top 12 of all girls that are in my weight class. Pretty good day!
When I started Olympic lifting last year, I never thought I would stick with it, but I am fully invested here. Like CrossFit, I thought it would be a temporary activity to keep my competitive nature up, but now I want to do this sport as long as my body allows. I have some big goals set for the next year, and with the help of my coaches, I think they will be reached pretty soon! This sport is intimidating, and lifting a weight that is 100% of what you can do in front of a massive crowd really gets your adrenaline going. It has forced me to work on the mental aspect of the sport. For me, this meet was the best I have done, not only physically but also mentally. I am so thankful for LIFT fitness in Big Sandy, my coaches and teammates at Zion Barbell Team, my husband and mom who came with me to support me, and everyone that watched and cheered me on from afar. I felt the love and support from my community, so thank you! If you have not tried weightlifting, I highly recommend it. You don't have to compete or lift 100+ pounds to see and feel the benefits. LIFT fitness leads you in the right direction, and you might discover a new passion when you start!
