Gay lift

From overhead presses to bench lifts and everything in between, Kevin shows what happens when a true muscle god enters the room. For my second attempt, I considered 335, but then Anna hit her lift. Do I open heavy so I can make small jumps on the way to my new (fingers crossed) PR? Or do I go light to get some momentum? The fitness world loves to lecture about competing against no one but yourself.

I wasn’t competing for a sponsorship or expecting to qualify for another stage of competition, but I still wanted to PR.

As I began to fret over that choice—what if Anna made her attempt and I didn’t?—I looked around at the other lifters. After Anna hit the weight, I saw that she was going to 375. Women outlift me all the time—one fellow coach’s four-rep deadlift is more than my one-rep max— but I’d never competed against them directly.

“Wow, that sure looks like a lot of weight to me!” she told the crowd. Nearly all of them were women, including a pregnant one, and many were pulling sumo style. Most of them PRed as well, and nearly everyone was smiling and high-fiving. The event was MCed by Kitty Glitter, a glitter-bearded queen in a neon green, Borat-style thong suit, and other queens performed between each of the three heats of lifters.

There were wigs and rainbow tights and a tramp stamp that said “Condragulations” in bubble letters. The block party had three things that really trigger far-right extremists: drag queens, trans people, and children. The crowd was less impressed. I found my friends, family, and boyfriend and watch a recording of my last pull. For Pride this year, we got custom t-shirts and ran our annual commemorative workout.

I exhaled and told myself it’d be okay to fail.

I approached the bar, flipped my grip, and pulled my shoulder blades down. Kevin already knows the answer - and he’s about to prove it. But I stood it up and waited for the judge to raise his hand.

I got hugs and daps from my team captain, my friend, and the other athletes in my heat.

At one point, she biceps curled a metal plate and then threw it on the ground with a loud clang.