On to the next one

WORLAND - Of the many great things about athletics is the confrontation with failure. Every athlete, from the amateur to the pro ranks, has dealt with failure and it's how each athlete deals with failure that will determine their future success.

Worland powerlifter Alejandra Rice ran into failure while competing at the USPA National Powerlifting Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 13. The Worland High School junior failed her second squat attempt, a first for her, and later on, failed her second and third deadlift attempts.

"That was rough but I still made it. It was really depressing because I've never failed anything in my competitions. I was really upset about my squat attempt, I've never failed one before and Randall [Homan] was trying to calm me down. I got the third one easy but it just put a lot of pressure on everything. If I didn't get that squat I was going to have to go up on my bench and deadlift to make up for it. I just told myself I have to make this there is no going back," said Rice.

Even with the failed lifts, Rice was able to persevere and win the 82.5kg junior division in the women's raw powerlifting.

Along with winning, Rice kept improving on the bench press. The bench press has been an area of weakness for Rice ever since she started competing. At the start, her max weight was in the 115 to 120-pound range. In Vegas, she was able to lift 148 pounds. For her squat and deadlift, she hit 286 pounds and 308, respectively.

"There's been a lot of progression. I could barely hit 120 but now I'm going up to 155," said Rice when talking about the bench press.

At nationals, Rice got the opportunity to see some of the best talent in powerlifting world in action. Seeing that talent was inspiring, but nerve-racking as well. In one hand, she was able to see how some of the best in the nation compete but in the other, it won't be long before she's competing against that top talent.

"It let me know I definitely have to step it up, otherwise I'm going to lose if I don't get it together," said Rice. "There was this one Hawaiian lady that was really good. When she went up there everyone thought she wasn't going to do well but then she started busting out all of these world records. It was ridiculous. Then there was this 24-year-old and she squatted something like 500 pounds. There were a lot of strong and talented people there. The crazy thing is they'd squat 500 pounds and their face had no emotion."

Rice will be moving into the 16-19 age division and after collecting medal after medal in the younger divisions the past few years, she knows now that the competition is going to get harder. Knowing that she's already begun training for her next competition.

"It's a lot like when you're an eighth-grader and you're at the top of the food chain in middle school but then you move to high school and you have to start from the bottom. That's how I feel now, I was the top of my age division but now I'm 16 and I'm at the bottom of it. I don't like losing and I believe that's what keeps me wanting to get better," said Rice.

Before making the jump to the 16-19 age division, Rice usually waited until four weeks out from competition to start training. That won't work in this tougher division and it is why Rice, with help from her trainer and uncle Randall Homan, started training two weeks ago.

Homan said, "We've started a 16-week program. It's a hybrid of several workouts and it was given to me by Jeff Tucker, he owns a couple of world records in bench press competitions. We've taken that and modified it and have been following that program. It's a hard program but it's a good program that's going to help her break national records. Then after that, it's on to the world records."

"It's heavy into bench press and it will be the one most to gain out of this program. The squat and deadlift will gain just by association. The bench is a more technical process where you have to treat the chest, arms, shoulders and the back individually. This program does that and in a balanced way to really start increasing your weight," added Homan.

Rice wasn't the only one to pick up a few trades of the craft from nationals. Homan also learned from other trainers and coaches.

"We're going to keep working on the mindset where we put in 1,000 percent mindset before Week 4 and then we can peak at the last little bit. That way we know when we go to these meets we're going to crush all these records. I really learned so much being a coach watching the other coaches too. It was a good learning experience and seeing what national level coaches do. So to watch that was really impressive," said Homan.

The new training regimen has been going well and while it's tough, the ends will justify the means for Rice.

"The first weeks are heavy on the weight but to become great at something you have to be willing to go through some struggles. We'll sharpen some iron," said Homan.

As for how Rice is taking to the new workout program, "I'm sore and I'm dying," she said.

The IPF World Powerlifting competition in Las Vegas is Rice's next competition and will take place on Nov. 9 at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino.