Bobbi Janzen
Excited to be doing some blogging and sharing some info with you all. My name is Bobbi Janzen. I am a female powerlifter. I have been lifting for just over a year. I am also a fitness instructor which I have been doing since 2001. On top of this I am a mom and wife. And I am visually impaired. My disability, if anything, has challenged me in a good way: to do things I may not have otherwise, and to do them differently. As my vision has declined I have taken different avenues in sport and in my career. I train 6 days a week in lifting with the guidance of an amazing coach and the support and help of my kids and husband. I instruct those in fitness goals during the day and in my spare time I revamp recipes. I love flipping baking recipes into healthier options.
Dedication. When you love something it's not hard to be dedicated. Sure, somedays you have to dig a little deeper, but you look to the big picture. Find your purpose and then dig your heels in and find that drive. I hear a lot of "I couldnt do that" or "it's too hard" or "I don't have the time."
My responses are as follows: You can do anything you want to do and set your heart to doing.
Back to the subject of mental training: I tapped into this in Orlando. This is something that has been a weak spot. I used every visualization technique and positive thought I could delve into. Not having the confidence in sport growing up makes mental training a bit harder. I chose to see each lift as light and successful, as well as see each positive attribute of my training. I wrote things down, I used my mind's eye – whatever it took. In turn, even with some nerves this was the best I felt going into a meet.
Someone told me that a person like me couldn't lift. So my job became: who is a person like me? And why CAN I lift? I like to meet challenges head on. So my journey began. I am in the final phases of prepping for the North American Powerlifting Championships. I have trained, I have devoted time to hot yoga to prepare my mind and I have eaten clean.
Am I ready? As ready as I can be. Each competition brings new mental and physical challenges and emotional hurdles. Finding the ways to deal with these is interesting. I think this time around I am better prepared.....