A dozen powerlifting competitors lifted for a good cause on April 26 at the GoodLife Fitness in the South Hill Mall.
The fourth annual Lift4Kids saw competitors lift in squat, bench press and deadlift to help youth with autism and intellectual disabilities.
Jessica Zurowski the manager of the GoodLife Fitness in Prince Albert said Lift 4 Kids is a fundraiser for the Move by Good Life Kids physical activity program. The program is free, and focuses on helping youth ages 12 to 21 with autism or intellectual disabilities stay active and incorporate health and fitness into their lifestyle.
“It’s just a fun program for them to be a part of,” she said.
Zurowski said this the fourth time the Prince Albert location has hosted the event. She said that it is a fun powerlifting event meet for people with any experience level.
“There’s obviously some people that can lift really heavy, other people are just trying it out for the first time,” Zurowski said.
Zurowski is a competitive powerlifter herself and competed in all three events because no female competitors entered this year.
“Big events like this, honestly, adrenaline and the people cheering you on, actually it’s motivating,” she explained. “It helps you lift heavier. I’ve gotten my personal bests a lot at last year’s competition. Some of my personal best lifts were at that competition just from everybody cheering you on it’s just the energy and everything.”
Supplement World Prince Albert also assists with the event and acts as spotters. They also set up a booth to give out free items to competitors and the audience.
“It’s kind of a collaboration that we do locally,” Zurowski said.
There were around 12 people competing across the three events.
“Some people come out and they do all three. Squat, bench and deadlift and then some people come out and they just do one or two of them,” Zurowski explained. “I was only going to do bench this year, but because there’s not any female representation, I decided that I’m going to lift all three.”
The winner of the event won a three-month membership and based on the top competitors based by body weight. Competitors could then give the membership to somebody or use it towards their own membership.
Zurowski hopes people will be able to come support the event next year.
“I encourage anyone next year to come out and enjoy or just come watch. It’s usually the last Saturday in April. We encourage anyone to come out and just watch and cheer on the lifters too if they’re not interested in lifting themselves,” she said.
The GoodLife also did a virtual body pump class on April 23 as a fundraiser.
“If people don’t want to do this power lifting thing they also have the option to do this class,” she explained.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
