Amanda Lawrence Dominated USAPL Nationals While Injured

Powerlifting world champ Amanda Lawrence absolutely crushed it at last weekend’s USAPL Raw Nationals. A force to be reckoned with in the women’s -84kg category, the Minnesota native hit a 552.3-pound squat, 253.5-pound bench press, and 545.6-pound deadlift for a 1,351.4-pound total. She took gold in the competition and set an unofficial squat world record, surpassing her own 535.7-pound record from International Powerlifting Federation World Classic Championships in June.

Lawrence’s total weight lifted also tied the world-record total she hit at IPF Worlds, but she’s not satisfied just yet. In an Instagram post after the competition, she revealed that two and a half weeks before Raw Nationals, she strained her right upper hamstring tendon and wasn’t even sure she’d make the meet.

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Honestly couldn’t be any happier, this past weekend was absolutely incredible! I wanted to take the time to thank everyone who was out there to support me, whether it be friends, family, coaches, sponsors, fans, etc. It honestly means the world to me to have y’all by my side and I couldn’t do it without each and every one of you! ♥️???????? I’m excited to get healthy again and back to training for the next meet! Some of you may not know, but about 2.5 weeks out from the meet I strained my right upper hamstring tendon pretty bad and didn’t know if I’d even make it into the meet. Obviously the goal is to continue improving meet after meet, which we were absolutely on track to do so prior to this injury, but to still be able to match my WR total going 6/9 I can’t be disappointed with. There is so much more to come. This is just the beginning chapter of this legacy. #NeverQuit #NationalChamp Meet recap coming soon!

A post shared by Amanda Lawrence (@miss.amanda.ann) on Oct 21, 2019 at 12:15pm PDT

Despite the injury, Lawrence pushed through. She only hit six of her nine lift attempts—all three squats, one bench press, and two deadlifts—but she still managed to match her world-record total thanks to her squat.

She also posted an Instagram slideshow of the videos, which you can check out below:

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USAPL RAW NATS ‘19 RECAP Squat: 250.5kg/552lbs AR/Unofficial WR (3/3) Bench: 115kg/253.5lbs (1/3) Deadlift: 247.5kg/545.5lbs (2/3) Total: 613kg/1351lbs tied AR/WR BW: 83.41kg/183.9lbs Points: 936.16 IPF/548.58 Wilks Gold Finish -84kg Open and Junior Best Overall Open and Junior Female Highest IPF Points Man or Woman To say that I was happy with my performance this past weekend I’d be lying. By the way this prep had been going, this meet was looking to be a historical performance. I’ve dealt with small injures here and there over the years, but nothing to the extent of what was happened two weeks out from the meet. Sure, I cried, I complained, I was bummed, but I had two choices: to quit or to keep going. I was never raised as a quitter. So there I decided that I was going to show up regardless of the outcome. I was all over the place the last few weeks of training not knowing whether or not I’d be able to squat or deadlift. @joeyflexx7 was having to makeshift my whole program to get me to do whatever I could. I was seeing my physical therapist @therealjonheger almost daily to try to rehab my hamstring. && the list goes on. Needless to say, I made it out to the platform and did what I could. Going 6/9 was not an incredible performance by any means, but it’s what I did. Squats were honestly the only thing I was proud of from this meet. Bench was going amazing in training this past prep and we were looking to hit a big PR on it in the meet, but I ended up getting red lighted on my second attempt for a butt lift with 122.5kg/270lbs and then missed taking it again on my third. By the time deadlifts came around I was in quite some pain, but still pushed through. I ended up getting called for downward motion on my third pull at 253kg/557.8lbs, which would’ve chipped my AR/WR by 0.5 a kilo. This has never happened to me in training, I just felt super unbalanced. If there’s anything I’ve learned from this past meet is that you have to train to the absolute standard and anticipate for the worst. Nothing will be left overlooked this next prep. Be ready to see my final form in March. Thank you and love you all! Couldn’t do it without your support! ♥️

A post shared by Amanda Lawrence (@miss.amanda.ann) on Oct 23, 2019 at 3:19pm PDT

Lawrence seems to be getting stronger by the minute, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store once she’s back at 100 percent. After all, she didn’t even need to hit her current goals to match her relatively new world record.

Follow Lawrence on Instagram at @miss.amanda.ann to keep up with her recovery and latest lifts.