Building up to BHM: Paulina Szymanel

Building up to BHM: Paulina Szymanel

Powerlifter Paulina Szymanel (POL) is preparing for her first edition of The World Games. “To have qualified for The World Games means everything to me,” she says. “It is an amazing opportunity for me, so I am putting all my eggs in one basket.” Szymanel is our athlete this week Building up to Birmingham!

“I was originally going to the local gym with my brother just for improving my body shape, but I always increased the weight on every exercise. Actually I did only squats, because I was afraid of doing deadlifts and bench. Sometime later, one of the coaches at the gym saw my strength and told me about Powerlifting, so I decided to give it a try, and I totally fell in love with it!” Szymanel tells. “Powerlifting has something special. I can show my strength with real numbers, and push to my limits over and over again. And I can be stronger every day, and fight sometimes for months or even years to add some 2.5kg to one lift. And it is an objective - you did something or you did not.”

Szymanel has qualified for The World Games for the first time. “I expect it to be the experience of my life. I have never been to The World Games, so I just think everything will be just perfect!” she says. If she has the time, she would love to see Breaking, which she used to do, and American Football, which she has never seen live. While she used to do Breaking, if she now had to compete in another sport at The World Games, she would choose Sport Climbing, Boulder.

The goal for 2022 is clear: a gold medal at The World Games! “I will put 100% into my preparations for the Games. It may mean me moving to another city, as my coach lives in a different place, but I could do this for The World Games,” Paulina Szymanel says.

Szymanel trains 2-4 hours per day. “In the off-season I train a lot of different moves. I train Weightlifting as well, do cardio, also do some typical strongman workouts, and try my best at animal flow and macelifting. I try to improve different energy systems, in order to be my best as an athlete. During the meet preparation, the moves are obviously closer to the three lifts: squat, bench press and deadlift and the variations of them, like pin squats/front. My favourite lift is bench press,” she says. “Powerlifting and Weightlifting have totally different movements! I do not train weightlifting in my peak training before competition.”

Besides sport, Paulina Szymanel works in sport! “I am a Powerlifting coach, but also I am studying to be a strength and conditioning coach for BJJ fighters - and I study for myself - I spend most of my spare time studying new things.” So far, she has met her career’s biggest challenge in 2021 – and still managed to qualify for The World Games 2022: “My biggest challenge so far was to continue my peak training before the most important competition of 2021 with a knee injury.

 The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association, organised with the support of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 7-17 July 2022. 3,600 athletes from 34 sports and over 100 countries will take part in The World Games.

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