Every sport needs to attract new participants and retain those who have got exposure to that sport in the past. Powerlifting retention rates tend to be around 50%, meaning that half of the lifters who competed in a particular year had competed in the past. Is that good? I don’t know as I don’t have any retention metrics available from other activities such as pickleball, bodybuilding, etc. What do you think?
The vast majority of those who enter into a powerlifting competition never compete again. In the US, only 35% of first time powerlifters ever enter another competition.
