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I've been a powerlifter for a few years now. Whenever I go traveling for significant periods of time, I generally take some lifting equipment with me, including squat shoes, lifting belt, gym chalk, and protein powder. I should add that I don't really look like a powerlifter. I have no visible muscle and weigh like 95 pounds at 5'3''.
So anyways my boyfriend and I are going through airport security, and he grabs me really rough and suddenly to get me out of the way of someone's swinging suitcase. I see TSA look at us a little more closely but don't think anything of it.
Then we get stopped because our bags contain chalk and protein powder, so they needed to go through our bags. Note I'm wearing a crop top, and I guess it came up a bit while my arms were raised while going through security. There's a couple large bruises above my abdomen where I brace against my lifting belt while deadlifting.
So the same TSA agent asks me to come with her, and once we're far enough away from everyone else, she asks me if I'm safe, if I'm being held against my will, and if there's someone she could call for me. I'm really confused and kind of nervous, but tell her nothing is wrong. She noted how my boyfriend had grabbed me earlier. I told her he was moving me out of the way of someone else's suitcase.
Then she mentions the bruise above my stomach. And I say "Oh, no worries. That's just belt marks."
She looks even more alarmed at that, and I think she called for backup. I hang out with so many gym rats that I forget normal people don't associate "belt" with lifting. The combination of random powders in my suitcase, plus the bruises, plus the grabbing had set off this woman's alarms, and I think she thought I was some kind of trafficking victim. I quickly realize my mistake, and try to explain that I'm a powerlifter, and the belt mark was from a lifting belt.
I don't think they quite bought this explanation at first, and I see a few more security agents approaching us, as well as my boyfriend. I'm a little panicked because I don't want to cause a scene or seem more suspicious when we had never actually done anything wrong. TSA lady tells me if I need help, just let her know and she would keep us separated. So my brilliant idea was to get into a deadlift position and deadlift my ~5 pound backpack. I don't really know what I was thinking, but thankfully at this point, TSA had finished testing the protein powder and chalk and had verified that it was not cocaine, so they let us go.
I told my boyfriend about this, and we're laughing about it now, but I think next time, we're not going to bring protein powder or chalk with us to the airport.
TL;DR: I deadlifted my backpack in the middle of airport security trying to prove I wasn't being abused or trafficked
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