This past weekend I did my third powerlifting meet, USPA National Championships in Las Vegas. I started powerlifting in early 2016 and did my first competition last August, second meet in April 2017.
Background
Female, 26 yo, 5'4", ~132lb
I did martial arts (wushu) for most of my life (through college) which gave me a somewhat strong lower body but nothing specifically targeting upper body strength. I didn't start lifting weights until Nov/Dec 2015 and my starting numbers were roughly:
- S 105
- B 45
- D 185
Training
I work with a coach who does my programming, and he has me lifting 4x/week (squat 3x, bench 3x, deadlift 2x) with some of those days being heavier days and some lighter variation/technique work days. Variations include high bar squats (I squat low bar), close grip bench press, touch-and-go bench press, and 3sec pause bench press. As we got closer to the meet the variations and volume went down to get more specific to the main lifts and the intensity/actual weight lifted (as a percentage of my 1RM) went up.
Since my last meet (S 220/B 132/D303), my all-time best lifts were:
- Squat: 220.5lb (in competition)
- Bench: 140lb (not paused)
- Deadlift: 325lb conventional, with the grind of my life
I tweaked my lower back earlier this year and had to lay off of pulling anything super heavy conventional, so I decided to give sumo deadlifts a try and see if it would work for me and allow my back to recover better. I also worked with my coach closely to refine technique for this since I only had 3 months to work on this until my meet.
Making Weight
I usually sit around 134-136lb and compete at 132lb, so for this meet I very slowly dieted to around 133-134lb (my body is VERY stubborn about losing weight and doesn't fluctuate very much) before water loading about a week out. I did this by tracking my meals in MFP, eating less processed foods, keeping my protein to roughly 1g/lb BW (~130g/day, sometimes less sometimes more). I was able to drop 0.5lb every 2 weeks on average, so I was dieting for about 4-5 weeks.
I also only lose about 1.5-2% of my body weight through water loading, so I try to get as close to competition weight as possible before that. I also don't really follow the standard protocol because it hasn't worked that well for me before, so I'm not going to post exactly what I did since it probably won't be that helpful for anyone learning how to water load properly lol. Just follow one of the standard templates since it'll work for most people. Ultimately I ended up weighing in at 59.0kg (~130.1lb) with a 24-hour weigh-in and spent the rest of day drinking water/Gatorade and replenishing carbs and some protein, keeping fats low-ish.
MEET DAY:
Squat
100kg/220.5lb (good lift)
105kg/231.5lb (good lift)
110kg/242.5lb (good lift)
(Video)
Squats have always been a struggle for me, and I only hit a suuuuuuper grindy 235lb in the gym a couple weeks prior, so I was ecstatic to hit 242.
Bench
60kg/132.3lb (good lift)
62.5kg/137.8lb (good lift)
65kg/143.3lb (good lift)
(Video)
Bench had been super finicky until I started this meet prep, and my PR had been stuck at 140 since last October (granted, that wasn't a paused rep) so I was SO relieved to be able to get 143 on the platform.
Deadlift
142.5kg/314.2lb (good lift)
150kg/330.7lb (no lift)
150kg/330.7lb (good lift)
(Video)
I switched to sumo after my last meet in April, so I've only been working on this stance for 3 months and hadn't hit anything heavy enough that required grinding out or so much patience off the floor, so the 330.7lb psyched me out a little when it didn't come up after I pulled for about a second (it felt way longer though). I dropped the slack a little before finally pulling it up but got called for downward movement so I took it again for my third attempt and got it.
Summary
Overall, I went 8/9 with a total of 325kg/716.5lb, set meet PRs and lifetime PRs on all 3 lifts, and got a Wilks score of 367.09. I added more to my total between April and July than I did between August 2016 and April 2017, so I'm excited to see how I'll continue to progress. I don't have another meet lined up yet, so I'll be working on building my total for the next several months (I really want a 400 Wilks!) and see where things go from there.
Background
Female, 26 yo, 5'4", ~132lb
I did martial arts (wushu) for most of my life (through college) which gave me a somewhat strong lower body but nothing specifically targeting upper body strength. I didn't start lifting weights until Nov/Dec 2015 and my starting numbers were roughly:
- S 105
- B 45
- D 185
Training
I work with a coach who does my programming, and he has me lifting 4x/week (squat 3x, bench 3x, deadlift 2x) with some of those days being heavier days and some lighter variation/technique work days. Variations include high bar squats (I squat low bar), close grip bench press, touch-and-go bench press, and 3sec pause bench press. As we got closer to the meet the variations and volume went down to get more specific to the main lifts and the intensity/actual weight lifted (as a percentage of my 1RM) went up.
Since my last meet (S 220/B 132/D303), my all-time best lifts were:
- Squat: 220.5lb (in competition)
- Bench: 140lb (not paused)
- Deadlift: 325lb conventional, with the grind of my life
I tweaked my lower back earlier this year and had to lay off of pulling anything super heavy conventional, so I decided to give sumo deadlifts a try and see if it would work for me and allow my back to recover better. I also worked with my coach closely to refine technique for this since I only had 3 months to work on this until my meet.
Making Weight
I usually sit around 134-136lb and compete at 132lb, so for this meet I very slowly dieted to around 133-134lb (my body is VERY stubborn about losing weight and doesn't fluctuate very much) before water loading about a week out. I did this by tracking my meals in MFP, eating less processed foods, keeping my protein to roughly 1g/lb BW (~130g/day, sometimes less sometimes more). I was able to drop 0.5lb every 2 weeks on average, so I was dieting for about 4-5 weeks.
I also only lose about 1.5-2% of my body weight through water loading, so I try to get as close to competition weight as possible before that. I also don't really follow the standard protocol because it hasn't worked that well for me before, so I'm not going to post exactly what I did since it probably won't be that helpful for anyone learning how to water load properly lol. Just follow one of the standard templates since it'll work for most people. Ultimately I ended up weighing in at 59.0kg (~130.1lb) with a 24-hour weigh-in and spent the rest of day drinking water/Gatorade and replenishing carbs and some protein, keeping fats low-ish.
MEET DAY:
Squat
100kg/220.5lb (good lift)
105kg/231.5lb (good lift)
110kg/242.5lb (good lift)
(Video)
Squats have always been a struggle for me, and I only hit a suuuuuuper grindy 235lb in the gym a couple weeks prior, so I was ecstatic to hit 242.
Bench
60kg/132.3lb (good lift)
62.5kg/137.8lb (good lift)
65kg/143.3lb (good lift)
(Video)
Bench had been super finicky until I started this meet prep, and my PR had been stuck at 140 since last October (granted, that wasn't a paused rep) so I was SO relieved to be able to get 143 on the platform.
Deadlift
142.5kg/314.2lb (good lift)
150kg/330.7lb (no lift)
150kg/330.7lb (good lift)
(Video)
I switched to sumo after my last meet in April, so I've only been working on this stance for 3 months and hadn't hit anything heavy enough that required grinding out or so much patience off the floor, so the 330.7lb psyched me out a little when it didn't come up after I pulled for about a second (it felt way longer though). I dropped the slack a little before finally pulling it up but got called for downward movement so I took it again for my third attempt and got it.
Summary
Overall, I went 8/9 with a total of 325kg/716.5lb, set meet PRs and lifetime PRs on all 3 lifts, and got a Wilks score of 367.09. I added more to my total between April and July than I did between August 2016 and April 2017, so I'm excited to see how I'll continue to progress. I don't have another meet lined up yet, so I'll be working on building my total for the next several months (I really want a 400 Wilks!) and see where things go from there.
I know if that happened to me it would definitely affect my other lifts, so don't be too hard on yourself! I'm sure you'll come back and kill it at your next meet