[Meet Report] USPA National Powerlifting Championships 2017 - July 7 2017 - 325kg/717lb @ 59kg/130lb | 367.09 Wilks | F26 | Raw

[ukjk]

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.

 

[johnnyjayyy]

@ukjk Awesome job! 8/9 is so great! Especially such a large meet and it only being your 3rd meet. I'm glad this meet treated some well, cause it did not treat me all that great! Were you on the red platform? I didn't see you and tried to pay attention to most lifters!

 

[ukjk]

@johnnyjayyy Thank you!! Yep I was on red platform, flight B. Which flight/platform were you?

 

[johnnyjayyy]

@ukjk Flight C, Blue platform. Judging was HARSH! I was expecting a bit of difficulty, but wow. Squats and I did not get along at all that day. I had to get an 890 total to qualify. I did that in October with a 926 total. I ended Friday with an 865lb total. Not my best performance for sure.

 

[ukjk]

@johnnyjayyy Yeah, I saw a lot of squats get called that day 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

 

[ntombelasbo]

@ukjk Loved reading this. I'm 32 and about the same height and weight. I got into lifting right before I got pregnant with my older daughter so I've had a lot of starts and stops. I had my second daughter five months ago and I've been doing a lot of Oly lifting since having her, but I haven't seen much improvement in my strength, which has been disappointing. I train with a barbell club and the coaches like to have us work on parts of a lift and rarely do we ever just work the entire lift. Our strength days (done on our own) incorporate squats, but push presses and deadlifts are usually with a snatch grip.
I consider myself a newb because of all of the interruptions with my lifting and would love to see some significant strength gains. Maybe I need to consider some new programming. Would love thoughts from you all on this.

 

[ukjk]

@ntombelasbo Hmm I wouldn't be able to tell you much about Olympic weightlifting specifically, but I do know that the movements themselves are even more technical than PL movements, so it's great that you're working with coaches IRL on it to refine the movements. I've heard that PRs come a little more slowly in WL compared to PL because of the technical nature, but I only have anecdotal evidence from friends to support that. I also think programming does make a difference. What does your programming look like now? Are you progressively adding on weight over time? Doing that will allow your body to adapt and get stronger. Accessory work can be beneficial for any strength sport too. The more muscle you build, the more efficiently you can move weight around.

 

[bubblegum2021]

@ukjk Great meet, congratulations. I loved reading this and I definitely loved the enthusiasm and support of the guy filming you (I assume he's your SO, apologies if not the case), he sounds lovely!

 

[ukjk]

@bubblegum2021 Thank you! Hahaha my SO was actually my handler who was yelling at me behind me for my deadlifts. You can see him in the bottom right corner very animatedly yelling at me to get my last bench attempt up too. You just can't hear him as well because of my very obnoxious friend who was filming me XD he's just that enthusiastic about literally everything LOLOL. He's actually pretty damn strong himself though, he competed the next day at 148lb and totaled 1200+lb.

But you do bring up a good point - I had a whole team supporting me at this meet which made it that much more fun. My boyfriend is my handler and makes sure I have enough water, Gatorade, snacks, food, and tells me when I should start warming up. I had a couple different friends help film my lifts and they were all cheering me on during my attempts. The powerlifting community is super supportive in that way and I've made some really good friends through it

 

[bubblegum2021]

@ukjk Aww, that sounds awesome! Great team, definitely makes competition just a bit easier and less stressful having such amazing people around!