One day after I turned 32, I did my second powerlifting meet

feleb

New member
tl;Dr

I weighed in at 87.3kg, for the 93kg weight class, and finished with a split of 157.5/100/182.5 for SBD which translates to 346.5lbs for squat, 220lbs for bench, and 402.4lbs for deadlift for a 968lb total. I took 3rd place.



BACKGROUND

This would be my second powerlifting meet, and I had a lot of things to work on since that time because I had neglected strength development and conditioning in exchange for a higher total, so I came out of it very detrained, and I came into this meet in a higher weight class.



TRAINING

I don't really follow a program. I did a lot of drop sets with squat, bench, and deadlift, to build my conditioning, and, ran into some issues with recovery after a few months and missed a few progressions as I was trying to avoid using 5lb and 10lb plates. Some of that training can be seen here



Deadlift drop set starting at 405x5

Squat drop set starting at 315x5



When that avenue of progress was exhausted, I started doing a lot of work in the 10rm range, and I focused on just building a baseline of strength. I would look at what I did the previous week, and just do more than last time, and I work from the heavir weight to a lighter weight. At some point, my 10 rm training total was the same as my 5rm training total, and I had hit 335lbs x 4 for squat squats and 355x1 for squat in preparation for this meet. After August 22nd came around, I started a new job with 12 hour days and was only able to train every other week. Still, I was gaining strength.



THE MEET

I ended up in a fairly competitive weight class, with 6 lifters in the 93kg class. One actually had signed up about 5 minutes before weigh ins, paid the membership fee for USAPL and the meet entrance fee. It was his first meet so it was interesting to see his picks for attempts. I had everything planned out more or less ahead of time what others were doing didn't influence me too much. Still, having access to the scoreboard in the warm up was a great way of watching the meet while waiting for my turn. I was in flight B and assumed wrongly that I was going to have time to warm up, so I sat back and watched the 74kg men and under as well as the women lift.



THE LIFTS: 7/9

SQUATS: 152.5kg hit, 157.5kg hit, 165kg miss

Oh, man. Was I wrong about the whole time to warm up thing. They went right into flight B from flight A, and I was about 4th in line. Everyone was warming up by then and I had no free space or even the time to do. Both the 152.5kg and 157.5kg hits were cold, but they felt solid as heck and so I decided my third attempt I would go for 165kg instead of 162.5kg. I ended up losing balance on the top of the lift and my heels came up, so the spotters just took it. Still, its a 5kg PR so I'm happy.



BENCH: 92.5kg hit, 100kg miss, 100kg hit

Honestly just frustrating here. I really wanted to finish with 105kg, and I was able to open higher than previously as a result of my training, but when I attempted 100kg the second time around my hamstring started tightening and I racked before the command as a result. I was going to just pass the third attempt to avoid injury but I couldn't just leave 7.5kg on the table. tried it again and just made sure I waited for the rack command this time.

DEADLIFTS: 155kg hit, 170lk hit, 182.5kg hit

I started off light because I wanted to at least have a score and I was having some issues pulling in training. Mainly, I was having issues pulling 405lbs in training, and then even 375lbs and then even 365lbs. In the meet, I wasn't actually even sure if I had 170kg in me, and I definitely wasn't sure about 182.5kg, but I just went in and ripped the hell out of it, for a 2.5kg PR.

RESULTS

South Side Fall Classic results

My lifter profile

I left with a 7.5kg increase to my total, took third place out of 6, and, being right in the middle of this weight class, feel that I probably have a lot of room for growth. Work will continue to be a challenge for training until I can get a home gym, so I'm happy I walked away with anything, honestly. Taking 3rd place in a meet with more than 3 lifters in my class was exhilarating.



LESSONS LEARNED

Pick openers that will put you on the board. One guy bombed out and his attempts would have put him in first place, and me at 4th.

Pick something you know you can hit any day of the week because you never know when warm ups will just not go the way you want. Perhaps the next greatest feeling besides placing was actually just going out, and hitting the squats without a warm up.

Also, most of my goals would have been, or were, met by the second lift. The third attempts I had saved for PRs and didn't really worry too much if I had hit it or missed. Getting PRs in squats and deadlifts and a total PR does feel very nice, though.
 
@feleb This is a great write up. Shame it isn’t getting more attention. Are you just planning to stick with powerlifting competitions or do you have something else like strongman in mind in the future?
 
@manatus22 Well I want to compete in powerlifting around twice a year. I would love to do strongman also if I had access to a strongman gym or was just stronger in general.
 
@feleb Don’t get too hung up on getting super strong or needing access to all the implements. I did my first show and all I had access to from the show was a keg. The show had a semi truck pull, car deadlift, rolling thunder, husafell and keg press. Just go and have fins You can do pretty well just getting as strong as YOU can. They have a novice division scaled down for this reason so just enter and see how you like competing like that. It’s different than powerlifting in that you’re testing all facets of athleticism. Just because you’re deadlift isn’t top notch you might be really fast at moving events. It’s all about points and not always maximal strength. Pretty much every show will have a deadlift type of event, a press and probably a carrying/moving event.
No one will look down on you for 0ing an event and you can ask fellow competitors how to even do the event. I’ve talked strategy with a fellow competitor because neither one of us had tried the event we were about to do. If you find you enjoy it then start a plan to get more familiar with events. Most gyms have “strongman days” where you can play with the stuff for a small fee so even once a week or 2x a month to start is better than nothing.
 
@dawn16 Thanks.

Honestly I would really just need farmers implements and maybe a stronger press. Then I could consider strongman.

The gym I go to is packed full of machines. There's a bench and two power racks but those are rarely used . Not the greatest place but it works.
 
@manatus22 It sorta goes in waves around here. I’ve prob soured ppl on the lifting and competitive aspect of it lol I’m too much for some ppl so now nobody gets attention for doing something awesome like this.
 
@dawn16 I think some people don't compete because they want to "win their first powerlifting meet". Or they see the world records and think they're going up against those people or any number of things.

When in reality anything can happen and sometimes a meet has three lifters in a class. Meet experience is really valuable.
 
@feleb Agree totally. You need to experience everything and just absorb the whole atmosphere lol. You can learn many things just by observing what everyone else is doing.

It’s scary a bit to enter a meet or a show and put yourself out there not knowing exactly the outcome. And you’re right anything can happen and I’ve seen high level guys drop a weight they should’ve nailed and left the door open for someone else to win. It’s part of the fun of competitive sports right? Lol
 
@dawn16 I never fully relax until I open my deadlift up, because I could go 6/6 at that point and bomb out on reads and still get a 0.
 
@dawn16 Oh, man! The announcer actually literally said that after the meet was over, haha! I just assumed it was from all the energy in the room that the crowd built up. I had to watch from the scoreboard which was an Excel sheet updated in real time so really only was able to get glimpses since only so many rows would fit on the screen.
 
@feleb Awesome work man! Love seeing ppl get out of their comfort zone and test themselves. You have my respect 100%. Planning to do more meets?
 
@dawn16 Thanks. I plan on competing twice a year. Goal is to make it to qualify for Nationals and then worlds honestly. Also thinking that, since I didn't do a lot of peaking for this event, the next time I go I can get more than a 7.5kg increase. I know though that as long as I build my total overtime it will happen eventually.
 
@feleb Sounds like a solid plan. I’m still trying to figure out the peaking thing as well. I planned it perfect for one comp (provincials) then qualified for nationals like 4 weeks later and it was hard to peak again so quickly. Still did alright for my first year but I have the same goal of shooting for an international comp. I’ll need to win or place second at my nationals to qualify. For strongman not powerlifting though.
 
@dawn16 I don't like the peaking phase so much, and will probably try to just skip it again if possible.

I did a little bit when I ended up hitting 355x1 on squats, but hitting maximal weights just hurts, in my opinion.
 
@feleb Yes it does. All my training is submax. I save the big attempts for comp day. Our theory at my gym is try to bring your low end weights/lifts up and you should automatically boost the top end. So We shoot for rep PRs . This week of course I did hit a 1rm on my strict log but that’s mainly because we’re trying to sort out where I’m at with that and develop the next wave cycle.
 
@dawn16 Yeah that's mostly what I did, just brought up my floor on SBD and ended up with a floor that was my previous max on squats, and started heavier on bench. 100kg went up a lot easier and we're it not for hamstrings pretty sure I could have gotten 105kg. Luckily I was also just strong when it was time to deadlift because I was having issues there.
 
@ctr Thanks.

I'm hoping to hit 500kg next meet, not sure when that is though. Granted I was hoping to hit it this meet, then life got in the way, so I was just happy to have anything
 
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