First Powerlifting Competition

In addition to what @quiksylver296 stated about commands (and practicing them), I'd recommend reading your federations rule book and become familiar with the flight system, know what gear is approved, and bring plenty of food and water to get you through the day. Watch a full meet on YouTube too. IPF will post long versions of entire meets you can review. USAPL regionals are coming up soon too, you might want to watch that if you get a chance.

One thing that I do every meet is to write down my attempts (with kilo conversions) ready to go because without a coach and only a minute to determine what my next attempt is going to be, I don't want to give the wrong number like 315 (in pounds) and walk up and do 315 in kilos. (694 pounds.)

I call these my "coaching sheets." From my last meet.

peaceout_aly wrote: »

Anything from prep/training advice, to what to expect the day of or if you think my reps will even be comparable/worthy of going up against other (more experienced) lifters.

Careful reloading. July is closer than you think and you don't want to suffer another set-back. At the meet, be sure to talk to the other lifters and day of the meet, try to watch how the referees are calling the lifts. It will give you a sense of what they are finding as an acceptable lift that day.

Just want to wish you luck @peaceout_aly. h.

I posted this in my group and we also have a podcast for SBS Radio that should go up very soon on this exact topic.

"" 1) Understand the rules of the competition. This goes for equipment limitations/rules as well as the rules of each lift.

You should then practice these commands in training for at least a couple of weeks leading up to the training. As an aside, I think it's a good idea to build in some habits in your training that can help this such as not immediately racking the bar after your bench, and not immediately racking the barbell after a squat.

2) Set your attempt selections wisely. You should be choosing openers that you KNOW you can hit even on a bad day. Something you can get 3 to 5 reps in the gym with is a good general guideline for your first meet.

For a percentage based approach see here: https://marylandpowerlifting.com/.../a-powerlifters.../

3) Bring food and drinks. You're in for a potentially LONG *kitten* DAY. You're also not likely used to training 9 total reps over 6+ hours of lifting. Make sure you get some food in you and stay hydrated, and you should probably stick to things that you know you can stomach. If you normally have caffeine before you train you might need a second dose mid-day.

4) If you're not warming up or in between attempts, don't spend the entire down-time running around like a nervous idiot. Sit down sometimes, rest, don't waste your energy. Sounds like a trivial point but getting to the last deadlift attempt and discovering you're just friggin tired isn't good.

5) Understand what flight you are in. I can't stress this enough. You should be warming up when the flight before you is on the platform. Additionally, you should look at the warmup facility to see how user friendly it is because this is going to change how much time you need to warmup. For example, I've seen meets in a hotel where they have two squat racks only. In this scenario, you'll want to start warming up about when the flight before you starts because you'll be sharing two racks with a lot of lifters. If the warmup room is huge with plenty of squat racks, you'll not have to share with as many lifters and so you'll be able to do your thing when it comes to warm-ups. And you should have a good idea of what you are hitting for warmups. Opening at 200 on a squat? Well then you probably know that your last single in the warmup room is about 185 or so. Etc.

6) Have a good outline of all of your attempts. I think it's smart to have opening attempts ready, followed by at least 2 middle attempts depending on how things go, and finals based on those. What I mean here is this -- you should have an outline, but you should also be willing to adjust that based on how things are going the day of the meet. Some people respond very well to the adrenaline and other people can be a nervous wreck. Adjust your attempts based on how strong you are THAT DAY. Aim to leave about 2.5kg on the platform on your final attempt.

7) If you miss an attempt, DO NOT add weight especially in your first meet. There might be circumstances where this is warranted however I've seen this backfire a LOT on people. They miss depth, or miss a command, they add weight thinking "well the weight wasn't a problem" and then they either make a different mistake or they struggle with the weight they added. I've seen multiple people bomb out of meets because of this, and overall it's a bad strategy most of the time. Some exceptions to this but as a general rule I'd repeat the attempt.

8) Do not do anything drastic to cut weight ESPECIALLY your first meet. Just go have fun. You will have plenty of things to focus on and your weight class should not be one of them your first time out.

9) Have fun! I hope you found this helpful.

10) Milkandmeatballs"

You're gonna kill it missy. Good luck I'm in the same boat you are. Just gotta get after it a blow thru those platts