katherinepolumbo

Totally agree with this. There were so many people putting up higher numbers for their squats than their DLs at the meet, that just doesn't make sense to me. You can't cheat the DL though.

Sorry, should clarify that it's not the super wide stance that upset me, just the not going low enough part! I'm lucky to be short so I don't need to worry about width too much, although I have widened my stance some since starting (super narrow).

LOL about the SPF squats! I was actually a little worried about getting red lighted for squatting too low (aka squatting normal). Sad huh! Everything went fine though. I could've posted bigger numbers if I had down the BS wide stance barely move down 5 inches squats that all the top dogs were doing, but to me that is not…

Search for a meet near you and sign up, that's half the battle. Then you have to go :) Compete raw in your first meet (you can wear a belt). If you haven't lifted with a belt or wrist wraps or what not, give yourself enough time to get used lifting with it before your meet. You want to train the way you'd compete - wear…

Woah!!! I definitely could not work out there... the power rack, barbell and plates are my best friends at the gym! Hmmm... I'm not sure what to say as I would normally say to avoid the Smith Machine at all costs. You could try doing bench, squats and DL with heavy dumbbells.

1RM are important if you're a powerlifter :)

I'm unsure what you mean by the heaviest barbell is 60 lbs? They don't have regular barbells with different weighted plates to put on them??

Body weight: 135 Going by my best lifts in my one and only meet Bench: 85 lbs.... 42.314 Wilks Squat: 170 lbs... 84.629 Wilks Deadlift: 225 lbs... 112.009 Wilks Total: 480 lbs... 238.952 I've done 10 lbs more than that in gym sessions before, so if I replicated that again it'd be 490 lbs or 243.931 Wilks I'd be in the…

175 x 1

I'm in about the same boat. In the weight class I competed in, I was just shy of class 3. I only had 3-4 lbs to cut to make the next lower weight class and for that one I would have been pretty darn close to class 2. As of my competition I'd been squatting and DLing for 4 months and benching for 3. It sounds like fast…

Hah! I love it. Some of my best PRs came right after Christmas, during which time I loaded up on Christmas cookies galore. So yeah, it kinda does make sense! :)

Age 30, female, weight 135. Current maxes (as of my first powerlifting meet, which was 2 weeks ago). Have been Squatting and DLing for about 4.5 months, bench for 3.5 months. Squat: 170# (have hit 175 before in gym though) Bench: 85# (have hit 90 one time ever and failed at it ever since then!) Deadlift: 225# (went up…

Totally agree!

Hit my deadlift PR at my meet this past weekend - 225 lbs. I went up super easy, so I know I still have a lot left in me. I started deadlifting 4 months ago and they are hands down my favorite lift - LOVE them!!

Thank you!!! The all did feel easy (except for the 90 lb bench which I failed, but only just barely... I need to work on my bench a lot) and I felt like I had a lot left, especially on the dead. I wish I had a video of my squat opener though to show you how horrible it was... combo of nerves and the stupid monolift... it…

Brooklyn, right? Isn't she freaking amazing! Here's the crazy thing... her 3rd lift was either 165 or 175 (175 was her previous PR) and she was shaking and totally had to grind that one out. On the 200 lb lift it was easy with no grind. The difference was that she knew how much was on the bar for the 3rd lift but her dad…

Thanks so much, it was a really awesome experience and I'm so glad I did it! The SPF has a couple of meets in Alabama this year I'm pretty sure! Here, check out this calendar! http://www.southernpowerlifting.com/calendar.php There is one in alabama on 02/23 and 04/20! Not sure what part of AL you are from, but some of the…

I totally agree! I think squat should be across the board. The monolift really did make me uncomfortable and threw me off. My opener felt like 2000 lbs because I was so mis-positioned and not used to using the monolift. (I used it during the meet warmups of course but that was not enough time to get used to it) and I don't…

Thank you!! :) Yeah, hubby filmed it too late so it only shows me coming up out of it! lol But it was plenty deep. 3 white lights all the way! :) I watched yours as well. Your form looks great!!

The rules can be slightly different for each fed. The SPF allows knee sleeves and knee wraps for raw. I personally did not wear either, since I have never trained with them yet. I used a belt for my DL and squat, and wrist wraps for my bench. Competed raw full powerlifting. If you do pick a meet, make sure you read the…

Agreed! Don't stress to much about being red lighted. It DOES happen a lot, even to the strongest most experienced lifters. Lots of people were redlighted at my meet on the 2nd and 3rd attempts and most not even for not following the rules but for attempting too heavy a weight that they could not put up (challenging…

I definitely met an inspirational person at mine. An ELEVEN year old girl (under 95 lb weight class) who pulled a 200 lb deadlift, setting a record, and totaled 415 lbs. She is my new hero!

Which state's SPF meets do you usually go to? The meet I competed at yesterday was run by the SPF. There were actually quite a few women there, I think there was 8 including myself. 6 of us were in raw, the other two in one of the ply divisions. There was a pretty big crowd, at least 60 people there I think. The crowd did…

I competed in my first ever powerlifting meet today! I know it's 2 days late, but can I still play? :) If not, count these towards next month's if we do them! Competed raw, and weighed in at 136. Squat: 170 lbs (Wilks 84.151) (hubby only got the tail end of this squat in the video, but as you can hear/see - it was a good…

^this!

3 lbs?!?! That HAS to be a joke right? Seriously, please let there not be women who believe that. My toddler can lift more than that. lol And as far as the saggy skin, I've never heard of that! I've always heard that lifting weights helps with tightening up skin elasticity and I've found this to be the case with my heavy…

Olympic bar and power cage.

Bench is definitely my weakest lift. I squat twice what I bench press. Right now my squat and dead lift are equal (working on some grip issues with my DL). There are actually quite a few people who squat in my gym. We have 2 squat racks and a power cage and usually at least 2 of them are in action (during busy times). Not…

Bump! I'm curious about this too!

Thanks! I'm glad you said that! I don't want to drop all cardio. I did drop some though, I used to do 3 days cardio and 2 strength and I switched it 6 weeks ago to the opposite.