Powerlifting - Your first meet

Powerlifting - Your first meet

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Starting this thread for the powerlifters in this forum to share their experience, especially of their first meets, lessons learnt, etc. I hope this will be of help to potential newbies who, one day, are planning to get on the platform for their first meet.

Spotters misloaded my squat, was meant to be 230 they put on 245, always watch what they are doing!

Didn't get the lift, would have been awesome if I had though...

Pack your bag the night before and check it. Twice.

The last thing you need on the day is the stress of having forgotten something and frantically trying to find a spare.

Do not bother with a weight cut for your first meet. You aren't going to win anyway.

Bring food.
and lollies.
and cookies.

TTT said:

Bring food.
and lollies.
and cookies.

Click to expand...

Whenever I go to meets in SA I am the only person doing any sort of serious eating. I have no idea why. People were laughing when I brought rice puffs and chocolate milk
If you're not eating be prepared to have a shitty meet. There were a few girls as well eating things like salad or fruit because they did not want to get fat lol. At least at SA strongest man there were donuts and pizza. I might have a pizza for my next meet

Scott always put on a BBQ and his missus usually has a whole bunch of cakes for sale.

I used to just bring 3 PB, banana, honey sandwiches, drinks, couple of fruit and a bag of lollies.
Then I'd buy something at the BBQ and cakes.

It's pretty much a whole day that's you're there.

0ni said:

Whenever I go to meets in SA I am the only person doing any sort of serious eating. I have no idea why. People were laughing when I brought rice puffs and chocolate milk
If you're not eating be prepared to have a shitty meet. There were a few girls as well eating things like salad or fruit because they did not want to get fat lol. At least at SA strongest man there were donuts and pizza. I might have a pizza for my next meet

Click to expand...

why rice puffs and chocolate milk though? why do you need to eat lots on meet days - wouldn't you eat before?

bozodos said:

why rice puffs and chocolate milk though? why do you need to eat lots on meet days - wouldn't you eat before?

Click to expand...

Food = energy. Energy = strength. Plus carbs also help you rehydrate after a water cut.

I'll usually bring a loaf of bread and a squeezy bottle of honey plus a few bags of lollies and several protein shakes. Must remember donuts next time.

Is there anything donuts can't do?

Yeah fucking donuts
fuck

Wouldn't bother trying to make a certain weight class unless I was confident I could break records, which really isn't likely to happen in your first meet.

Know the commands for each lift and be conscious of them when training.

Rack command gets me.

seems there is also a "Start" command now for bench.

Just don't eat so much you can't tighten your belt or you feel like spewing! Had a few close calls when the deadlift round came along..

TTT said:

seems there is also a "Start" command now for bench.

Click to expand...

This is new in GPC afaik, but has been around for years in IPF. Good rule.

If you did a water cut, coconut water. Helps you rehydrate. And/or some electolyte mix like gatorade or whatever.

Bag of chips = salt = water gain.

Protein drink, 50g of wpi, and dextrose, 25g. Get a couple of those in you.

Forget creatine as it can cause a few explosive issues, if you know what I mean.

Sit down between warm up sets and comp attempts. For a first comp don't bother with cutting prior. Get your weight right a month out or forget it and just go have fun. Don't get all bro and pick a heavy opening weight. Pick a weight you can rep 3x. On your squat, forget about squatting the weight up. Focus on getting depth. Doesn't matter how epic you are in standing up with 400kg if you didn't go to depth first. So, get in the hole then get up. To help with this, make every rep "to depth" in your squat training.

Bench: train like you will compete: arse down on the bench, head down on the bench, pause 90% of your reps, feet flat on the floor (or go all gay tippy toe if you are GPC) and stop at the top before racking.

Deads: again, train like you will compete. Take the tension out of the bar and move off the floor as fast as possible. Even if you are a bit slow, its the intent that counts. Lock out every single rep, both knees and shoulders.

Have fun. Its a hobby/sport, not the olympics plus you aint gettin' paid $300k as a pro.

Just have fun. Focus on the lifts and stick to your game plan!
Don't change a thing on Comp day!

The thing i notice with first timers, is

They dont have their gear ready intime for their lift, = stress = missed lifts, and head all over the place, be ready BEFORE its your turn, and ensure your trainer wrapper is focused on you..

eat.

make sure you understand the rules, usually at a first timer novice comp they will explain everything to you that is required, and expected.

Get all the important stuff sorted asap, openers, registering, pin heights etc, then go socialize, eat, piss, warmup what ever.'

Keep looking at the boards, the lifting order may change form round to round.

Its your first meet , making weight is not important, breaking world records wont count usually, so I would keep your lifts conservative,
what you can triple as an opener
gym PB??? if your training is on track as a second
than a small jump to your third, i saw people adding 20+kg for their third lift, and they bombed..

Nothing stuffs your first meet more than bombing on your first or second lift, really puts you in a bad mind set afterwards.. you want to leave that first comp, feeling like you nailed it, if you think you have bit left it makes you hungry to do so at your next comp..