Prepping for Your First Powerlifting Meet

[stef]

by Andy Baker (KSC)

I think that the most useful approach to take is the chronological. Let’s start before the meet ever begins, and work through your last attempt on the platform. The first thing to do is sign up for a meet…

Article (http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/prepping_for_your_first_powerlifting_meet)

Resources Page (http://startingstrength.com/index.php/site/resources)

[Matt Reynolds]

Excellent article Andy! Lots of great info in it - I have 4 guys doing their first meet Saturday and I'm making sure all of them read this article tomorrow.

I think our two articles compliment each other very well.

I read your other two articles today also and both are very good - you have an excellent writing style.

[danimal1991]

Great article Andy. Thanks for asking him to write it Rip. I'm looking forward to my first meet this Sunday. Ill let you guys know how it goes.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Mr. Baker you don't give yourself enough credit for your writing ability. I enjoyed your article a great deal and it provided just enough of the one-two punch along with Matt's article to confirm my determination to compete. I have been giving the revisions to my training the primary focus just to get ready so as not to humiliate myself in public. Your article provided the next stage in a well organized and well thought out manner.

I have actually braved the conversation with Dearly Beloved on competing and she backs my goals. "Just make sure you don't hurt your self." Just like what she says to me when I leave for jujitsu practice 2-3 times a week. Now the only thing standing in front of me is myself. I need to learn how to bench press from a pause on the chest and summon the courage to try squats again after over 10 years of avoiding them to protect my lower back.

I checked multiple raw matches arond the US for my age and weight class (60 and 215) and found that with a gym dead lift of 345 and successful bench press of 255 I am on par with or ahead of my peers. I know I can improve my dead lift and we'll just see about the squats. Interestingly, it lines right up with Kilgore's age adjusted charts. Now to get my ass out of the gym and out on the platform. Thank you, gentlemen.

[John2336]

Mark said it very well in the last post. That was a very well written article, and a perfect follow up to Matt Reynolds work.

These last two articles have really got me chomping at the bit to go to a meet. There's one going on very soon on Camp Pendleton that i was considering signing up for, but it was only a few weeks out when I heard about it. For now, I'm going to focus on my LP. Haven't stalled yet after 90 something days, and I don't want to change anything up at all until I'm ready for a different program. Then I'm going to start looking for a meet to get started with.

I also appreciated what you said about the difference between a fat 220 vs a muscled 220. Right now I'm a chubby 230, and will definitely have to figure out where I want to end up for competition.

Thanks again Andy. I'm looking forward to reading more from you in the future. (hopefully)

[Bloodninja666]

Wow, this is probably the best writeup of its kind on the interwebs. I have a feeling this is going to be circulated around for a long time to come. Outstanding job.

[Maslow]

This is perfect. I'm mailing in my check for USAPL Richmond Open in April and have really been wondering how meets work and how to plan my training between now and then. This article made my day.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Thanks for all the positive feedback everyone. Hope it helps someone - Andy

[Adam Moncrieff MacMillan]

This has come at a really good time as I'm about to compete for the first time on Sunday. I will be able to break a British deadlift record in the under 18's however its not much of an achievement since its only 221kg.

[51M0n]

I will be able to break a British deadlift record in the under 18's however its not much of an achievement since its only 221kg.

Hey, a records a record, and 221kg isn't exactly light.

I did my second ever comp today, it was a deadlift only meet, so much fun, and I did a 15kg PB so I'm a happy man. I don't understand how people can train and not want to compete.

[thefinalsql]

Thank you Andy! My first meet is this Saturday at Authentic Strength Gym in Carrollton Texas.

Your information has proven very useful.

[Rob57]

Thanks for the article, like many others it is time for me to get on a platform... Anyway my question - at meets do you bring your own spotters or does the meet provide them? I will be doing this alone and I assume the meet does generally, but just wanted to make sure.
Thanks

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

The meet provides spotters for the squat. Usually one on each side of the bar, and maybe a third one behind the lifter if the weight is super heavy. You may be able to bring your own spotters, but I'm not sure. Probably varies from organization to organization. I do know however, that you can have your own "hand off" guy for the bench press.

[shinebox97]

KSC,

Great article. Its publishing could not have occurred at a better time. My first meet is this Sunday. I appreciate the info you provided in regards to novices and how they should taper/train the week before the meet; however, I'd like to know how a novice lifter should approach his or her training the week after the meet. Should they continue training as usual? should they deload in any way?

Thanks in advance.

Shinebox

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

I would probably pick back up on Wednesday of the following week with a light workout (light squat, press, power clean) and then get back in the swing of things on Friday.

It depends though.

If you are a late stage novice and you are really really grinding your 3x5 work, you may need to train light on both Weds and Fri and pick up with the heavy stuff the following week. If you are still an early stage novice then you might be able to start back up on Wednesday where you left off.

[WatsupHannity]

Not to be Captain Bringdown, but I thought there was a weird moral in your story... doing bodybuilder splits was a waste of time, and wasn't getting you strong, so you decided to get serious and change to powerlifting. The very first thing you did after making this decision was enter a powerlifting competition, which you, ahem, won. It sounds like your previous training was perfectly fine for getting strong. I know the point you were trying to make, but you accidentally sell the bodybuilding approach as an extremely viable way to get strong in the process.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Winning a meet does not mean you are strong.

It just means you are stronger than your competitors.

If I remember correctly my first meet I Benched like 335 and Deadlifted 485??

That was good enough to win against a weak field, but at 220 lbs I certainly would not qualify that as strong.

Also.....my intention was not to bash body part splits and it certainly was not the moral of the story. I am well aware of the fact that there are lots and lots of guys who train with a body part split that are very very strong. My intention was to illustrate the fact that my training was directionless, with no performance oriented criteria. That also does not mean that bodypart splits mean you train with no direction. You are missing the point. I don't really give a fuck how your training week is organized. That is details. I give a fuck whether or not your training has any purpose or if you are just going into the gym and picking some stuff to do. You can do that with a body part split, a full body routine, one exercise a day, etc. Again, that isn't the point.

Now, did you seriously walk away from the article confused or are you just trying to stir up shit??

[WatsupHannity]

Now, did you seriously walk away from the article confused or are you just trying to stir up shit??


What a weird thing to say. I don't know you from Adam. I simply told you the reaction I had as a completely-objective reader. You tried to make a point and then you provided evidence that detracted from your argument without addressing or qualifying the contradiction. Simple as that.

If you want to get better at writing you might try taking constructive criticism instead of accusing an innocuous dissenting post in your article's thread as an attempt to "stir up shit".

[ChrisGibbons]

I enjoyed the article too, and thought that the above was perfectly reasonable criticism. Essentially your previous training, whilst "directionless" was probably pretty good GPP and meant that you weren't entering the world of powerlifting as a rank untrained novice.

That aside, I wanted to share this with everyone. http://www.ynepf.org.uk/index1.htm

I think it is a great idea. It gives you some targets to shoot for, whatever your ability and aspirations. It also allows you to look at where you are total wise and where you might want to think of being as a serious competitor - if that is your goal.

[Starofflorida]

After reading this I'm definitely finding a competition to compete in asap.

Thanks.

[Adam021187]

Wow. This article just really pegged my feelings for powerlifting. Recently I realized "I don't want to be a bodybuilder. Why the fuck am I training like one?" This is when I decided that I want to compete in powerlifting. Great article!