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…

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[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.