Meet Prep Help

[magadorm]

I just found out that I will have the opportunity to compete in a powerlifting meet on next Saturday, the 5th of October. I have never competed before and have been training for about 7 years. My question is if there is any kind of taper I can do for this meet? Here are my stats. I am a 44 yo male with the following gym lift PR from last June. S 625, B 385, D 640. I am currently only working out on Mon and Thursday and focusing on just maintaining. Here are my last 4 workouts: bench 325x 5 and press 175x5x5; squat 480x5 and deadlift 480x5; bench 300x5x5 and DB press with 80s for 3x5; and today’s workout squat 435x5x3 and 3 sets of chins. Is there anything I can do or should I just roll with what I’m doing and skip next Thursday’s workout. Thanks!

[Jason Donaldson]

I just found out that I will have the opportunity to compete in a powerlifting meet on next Saturday, the 5th of October. I have never competed before and have been training for about 7 years. My question is if there is any kind of taper I can do for this meet? Here are my stats. I am a 44 yo male with the following gym lift PR from last June. S 625, B 385, D 640. I am currently only working out on Mon and Thursday and focusing on just maintaining. Here are my last 4 workouts: bench 325x 5 and press 175x5x5; squat 480x5 and deadlift 480x5; bench 300x5x5 and DB press with 80s for 3x5; and today’s workout squat 435x5x3 and 3 sets of chins. Is there anything I can do or should I just roll with what I’m doing and skip next Thursday’s workout. Thanks!

Having never competed before, and having almost no time between now and your meet, and having signed up for it on a lark, you simply don't have time to train for the meet. You do have a little time, though, to practice for it.

Don't push yourself hard, just practice doing the lifts as close to the rules of the meet as you can. If you have friends who can do the commands for you, do that. Otherwise, go through them in your head, treating every rep as a rehearsal. The sports performance part of this is critical, especially with so little time to practice. For a meet with judges interference, er commands, execution is a very different thing from training in the gym.

Your PRs from 15 months ago are obsolete now, so do NOT plan on hitting them on the day of the meet. I'd say use the S/B/D numbers you give for fives as your openers, to make sure you get on the board, and adjust jumps from there. If you've done triples recently, then those will probably be good for second attempts. Since you haven't been tapering to singles, be very conservative with your jumps, try to go 3 for 3 on all three lifts, and just have fun with it.

Your recent numbers are such that what you have to worry about embarrassing yourself with is technique, not strength. And frankly, at most PL events, no one cares about your numbers but you anyway.

[magadorm]

That is basically what I was thinking. Just go into it to have a good time. I will work on practicing which should be easy to do as the head judge is a friend and the guy who told me about it. I will be able to have him help me practice the lifts. Thanks for the input.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Impressive, Jason.

[Jason Donaldson]

Aw, shucks - thanks, Rip.

Glad to help, OP...

[magadorm]

Having never competed before, and having almost no time between now and your meet, and having signed up for it on a lark, you simply don't have time to train for the meet. You do have a little time, though, to practice for it.

Don't push yourself hard, just practice doing the lifts as close to the rules of the meet as you can. If you have friends who can do the commands for you, do that. Otherwise, go through them in your head, treating every rep as a rehearsal. The sports performance part of this is critical, especially with so little time to practice. For a meet with judges interference, er commands, execution is a very different thing from training in the gym.

Your PRs from 15 months ago are obsolete now, so do NOT plan on hitting them on the day of the meet. I'd say use the S/B/D numbers you give for fives as your openers, to make sure you get on the board, and adjust jumps from there. If you've done triples recently, then those will probably be good for second attempts. Since you haven't been tapering to singles, be very conservative with your jumps, try to go 3 for 3 on all three lifts, and just have fun with it.

Your recent numbers are such that what you have to worry about embarrassing yourself with is technique, not strength. And frankly, at most PL events, no one cares about your numbers but you anyway.

Jason,
Thanks for the guidance. I ended up doing pretty good at the meet. It was basically a gym meet, but with calibrated plates, and a judge with previous meet experience. I ended up with the following numbers:
Squat 585
Bench 345 (missed 385 due to a f- up on my part)
Deadlift 600

It was an awesome time and I ended up with the highest numbers for all 3 lifts.
Definetly looking forward to trying to do an actual competition in the future if I can every figure out the logistics.
(I live in the Aleutian Islands and getting to Anchorage requires taking a minimum 3 days off work and $800+ flight each way.)

[Jason Donaldson]

Well done, sir - I'm glad the advice was helpful, and that the meet was a good experience for you!