At what point do you give competition a try?

Obviously we have a mix of reasons that folks here train and are on this board, some of which are competitors in the strength sports. If you didn't come in to this with the initial inkling of competing, at what point did you decide to try and at what point is it common to start considering this.

I am not anywhere close to such a point, but am curious about the nature of training for competitions, what approaches you take towards preparing, and can you do this intelligently/safely self-coached? How spectator-friendly are local competitions to go to and can you learn from observing these? Thanks for your input,

tim

advanced novice at least, because lower-level novices lack the experience and physical adaptation to effectively and safely preform a 1rm (as mentioned in PP2). Once a novice has advanced enough, and can be trusted with a 1rm, go for it.

But it's never too early to go and watch competitions.

When you feel like it.

But you're never going to feel ready. You just have to go do it.

Just sign up for one and do it. I wasn't "ready" for my first competition, but hit all my goals, had a blast, and am looking forward to the next one. I'd say 6 months minimum training time, just to make sure you have developed enough self awareness to properly prepare, but after that, it's all fair game.

I took part in a novice powerlifting meet after about a year and a half of training. Got a 130kg (287 lbs) squat and barely missed 150, 95kg (209 lbs) bench and 200kg (441 lbs) deadlift. I was at 87kg (191 lbs). It was an IPF meet so equipment was allowed, but I competed raw. It was a a great learning experience and I made a lot of mistakes.

the sooner the better. Training without objectives is never motivating.