T Nation

First Meet - Choosing Attempt Weights

Powerlifting
#1

Hey guys. I’m planning on doing my first meet in february. Just wondering how i go about choosing the weights for my attempts. Do i choose them when i get there? Am i ‘locked in’ once i choose? sorry I’m a total noob to competition so these could be very painful questions (facepalms?)

Also any advice as to what percentages to choose would be appreciated. for example, i have heard that people generally choose a fairly light opener, then their second attempt is their gym max, and their third attempt may be a PR.

Thanks in advance guys.

#2

First attempt do something like 80-90% of your max, second attempt hit your max, third go for broke. Thats a set up I heard, though some say play it by ear. I dunno.

#3

You give your first attempts right after weigh in (IPF rules) but I guess it depends on the federation. We can change our openers up to the time they make an announcement saying that there are no more changes and lifting is about to start (10 minutes or so before the first lifter of that flight is on the platform).
Just make sure the first lift is technically perfect, something you can double or triple with ease. It’s your first meet, so make it your goal to post a total. Your second and third are really going to depend on just how good you feel after you open.
Since you have until February, you have lots of time to decide ( :

#4

Go with the 'ol standby. Pick an opener you could do for a triple when sick with the flu.

#5

[quote]biglifter wrote:
Go with the 'ol standby. Pick an opener you could do for a triple when sick with the flu. [/quote]

This is good advice, I had to do that at our last provincials because I had the flu!

#6

[quote]biglifter wrote:
Go with the 'ol standby. Pick an opener you could do for a triple when sick with the flu. [/quote]
This ^^^

#7

[quote]biglifter wrote:
Go with the 'ol standby. Pick an opener you could do for a triple when sick with the flu. [/quote]

And be able to smoke it 2" below meet depth, I opened with 435 today, and took it to IPF depth, I was in APF

#8

[quote]brauny96 wrote:

[quote]biglifter wrote:
Go with the 'ol standby. Pick an opener you could do for a triple when sick with the flu. [/quote]

And be able to smoke it 2" below meet depth, I opened with 435 today, and took it to IPF depth, I was in APF[/quote]

full results brauny?

#9

Always open with a light weight in the squat, and always go convincingly below parallel. From there hit your gym max then a PR.

Bench, Open light. A few weeks leading up to the meet practice your opener with a pause, if your federation requires a pause on the chest. You’ll be suprised how much a pause takes out of your bench. I was suprised.

Deadlift, You’ll be pretty tired from a long day, nerves, max effort lifts, etc… so Open fairly light.

Your goals at this meet are to have fun, meet and learn from experienced powerlifters, and most importantly put up a total. You may have specific goals in the squat, bench and deadlift, that’s great you should have those goals but those are secondary to simply posting a total. The last thing you want to do is bomb out on your first meet.

This article may help you pick your attempts and give you a good idea of how to warm up for your attempts. It’s best to have a plan going into the meet. If you think you can just wing it you are probably wrong. Nerves will get the best of you. Have a plan and you will eliminate a lot of the first meet jitters.

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/warm_up_to_prs.htm

#10

if you have been working off old maxes
first attempt…90-95%
second attempt…97-102%
third attempt…your call, but be smart

also, pay attention to your warmups. in usapl/ipf you can change your first attempt up to 5 miutes oput from the start of your flight. IF your last warmup goes really well, you can move up a few percent. If it goes rough, then lower your opener.

If you have a coach, or someone you trust, let them have input. Alot of lifters hit a solid second and then want to make a 10 percent jump for their third, when a coach might have seen something they havent. But bafore the meet, talk these numbers over.

Before the meet, write down a general plan. One thing an old coach used to have for his beginners was a sheet with attempts on it and all scenarios possible. IT would have a range for each attempt.
It had the original opener, with a 2.5% range either way. Then other attempts based on how each prior attempt went.

#11

You cannot back out of your openers and you cannot lower the weight if you miss. As such, I recommend setting all of your openers at weights that you know you can hit even on a bad day. Why? First, it will get you on the board with a successful lift. You can miss a lift with something as stupid as not following a command, racking the weight too soon or whatever. If you’re lifting equipped, you might fall out of the groove and if you are playing around with threshold weights, you might end up bombing out.

First attempt - Light. Pretty much a 100% guarantee you’re going to make the lift.
Second attempt (assuming you made your first) - 100%
Third attempt (assuming you made your second) PR time / go for broke and leave it all on the platform.