Thanks for the tips in preparation for this meet. It was an awesome experience and I’m pumped for the next one. The meet was USAPL, I competed in the 83kg class, and ended up taking 2nd overall. Squat: 195kg(430lbs), Bench: 120kg(265lbs), Deadlift: 262.5kg(579lbs)
Competing was definitely different than I expected.
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This meet moved quite quickly. There were about 5 minutes between each lift. I expected 10-15.
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Rules on bench were much more strict than I was expecting. I’ve been pausing my bench presses for quite a while, but was not prepared for the level of stillness required on the chest. I ended up at 265, which was way below what I thought I’d be able to hit. Lots of work to do here for next time. I also wasn’t used to locking my knees out hard at the top of a squat, but that wasn’t too tough to fix on the spot.
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I thought that having a crowd of spectators would be distracting, nerve-racking, and throw off my form, but it didn’t. It felt easy to get into the zone and I didn’t experience the “stage fright” I thought I might.
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Everyone was extremely nice. I knew it would be a welcoming group, but every lifter there was beyond supportive, and I left the meet with a few new friends.
I ended up going 5/9. 1 missed squat, 2 technical errors on bench, and just barely missed my last deadlift at 606. Next time I’ll have less misses, but I’m happy I went for them since I would have set PRs and won the meet had I hit my 3rd squat and deadlift.
My goal is to increase my total to 625kg by September 15th to qualify for raw nationals.
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Sucks about that deadlift!
Bench looked like a pretty fast pause command to me.
Solid first meet overall. Good learning experience.
5 minutes per attempt… hahahahahhahahahahahhahahahaha, nope.
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Thanks! It was pretty fast. It was more the level of control (no sinking into the chest) that was different. I was going to go for 601 or upper 590s, but then this one guy that was pseudo coaching me talked me into going for “5 wheels”. Left hand was losing grip so I had to lower it before I could get a down command. That’s been an issue the last 2 times I’ve tried for that weight.
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I don’t blame your or him, i’d of probably done 5 plates too 
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Congrats on your first meet! They are fun, and definitely help to keep the spark alive for lifting.
How many people in each flight? This seems very quick.
I got burned for this on my first meet too. I thought I was pausing during my prep, until I was laying there waiting for that darn press command. My bench took a huge hit (only hitting my opener) for my first meet. You never seem to pause in training as long as you think you are.
(haven’t watched the vids yet to be able to comment on those)
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Clearly no fat dudes
We know how to milk the timer.
Are you sure it was actually 5 minutes or it just felt like that? It seems unusual that they would get through the whole flight that fast, even if only 8 lifters. I can’t see them changing the weights and rack height plus someone taking their attempt all in under a minute.
Nice deadlift!
This is USAPL, right? Careful posting youtube videos, they might ban you.
Looks like I exaggerated a tad. Based on the video timestamps it was between 6-8 minutes. Thanks!
Yes, I kept the links private. They aren’t searchable on YouTube.
Great job man! You had that last pull. Maybe work on that grip a little and that lift is there I believe.
