First Time Meet Prep (Nov '16)

So i found a comp in November that i am going to sign up for.
I don’t expect to be very competitive, but i want the experience and hopefully the extra motivation that comes with training for a more specific purpose.
Since i have never peaked for anything, i would like a little advice if anyone is willing to give some.
My initial thoughts are to start running cycles of Smolov Jr. for my bench, since i desperately need to bring that up, and add a little size up top. And continue those 4 week cycles right up to meet time. Yes/No?
For my squat, i have been doing daily min/max with some good results. If anything it is helping my confidence with heavier weight. I have been alternating between comp. style, front, overhead, and pause back oly style.
I would probably cut out the overheads and pause back squats.
Also, I would really like to keep the total volume low on my squats, so i don’t put on any weight.
I would like to go into this as strong as possible at the weight I am at. Maybe lots of heavy singles?
And my deadlift has been feeling fantastic. I have been incorporating a lot of oly stuff, pulling heavy often, and I have never felt stronger. I have hit 4 pr’s on my deadlift in the last month and a half.
I don’t think ill be able to sustain this amount of regular heavy pulling all the way up to meet time though.
Do i back off to once a week, and work up to a max, even less frequent, or go for volume/rep prs?
Any thoughts/feedback/help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks guys.

You don’t really need to worry about peaking for your first meet (BTW your attitude towards it is spot on).

Keep doing what you’re doing since it’s working. Keep a close eye on your recovery to make sure you don’t under recover (frequent heavy singles and stuff can creep up on you) but that’s about it. Maybe six weeks out start incorporating the commands just to be familiar.

At that point also plan your attempts. A good rule of thumb is

Attempt 1 is 88% of goal
Attempt 2 is 94% of goal
Attempt 3 is goal

Give yourself an option for attempts two and three as well, with option A your ideal (88% or 94% or goal) and option B a bit lower (5-15 lbs) in case the attempt leading in didn’t feel good.

Thank you!
I have one more question. I have no arch when i bench, never practiced it, never had any reason to. Is this something i should worry about? I can get my feet back, and almost feel a slight leg drive, but definitely no arch.
And i lied, another question.
I think my sumo dead is stronger than my conventional. So that is what I’ll stick with for now. However, its a little slow off the floor, do people do deficit sumo pulls?

Worry, no. Experiment with and work on, absolutely. First, any arch reduces how far you need to move the bar (your stroke). This makes a given weight easier. Second, arching forces you to pull your shoulderblades together and tighten your upper back, which is stabler and safer for your shoulders. Third, when you combine the first two points you will see how that improves your ability to bench more weight.

Sumo is generally slower off the floor than conventional because of its leverages. That’s normal. Just work on being strong off the floor and locked into your groove, because generally if you get pulled out of position in the first half of a sumo pull you’ll really struggle to complete the lift. Don’t worry about speed as much right now. If you get better at staying in optimal position, down the track you will be faster off the floor pulling sumo.

I’d say wide stance box squats will be much more helpful to you than deficit sumo pulls.

How far out from the meet should i start using a lifting suit in my training?
And does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations on suits? I’ll be competing in a raw division, hopefully in the 181lb class.

Also, I am attempting to write out my programming from now until the meet.
Thoughts on good mornings for raw lifters? Again, I’ll be pulling sumo and my squat stance is a little wide/outside shoulder width.

You say raw, but the way you start it seems to imply geared lifting? if you mean the singlet. You really don’t need to wear it training at all. I never have.

The singlet! Yes. Sorry.
Ok, cool.

Good for some, not for others. Depends on individual strengths and weaknesses. If you feel like your lower back is weak, then probably not a bad idea.

I mentioned that I’ll be pulling sumo for the majority of the training and in the meet.
Will Romanian deads, mostly higher volume, have decent carryover, or none?

I don’t really have any other direct hamstring work planned…

No idea because I’ve never done them. GHR is awesome for hams though.

So I wanted to get an idea of what my maxes currently are before i move forward into the next section of my programming prep for my first meet, which is happening in November.

I was a little frustrated with how my bench went today. I was hoping for 250, as i had a super smooth 235 last week. Turns out my bench is still fairly weak.

I would love some feedback, opinions, critiques, advice, whatever.
Especially from some of you that have struggled with bench but have brought it up.
I just finished the candito 6 week with some minor tweaks for the squat portion.
So for bench i have basically just been doing flat bench, close grip, dumbbell flies, incline dumbbell presses, and the some strict presses and push presses.
Even with benching 3x a week most weeks, i feel the volume has been very low.
Moving forward, i was thinking upping the volume, dropping back to twice a week, and doing more of a ME day and DE day, with a lot more direct tricep work. Again, if this sounds like an awful idea, please say so.

I understand the total is ultimately what matters, so the other thought was, maybe just kinda lower the intensity of the bench workouts, take what the training gives me come meet day, and really push my squat and dead in the next two months as those seem to be responding well to what i am doing.

I will be testing those tomorrow and uploading another video for your viewing pleasure or displeasure.
I think they will be 350 and 460 respectively. But then again, i could be off in that estimation.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

45, 115, 165, 190, 205, 220, 235, 245

I squatted and deadlifted today.
Hit 350, sorta, a PR attempt. Then on deads, went for 432, and 460. Both PRs as well. As you can see from the video, it definitely highlighted my weak points, so I will start working on those more aggressively. Mid way through my squat I get stuck, and the lockout on my deads, as well as that round back, sheesh. My thoracic mobility, just awful.
Anyways, once again I would appreciate any feedback, advice, whatever.
Thanks.

Your finish on deadlift will get you red lighted. Neither the first nor the second were fully locked out. Knees have to be locked and shoulders have to be back/locked. It doesn’t have to be exaggerated with shoulders back but I’d red light both of those finishes as not being erect/locked out. In addition both appeared to have downward movement of the bar/hitching. It was particularly apparent on the second one. That’ll get you a red light as well.

As far as I can tell, your squat depth looks good.

Sorry if you weren’t looking for meet specific feedback. I spent 10 hours in the chair on Sunday and it’s all still top of mind. I watched a lot of new lifters lose lifts on technical issues that should have been easy to fix.

ETA: this feedback is specific to IPF affiliates but I can’t imagine many other feds would have significantly different requirements.

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Thank you! Any feedback is good. I do appreciate it.
I think I need to get in the habit of filming myself more. I could definitely feel that I didn’t lock either of those deads out, and I was really fighting to stand up with the 460.
Like I said, anything helps. And I’ll be competing in an RPS meet, but like you said, I don’t think those would fly either, and I hope they wouldn’t. There are standards for a reason, right?

Glad to help. It’s one thing to lose a lift because you couldn’t get it up. It’s another to lose it on something technical. That really sucks.