Help With My First Meet

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
21

if you would like , I could post up the exact Pre-meet cycle ,reps x sets and wieghts included , that I’m in the midst of right now . But I’m not going to take the time if thats not what you’re after . my lifts are only a little heavier than yours .

squatting twice a week would absolutely NOT benefit me . my hams/groin start screamin’ about 20 hours post-workout , and dont stop for another day or two . but I’m 43 , so that may or may not apply to you .

heres our week (asst work NOT included) :

Mon…Bench ( including Bench-shirt in weeks prior to meet)

Wed…Squats and Deads (inc sets with full gear in weeks prior to meet . prior to PushPull meet , squats would NOT be trained)this is our favorite day

Fri…usually Close grip bench , along with additional Tricep assists . occasionally we change this up a bit .

let me know if you’de like more details

22

oh yeah…one more thing to check is your vocabulary .

lose the “Pathetic” . no room at Meets for that kind of shit . to struggle is not pathetic . only quitting is pathetic

23

Try going to this site

Then scroll down to “Big 3 Split Routine”.

You might find you recover better with this approach.

24

Thanks for the replies.

Dk,
I’m definitely taking the advice to de-load this next week. Maybe just high reps and some lighter assistance work.

Marlboroman,
Yes, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d be interested in seeing how you prepare for a meet. I really appreciate your help.

Sharetrader,
Thanks for the link, I’m checking it out right now.

25

Looking at your numbers now bro I think not deadlifting and squatting 2x a week would be a terrible idea.

I know it’s a westside-y princaple but I’m not too far ahead of you and have always found if I don’t deadlift then it won’t go anywhere. You (well I) really need to learnhow to grind out heavy deadlifts in training (perhaps not absolutely heavy, but sets of 3-5 reps).

26

sounds like your weights may be higher than mine after all…but the format can apply to any weight range .

in this case , week 1 would be 9 weeks prior to the meet ; week 9 would be the week of the meet .

warm-up sets are not listed . warm-up example will be at the end . first few weeks are higher reps/lighter weight…form work . as the cycle progresses , reps decrease but weight increases …building to the last week which will be our Max Week…max singles . not sure if there’s a name for this type of template .

first step is to determine the goal for the the meet per lift. in this case I’m shootin’ for 365 minimum squat . so I use 365 as my max single in week 8 and work backward from there . (165/5 means 165lbs for 5 reps)
so here goes :

  Squat

wk 1 165/5
195/5
225/5
wk 2 185/5
215/5
245/5
wk 3 205/3
235/3
265/3
wk 4 225/3
255/3
285/3
wk 5 245/3
275/3
305/3
wk 6 265/2
295/2
325/2
wk 7 285/2
315/2
345/2
wk 8 275/2
305/2
335/1
365/1
plus 1 or 2 more to determine 1RM
wk 9 OFF Meet on Sat/Sun

as you can see , the first few weeks are quite light . thats by design…work on form . sometimes we start week 1 with 8 reps , and reducing by 1 per week as the cycle continues . this time we started with 5’s in an attempt to stay fresher .

so week 4 looked like this including warm-ups…
bare bar/10
BB/10
BB/10
95/8
95/8
135/6
185/5

225/3
255/3
285/3

315/1 (heavy single optional)

and then on to Deads , for which we perform no/limited warm-ups . a set of Deads is actually performed as all singles…each rep we stand up and re-grip the bar . heavy sets we actually walk away from bar and re-approach . this forces lifter to think about the set-up each rep , just like in a meet .

bench progression works the same . we do board-work , resulting in actual overloads at end of cycle , getting us used to un-racking more than our “openers” .

assistance work dwindles to nothing just prior to meet…freshness counts .

so when meet-day rolls around , my warm-up will be very similar to week 8 . my first lift would be something I’m quite comfy with…like 335 . second attempt would be 1RM . third attempt would be PR attempt (assuming I hit lift 2).

if you plan on lifting assisted ,but havent practiced using shirts/suits yet , make that a priority . gear throws you off a bit the first time …especially bench shirts . I could throw you some additional suggestions here if needed .

that first meet is a total rush . to me the most important thing is to NOT miss your first squat . it’s all gravy after that . and make sure you understand the kilo/pound conversion chart

27

Hey Marlboroman,

Thanks for the post. I am going to try something like that for the last few weeks of the cycle. This week I am de-loading, going lighter and taking a break from the meet lifts.

Next week, I’m back to heavy. I plan on doing some other max-effort exercises (board presses/lockouts for bench and goodmornings/deficit deadlifts for squat) for two weeks or so before switching to just the meet lifts for the rest of the cycle.

One question Marlboroman:
Why work up to a full max the week before the meet? Do you think that is too taxing or do you just want to know what you are capable of going into the meet?

My thoughts were to approach a max lift, but save it for the meet and then try and lift new weight. What do you think?

Thanks for the input.

28

RESULTS: AAU Nat’l Championship, Oklahoma City, OK
198 weight class (90 kg), Junior division.

(All weights are in lbs.)

SQUAT:
Opener = 330 - whites lights.
2nd = 352 - white lights
3rd = 380 - Two white lights, one red.
This was a personal record. I got it up and felt great. It did not feel like a maximal attempt, so that was exciting as I see my squat going up soon.
Reason for red: after the judge said “squat,” I locked my knees out and then squatted. This amounted to going back up after the descent. I don’t know why I did that (or that I shouldn’t) however, I don’t care, I still squatted the weight fine and it felt great.

BENCH:
Opener = 231 - white lights
2nd = 259 - white lights; a bit of a struggle but with my legs I drove it up.
3rd = 275 - complete miss.
The last attempt I allowed the bar to drift forward toward my feet on the ascent and it was over.

DEADLIFT:
Opener = 440 - white lights
2nd = 485 - white lights; was heavy, but I got it up.
3rd = 501 - miss.
I had my eyes close, so I couldn’t see how far I got. This was an all out maximal effort. When I finally let the weight drop, I realized I had come a little higher than I thought (probably right below knee).

Comments:
That was a blast! Had a great time, felt great, lifted fine, and I am overall satisfied with my first meet.

After watching my squat shrink in the last weeks of training, I was thrilled when I hit 380. The biggest surprise of all: I squatted 380 and had no trouble falling forward. Why? I think I figured it out.
At the meet, I unracked, stepped back, and after the command, I squatted. I looked up at the sky, drive my head into the bar adn squatted. I did not look at the judge, I did not look at anybody, I just looked straight up with my neck as far back as it could go.

Conclusion: I am done training in front of mirrors. I always train looking in the mirror, looking to gauge depth, looking to analyze my form. No more. Just looking up for now on.

So my squat got me pumped. The bench was alright. I was really tired by then and it felt like their was no time to rest between lifts. This was because my flight (181 & 198) had only 7 lifters in it. At least 3 guys had dropped out after the squat, and it didn’t take any time to load the bar, and it really sucked having just a few minutes in between lifts.

Deadlift - I caught my second wind. Got pumped up again and we we’re told to take our time between lifts.

Overall, it was great, and I plan to enter another meet in October (NASA unequipped nat’ls).

Questions, comments, tips, appreciated.

29

RESULTS: AAU Nat’l Championship, Oklahoma City, OK
198 weight class (90 kg), Junior division.

(All weights are in lbs.)

SQUAT:
Opener = 330 - whites lights.
2nd = 352 - white lights
3rd = 380 - Two white lights, one red.
This was a personal record. I got it up and felt great. It did not feel like a maximal attempt, so that was exciting as I see my squat going up soon.
Reason for red: after the judge said “squat,” I locked my knees out and then squatted. This amounted to going back up after the descent. I don’t know why I did that (or that I shouldn’t) however, I don’t care, I still squatted the weight fine and it felt great.

BENCH:
Opener = 231 - white lights
2nd = 259 - white lights; a bit of a struggle but with my legs I drove it up.
3rd = 275 - complete miss.
The last attempt I allowed the bar to drift forward toward my feet on the ascent and it was over.

DEADLIFT:
Opener = 440 - white lights
2nd = 485 - white lights; was heavy, but I got it up.
3rd = 501 - miss.
I had my eyes close, so I couldn’t see how far I got. This was an all out maximal effort. When I finally let the weight drop, I realized I had come a little higher than I thought (probably right below knee).

Comments:
That was a blast! Had a great time, felt great, lifted fine, and I am overall satisfied with my first meet.

After watching my squat shrink in the last weeks of training, I was thrilled when I hit 380. The biggest surprise of all: I squatted 380 and had no trouble falling forward. Why? I think I figured it out.
At the meet, I unracked, stepped back, and after the command, I squatted. I looked up at the sky, drive my head into the bar adn squatted. I did not look at the judge, I did not look at anybody, I just looked straight up with my neck as far back as it could go.
Conclusion: I am done training in front of mirrors. I always train looking in the mirror, looking to gauge depth, looking to analyze my form. No more. Just looking up for now on.

So my squat got me pumped. The bench was alright. I was really tired by then and it felt like their was no time to rest between lifts. This was because my flight (181 & 198) had only 7 lifters in it. At least 3 guys had dropped out after the squat, and it didn’t take any time to load the bar, and it really sucked having just a few minutes in between lifts.

Deadlift - I caught my second wind. Got pumped up again and we we’re told to take our time between lifts.

Overall, it was great, and I plan to enter another meet in October (NASA unequipped nat’ls).

Questions, comments, tips, appreciated.

30

Congrats on a good meet. I think you raised a good point on squatting in front of mirrors thing. Personally, I think it provides this visual-feedback loop that fucks up your coordination. Besides, you can “feel” your depth and overall form alot more accurately (and quickly) then you can see it in mirror.

It’s funny they redlighted you for the knee-locking thing, but getting red-lighted for weird shit like that is just part of meets- even in the supposedly lenient feds.

The main advice I can offer on the fatigue thing is to keep eating lightly all day. I prefer chewy granola bars- but I think anything with lots of carbs and low puke/stomach upset potential works. Ephedrine and ammonia help some- but food is key.

31

Well the fatigue I was talking about was CNS/rest between sets type of fatigue, but point well taken on consuming energy. We just didn’t have much time between sets because their were so few of us; but the heavy guys had a ton of time between sets because there was over 20 of them.

But yeah, I definitely should have packed a sandwich or some other solid food. I had plenty of liquid calories (2 bottles of Gatorade, a giant protein shake, green tea) and some bananas but next time I am packing a sandwich.

32

After reading your post I decided to try squatting while not in front of a mirror. All I can say is that I wish I had tried this earlier. This little change fixed all my squat problems. Thanks for posting that revelation.

33

hey man , glad to hear you had a positive experience . aint that first one a rush ?

I didnt do the July Gran Nationals ; I just helped out my 2 gym partners and with out-load . I’m gonna do a push/pull in Oct ., and maybe a full meet in Jan .
I’m hoping,er…planning to see DL PRs in the push/pull , on account of not squatting that day .

how 'bout you …got the next one planned yet ?

did you lift raw ?
any weight loss the week before ?

34

funny about the mirror-thing . when I first started squatting (by myself), I got into that same fucking habit …looking into the mirror to watch myself .

then I started lifting with the guys I lift with now ; one of which is a 20 year vet in the PL scene. I could’nt even guess how many times he screamed LOOK UP at me…sometimes adding colorful language to the end of that…ahh , good stuff . took me a good 3 months to get over that .

but according to him , squatting in front of a mirror IS beneficial(while looking up) because you remain accustomed to movement in front of you (other gym-goer’s reflections) ; as in you wont get “rattled” (for lack of a better word) if folks are milling about at a meet while you’re on the platform .

food for thought . the trick is to squat in front of it WITHOUT looking into it

35

Oh yeah, marlboro man. Up until that my first squat I started getting more and more on edge. My stomach got some butterflies, a little nervous, but then when I smoked my first squat, like you said, it was all gravy.

I was extremely conservative on my first two squats and that turned out to be really beneficial. I watched, what seemed like, just about everybody in my class fail on 2 out 3 of their squats. Either they went to heavy or didn’t go low enough. A lot of guys just went way too heavy.

A funny story, one guy actually maxed out in the warm up room! Poor guy. I did a warm up set and then he asked me to watch him. Next thing I know he can’t get back up. I rush up behind him and support him w/ my hands on his chest, try to pull him up and he falls back into me with 315 coming off his shoulders into me!

Thankfully two guys immediately jumped up and grabbed the bar and racked it. Nobody got hurt, but I felt sorry that the dude blew his wad on a warm up.

Anyway, I had a great time and learned a lot. I plan to do a NASA meet in October and the guys I train with are actually doing that one, so it should be good.

One thing that really helped a ton was not touching weights for that entire last week. I had my last bench workout about 8 days before the meet and my last squat workout was 11 days out. Biggest help ever.