Newbs Going to RAW Powerlifting, Reno, July 12

Anybody going to the 100% RAW Powerlifting Sanction III Championships, Reno NV, July 12th?

My wife (Flash50) has signed up to compete. It’s first for both of us, neither has been to a powerlift meet before.

What can we expect at the meet? Any advice or recommendations?

(I’ve posted a similar message over at the Powerful Women forum.)

Thanks. Steve

Good luck with it. I went to Raw Nationals last year in Richmond. Open light, squat deep, have fun. If you have specific questions I will be happy to try to answer them.

Tim

Get familiar with the calls. Use them in training a couple of times before the comp if you can.

On the squats, the bar is taken out of the racks and the lifter walks back to get their start position. The head judge will give a downward hand signal and the “squat” command.

Squat down til you go below // and come back up. Stand there with the bar on your back until the head judge beckons you back to the rack with a “come hither” hand signal and the “rack” command. You gotta take one step forward, after that the spotters can help you back in.

On the bench you may get a start command after the lift off, you may not (depends on the fed, check it out yourself). When the bar’s motionless on your chest you;ll get the “press” command, or a clap (again you may not, check with the fed). And finally, similar to the squat, a “rack” command.

The deadlift’s simple. Pick the bar up off the floor. When it’s locked out the head judge will give you a downward hand signal with a “down” command.

Obey all these commands, the ones I listed are the general commands across all feds, but there may be minor differences with 100% RAW. If you don’t, then regardless of how the actual lifts was performed you’ll probably get red lights.

Get an experienced lifter to check your depth in the warm up room to make sure everything’s ok there too.

Other than that, have fun!!! You only get one first meet!

Hey thanks for the responses guys!

Any recommendations for warm ups? Does anyone know if a bar pad is acceptable for the squat? I sent an email to the meet director, but no response yet on that question.

My husband, who started this thread, is also my trainer. He’s already started having me wait for his command to make sure I’m deep enough in the squat. And, I do box squats below parallel so I think that part is ok.

I’m most concerned about the bench in terms of actual weight pressed. I don’t do a standard bench on a regular basis so I don’t know yet exactly what I might be able to get on a 1RM. Based on other press work, he thinks I should be able to go about 125.

Any info on how you find out what the correct set up is for rack positions, foot blocks, etc? The meet info only says that you have to present that information at the weigh-in. I’m guessing that you just go in sometime before the weigh-in and figure out what settings you need.

I’m actually pretty excited about this.

If you’re in So Cal, there is an AAU Powerlifting meet this weekend (6/21-22)in Vista, Ca. I’d go and watch. It’ll answer a lot of questions you have. I’ll be competing along with my other team members. If you can make it, PM me and I’ll meet you there to go over rules/commands/equipment.

David

oh wow, I’m gonna be iin Vegas.

Never done a low-bar squat in my life though, and mostly db bench, and only started lifting 7 months ago… lol

but it sounds like it would be really fun. Maybe I’ll make the biggest little mistake of my life and make the trek to Reno

[quote]Flash50 wrote:
Hey thanks for the responses guys!

Any recommendations for warm ups? Does anyone know if a bar pad is acceptable for the squat? I sent an email to the meet director, but no response yet on that question.

My husband, who started this thread, is also my trainer. He’s already started having me wait for his command to make sure I’m deep enough in the squat. And, I do box squats below parallel so I think that part is ok.

I’m most concerned about the bench in terms of actual weight pressed. I don’t do a standard bench on a regular basis so I don’t know yet exactly what I might be able to get on a 1RM. Based on other press work, he thinks I should be able to go about 125.

Any info on how you find out what the correct set up is for rack positions, foot blocks, etc? The meet info only says that you have to present that information at the weigh-in. I’m guessing that you just go in sometime before the weigh-in and figure out what settings you need.

I’m actually pretty excited about this.[/quote]

Definitely no pad is allowed on the squat. You are a newbie so you probably don’t know this but it is considered in bad taste to even ask about the pad, I am just letting you know that for the future. Kind of like asking a pro football player if they play touch or tackle. Gloves aren’t allowed either.

There is no up command in the squat but you can have a partner call out depth if you want. Watch some vids on the 100% raw site (www.rawpowerlifting.com) to see good depth, they will be relatively strict.

During the weigh in period you will have to time to go to squat rack and figure out what height you like to have it set up at. Try to find a point where you line the bar up with now (1 inch below clavicle or whatever) and then line it up in the same place at the meet, too low is better than too high, what feels good with just the bar doesn’t always feel good with heavy weight.

If you like blocks on your feet for the bench they may have some, you can generally use your own but your whole foot must be on the block with your feet flat, can’t be up on your toes. There will be a press command in the bench.

For the bench press you should definitely be doing it regularly and you should do a few singles to have some idea of where you are at, like 105 and 115 if you are hoping for 125 in the meet. Pause them and see how they go. 115 should be relatively easy (ie you could definitely get it 2 or maybe 3 times) to do 125.

For a warmup if I was going to 125 on my third attempt on the bench press I would warm up like this, but everybody is a little different

45x8
45x8
65x5
85x3
95x1 all done in the warm-up room, take your time, should take about 15 minutes or so.

Then for my attempts I would go with this on bench:
Conservative: 105x1, 115x1, 125x1
More aggressive: 110x1, 120x1, 125-130x1
Very aggressive: 110x1, 125x1, whatever you want (130-135)

For your first meet you should definitely open up with a weight that you can do for 3-5 reps even on a crappy day. The order will be squat, bench press, deadlift, and they may do curls at the end, I am not sure about that meet. Curls would be optional.

Good luck with it, once you get the bug it sticks with you,
Tim

Thanks much for the info.

Sally’s got degenerative disc disease, with some disc damage (from a bad fall in Combat Hapkido a few years ago), so she’s been squatting with a bar pad. She can manage some heavy singles so long as she works up to them using a pad.