I have never been to or participated in a powerlifting meet. I have recently gotten into it after taking up lifting again and starting Wendler’s 5/3/1. The bug has bit me and I want to compete haha
The APA is having a meet up in Sac (about an hour away from me) on November 20th, two days before my 24th birthday. I’ve considered entering in it. I already know and expect my lifts to suck and know it wont be anything amazing, I’ve only been training for a few months and only been focused on powerlifting for about one, but I kind of want to get my first meet under my belt. At the same time, I see a lot of advice saying to go watch a meet before entering to kind of see what it’s all aboout…
So I guess the question is…is it worthwhile to go watch a meet before entering your first one, or should I treat it like cold water and just jump in with both feet and see how it goes?
There’s a men’s meet on Nov. 6 and a women’s pro meet (the first ever) on Nov. 7 at Super Training Gym in Sac. Either one would be a good chance to watch and see how meets work. Both are SPF. Ours are a little different from the APA meets but you’d get the idea (monolift vs squat stands for one thing). About half the lifters in our meets lift raw and some people walk out their squats anyway. The APA meets are generally pretty low key, while our meets are higher energy with music, etc. A lot of people consider APA meets to be good for novice lifters, but I think that the environment is just as supportive in our meets.
Looks like Super Training meet is the answer to your question, watch that and then compete on the 20th. I also heard its a cool gym so visiting that alone is worth the trip.
Nice, I didn’t know about the ST meet. I’ll definitely have to try to make it. My company is going to hate me in November…they hired me specifically for weekends and that right there will be two Saturdays I’m going to ask for off lol luckily it’s just a dead end job I’m using for spending money while in college, so…f them haha I’m gonna go to the ST site and check out the info for that meet, thanks man.
Go compete. Here is an anecdote from my first competition:
It was October 2009 when I had been on 5-3-1 for about 2 months. In order to keep myself motivated, I decided to sign up for a PL meet. I searched all the ones in my area and decided on an SPF Meet in February 2010, and trained my ass off for it leading up. My lifts were pretty unremarkable for a 275 at 500/335/465, but I was only one of two 275’s that showed up that day and my 1300 total was good enough to beat the other guy and I got a huge awesome trophy for my efforts. A couple days later, I was informed that my total was the state record in VA for my weight class in SPF.
So that was pretty cool. Now I have something to beat in my next meet (shatter, actually) and I had a blast meeting new people and competing…so get your ass out there and be somebody!
[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Go compete. Here is an anecdote from my first competition:
It was October 2009 when I had been on 5-3-1 for about 2 months. In order to keep myself motivated, I decided to sign up for a PL meet. I searched all the ones in my area and decided on an SPF Meet in February 2010, and trained my ass off for it leading up. My lifts were pretty unremarkable for a 275 at 500/335/465, but I was only one of two 275’s that showed up that day and my 1300 total was good enough to beat the other guy and I got a huge awesome trophy for my efforts. A couple days later, I was informed that my total was the state record in VA for my weight class in SPF.
So that was pretty cool. Now I have something to beat in my next meet (shatter, actually) and I had a blast meeting new people and competing…so get your ass out there and be somebody![/quote]
That’s awesome haha
I’m not expecting any trophies. My lifts are embarrassing. 220/190/250 (at the same time, I think I could squeeze a few more pounds out of my squat and bench, especially my bench…but I train without a spotter and hold back a little out of fear…my mug is ugly enough as it is lol). Until a couple of months ago, I hadn’t done any kind of physical training in about a year. Luckily, I’ll have time to get two more cycles of 5/3/1 one in before hand…gotta really kick my ass lol.
I just want to get my first meet under my belt…virtually no training experience, but the opportunity is there, might as well take it.
I’m not expecting any trophies. My lifts are embarrassing. 220/190/250 (at the same time, I think I could squeeze a few more pounds out of my squat and bench, especially my bench…but I train without a spotter and hold back a little out of fear…my mug is ugly enough as it is lol). Until a couple of months ago, I hadn’t done any kind of physical training in about a year. Luckily, I’ll have time to get two more cycles of 5/3/1 one in before hand…gotta really kick my ass lol.
I just want to get my first meet under my belt…virtually no training experience, but the opportunity is there, might as well take it.[/quote]
The cool thing about PL meets is nobody gives a fuck what the weight is that you have on the bar…as long as you are busting your ass with effort, everybody in the gym will be cheering you on…even the guys competing against you in your weight class…it is one of the most positive athletic endeavours I have ever experienced (I used to be a huge shit talker back when I was hoopin’ haha)…