i think the most important thing is to open light - no reason to have to repeat your opener

carter/wendler generally say to open w/ something you can triple, shoot for a small pr on the 2nd attempt, and then go for gusto (depending on feel) for the 3rd

yup, that's good general advice I think - I've read similar stuff before & maybe it was Wendler.

I'm in a different boat than thinking about PRs on my second attempts though - in the past month:

- I stopped bench pressing for several weeks, then did a total of one rep at over 85% of my 1RM (I did 1 paused rep with 287 yesterday. PR is 332 and that was not paused.)

- messed my neck up to the point I couldnt bench over 50% of my 1RM without neck issues as recently as last Friday (195 x 3 made it uncomfortable)

Since I injured my back over a year ago, the most I squatted was 367x1 & that was yesterday. My PR was 420 before my back injury.

I was in shape to DL a PR a few weeks ago, but am probably not right now.

If I had known about this meet a couple months ago, I might have planned towards this and not messed my neck up. Then PRs on 2nd attempts (maybe not squat) would be in the discussion.

My next meet (assuming that happens), I will plan much farther in advance and attempt to break PRs. That advice you just posted will be applicable then.

As of today, I'm thinking openers will be ~340/~285/~450. There will almost certainly be no PR squat at all - I'm guessing it might go ~340, 370, 400. If a PR BP is possible, it will go something like 285, 315, 335 (I'd be thrilled with that). A PR DL might go like 450, 480, 510. I should be able to improve at everything next time.

Was gone for a few days, but now I'm back.

Disregard first part of my PM, I sent before I read that you clarified here is was USPA. And now that I know it's USPA, you don't have to worry about it all, lol.

G4S - what's special about USPA (or not special)? Does it have to do with form and making sure your lifts aren't DQed?

Cha - my advice having never done a meet and not necessarily ever planning to is that there will be another one so I wouldn't be too hell bent on PRing anything. I like your plan...but it shouldn't be the end of the world if your squat doesn't go as planned (for instance) - same with your bench. Getting hurt will set you back a lot more than getting 5 or 10 fewer lbs on your lift at this meet since you'll obliterate your #s on the next one anyway.

It's not a tested federation, so there is no worry about any supplements.

yeah, that other federation I was looking at that's having the meet in August appears to have strict rules on supplements (& drugs if you're into that), so I asked G4S if he knew anything about it. It sounds like I need to talk to the promoter about what is & isnt allowed by them. This one I'm going to this week apparently doesnt test for anything, so I might be up against people doing roids & stuff

you can admit it bro, you were wondering if you cycled off in time.

Cha Mendes posting itt.

6/6

smr & mobility

practiced & timed warm ups

squat up to 327 x 1, ~32 minutes

BP up to 287 x 1, ~40 mins

DL up to 419 x 1, 1 ~20 mins

The bench felt particularly easy. My neck is a lot better. Dr K did a great job on me yesterday. I think I might open ~300/350/450.

6/8

weighed in at 233

Openers will be 302.5/352/462

Gogogo!

When's the comp? I'm sure you'll crrrruuuussshhh.

Thanks guys!

Its tomorrow.

I saw a couple guys that looked a lot stronger than me at weigh in. I think one was the promoter guy. I saw one other older guy who I might be stronger than.

The gym has a rumble roller but I dont think they have air conditioning

Opening at 1100+

Show off

good luck buddy

GL. I am sure you'll represent h&f well.

Good luck today Cha!

Good luck!

Cha just texted me - he put up over 1200 with a DL PR. I hope there is video .

Think of what his total will be in a couple months since he basically still is getting comfortable squatting real heavy again.

Impressive cha, great work!

Congrats Cha!!

thanks!

thanks!

thanks, and thanks again for those links - they were helpful!

thanks!

yeah, I'm still a bit confused about what I lifted because kilos arent exactly 2.2 lbs. I'll put vids & totals & comments up in a while.

thanks!

thanks!

Here are two views of the PR DL - 235 KG or 518.xx lbs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JEneK_U2oY&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UaiJ1AzQn0&feature=plcp

6-9-2012

1st ever powerlifting meet

Backing up - Thursday night, I strained my neck/left upper back Thursday night again. I did it leaning over with both arms up over my head, one arm supporting myself against a wall and one picking up an empty suitcase. Yeah, it was empty. Apparently I need to avoid doing anything with my arms over my head for a while

Yesterday I couldnt get in to see Dr K, but I was able to get an appointment with my massage therapist. That helped, but it didnt eliminate my problem because my neck needs to be adjusted.

I woke up this morning and my neck was stiff and sore as hell - sleeping on it is apparently the worst thing for it when this is going on. My wife suggested I skip the meet I put the DMS on my neck for a while and had my wife do the DMS on my upper back. Just what I needed. It was/is not 100%, but that made it feel a lot better.

After the pre-meet meeting (that started early and I was late because of that ), I spent about 20-30 minutes rolling my back & legs. I did no dynamic warmups at all - just a set of 10 light goblet squats, then started warming up my squat to ~335. I think this is optimal for me for a meet to conserve energy.

1st attempt ~352 - ez - 3 white lights
2nd attempt ~380 - not as ez, but not too hard & 3 white lights
3rd attempt ~403 - I got no bounce out of the hole and stalled halfway up. It was a real grind & it too a lot out of me. fail

380 is the most I've squatted in over a year - I got 420 well before I injured my back. I would have liked to hit over 400 today, and could have, but at least I got 380+ with almost no squat training the past year +, and a sore neck. I'll move up pretty fast when I start training this again.

I need to get used to the commands. They seem like pretty simple things, but when you're moving heavy weight, your brain locks up

bench - typical gradual warmup to 295x1

1st attempt ~302.5 - everything went fine until I racked it too fast. The weight moved easy, so even though it was a failed lift, I knew I could do more, so I decided to move up (where they respected my raises )

2nd attempt ~314.xx - the weight went down & up fine, I racked it properly, but my butt slid on the bench so I got red lighted

3rd attempt ~314.xx - it felt easier than the previous attempt and I got three white lights Its too bad I messed up the first two lifts because I think I might have had a PR in me otherwise. Oh well.

DL

somewhat typical warmup to 435x1

stood around for a while, then:

1st attempt: ~462 - ez

2nd attempt - ~496 - somewhat ez

3rd attempt - ~518 - hard, but not too bad. I should be able to improve. I credit the chain DLs I've done for making the lockout the easiest part of this lift. Breaking the floor was the hard part.

Neck is a little stiff, but not bad. I'm gonna be ok, but no OHP or pullup for a while imo.

So in KGs, I did 172.5/142.5/235 = 550 or 1212.542 lbs according to a metric conversion thingy I found.

I kind of wanted 1200, so that's good, but I'm disappointed in the bench and slightly less disappointed in the squat. The DL made up for those though. That was a lot of fun.

Man, that DL was a monster and to be honest, it did not look all that impossible. I mean, it didn't shoot up like a warmup but man, definitely seems like it can keep going up.

I think you should be very encouraged about your squat and not disappointed at all. As you say, this is something you're not even training very hard!

That total is sweet - especially for your first meet. Must be beginner's luck .