The Road to Humiliation: My First PL Meets

[El Freako]

Go hard mate!

 

[PrinceVegeta]

Good luck man! kill it!!

 

[lifterdead]

The meet was intense!

Despite several disappointments, the meet was tremendously satisfying. It was incredibly long, nerve-wrecking at times, a constant source of heart-thumping thrills, and a learning experience.

I arrived in Newark the night before. Big Gene Rychaleck himself weighed me in at 145 pounds! (I started January weighing 161…..) This was the first omen of things to come. I aimed for 148, figuring there would be less competition at that weight class. In fact, it turned out I was the only one at that weight class.

I weighed in, and commenced eating a big dinner. Honestly, I felt like shit. Dieting took a lot out of me, and I was feeling weak.

Saturday moring, as the meet began, I was feeling better, but still weak. I picked low numbers for the squat (I had no one else to compete against) and made them all.

They went like this:

250, 175, 285. All were good, well below parallel. Funny, first time using a monolift, and it helps A LOT. Lots of lifters told me I was going down more than I needed to (I always had 3 white lights!) but as I train alone I have no way of knowing what’s at parallel unless I go ATG.

So, things started off well. On to folly.

My bench opener, at 225, was laughably easy, but………

I didn’t follow commands! I paused it on my chest well, but I racked it without the signal! Two red lights! After years of benching in a gym, it’s funny how things that come natural, things you do without thinking, come automatically.

Since 225 felt light, and I had doubled 245 in training, I jumped to 245 on my next attempt.

It stalled the second time.
It stalled a third time.

I bombed out!

Powerlifting rule number 1#- ALWAYS hit a light opener first!

My deadlifting was anticlimatic. I hit all of my deads easily, but after the miss on my bench presses I wanted to make all sure I hit all my lifts and stayed light. I easily pulled 315 @ 145, probably could’ve hit 330 that day.


Was I bummed out? Yeah, for about 10 minutes.

It was fun. Lifters are VERY supportive. I learned all kinds of things I never would’ve known had I just kept my ass in the gym. Most importantly, now I have an incredible drive to come back and nail it at my next IPA meet in July. Had I just kept to a light opener on the bench, I would’ve made a bunch of Jersy records……

Final results: DID NOT FINISH @145 pounds
Squat
250, 275, 285
Bench
(225), (245), (245)
Deadlift
275, 300, 315


Great meet, had TONS of fun, glad I did it. Finally met some more lifters from Manhattan, looking forward to my next meet, July 24th in CT. I'll try and get some pics or vids up later.

 

[_ROBERTiNHO_]

Nice man! Great experience. To find out where is your depth at the squat you could film yourself, once you get it, it'll become automatic. In July I'm sure you will hit much bigger numbers! Keep training! And hard!

 

[El Freako]

Good work mate despite not placing. Find any potential training partners?

 

[lifterdead]

Thanks. Despite bombing out, I still feel pretty damn good about it! I was terribly anxious about squatting, which, ironically enough, turned out to be a piece of cake.

I hooked up with a few lifters from Manhattan, who also couldn't find any powerlifting gyms in NY, hah.


Some BIG benches at the meet; one dude hit 850! (Equipped, of course...)


I'm going to start Korte's 3x3 program next week. Looking forward to growing into the 165 pound class.

 

[Skeptic]

Great work LD! Sucks about missing the bench, you did however nail the others which is awesome!

 

[lifterdead]

Thanks!

It's a mistake I felt comfortable making at a first time meet. After years of benching on my own, not waiting for the "rack it" command was automatic......

From now on I'm going practice mental commands into my lifts at the gym, and, if all goes well, I'll nail higher numbers at my next meet in July.

 

[kn609]

Hey man, great job at the meet. Mistakes aren't always a bad thing, they just help you realize what you did wrong. Sounds like it was a good experience, maybe I should give it a try sometime this year.
BTW, how old are you?

 

[lifterdead]

Hey man, great job at the meet. Mistakes aren't always a bad thing, they just help you realize what you did wrong. Sounds like it was a good experience, maybe I should give it a try sometime this year.
BTW, how old are you?

Thanks! Yeah, mistakes help. From now on I'll always use mental commands when I bench in the gym and I'll do smaller jumps at the next meet.

Heh, I'm OLD. (28 years....) I teach algebra at a high school in NYC.

I only recently got into powerlifting. I dicked around in the gym for years but I only seriously started training for a meet about 3 months ago.

 

[kn609]

Algebra teacher, I see. lol, wish my math teacher was a powerlifter.

 

[lifterdead]

You're pretty strong for your age, man. Hope to see you hit some big numbers!

 

[_ROBERTiNHO_]

Nice, a Math teacher and a powerlifter, just like Wade Hooper.

 

[PrinceVegeta]

Congrats on your lifts and its awesome that you had an awesome time! next time u will break all records!

 

[El Freako]

Old people reprazent!

(I'm 28 too )

 

[lifterdead]

Well, I fucked up my shoulder.


I was benching the week after my meet and I noticed my right front delt seemed oddly sore afterwards. I finished up my workout, came home, all the while it slowly got more and more painful. Soon after the workout, it hurt just to raise my hand. I got a heat pad on it, took some aspirin, and waited for it to get worse. "Rotator cuff" and "chronic benching pain" drifted around my thoughts.....

By the time I was ready to sleep, the pain and pretty much vanished. The next day it felt fine.

Today was my first day back doing chest since the pain first appeared. I stayed light, 2x165x12, and, so far, no pain.

Here's to hoping I just was pushing it too hard last week and I'll be fine for the rest of my training program....

 

[lifterdead]

Not much new to post here; I'm leaving the country for a couple of weeks at the end of march so to switch things up I'm working on a regular, Ed Coan style routine; I hope to hit a few pb's before I go.

My log will be dead for awhile, but I hope to post some youtube vids of lifts before the end of March.

 

[El Freako]

Vids! Woot!

Enjoy your trip.

 

[lifterdead]

Well, shit.


I haven't been in a gym in almost 4 weeks. Spent the first two weeks in Japan with the wife; no time or place to workout. Came back two weeks ago, and got REALLY sick. Seriously, I never get sick, but this time around I was stuck in bed for 3 days. Fever, really smelly shits, etc.

The worse part is feeling yourself get WEAKER.

Gonna try hitting up the gym for the first time today. Hopefully I won't be as weak as a new born kitten.

In other news, I signed up for a meet July 24. Going to start a Korte 3x3 program next month to prep for it.


(Pic from my trip in Japan, Shrine ceremony I was in.)

 

[MrChewiebitums]

gws!