Powerlifting: After the Meet. What should you do?

I’ve been planning on writing this for a while, and as we have a few people lifting this weekend at the RPS Power Challenge why not now?

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What to do before a meet is discussed and written about all the time.

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But what about after the Meet.
What should you do?

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Let’s look at what happens at a Powerlifting Meet first.

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It doesn’t matter what level lifter you are, you are going to go up to the platform and perform all three lifts:

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• Squat

• Bench Press

• Deadlift

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In the same day and for at LEAST one maximal effort.

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NOTE: If you are doing a true max on each of the 9 lifts you need a new coach.

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It doesn’t matter how train. Doing a meet is much harder than a training session.
They are long, sometimes at hours that you don’t normally train at and you do all three lifts heavy in one day.
There is also a nervous system aspect many don’t consider.
On meet day, unless you are a true mutant, you will burn up a ton of nervous energy.
Much more than in training.
And your CNS will be fatigued a lot more than usual after due to the three max lifts and the nervous energy.

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This adds up and takes a toll on your recovery.

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With that out of the way, what should you do after the meet?

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Well, I think this is common sense but common sense is lost in many areas these days….

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Right after the meet, you should EAT.
I am a big fan of giving yourself a reward and eating whatever you want.
Not for a week, but the night of and the day, or two at the most after.
The added calories will help you recover.

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After that, sleep.
As the old bodybuilders used to say, you grow when you sleep. This also means that you recover when you sleep.
Sleep a lot the night of the meet, and if you can, the day after.

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Next, maybe get a massage.

Massage is one of the best tools for recovery. You can also do contrast showers or some foam rolling.
I don’t want to hear the anti foam roller crowd. Foam rolling is certainly not all it was bragged about when we were first introduced to it years ago, but it does have it’s place.
It increases blood flow to the areas you roll on and increased blood flow is good for recovery. That alone is reason to do it.

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And you could possibly do some very light sled dragging a few days after for time.

This also speeds recovery.

But, if you aren’t feeling it, don’t do it.
If you are antsy to get in the gym, do a little dragging.
What about training?

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If you can train the Monday after you did it wrong!

The young kids do a meet and are back on Monday HAMMERING a hard training session.

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If you are a brand new lifter and have not developed the ability to maximally utilize your nervous system while lifting, you might be able to get away with this.

But if you’ve been training for any amount of time and hit respectable numbers, this will wreak havoc on your body.
Talk to the old timers.
We all used to take at least a week off after a big meet, and many took more.

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Why?

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We knew it was necessary.
Not allowing your body to recover opens up the door for injury to jump through.
A well designed program takes this into account and moderates when you train and at what intensity.

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In my TPSMethod for Powerlifting programs, we used to give a full week off and have them come back at about 60-65% for sets of 5 on the main lift the first week back with minimal assistance/accessory.
That worked fine, but all programming is an experiment. You may not know this, but it’s true.
Now, we get them back in the gym the week after the meet on a Friday.
So, if the meet is on a Saturday, they have 5 days off.
This has been working very well, even better than the full week. When they took a full week, there was an 9 day gap between the meet and the first session.
5 days seems to be the sweet spot right now, and this is for RAW lifters.

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Our multi ply lifters take more time off than the raw.
They do take a full week, and if they feel the need it, more.

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Put some thought into this.
Training is a marathon not a sprint. You’ve got your entire life to compete and if you think taking a few days off will hurt you, you haven’t properly considered these factors.

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After you do your next meet, try the advice I laid out here.
I’m willing to bet you that it will do you good and you’ll be itching to train when you get back in the gym.

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AND:

On November 16th we are running the RPS Boston’s Strongest Push Pull at TPS and we have 3 spots left open for lifters.

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This show will benefit the Claddagh Fund (the Dropkick Murphy’s charitable organization) and the Everett Pop Warner Football organization.

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If you want to have a great morning benching and deadlifting for charity, go to:

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Totalperformancesports.com/registration

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And sign up now!

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If you don’t want to lift, but want to support the event please come by and pay the $10 spectator fee on the 16th and watch some great lifting.
I hope to see you on the platform or in the audience.

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Did you miss last week’s log?

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Read it here

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Vincere vel mori

C.J. Murphy

October 10, 2019