For those of you who’ve never done a meet, save this, and read it again before your first. And for those of you who just can’t finesse attempt selection, here’s a formula I developed to make attempt selection as close to fool-proof as it’ll get.

After the inaugural 5th Set Black Meet on Saturday, I drove all night to Cincinnati for the Women’s Pro Am. My motivation for a weekend short on rest and long on PRs can be summed up in a single sentence: I love powerlifting.

You want that total. You have your heart set on it.

At least, not at this point. As it stands, we are left with adding up our heaviest successful attempt for each of the three lifts and the sum of those is how a powerlifting total is born.