You’re considering competing in your first powerlifting meet.
Maybe you’ve signed up and the meet is approaching, or maybe you’re still deciding whether you want to take the plunge and step on the platform.
One of the first things many new (or potential) competitors will do is look at meet results from past competitions to see where they would “stack up” should they compete. Often times the result of looking at meet results, current state/federation/world records, or rankings will result in one of the following conclusions:
1) “Oh man, I’m not strong enough to be competitive yet, I’ll wait to do a meet till I’m stronger..”
2) “Hm, I could be competitive if I competed in a lower weight class, that’s what I’ll do is cut some weight!”
3) “Oh man, my best gym lifts are actually pretty close to ‘x record’, that’s my goal is to get the record, anything less is failure!”
I’ve heard variations of those three sentiments from numerous beginning lifters, and was even guilty of some of them myself going into my first meet. Especially if you have a very competitive nature, many of those conclusions are natural thoughts going into your first meet. What is important to remember however, is that if you haven’t competed in a sanctioned powerlifting meet before, your current best lifts are:
Squat: 0 Bench: 0 Deadlift: 0 Total: 0
If there’s one thing all powerlifters learn at one point or another, is that gym lifts are meaningless when it comes to the platform. Obviously what you’ve done in training is an indicator of selecting your openers, setting goals, etc. But you shouldn’t start to look at your gym PRs (or as Dave Tate has referred to as “GRs”) and take the approach that anything less than that is failure. Being able to perform all 3 lifts over the course of a long day, with PLENTY of unknown variables and unexpected issues occurring, is a skill that takes practice and most of all experience. Even many of the top powerlifters still struggle to put a competition performance together that matches their best gym lifts.
The purpose of this post isn’t to discourage you or take away from what you’ve done in the gym, the goal is quite the opposite actually. When entering your first meet, just completing the meet, getting official numbers on the board, and getting the experience of competing will make it a successful endeavor. THEN once you’ve established your meet PRs, you have a measurement to base your future training cycles, expectations, and goals on for the future.
Don’t put undue pressure or unrealistic expectations on yourself when entering your first competition. At this point, you aren’t a powerlifter. You are someone who has performed the squat, bench, and deadlift in training. Making the choice to compete can change that. Once you step on the platform and make that commitment to compete, you’ve taken a huge step forward and should be proud that you’ve done something many won’t have the confidence to do.
Competing is a great challenge and not only allows you to measure your performance against others, but it allows you an objective opportunity to out-perform the “old you”. Hitting PRs in a meet and making progress is an extremely fulfilling feeling. That feeling will only come, however, if you take that first step out of your comfort zone, and onto the platform. Train hard, have fun, and remember that powerlifting isn’t any one single event, it’s a journey.
If you are ready to take that first step towards competing, but need some direction, don't hesitate to head over to our Q&A HERE. Our Team of lifters and coaches are more than happy to answer any questions you may have!
More from Joe Schillero:
