Brownab's First Meet

Training Powerlifting
1

Had my first meet today and met a bunch of great people. There were guys squatting and deadlifting 700+ and a 83yr old woman that deadlifted 170. Went 419/x/501.5 @ 220 jr./raw USAPL. I had a great time even though I bombed (one more reason for me to hate bench press).

I thought the second bench attempt looked clean in the video, as did the head judge for the event, but it doesn’t really matter. This is the first time I’ve seen my lifting on video so it will greatly help my lifts in the future.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions about technique and training (aside from don’t squat so low, don’t let my knees fall in, don’t round my back on deadlift, and get my hips down farther before I pull, I figured those things out on my own) I’d love to hear them.

DISCLAIMER- THE CAMERA WORK IS TERRIBLE

2nd squat attempt 2nd squat attempt 419lbs - YouTube

  • My knees have been falling inward the last couple weeks, but I figured I’d wait until after the meet to work on that

3rd squat attempt 3rd squat attempt 435lbs - YouTube

  • I thought the depth on the last one was iffy (I didn’t see the video until after) so I went deeper, I think when my legs hit my chest that should have been my cue to stop going down. I just got a pair of weightlifting shoes, they have really helped my squat, but my depth perception has gone out the window.

2nd bench attempt 2nd bench attempt 259lbs - YouTube

  • I thought this was a good lift, my weight on my hips came off when I started to drive, but I made sure to keep contact between my butt and the bench.

I wanted a 1200 total so I jumped to 280 (I hit 290 in the gym two weeks ago), but I had to adjust my setup after the weight was unracked and I lost my tightness. The bar fell out of the grove and I touched 2 inches higher than normal. At that point I don’t think I could have pressed any more than 225.

2nd deadlift attempt 2nd Deadlift attempt 501.5lbs - YouTube
501.5 This was a 6.5 pound PR for me even with the horrendous form.

3rd deadlift attempt 3rd Deadlift attempt 523lbs - YouTube
Tried 523 and missed, but if I’d have gotten my hips down I’d have gotten it. It made it about 3-4 inches off the floor which is the highest I have ever failed on a deadlift. I’ve probably only pulled 7 or 8 times since March, so this should be the easiest lift for me to improve on is the next few months

If anyone has any advice for setting up on bench, especially for a tall guy that likes a big arch, I’d like to hear it…

2

Good shit man… that’s a lot better than I did at my first meet!

3

[quote]Hanley wrote:
Good shit man… that’s a lot better than I did at my first meet!
[/quote]

I don’t know if I’d say that considering I couldn’t pass a bench, but thanks. I’m still waiting for someone to hold a sqt/dl meet.

4

- YouTube this video helped me tremendously with my bench setup. You’ll learn that the setup for bench is possibly the most important part of the entire lift. So watch this video and live by it. It will yield HUGE gains.

For your squat, if you try to visualize spreading the floor apart side ways with your feet, it should help some with your knee problem. You know what your doin there so this is my suggestion for how to fix it. My lifting partner has had the same problem but when he focuses on “spreading the floor” in his lighter sets, you can see a big difference when he gets to his heavier lifts.

As for deadlift, I cant quite tell how your feet are set up but make sure that they are turned out slightly if they arent already. Pull throughs and kettle bell swings might helps some with your hip issue and possibly help with your lower back problem too.

Good first meet

5

[quote]Hanley wrote:
Good shit man… that’s a lot better than I did at my first meet!
[/quote]

x2

It seems you have a good grasp on where you’re at and what you need to do too. The only thing I’d say is that your deadlift form isn’t TOO bad. Your hips come up a little fast, but I didn’t see any other things that are necessarily bad.

6

[quote]ajcicconi15 wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh3t6T-nqP0 this video helped me tremendously with my bench setup. You’ll learn that the setup for bench is possibly the most important part of the entire lift. So watch this video and live by it. It will yield HUGE gains.
[/quote]
I actually got my setup from that video. i have been trying to have my feet tucked under me, but in the usapl your feet have to be flat on the ground. Accomplishing this while keeping my butt on the bench is very hard for me (I have very long legs, even for my height). Dave Ricks (he was the head judge) showed me after the meet that I should have my feet out wide, but I need to work on hip flexibility to do that.

I used to be good at that, but then I started smolov and I stopped caring abut technique and only worried about getting the weight up. I’ll have to work on it again.

I stand with my heels in close and my toes out. I’ll try the pull throughs. My lower back has always been my weakness for both squat and deadlift. Doing smolov beltless actually added more to my conventional deadlift than to my squat.

[quote]
Good first meet[/quote]

Thank you

7

[quote]Hanley wrote:
Good shit man… that’s a lot better than I did at my first meet!
[/quote]

x2. I bombed on squats my first meet.

8

I bombed out benching my first meet. All three attempts were red lighted.

9

If you’d cut your hair you’d add 5 pounds to your squat and DL. Just kidding.

Good job. I just did my first full meet a little more than a week ago, I almost bombed on my bench too.

10

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
If you’d cut your hair you’d add 5 pounds to your squat and DL. Just kidding.

Good job. I just did my first full meet a little more than a week ago, I almost bombed on my bench too.[/quote]

The long hair was where its at at that meet. This kid in my class (220 raw jr) had the same hair style except it was pulled up into a weird half pony tail thing. He was about 6’ and only 205lbs and he lifted like 584/317/650. I felt inspired to improve my lifting by seeing the success of another tall dude with a crap bench.

I’m going to do a bench only meet on Aug 1 so I can practice my bench.