If you wnat a WR there’s a big thing that has to change and that’s your attitude. You say you got a bad call, there’s no such thing. Now objectively we know there is such a thing but you can never allow yourself to attribute anything to a bad call and here’s the reason:
It puts the outcome of your lifting out of your control.
We all know that bad calls occur, stuff gets red lighted that shouldn’t have been or a spotter grabs a bar they shouldn’t have (happened on a guys third squat attempt this past weekend) but you cannot allow the responsibility for the outcome to rest with anyone but you because if you’re not responsible for the outcome then you have no power to change it.
Whenever you fail, analyze why (in terms of things you have control over) and use that info to work a fix for it.
Called for dropping the bar too early in a DL? Start celebrating every successful DL at the top, once you’ve locked out hold it for a few seconds and give yourself a mental (or verbal if allowed) “Fuck yeah, bitches!” at the top. Nobody loses a DL for taking a few seconds to put it down after the ref indicates you can.
If something shitty happens you’re allowed to bitch about it the day of the meet and that’s it. Bitching, moaning, and complaining aren’t allowed after that, only fixing.
In Judy you can win by throwing your opponent flat on their back with force and control and back when I used to do Judo one guy was bitching about being robbed by the judges on a decision and our coach (Mark Hicks) made a great comment which was “There’s an easy way to prevent that, don’t let it go to a decision. Next time pick that motherfucker up and slam him down so hard that the building shakes, no judge can take that win away from you”.
FYI I’ve trained world champions (not in powerlifting but other sports) and professional athletes so I have a bit of a background in this.
First of all if you don’t bomb at your first meet consider it a success.
Based on my experiences, i present the following:
Don’t bother with “peaking cycles” until you really have ahandle on what your body can do which takes a few years. Instead just ramp up the weight a few weeks out and take a deload week before the meet. Treat the meet as a heavy training session.
Don’t cut weight. If anything cut fat after the meet and train up. Unless you are lookign to win a major comp. or set a record what’s the point in torturing yourself and fucking your performance because of weight loss induced weakness.
Know why a lift is redlighted - ALWAYS politely ask for an explanation on EVERY red light even on lifts where you got two whites.
If you failed a lift igure out why. This way you can plan your training accordingly.
DO NOT piss of the judges by throwing your belt, shouting, cursing stomping or otherwise aacting like an ass. They WILL remember you.
Sink the first squat. It creates an impression that you know what you are doing and you will tend to get borderline calls when you need a big lift. I ompeted in the ADFPA for 17 years and NEVER got called on depth or any squat techncality once.
Expanding on # 6. lift with CLEAN technique. Sloppy lifts don’t mean shit and you can’t base training numbers off of them. Strive to never get called on technicalities. I was never a star but I placed higher than I should have in many cases because I would make all three squats.
Find someone who knows what they are doing to handle you at your first few meets.
Hahaha, first time I bombed out i had so many emotions running through me I did almost cry. Lol. I felt so bad about feeling bad it just compounded into a mini panic attack. Then I remembered it’s powerlifting, I didn’t kill anyone and moved on with it and ate some pancakes.
Not a PL, but as far as the weight thing goes, just slowly lose weight over a year or so and find out where you can comfortably hang out. If that’s 220, 200, 180, whatever, just find a comfortable area where you can float above it on the off-season and easily cut to when you prep. Markk did an amazing job of doing this while maintaining a lot of strength. It gives you more room to build over time. Also, you’re only 17-18. You have SOOO much time ahead of you. Focus on building solid strength over a long period of time so you CAN set records one day. Whether you set them when you’re 19 or 29, your name will still be beside the weight and the number 1.
A good idea in theory, but not always allowed. In my first meet I got two white lights and one red on my second squat, I turned to the judge holding a red card and said “what did I do wrong?”. The head judge jumped out of his chair yelling that I can’t question one red light if the lift passed and that it was considered intimidation. I replied that I just wanted to know what he saw so that I didn’t repeat it, the head judge said that I should be happy I got two whites and to check the rulebook if I want to know what the different cards mean.
To add to the judging thing. You just need to do many meets to get a handle on what exactly passes as a lift. There is a grey area where what you think is passable and what the judges do. After a few meets and some failed and passed lifts you’ll have a better idea of exactly what you need to do. You might think back and say “Every time I did X, the lift passed” and that is really only something you can learn from experience.