Drink During a PL Meet?

OK guys, I have a powerlifting meet this weekend. My 12 week prep is done. My weight is dialed in. I have my attempts selected. I’m taking this week off to heal and contemplate my lifts.

In the past, I’ve sipped on water, Gatorade, Cytomax, Powerade, etc. between lifts. But now, Biotest has provided us with a couple of new choices; Power Drive and Surge. I’m thinking chug a Power Drive a half hour before the squat warm-up and sip Surge during the meet.

What are the thoughts of the collective?

Rick

During every powerliftine meet that I’ve been to (competing or not), Myself and everyone around me had either food or drink in hand. Everything from stimulant drinks to sandwiches. I think you are maybe digging too deep on this. Just take some Spike and keep hydrated to keep your energy up and if you start to get gassed pop some ammonia caps that’ll wake your ass right up.

My last meet I drank cytomax. That seemed to work fine.

I have a meet in December and plan on taking Spike 45 minutes before I lift and sip Surge during the meet. I have not yet tried Power Drive.

FT and CVB,

Thanks for the replies. I’ve been tossing around the Spike option. I’ll definitely bring some along, just so I have the option.

As for the ammonia caps, I always bring them, but I’ve never used them.

Rick

[quote]rcomito wrote:
FT and CVB,

Thanks for the replies. I’ve been tossing around the Spike option. I’ll definitely bring some along, just so I have the option.

As for the ammonia caps, I always bring them, but I’ve never used them.

Rick[/quote]

Make sure you try Spike first (if you haven’t already).

I workout with someone that uses the ammonia tablets. He says he gets 5 - 10lb from using them.

I think that Power Drive and Spike are suppose to be taken 6 hours apart (I could be wrong). So you may have to choose one.

[quote]cvb wrote:

Make sure you try Spike first (if you haven’t already).

I workout with someone that uses the ammonia tablets. He says he gets 5 - 10lb from using them.

I think that Power Drive and Spike are suppose to be taken 6 hours apart (I could be wrong). So you may have to choose one. [/quote]

I’ve used Spike with good results. I usually use Spike or Power Drive before a workout, but not both.

Rick

I like watered-down gatorade. (The full streght stuff tends to make me thirstier- kind of like drinking a lot of pop). As far as something for energy- white crosses, ammonia caps and the fear of failure keep me pretty fired up.

I prefer budweiser. In those tall boy cans. Just kidding. Actually I sip an extra large BooKoo energy drink all day long but especially after my opening squat. Too much BooKoo before your opener will make you nervous about your opener.

I’m not sure what others may think on this, but here’s something to consider with regard to spike-

Do not introduce a new substance on meet day. Aside from training the body to execute the lifts, you are also conditioning your mind for arousal levels to achieve a peak performance.
Introducing a new substance could throw this off badly. If it hasn’t been part of training, it should not be part of the meet. Over stimulation can be as bad as under stimulation.

As far as the energy substrate beverages though, sure, why not? You do need stuff to keep you going through sub/supramax attempts.

[quote]Pinto wrote:
I like watered-down gatorade. (The full streght stuff tends to make me thirstier- kind of like drinking a lot of pop). [/quote]
Agreed. I usually mix my own. I probably use half the recommended amount.

Ya, fear of failure is a great motivator, especially with a crowd watching.

Rick

[quote]rniel wrote:
I prefer budweiser. In those tall boy cans. Just kidding. Actually I sip an extra large BooKoo energy drink all day long but especially after my opening squat. Too much BooKoo before your opener will make you nervous about your opener.[/quote]

I’ve never heard of BooKoo. I’ll have to track some down.

I usually select my openers to something I can at least double. I’d hate to bomb out with a bad opener.

Rick

[quote]SkyzykS wrote:
I’m not sure what others may think on this, but here’s something to consider with regard to Spike-

Do not introduce a new substance on meet day. Aside from training the body to execute the lifts, you are also conditioning your mind for arousal levels to achieve a peak performance.
Introducing a new substance could throw this off badly. If it hasn’t been part of training, it should not be part of the meet. Over stimulation can be as bad as under stimulation.

As far as the energy substrate beverages though, sure, why not? You do need stuff to keep you going through sub/supramax attempts.
[/quote]

I totally agree. I’ve used Spike, Power Drive, and Surge extensively (not all at once) over the past year or more. I definitely would not road test something new at a meet.

Rick

[quote]rcomito wrote:
I usually use Spike or Power Drive before a workout, but not both.

Rick

[/quote]

then this is what you should do for the meet. Keep things consistant

Water, Adrenalyn Stack by ABB, and/or a Redline drink. I sure do miss the old ABB Speed Stack…

I slammed Spike before hand, ate a protein bar and a protein/carb drink throughout the meet.

Thanks everyone, for all of your thoughts.

I’ll probably do a Spike or a Power Drive 45 minutes to an hour before warmups and sip Surge and water throughout the meet. I’ll have a few protein bars in my gym bag for the short breaks between lifts.

This “protocol” should keep me hydrated, and keep my carb and protein levels in check.

Post-meet will be the usual steak, potatoes and beer protocol.

Thanks again for all the input.

Rick

Just a thought on Gatorade - half the recommended amount is actually the correct amount (or a bottle of premixed cut in half with water). About an 8% solution is what you’re after, more sugar/electrolytes leads to less hydration.

Don’t use ammonia caps this meet. Try them in a couple workouts before your next meet to get a feel for how much more arousal they add, it may be way too much considering you haven’t used them before.

-Dan

[quote]buffalokilla wrote:
… 8< …

Don’t use ammonia caps this meet. Try them in a couple workouts before your next meet to get a feel for how much more arousal they add, it may be way too much considering you haven’t used them before.

-Dan[/quote]

I agree. I need to experiment with them before I use them at a meet.

Good advice Dan. Thanks.

Rick