I only recently got into power lifting; been training for and competing in kettlebell sport since early 2012 but I’m enjoying power lifting much more. I think it suits me better.
I’ve got my first two meets coming up: a novice competition on March 1 and qualifiers for the GPC Australia Nationals on 29 March (don’t get me wrong, I’m damn near certain I won’t qualify, but a meet’s a meet and I need the experience).
I’m going to be competing raw (belt and wraps for squat, wrist wraps and maybe belt for bench, belt for dead lift) in both meets. The first meet will be my first time using a monolift and competition bench as well.
I’m pretty happy with my programming, and I’m pretty happy with my max lifts for how long I’ve been training for PL (about six months) although I want them to get much bigger over time (obviously). My main question is about my attempts at the two meets.
I’m setting my first attempts as something I know I can hit easily (I can’t remmember the exact numbers off hand but I’ve got them written down) sitting around 90% of my max. I hit those weights every two to three weeks in training for singles and doubles, so that isn’t my concern. My seconds attempts are all set to be 10 or so lb PRs (or 5 kg, since I’m in Australia) and my third attempts I’ll decide on the day depending how I felt about my second attempts (provided I get them white lighted, of course).
What I’m wondering about is whether I might be better off dropping my weights for the first meet just to get it under my belt (pardon the pun) and then trying for some PRs in the second meet. The gap between meets isn’t huge, and I’ll be deloading/resting for a week or so after the first meet as it comes at the end of nine week cycle. That gives me about two or so actual training weeks to prep for the second meet, and I don’t see how I can realistically expect to hit PRs on 1 March and then hit some new PRs on 29 March.
To put it into perspective this is the idea I’m toying with:
current maxes (in the 198 lb class):
Squat 396 lb
Bench press 220 lb
Dead lift 473 lb
First meet:
Squat: (1) 352 lb (2) 374 lb (3) 396 lb
Bench press: (1) 198 lb (2) 209 lb (3) 220 lb
Dead lift: (1) 425 lb (2) 450 lb (3) 473 lb
Second meet:
Squat: (1) 356 lb (2) 407 lb (3) TBA
Bench press: (1) 198 lb (2) 231 lb (3) TBA
Dead lift: (1) 425 lb (2) 484 lb (3) TBA
Any advice is greatly applreciated.