Popped the Competition Cherry

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
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Here’s the write-up from the meet I just competed in today. It was a USPF meet hosted by Lance’s Gym in Chicago, IL. It was my first meet.

Saturday, July 28, 2012 - Meet Day

6:15 AM - Woke up and ate breakfast. Only got about 4 hours of sleep because I was so excited. Couldn’t fall asleep.

7:50 AM - Got to the gym and weighed in at 189.8. Less than I expected, but didn’t matter much to me.

8:15 AM - Went to McDonald’s and had 3 egg and sausage McMuffins.

9:30 AM - Rules meeting. Self explanatory.

10:15 AM - Started lifting.

SQUAT

1st Attempt: 155 kg/341 lbs. Good lift, 3 whites

NOTES: Sat down and came back up with it. Spent a little too long in the whole, but I was just nervous. Okay, I’m in the meet.

2nd Attempt: 165kg/363 lbs. Good lift, 3 whites

NOTES: Smoke show. Down and up. Easier than my opener.

3rd Attempt: 172.5kg/379.5 lbs. No lift, 3 reds

NOTES: Sat down and lost tightness. Got about a quarter of the way up and it started to roll forward. Spotters did a great job of catching it. Wasn’t too worried about it because I knew I could kill it on bench.

BENCH

1st Attempt: 115kg/254 lbs. Good lift, 3 whites

NOTES: Smoke show.

2nd Attempt: 122.5kg/269.5 lbs. Good lift, 3 whites

NOTES: Smoke show.

3rd Attempt: 127.5kg/ 280.5 lbs. Good lift, 3 whites

NOTES: Everything was feeling good until I got about 2 inches from my chest. I lost tightness and touched too high. But, I stayed calm and just pushed the shit out of. Took a while, but I locked it out.

DEADLIFTS

1st Attempt: 170 kg/374 lbs. Good lift, 3 whites

NOTES: I lift things up and put them down. Simple as that.

2nd Attempt: 182.5kg/401.5 lbs. Good lift, 3 whites

NOTES: Since I knew it was over 400, my mind started to run. I ended up stiff legging it a bit, but I got it no problem.

3rd Attempt: 190 kg/418 lbs. Good lift, 3 whites

NOTES: This was the mother of all grinders. I got it to about my knees and that’s when I started to shake. I pulled with everything I fucking had and locked it out. I was so happy about that. I just held it there for a couple of seconds and yelled out of excitement.

ENDING NOTES: I ended up going 8 for 9 and totaling 482.5kg/1063 lbs. I was looking for 1050 and beat it by 13 lbs. Overall, it was a fucking blast and can’t wait to do it again. I won my age bracket by 1063 lbs. and got a midevil dagger for a prize. I’ll post videos and pictures up later. The videos are on my parents’ phones, so they’ll be up later in the night. Still can’t believe that just happened.

CS

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Nice job

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Cool! Great read, thanks for sharing. I have my first meet in the start of October and reading stuff like this gets me really stoked! My goal is 420 so I’m not that far behind you.

How early before the meet did you stop lifting and start resting? A week?
How long wait time did you have between each attempt and each lift? How did you ramp up your warm ups?
Is there anything you would have done differently looking back?
How did you deal with nerves before lifting?

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[quote]mattis wrote:
Cool! Great read, thanks for sharing. I have my first meet in the start of October and reading stuff like this gets me really stoked! My goal is 420 so I’m not that far behind you.

How early before the meet did you stop lifting and start resting? A week?
How long wait time did you have between each attempt and each lift? How did you ramp up your warm ups?
Is there anything you would have done differently looking back?
How did you deal with nerves before lifting?[/quote]

I stopped lifting and started resting the Monday before, so on July 23.

Between each attempt depending because there were different amounts of people in each flight. I would say between 5-8 minutes between attempts. Each lift, there was about a half hour or so.

My warm-ups were just like I do in the gym.

Squat:

2 X 5 X 135
1 X 3 X 225
1 X 1 X 275
1 X 1 X 315

Bench:

2 X 6 X 135
1 X 3 X 185
1 X 2 X 225

Deadlift:

1 X 5 X 135
1 X 3 X 225
1 X 2 X 275
1 X 1 X 330

If there was anything I would’ve done differently, no. I don’t regret anything I did because at one point in time, it was what I wanted at that moment.

I didn’t really have that many nerves. I just focused and didn’t get too worked up. When I get too worked up, I use too much energy and focus and lose sight of what I have ahead of me. I was more excited than anything. Another thing that helped was not knowing what my second and third attempts were. Eddie picked them for me, so when I got to the bar, I had no idea how much it was. Quite frankly, it didn’t make a bit of difference to me. As long as I moved it from point A to point B in the fashion required by the USPF, I didn’t give a single fuck. It helped a lot on my last deadlift.

Hope this helps.

CS

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Congratulations on your first meet, excellent job.

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Where any of these PBs? If not, what are your PBs in each lift?

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Nice 1st meet, Congrats!

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Good shit Cs!

and its Medieval ** lol

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[quote]hawkcapt1912 wrote:
Nice 1st meet, Congrats!
[/quote]

Thanks, Captain. It was an experience that I’ll never forget.

CS

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Now you’ve gone and done it and caught the bug. You’re stuck doing this until your body starts to break down… :slight_smile: Congrats on a great meet.

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[quote]burt128 wrote:
Now you’ve gone and done it and caught the bug. You’re stuck doing this until your body starts to break down… :slight_smile: Congrats on a great meet.[/quote]

Thank you, Burt. The journey begins.

CS

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Here’s the video.

CS

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Wow awesome! WAy to go luke-ster!

Bettcha made ED proud, HMMmMm.

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[quote]Spock81 wrote:
Wow awesome! WAy to go luke-ster!

Bettcha made ED proud, HMMmMm. [/quote]

Spanks! And yes, Ed was pleased with my performance.

CS

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Nice job. Looks like you had a decent crowd, which isn’t always the case. What’s next?

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[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Nice job. Looks like you had a decent crowd, which isn’t always the case. What’s next?[/quote]

Thank you. I was surprised at the amount of people for a meet that only had 17 lifters. I’m taking the entire week off of lifting to sleep, eat, and work. I’m going back to the gym next Monday to start hitting it hard again. I feel like I got hit by a bus today, so I’m not doing a damn thing.

The same gym is holding another meet some time in November or December that I plan on competing in again. At that one, I want to beat the 198 open raw total record of 1157. I’d like to total around 1175.

Or, I could also cut some weight down to 181, which would only be about 9 lbs. and beat some records in that division. Not sure yet, we’ll have to see what Ed says.

CS

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Nice lifting man, congrats on the PR

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[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
I’m taking the entire week off of lifting to sleep, eat, and work. I’m going back to the gym next Monday to start hitting it hard again. I feel like I got hit by a bus today, so I’m not doing a damn thing.
[/quote]
I always feel this way after a meet. I sometimes get sick afterwards as well. Also, my mental state suffers. So don’t be surprised if you experience any of that.

I think my coach knew Eddie back in the day. You’re fortunate to have his input. Good luck to you.

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[quote]kpsnap wrote:

[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
I’m taking the entire week off of lifting to sleep, eat, and work. I’m going back to the gym next Monday to start hitting it hard again. I feel like I got hit by a bus today, so I’m not doing a damn thing.
[/quote]
I always feel this way after a meet. I sometimes get sick afterwards as well. Also, my mental state suffers. So don’t be surprised if you experience any of that.

I think my coach knew Eddie back in the day. You’re fortunate to have his input. Good luck to you.[/quote]

Thank you, I am very lucky to be with the greatest of all time.

CS

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Class lifting well done mate