Hey there, gang. I’ve recently had the opportunity to sign up for a powerlifting meet, my first, toward the end of December. I tend almost exclusively for ‘strength’, tend to avoid nonfunctional hypertrophy, etc, etc. I’ve never done any formal powerlift training (ie, Westside) but I’ve been meaning to. I’m already committed to Ian King’s complete body workout from his Get Buffed! book. Anyhow, to the meat of the questions. 1. What do you all think would be some reasonable lifts for someone living in the 165-175lb range? 2. Any tips, suggestions, something you’d wished you knew before your first competition, that you can share? Thanks all.
First off before I say what I think is a reasonable lift for your weight let me say that as long as you train hard and do your best you should be proud. Now , with that out of the way, I think a squat in the area of 450lbs a bench around 325lbs and a deadlift of around 450 lbs is reasonable for your first try at competition.I too,will be competing in my first meet in about 3 weeks and I am very excited. My advice to you is to get your gear (i.e. belt, squat suit, bench shirt, knee wraps, chalk, wrist wraps, etc.) well in advance. This is for two reasons: 1- Sometimes it takes a while for the powerlifting companies to make the suits and shirts and you may have to send them back a few times to get the right size and 2- You need to learn how to use the suits, shirts, and wraps properly to get optimal use out of them. If you are going to use a suit and shirt for the meet I recommend calling Monster Muscle, they have GREAT customer service and they will get everything to you as quick as possible. They have been very nice to me even though I had to send my suit back two times. Good luck.
Respectable lifts depend on you age / type of competition etc. If this is your first competition don’t go mad and start with low openers. You don’t need to train for 8 weeks and then bomb out !
-
Take a friend to wrap you up and keep an eye on when you are up - you will have other things to think about
-
Train exactly as if you are in competition the last 8 weeks - you only get one minute to do the lift (here in the UK) so you have to be prepared to just lift it when everyone else is ready for you - not the other way around.
-
On the day - do not swear loudly, ever - and get disqualified !
LIFTS
I’m reluctant to suggest any numbers because what’s a good lift for someone is not necessarily a good competition lift - you may have had to work real hard for it. My own philosphy was that I just wanted to compete against myself, but with some formal rules for comparison.
@165-175lbs first time competitor
400-450 (squat)
250-300 (bench)
450-500 (deadlift)
First of all, I’d like to thank you guys for replying. The advice is much appreciated. I guess I should’ve mentioned I’m mostly entering this for fun, and for that reason (along with money) I won’t be able to purchase any of the appropriate ‘gear’ (ie, belts, wraps, suits) Well, I s’pose I could afford the wraps. 
Anyhow, as things stand right now I’m at a 285 bench, 350 squat, 405 dead, but I’m obviously hoping to get those #s up in the next 12 weeks. All lifts raw, I should mention, and the squat was Olympic-stance, ass-to-floor. I’m considering adopting a westside stance, as my quad strength is somewhat humorous, while the hammies are comparatively much better. Anyhow, thanks again!
to Ike. Thanks for the thanks. Great to hear that you are entering for fun - it’s the best way. If you can get a friend to enter (in a different weight class!!) even better. Your lifts are pretty good already - and you have left plenty of room to grow them by probably 10%.
Before I competed I used a narrow squat stance, but I found it very hard to get depth especially when wearing a suit/belt. When I switched to a wider stance it was easier and I could stay more upright too. Although I had never heard of Westside - I accidentally did something similar. I found that I added about 40lbs to my squat with wraps, about 40lbs (low down) from the suit and about 15-20lbs with a big belt. Personally I think all that gear makes the lifting less safe - as you can see that I would be able to competition squat about 90lbs more than I could really lift.
So basically - yes - try the wider stance, as the Westside method is great for good ham/poor quad ratios. You might want to stick to regular deadlifts too for the same reason. One other tip for deads - we used to wear ballet slippers (!! I know - it’s a killer !!) as you start that bit higher. If you have never competed before, you have probably never done 9 max attempts in the same hour. I’d advise you to try it, or at least try squats and deads on the same day - as you do not want to miss you deadlifts from being tired from squats - it does make a difference.
Where is your competition? If it is in the UK I may be able to lend you a suit.
I am actually doing this with another friend of mine, so I’ve got that covered. Crazy thing is, he’s 150lbs, squats & deads 405 and benches about 275. Nevertheless, he’s awesome motivation to train with. Regarding preparing for 9 max attemps in one day, and squatting and dead’ing in the same day, that is some advice I’m definitely going to take and start preparing for. Unfortunately, I’m a bit removed from the UK… it’s gonna be in San Francisco. Nevertheless, it’s the thought that counts, 'eh?
Ike - Sorry about the mileage difference. I hope you & your friend do well and get what you want out of it. The one thing that everyone agrees on is that putting down that last deadlift is a good feeling !
All the best, kev
also for your first comp you will be very excited remember to use the excitment to fuel your lifts and remember to listen to the calls as to not blow a lift my first meet i blew my bench because i was so excited a racked the weight befor he told me to i also try to think of something to make me mad before the lift good luck on your lifts and make sure to post results my first meet is tomorrow after taking a 2 year break from lifting so i know the gitters
Did you really just grave dig a thread from 9 years ago? Come on dude.
Seems to be an epidemic lately of resurrecting seriously old threads.
S
[quote]tgatto wrote:
make sure to post results[/quote]
He will get right on that I’m sure.
holy fucking thread resurrection batman
Old threads are punishment for a search function
[quote]DixiesFinest wrote:
[quote]tgatto wrote:
make sure to post results[/quote]
He will get right on that I’m sure.
holy fucking thread resurrection batman[/quote]
But he didn’t say what year that December was in!
It’s probably them Star Trek nerds we trolled coming over and fucking with us.
[quote]Sharp4850 wrote:
It’s probably them Star Trek nerds we trolled coming over and fucking with us.[/quote]
It is the quilting forum. They have been planning their attack carefully and for a while.
didnt realise how old it was just searched and this came up didnt look at the date i took 2nd though lol
Awful grammar too. Its called capitalization and punctuation.