Second Meet Results: 1240 @ 165 Raw

Training Powerlifting
1

On May 16th, I competed in my second powerlifting competition, The Maine State Powerlifting Championship in Portland, ME. Had a great meet, hitting PRs on all lifts.

I weighed in at 161 lbs, and competed in the Open Men’s Raw (no wraps allowed), taking second place overall. The results were calculated using a coefficient formula for strength relative to bodyweight. Was genuinely surprised at placing, given there were a lot more lifters than at my meet 6 months ago, where I took 4th.

Attempts were as follows:

Squat: 407 3 whites
440 3 whites (5 lb PR)
457.5 3 whites (22 lb PR/ 39 lb meet PR)

Squats were fantastic, had to grind very hard for final attempt. Very happy with progress, can’t wait to hit 500.

Bench: 248 3 whites
259 3 whites (19b meet PR)
270 No lift (ass left bench)

Bench is still the bane of my lifting, due to junky shoulders. Really focusing on a lot more pulling work in my training at the moment to give them some rest, build up a more solid base to press from, and allow me to progress further in the future.

Deadlift: 485 3 whites
507 3 whites (7 lb PR)
523.5 3 whites (22 lb PR)

Was pretty shot by the time it got to deadlifting, so I was a bit more conservative with my attempts. In hindsight, I probably could have hit 535-540. Still extremely pleased with deadlifts, and am very optimistic about future progress with this lift.

2

Solid work. Jealous of your squat, haha.

3

Thanks man, squatting went from my worst lift to my best in the matter of about a year, and i still feel there is plenty of progress to be had… so I’m very happy with it.

4

Very nice indeed.

5

[quote]burialatsea wrote:
Thanks man, squatting went from my worst lift to my best in the matter of about a year, and i still feel there is plenty of progress to be had… so I’m very happy with it. [/quote]
What did you do to bring it up? Great lifting, by the way.

6

Appreciate it guys!

I think the main thing which drove my squat was frequency. I train full-body, 3 days a week and begin every session with a squat. For a while, I used my low-bar competition form everyday to really hone in on technique, lately I have been adding in variations.

Currently, for example, first day I will do my competition form, second I will do paused front squats, and third being paused beltless squats.

After months of this training, it becomes almost second nature… and really increased my comfort with the lift more than anything. Also gained a lot more confidence under the bar by doing this.

I truly believe my bench would sky rocket if I could do the same with that lift, unfortunately my shoulders cannot handle that as I have tried several times in the past… so it goes.

7

Very good performance, especially for a 2nd meet