Teaching powerlifters on meet day has come to be one in all my favourite issues on the planet. I take great pleasure in watching my lifters lay all of it on the road, channeling months (and even years) of effort into one single day. The drama, the try choice technique, and finally, the satisfaction as soon as the meet is finished – all these emotions depart me with a excessive that I can’t appear to match till the subsequent meet.
The coaching main as much as the meet clearly has the largest influence on the results of the meet. I’ve heard many completed coaches and lifters say, “You get the meet that you just prepare for.” Nonetheless, I’ve come to imagine that game-day technique is an in depth second to coaching by way of figuring out a lifter’s success or lack thereof. I’ve seen loads of robust lifters squander away their meet as a consequence of poor try choice, haphazard warm-ups and lack of fatigue administration.
As I write this, we’ve received a handful of first-time powerlifters about 8 weeks out from their first competitors. Whereas the majority of our bodily and psychological power goes into coaching, we’ve been slow-dripping the must-know details about the meet itself. This text will function a information to clever try choice. Whether or not you’re a whole rookie or a seasoned veteran, the following tips ought to enable you to name for the correct weight on the bar in any scenario.
Set Targets for Every Carry and Work Backward
Try picks ought to give attention to getting you to your targets to your third makes an attempt on the squat, bench press and deadlift. Hopefully you set goals lengthy earlier than the meet and labored diligently towards them. Make sure that they’re affordable and lifelike.
In the event you’re a novice, it may be troublesome to know precisely what you’re able to, and in my view, it doesn’t actually matter to your first meet. Simply go in, raise, and get the aggressive expertise. Who cares in the event you undershoot and depart loads of kilos on the platform? There will likely be extra meets.
Alternatively, in the event you’ve been powerlifting for any considerable period of time, you understand how a lot work and time it takes to set even the smallest PRs. Don’t count on so as to add 20-plus kilos to every raise in the event you’ve been at this for a very long time (and nonetheless compete regularly).
As soon as your targets are set, work backward out of your third makes an attempt. What second try leaves you comfy at taking a shot at your closing try? After which how gentle do you must open to make an inexpensive soar to your second?
What’s Your Aim Whole?
Sooner or later, your purpose complete (the sum of your greatest squat, bench and deadlift) will take priority over your particular person lifts. That is usually the case when making an attempt to qualify for national- or international-level meets, or to win your weight class.
If so, you’ll must plan forward and map out makes an attempt with a purpose to hit your purpose complete. As a rule, this comes right down to the deadlift as a result of it’s the ultimate raise of the meet. Take into account what you’ll must deadlift in the event you hit all of your squat and bench makes an attempt, and in addition what you’ll want to drag in the event you miss any of your prior makes an attempt.
Decide Based mostly on Proportion or RPE
There are not any hard-and-fast guidelines for try choice. Nonetheless, many coaches like to make use of both percentages (of your purpose third try) or RPE (based mostly on lifts from the newest coaching block). Each these methods have some utility relying on the lifter.
Proportion-based try choice is fairly easy: decide your purpose third makes an attempt, then select your opener and second try as a proportion of your third try. For instance:
| Reasonable strategy | Conservative strategy | Aggressive strategy |
| 1st try: 92% | 1st try: 90% | 1st try: 95% |
| 2nd try: 97% | 2nd try: 95% | 2nd try: 97% |
| 3rd try: 100% | 3rd try: 100% | 3rd try: 100% |
As you’ll be able to see, you could be roughly aggressive with try choice based mostly on what sort of lifter you might be and which raise you’re performing. For instance, many lifters are much less aggressive with squat makes an attempt as a result of it’s the primary raise and nerves usually have an effect on their squat opener. Many lifters are extra aggressive with bench press as a result of the load on the bar is often far lower than it’s on squat or deadlift, necessitating makes an attempt which are clustered nearer collectively.
I’ll usually decide a lifter’s makes an attempt based mostly on singles at sure RPEs that they achieved throughout their closing coaching block main as much as a meet. As a result of we are inclined to do competition-lift singles all through a lot of the coaching yr, I can really feel assured that their numbers are fairly predictable and dependable. Equally, we will break this up into average, conservative and aggressive approaches:
| Reasonable strategy | Conservative strategy | Aggressive strategy |
| 1st try: 8 RPE | 1st try: 7 RPE | 1st try: 9 RPE |
| 2nd try: 9 RPE | 2nd try: 8.5 RPE | 2nd try: 9.5 RPE |
| 3rd try: 10 RPE | 3rd try: 10 RPE | 3rd try: 10 RPE |
Account for Fatigue
As I alluded to firstly, far too usually I see lifters overestimating their skills on meet day as a result of they don’t account for the way goddamn tiring a powerlifting meet is. Certain, you’ll have hit sure numbers within the gymnasium below excellent situations: solely doing one competitors raise that day, loads of relaxation and sleep main as much as that coaching session, acquainted setting and gear, and nil outdoors strain from judges, fellow opponents or the group. Sport day is a special animal.
You need to think about how taxing it’s to max out on all three lifts in the identical day. Additionally, the downtime between lifts could be draining – all of the sitting round with time to get in your personal head and dwell on the great, the dangerous and the ugly. It’s robust to drag a max deadlift if you’ve been on the venue for 8-10 hours already. Hell, I’ve executed a meet the place I did my squat opener at 11 am and didn’t pull my third deadlift till 1 am (NOT a typo).
It may be tempting to imagine you’ll be able to beat your in-the-gym lifts on the meet, and hopefully you do. However keep in mind, every little thing is tougher on the meet if you issue within the fatigue related to competing.
Does Competitors Enhance or Lower Your Efficiency?
Many individuals assume that the joy and adrenaline on the meet will assist bump up their energy. Nonetheless, I’ve discovered that the warmth of battle does NOT enhance everybody’s efficiency. Some folks (myself included, sadly) battle to match their in-the-gym performances at a meet as a result of efficiency anxiousness that comes with competing.
There’s nothing shameful about having efficiency anxiousness. Most high-level athletes expertise it at the very least to some extent. You possibly can prepare your self to beat it through the use of positive self-talk, visualization and different psychological coaching instruments. However when selecting your makes an attempt, you must be trustworthy with your self about how competitors impacts your efficiency.
If the considered competing sends butterflies swirling round your abdomen, maybe think about a extra conservative try choice, aiming to set small PRs slightly than blowing your earlier numbers out of the water.
What Do You Do If You Miss?
You hate to suppose something however constructive, however you must think about the likelihood that you just may miss an try. What do you do then? It helps to have a backup plan simply in case issues don’t go your means.
In most conditions, it’s greatest to repeat the identical weight in the event you miss an try. Normally, openers are missed not on energy however on technicalities: not squatting deep sufficient, lacking a rack command, butt coming off the bench, and so forth. One may suppose that in case your opener is gentle sufficient, it is smart to go up in weight anyway and simply repair the technical error you made. Sometimes, I’ll name for a heavier second try if this occurs to my lifter, however usually for my newer and/or extra informal lifters, we’ll repeat the identical weight as a result of the danger of bombing out is simply too excessive (bombing out refers to lacking all three of your makes an attempt for a single raise, through which case you’re disqualified from the meet).
If you must repeat an try as a consequence of a miss, that clearly throws a wrench in your deliberate third try and maybe your purpose complete as effectively. Take into account mapping out a backup plan with third makes an attempt that fall someplace between your deliberate second and third makes an attempt to attempt to salvage as a lot weight as potential, however perceive it’s going to in all probability imply making a much bigger soar between makes an attempt that you just usually would.
Have Somebody in Your Nook
These recommendations are largely aimed towards lifters making their very own try picks on meet day. Clearly, I worth the career of teaching and totally imagine within the significance of getting somebody there to make (considerably) unbiased choices for the lifter. It may be extraordinarily troublesome to suppose clearly if you’re competing, particularly when you must resolve in your subsequent try inside 60 seconds of lifting one thing actually, actually heavy.
Essentially the most profitable lifters I’ve ever coached have trusted me wholeheartedly to make try picks, however have additionally given me their trustworthy enter and brought the time to gameplan with me forward of time. Collaboration between coach and lifter is essential on so many fronts, try choice being no totally different.
