Hi everyone!!! So I had my FIRST EVER powerlifting meet this past weekend and it was such a great experience! I can't wait to do it again! But anyways, lets get right to it...so in my previous post I talked about being nervous about not making weight. Friday I pretty much fasted all day (and died) and Saturday morning I weighed in at 104! I was feeling really crappy though, even after I got gaterade and food in me. I felt that cutting weight definitely hurt me at this meet. I plan on moving up to the 114 weight class, which is where my weight normally is anyways so it should feel much more natural for me. Also, there was another person in the 105 weight class with me who happened to be the NY State champion, soooo....yeah that was a little intimidating. Obviously I was nowhere near her with my lifts. I also was the first person to lift and in the first flight so that was scary since I've never done a competition before. But once my first squat was done the nerves started going away. But anyways, lets get into it. I'll go lift by lift:
Squats:
I opened with a 105lb squat. Felt alright, kinda threw it a little too much in the bottom and almost got stuck (oops) but that weight is super light for me so I guess I got a little too excited haha.
My second attempt was 125. Also a light weight for me. I still felt a little shaky from not eating, but this one felt stronger and easier.
My third attempt was 135. This one got called for depth which was a surprise to me. I thought I got it. Looking back at the video after, I definitely think I hit depth but it is pretty close. I didn't have the dip at the bottom that I did with my first 2 squats. Steve thinks that because this squat looked different than the first two, it threw the judges off a little. What do you guys think? I think I got robbed here!
So I ended on a 125lb squat. Not what I was hoping for (I've hit 140 in the gym) but still pretty good for my first meet.
Bench:
Unfortunately I don't have any bench videos because Steve was doing my hand-offs. But I opened with 65 which was really easy. Second attempt was 75, which was also really easy. Third attempt was 80 which I should have smoked, but I touched it too far down on my chest and wasn't able to get it back up. One thing that threw me during benching was that they didn't get bench rack heights for anyone. It was either high or low. And low was still not low enough for me and they wouldn't let me lower it for some reason. My arms had to be completely straight to reach the bar and I had to make sure my butt stayed down. It was hard and obnoxious and Steve said he's never seen a meet where they didn't take bench rack heights before. I guess they were just trying to save time? Who knows. So I ended with a 75 bench. I was happy with that. I've only done 80 once in the gym and never with a pause, just touch and go, so 75 was a good place to be.
Deadlift:
So we had some issues with the deadlift. The only full video I have is of my second attempt, but I'm going to post the 2 second start of my first attempt just to illustrate what I'm about to explain. So usually at these meets, they are using bumper plates which are all the same size (the size of a normal 45lb plate). This meet wasn't using bumper plates. My deadlift opener was 115lbs. With normal plates, this weight uses the small plates. Plus at this meet, the clips weighed 5lbs each. So my first attempt deadlift was really low to the ground because they were using normal plates. This meant that I was lifting with a deficit, which makes it harder to pull the weight. When I do this at the gym, I usually put a platform under each end of the bar so the deficit is eliminated. Here's the (really quick) video just so you can see how low it is:
After I did this lift, Steve asked the head judge if there was anything we could do to fix the deficit. His response? "Well maybe she should lift more weight". OH. OK. I mean if I could, I would! Can you guys believe he said that?! How freakin rude. Steve was really, really mad about this. For my second attempt I did 130lbs. Luckily they used 35lb plates which are almost as big as the 45s, but not as quite. So I was still lifting from a deficit. Annoying, but I got it. Here's the full video of my second attempt:
Super easy. My third attempt was 145, something I should have been able to do easily, but I missed it. So I ended the day with 130 for deadlift. I was a little annoyed with myself because I know I can do it and all the confusion with the plates and lifting from a deficit and the head judge being mean just kinda threw me off. I know I'm making excuses but whatever.
So my first meet ended with a 330 total. Obviously that's still pretty good for a first timer. Not what I went in hoping to do, but I'm still happy with it. Like I said earlier, I plan on moving up a weight class so I can lift strogner and heavier and hopefully next meet I'll go in feeling good. I probably won't have to cut weight again, so that's definitely a plus! Thanks for all your support everyone! I can't wait till I get to do this again!!
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