First Powerlifting Comp

I really need to rename my blog...

Yesterday I entered my first powerlifting comp. I have been training at Melbourne Uni for a couple of weeks and it just so happened that there was a novice comp I could enter. At the start of the year I started losing weight so I could compete in a lower weight class, but then when I started proper training they said there's a comp in 2 weeks so I realised I wasn't going to have enough time to do that. I decided just to enter this one to see what it was like and then I can lose weight slowly for whenever the next one is. Just as well I didn't make it to the weight class below anyway because I was the only girl in <84kg so I won it!

Weigh in was at 9. I was at the lower end of the weight class but I had no competition so it was no big deal. I was told the lower you are, the better your Wilks score is so that was good. I had to bring my opening card to the weigh in. I had no idea what to start with but I wanted to get PBs or equivalent on everything, so I decided to open so that everything was a warm up for my 2nd attempt would would be what I wanted, and 3rd attempt would be a bonus.

We had some coaches help up get our warm up right. Basically reps for each lift were 5, 3, 1, 1. My final warm up single for the squat was 75kg. This was so light, and I was opening with 85. I don't usually go up in 10kgs at that % of 1RM but they said it would be easy. So far in powerlifting I have left everything to the coaches and so far it's worked and they were right. I opened with 85 and it was easy. 1 red light for depth but I got it so I was happy. My 2nd attempt was 90. This is equal to my PB at home, but at home I was wearing lifting shoes, and they made me ditch them when I started training! So this was going to be tough. 3 white lights and it was in so I was happy I had got to where I wanted. My 3rd attempt was 92.5. It was heavy and I was too slow. I knew it was not low enough and 3 red lights confirmed. The squat is my favourite lift, but when it's heavy, it's definitely the toughest.

A. arrived during the equipped lifters squats so he could video the rest for me. This was actually really useful as I can see I need to arch my back a lot more on the bench. The good raw lifters were able to maintain a big arch, meaning they didn't have to move the bar much at all. The good thing about my benches is that I am really steady when the bar is lowered so I didn't have to wait long for the command to press. My first attempt was 45kg. I knew this would be easy, and it was. My 2nd attempt was 50kg. I knew I could get it, but it was a PB so I knew it might be tough. It felt heavy, but ok. My 3rd attempt was 52.5 and I failed that. Didn't bother me as I already got my PB.

I haven't done many heavy deadlifts in the past 12 months and I have been stuck on a max of 105kg for so long so I felt like I had a huge mental barrier to break through. Although I have pulled much more than that off blocks and again at the strongman comp last year (14 reps at 108kg) I just haven't been able to pull from the floor very easily. Last year I did most of my deadlifts sumo, but my coach told me to go with conventional for now so it's been hard for my weak core to get used to this after sumo. For these reasons I opened with 102.5kg. It was easy. 2nd attempt was 107.5. This was easy too! 3rd attempt was 112.5 and this was fairly easy too! I was really happy with my new PB although in hindsight I should have started at 105 and finished with 115.

I haven't given up running, but I'm walking without limping and I want to keep it that way! At the moment there's a fine line between being 'just ok' to breaking myself. So I'm sticking to the shorter stuff, just once or twice a week. I need to rename this blog and I want to transfer it to Wordpress, but can't think of a name I like that isn't already taken. Any suggestions?

Medal for being the only one in my weight class