Competing in Your First Powerlifting Competition

Powerlifting is a fantastic sport. It pits the strongest athletes in the world against each other in a pure test of strength and muscle.

But even if you are not a lifting behemoth there are still some
fantastic advantages to competing in powerlifting even if you have no desire to ever try and compete against the best in the world. I would advise just about every serious gym lifter to have a go in at least one powerlifting comp.
Having a set date in which to be ready for gives you a sense of urgency about your training. It makes you accountable. When you train normally there are no time limits. It doesn't matter if you don't achieve your goals or not. When you have a comp round the corner you will have more motivation to train because you know you only have x amount of weeks before you step on the platform. "Shit I'm competing in 6 weeks I better get my ass in the gym!"

Many lifters remark about how they can always lift more in a comp than they can in the gym. The adrenaline boosting effects of competing, the crowd, other lifters etc can all help a lifter psyche up much more than they can in the gym. Simply being in a comp can lead to PRs.

Competing can also help you improve body composition. Powerlifting is a sport of weight classes. If you compete and want the best out of yourself you are going to have to fit nicely into one of these classes. This may mean bulking or cutting depending on where you are. This can be a strong motivater for change. No one wants to be a kilo short of their class and end up with a massive weight disadvantage. Simalary no one wants to be the smallest guy in the class because they decided not to try and grow into it. Again having a deadline to be ready for can certainly ramp up your training sometimes more than the " I want to be cut by summer"  or "I want to bulk over winter" business.
Having other lifters to compete against as well as encourage you can   certainly bring out the best performances in people. I mean who doesn't like winning? You may find you exceed your own expectations simple because of the great atmosphere at a competition.

So I may have convinced you to compete but how do you go about doing this? Your best bet I is to try and find an experienced powerlifter in your area and ask for advise. Train with them and have them guide you through a competition. Most people don't have this luxury though.

The first thing to do if you want to compete is to join a powerlifting federation. There are 4 that I know of in the UK all with different rules on the use of gear and drugs. I have only competed in the GBPF the British version of the IPF. I also have plans to compete in the British Drug Free Powerlifting Association (BDFPA) both of these federations are drug tested and run plenty of raw or unequipped competitions. I only compete raw because I think powerlifting gear is overly complicated and retarded. Even if you want to compete in gear I would suggest to get some experience in raw comps first before you invest in gear. You need to learn how a competition works and to see if you liked it before you shell out on the latest Inver suit of armour. Look for a competition labelled as unequipped or classic. These will let you wear a belt and wrist wraps. In the GBPF you can also wear knee sleeves ( not wraps). I consider these a much truer test of strength as well as a lot simpler to compete in and prepare for. If you want to compete in gear I suggest you find someone knowledgeable about it and train with them. It seems you can't really train in gear by yourself you need training partners. The other 2 powerlifting federations that I know of are the BPC and the BPO. Neither one focuses much on raw lifting and tend to like the million ply suits and stuff with no drug testing. I never plan on getting into that kind of thing but if that's you then by all means have at it.

Once you have your membership sorted to one of the federations check out the events calenders on their websites to find a comp in your area. You will compete as part of a division depending on where you live in the country. Check the federations websites to see what division you come under as it may be different for each of them. Look for divisional championships in your area as this will allow anyone to compete and may give you a chance to meet other local lifters. To begin with you will be unable to compete in national or international events as these require you to achieve a qualifying total at a previous event. Competitions will be displayed on your federations website so look for ones in your area. Depending on your age you may be divided into catogaries so you are competing with similar lifters. There is juniors (under 23) seniors (23-39) and masters (40+)  so you may want to look for competitions aimed specifically at your age group. Often a competition will have multiply catorgries so you will always be competing with similar lifters.

Powerlifting is divided into weight classes. These may vary depending on the federation but most are 52kg, 56kg, 60kg, 67.5kg, 75kg, 82.5kg, 90kg, 100kg, 110kg, 125kg, 125kg+ for men and 44kg, 48kg, 52kg, 56kg, 60kg, 67.5kg, 75kg, 82.5kg, 90kg, 90kg+ for women. 2 years ago the IPF decided to distinguish its self from other federations by changing its weight classes to 59kg, 66kg, 74kg, 83kg, 93kg, 105kg, 120kg, 120kg+ for men and 47kg, 52kg, 57kg, 63kg, 72kg,
84kg, 84kg+ for women.

For your first competition I would suggest just competing at whatever you weigh rather than worrying about trying to cut weight. You will be nervous enough at your first meet you don't need extra pressure to make weight as well. You're there for the experience and to try and get PR's. Don't worry about being ultra competitive just yet. Some federations give you a 24hrs weigh in period before the comp. I personally think this is retarded as you have some guys cutting like 10kg of water weight and then gaining it back before they lift. So the lifts being done are not by guys that actually weigh what their weight class is. You have 90kg guys competing at 82.5kg and such nonsense. In my opinion you should compete at what you actually weigh not what you weigh after you have forgone all food and water, spent a day in a sauna and bought a chemist out of laxitives.

The only comps I have done have a weigh in before the actual lifting giving you around 2hours at most before you compete. The GBPF and the BDFPA both run their comps like this. These make a lot more sense and doesn't require a ton of preparation.

I would suggest getting to the venue early to weigh in as you may have to wait a while due to the number of lifters at the meet. While your there scope out the warm up room and platform, talk to some people as power lifters tend to be quite friendly. Talk to the judges or organisers if you are unsure about anything. Try to leave enough so that you can get some food and drink down you. You will have to find out your rack height for the squat before you weigh in if possible. There should be someone going through this with everyone. When you weigh in you will also tell the organisers your opening attempts for each lift.

It is important to study the rules of your federation before you compete. They can be very strict about certain things you may think are only minor. There may be variations between Feds but I can only speak from doing GBPF competitions.

Make sure you wear Y fronts and not boxer shorts. I know this seems rather stupid and you may think why are the judges interested in my underwear choice? This is to ensure that you are not wearing powerlifting briefs under your singlet. If you use a belt make sure it is non padded and no thicker than 13mm. Make sure you wear long socks that can be pulled up for dead lifting. You can get proper powerlifting ones but I just use football socks. These are too ensure you don't cut your shins dead lifting and get blood on the bar potentially risking cross infection between lifters.
If you wear wrist wraps check in your Feds rule book online to make sure they are the right type and correct length. To compete you will also need a singlet. The reason for wearing a singlet besides making you feel sexy is to better allow judges to gauge squat depth between your knee and hips and to ensure your glutes stay on the bench during the bench press. Baggy joggers would make it harder to judge. I also think its partly traditional to wear a singlet kind of like how old time strongmen used to wear them for their acts. There are really only 2 places in the UK to get hold of powerlifting singlets. Also the only 2 places to get hold of anything powerlifting or strongman related. Strengthshop or Pullumsports with strength shop generally being the cheaper option. You can also get belts, wrist wraps and any thing else you might need for lifting. You can wear a belt and wrist wraps during all the lifts I but personally see no benefit to a belt when benching or wrist wraps when dead lifting.

Find out what time you are lifting. You may be in a large group of lifters with serveral weight classes lifting at once. Plan your warm ups in time for lifting. You want to leave around 15-20mins to warm up before you lift. Try to warm up in the same way you do in the gym. If you like to foam roll before you lift then bring your foam roller with you. If you like to stretch, do mobility exercises whatever then by all means do them. Don't worry if no one else there warms up that way. Get yourself to one of the warm up bars and don't be afraid to work in with people. There may be a lot of you between only a couple of bars. Try not to rush the warm up you want make your last warm up weight a few minutes before your first attempt. You don't want to be waiting ages to lift and start cooling off. And please don't be one of those retards who does their openers in the warm up room. Jesus what is the fucking point of that? If you are not confident about your openers them pick a lighter weight. Your last warm up should be around 10kg less than your opener.
So what weight weight should you open with? Most suggest a weight that you can easily triple. I would suggest a weight that you can do for 5 reps. You should open very light because of the nerves and inexperience you have. You opener is a weight that gets you on the board and stops you bombing out. Its not what wins you the competition. I have seen serval lifters bomb out where they are disqualified for failing all 3 attempts at a weight. A simple result of opening too heavy. So drop the ego and open light. You have 3 attempts at each lift so you might as well use them. There is no point in opening heavy then missing your 2 other attempts. Generally the person with the lightest opener will lift first and the bar will increase in ascending order until everyone has done there openers. It will then cycle back to the lightest second attempt and continue from there. This means that the order you lift in may change depending on the weights people select on their second and third attempts so pay attention for your name being called. Typically they will say who follows each lifter when their name is called so you have time to prepare. When your name is called wait for the referee to say "the bar is loaded". This means you are ready to go and the spotters are ready. Don't step onto the platform until the referee has said this as it measns the spotterrs aren't ready or are still loading your attempt on the bar. Once you've had your attempt go and tell the announcer what you want for your second attempt. If you fail a lift you can repeat a weight as one of your 3 attempts but you cannot take a lighter weight.

Now to the execution of the lifts. Probably 90% of the lifts you see in the gym would not pass under powerlifting conditions. So I'll run through the main points of each lifts as well as the judges call signals. Each judge has a light or Ballard of either red or white. White means a good lift red means no lift. You can have 3 whites or 2 whites and a red for your lift to be counted. 3 reds or 2 reds and a white means no lift.

For the squat go up the bar and unrack it. Get your stance. Raise your head and stand still. Wait for the judge to say "squat!" Do NOT squat until the judge says this otherwise you will automatically get no lift even if you lift the weight. A good rule of thumb is to take your big breath of air and hold it after the judge has said squat. Then begin. You have to squat down until your hip joint is lower than the top of your knee. This is likely lower than you think. The judges will be very strict on this. They will red light you if you do not go deep enough. It doesn't matter if it is your first comp or you are world record holder. Do not use YouTube videos of geared lifters to gauge your squat depth. There are many more than questional lifts online.

What I use to gauge it is when my hamstrings touch my calves. Now I know this is actually too deep. Or deeper than necessary but I have never failed a squat due to depth in competition and it puts no doubt in the judges minds. Also it shows complete dominance of the weight. Take this advise or leave it. OK so you squatted deep enough and now you have strained to squat up with the weight. Now you must stand still. Wait for the judge to say "rack" before you walk the weight back in. If you rack the bar straight away before the judges signal its an automatic no lift. Even if you just lifted a world record. If you move your feet or stumble before the judge says rack its also a no lift. This may seem very strict but ensures proper lifting and control of the weight. Its really not that difficult with a little bit of discipline. Just stay still and listen to the judge.

After your 3 squat attempts its time for the bench. This is a little more complicated than the squat. When your name is called for the bench and the bar is loaded get yourself set up on the bench. It good to say "ready" to the spotters to let them know to give you a lift off. If you want to pull the bar off yourself then tell the spotters before you get set up on the bench. If you get a lift off say "my bar" when you have control of the weight this let's the spotters know its safe to let go. Now wait. The referee will say "start!" Then unlock your arms and lower the bar to your chest. As with the squat if you start the lift before the referee gives the signal you will get no lift. So you have lowered the bar to the chest. Now pause the bar there. Stay tight and wait for the referee to say "press" do not touch and go or bounce the bar on your chest wait for the signal before you press the weight. This is the biggest difference between benching in a comp and benching in the gym. You may have to pause the bar for several seconds before you get the press command. This means you are esentaily pressing from a dead stop with no stretch reflex. This will effect the weight you can lift. Its is different for everyone but expect to lift 5-10kg less when you pause the bar like this compared to touch and go. So take this into account when you choose your attempts. When you are pressing keep your legs in place and your glutes flat on the bench. If you bridge you glutes off the bench then it is a no lift. If you move your feet during the lift it is a no lift. When you have locked your arms out stay still and hold the weight. Wait for the judge to say "rack" before you put it back in the rack otherwise you guessed it no lift. This may take some practise to get right so it is best to try out in the gym first. Imagine the judges calls in your head and pratise pausing the bar on your chest with light weights.

So after your 3 bench attempts comes the dead lift. This is the simplest to get right. When the bar is loaded go and dead lift it in your own time. There is no signal to start the lift so don't wait down in the start position like I have seen some newbies do. When you have locked the bar out hold it at lockout until the judge says "down!" The judge will also lower their arm. Lower the bar to the floor. Do not drop it. You don't have to lower the bar really slowly just make sure you keep hold of it on the way down. Make sure you keep your feet still once you start the lift and do not lean back with the weight and hitch of up your thighs like they do on strongman. You can do either a regular deadlift or sumo if you're that way inclined. Stay disciplined and listen to the judges. Watch other lifters to help you understand the commands and what is a good lift and what isn't. When you have pulled your final dead lift and the dust settles hopefully you will have hit some PRs met some cool people and had an awesome day.

A few final pieces of advise
Try to bring small easily digested foods to eat between lifts if you get time. Fruit, nuts, and protein bars work well.
Take with you and drink plenty of fluids.
Sort your gear out the night before.
Learn to prepare mentally for the lifts. Learn how to psyche yourself up for your attempts. Visualisation and mental rehearsal techniques can work well. Refer to my post how to have at it.
Don't try to stay psyched up and on edge the entire time. Learn to switch it on and off. Otherwise try to relax as much as possible or you will burn out. Powerlifting comps can sometimes take a long time to get through don't spend the entire time listening to death metal and hyperventilating.

Your opening attempt should be something you can easily hit just to get  you on the board. For your second attempt I would suggest something around your current Max. For your third attempt go for a PR. You should be able to gauge what you are good for based on how each attempt feels. If you can practice the judges calls in your head when you train in the gym and in the warm up room and practise pausing the bench press. You don't want to miss lifts on technicalities when you are easily strong enough for the weight.

Enjoy the experience. powerlifting is not a big or well funded sport but it is full of a lot of passionate people. Try to learn as much as you can at your first competition and go and chase down some PRs.

For anyone in the Essex area interested in getting into powerlifting by all means get in touch. I am always interested in helping newcomers to the sport. I am currently training in Spit and Sawdust Gym in Southend.

Beginner Strength Training Part 3

This is the final installment of my beginner strength routine. It involved a changed of rep schemes but maintains the same basic layout as the original routine.
You train 3 days a week alternating between week A and B

Week A

Day 1
Squat 3x3
Bench 3x3
1 arm rows 3x5
Ab wheel 3x10
Dumbbell side bends 3x10 you can superset these 2 if you want

Day 2
Rest/conditioning

Day 3
Dead lift 1x3, 1x1
Overhead press 3x3
Chin ups 5x3
Dips 3x5
Curls 3x5

Day 4
Rest/conditioning

Day 5
Squat 5x1
Bench 5x1
1 arm rows 3x5
Ab wheel 3x10
Dumbbell side bends 3x10

Day 6
Rest or conditioning

Day 7
Rest

Week B

Day 1
Squat 3x3
Overhead press 3x3
Chin up 5x3
Ab wheel 3x10
Side bends 3x10

Day 2
Rest or conditioning

Day 3
Dead lift 1x3, 1x1
Bench 3x3
1 arm rows 3x5
Dips 3x5
Curls 3x5

Day 4
Rest or conditioning

Day 5
Squat light 2x10
Military press 5x1
Chin up 5x3
Ab wheel 3x10
Side bends 3x10

Day 6
Rest or conditioning

Day 7
Rest

Notes
For the sets of 3  on all exercises start with your best weight for 5 reps from the previous routine. For the 5x1 and 1x1 sets use a weight that is 10kg heavier than your 3x3 weight for the squat and deadlift and 5kg heavier than the 3x3 for the bench and overhead press.

So if your best squat was 140kgx5 on the previous routine you would do 140kg for 3x3 as your first squat workout and 150kg for 5x1 on the 5th day.

If your best dead lift is 5x180kg then you would do 3x180kg for the first set followed by 1x190kg for the next set.

You will add 2.5kg to the bar every workout for each major exercise. Apart from the 2x10 light squat day which will be at around 50% of your 3x3 weight.

You are being introduced to single rep sets in this routine but progress them in the way that I have outlined. They are not Max attempts.

For the ab work feel free to superset the roll outs with the dumbbell side bends so you would do 10 roll outs followed by 10 side bends to the right then 10 side bends to the left. Then rest and continue 2 more times. You can add 2.5kg the weight of the side bends each week. For the roll outs if 3x10 is too easy you can either add reps or make then harder by putting your knees on a step or bench.

Follow this routine for 2 months and see where it takes you.

The beginner routines I have written can cover your entire first year of strength training. Start with the part 1 routine for 8 weeks. Then have week off from lifting and just rest. Then follow the part 2 routine for another 8 weeks. Then a week off again. then spend another 8 weeks on the part 3 routine followed by a week off. This should take you to around 6 months of lifting. At this point go back to the part 1 routine but use the weights you used from the part 2 routine. So your 3x5 weights become 5x5 weights the second time around. Follow this for 8 weeks before moving on to part 2 and 3 each for 8 weeks  with a week off in between. The only exception is the ab work which should stay like that from the part 3 routine and continue to progress on that as best you can. This will take you to 1 full year of strength training. You will have run through each version of the routine twice through the year. You will be significantly stronger than you were a year ago and you will have a fantastic base if you want to move into higher rep bodybuilding stuff or continue  training for strength and move on to other programs such as heavy singles, 5,3,1, Texas method etc.

How much stronger will you get? That depends on a lot of factors age, experience, weight, effort, diet etc. But using myself as an example. I went from a 140kg squat, 180kg dead lift, 90kg bench and 65kg overhead press to a 200kg squat, 225kg dead lift, 125kg bench and 85kg overhead press and from a bodyweight of 81kg to 86kg without gaining any noticeable fat. This was after a year of very similar routines as these ones.

So there you have a full year of training laid out for you to take you from beginner to intermediate lifter. These routines will be far superior to the bench and curl 6 days a week of most beginners. At a later date I will post about nutrition for beginners and some of the mistakes they make. Until then get strong and useful.

Chin Ups And Rows Are Not Assistance Exercises

For some reason in the strength world the business of pulling things towards you is regarded as an unimportant afterthought. In countless programs chin ups and rows are seen as some kind of assistance exercises you do for your main lifts. You bang out a few light sets of ten after your heavy benching and your done. I believe this attitude should change. I believe that upper body pulling should be just as important as upper body pressing. Just because they aren't the power lifts and no one cares how much you row or chin doesn't mean these lifts should be branded the same as goodmornings, and cable cross overs.

Firstly upper back strength is of fundamental importance to all round body strength. Strength is not just being able to do the big 3 but is about exerting force in any direction whether you be pulling something towards you or pushing it away. The upper back is also of great importance as a stabilzer for the spine and shoulders. This means a stronger upper back will always you to produce more force from the other muscles due to greater stability aswell as reduce the chance of injury.

The beautiful thing about pull ups is they show who is really strong and who is simply lifting a lot because they are fat/have better leverage/reduced ROM etc. If I can do a chin up with 60kg hanging on me at 80kg bodyweight then a 140kg man should also be able to do a chin up otherwise my muscles are producing more force than his.

Think about how important the upper back is for the 3 power lifts. During the squat you have to keep your upper back bunched together and flexed hard. This not only keeps the bar from moving around on your back but also helps to keep your chest up and maintain your lower back arch.

During the bench you have to keep your upper back squeezed hard to give yourself a good base of support as well as to protect the shoulders.

During the dead lift the upper is working hardest of all to maintain your arch. If your upper back crumbles your lower back will follow which will set you up for failure and injury. You upper back has to be strong to help break the bar off the floor. You could have very strong legs to get the bar moving but if your upper back cannot support the weight isometrically then the bar will come crashing down.

Back strength is also incredebly important for injury prevention. The back muscles help keep the shoulder joint balanced and supported. They improve Posture by keeping your shoulders back in  their natural position rather than rounded forward like most people's. Poor posture is very common due to our modern lifestyle of constant sitting and hunching over a computer. Lots of back training will help correct this without the need for shoulder external rotations with 5kg dumddells supersetted with band pull aparts. Lots of heavy back work, basically rows, chins and dead lifts will counteract the need for any prehab, mobility stuff. let's face it if you are putting up some big numbers on pressing exercises is 5lbs rotor cuff work really going to protect your shoulders? It doesn't make much sense to me. Doing a bunch of very light isolation exercises for something as small as the rotor cuff just isn't going to stress the muscles and connective tissues in the same way that they are going to be used when pressing a heavy load. Now if your back is so strong  and developed as to balance out the strength of your pressing your shoulders will be far better supported and shoulder injuries will be non existent.

                                                          This
As opposed to

                                                    This

Aside from all these great benefits of doing more heavy back work big backs just look cool. They are a real sign that someone is strong and has spent years under the bar. I've never seen someone I'd consider strong who didn't have decent back development, even on the lightweight guys. A decent back is not something you can get from a bunch of pumping isolation stuff. I've never seen a poser in the gym with a good back since it comes from hard work and heavy weight. While many guys may well do plenty of rows and chins they are usually done far too light or with very little volume and frequency compared to their pressing exercises. Heavy compound back exercises give you a real power look which can't be achieved with other exercises.

I have already talked about chin ups in a previous post here. The only thing I will add is please don't be the idiot who does kipping pull ups. Pulls and chins are to build a stronger back not for having a seizure on a pull up bar. They are the equivalent of doing ego swinging bicep curls in the squat rack.

                      The only circumstance where a kipping pull up is justified.

Next we come to rows. My favourite are dumbbell rows. This is because I feel it allows the best form to be used and doesn't beat up your lower back as well. I'm not a big fan of standard barbell rows as the form tends to go to shit as soon as it starts getting heavy. Are you getting stronger or are you just moving your chest down to meet the bar. Also there is too much lower back involvement especially in the sloppy version. If you are already training heavy squats and deads in the week then you don't need extra work for your lower back. T bar rows are everything that is wrong with the barbell row x10. I have never seen someone performing these that didn't look like a camel trying to have sex. The range of motion seems so limited unless you ram the barbell into your balls. Just avoid them.

When it comes to dumbbell rows perform them with both feet on the floor and your free hand resting on a bench. This is a much stronger position than putting your knee on the bench and allows you to use heavier weights. The dumbbell row is an exercise that can be trained heavier than most people think. Sets of 5s work great and you will probably find that the heaviest dumbbells in your gym are too easy for you. At this point I you have 2 options. Either continue using the heaviest dumbbell in the gym but up the reps.You can do this either conventionally. Such as going from 5x5 to 3x10 or try Kroc rows which is basically just one all out set with the heaviest dumbbell there is. If you do this still try to keep the form fairly strict and don't use too much body English. I know Matt Kroc does them that way but you aren't handling 300lbs dumbbells.

The other option is to get hold of an Olympic dumbbell handle and plate load your own dumbbell. The one in my gym is good for about 100kg and I'm currently hitting sets of 5 with 70kg. You'll probably find you can get quite strong at these. But try to keep the form strict and don't go below sets of 5. No one cares what your Max dumbbell row is.

 I would suggest the Olympic handle first at least until you max out its loading potential. This is what I believe Matt Kroc did before he started with the Kroc rows and looser form. Then its time to build your own.

     If your dumbbell doesn't at least somewhat resemble this you're doing it wrong.

I find it helps to detract your shoulder blades in the bottom of a dumbbell row kind of like the opposite of a shrug. When you pull you also shrug your shoulder blade back as if you are trying to pinch your shoulder blades together but only on one side. I find this feels stronger as well as activating the back muscles more so your row doesn't just turn into an arm exercise.

The most important point I want to make with this post is that you need to have more emphasis on your compound back exercises. There needs to be just as much volume and intensity as your pushing exercises. For every set of bench presses there needs to be a set of rows in the program. For every set of overhead press there needs to be a set of chin ups. Treat them as major lifts and put a lot of effort into them. They are not some afterthought assistance exercises. If you treat your rows with the same regard that you do benching you will be a lot bigger, stronger and more useful. Start to work hard at your chin ups and you won't have to walk around with imaginary lat syndrome because you will actually have some lats.it doesn't matter how you set up your program. Whether you have a back day desperate to chest day or train total body just make sure that for every set of pressing their is an equally challenging set of rows or chins.