Last Saturday, I competed in my first powerlifting meet: the Iron Boy Powerlifting North Carolina Push/Pull Championships, in King's Mountain. I had a great time, and am still processing the entire experience. I met a lot of really nice people, and learned a lot about the difference between lifting in my basement gym and lifting on someone else's time. I benched a solid opener at 195, then was red-lighted at 215 because my rear end came off the bench. I felt it happen, but it was over before I could stop. My fault. My second attempt at 215 stalled on my chest, and just would not budge. I was disapppointed in myself because I have pressed 225 at home once, and 215 several times. I can rep with 205- I did not think that 10 pounds would matter that much, but it did. Then came the deadlift. I hit a solid lift at 315, then three white lights with 325. My third attempt, for 355, came up about 3 inches, stalled, and dropped to the deck. My total was 520. I won first place in the novice 181 raw category, at a bodyweight that morning of 177.
A few quick lessons learned. First, I learned that I will not rise to the occasion. In the moment of truth, I failed on bench presses that I can hit every day at home. Why? The first lift was lost because my technique wavered, and the second lift didn't happen because by that point, I had used up so much energy pacing and worrying about making the lift after failing. My deadlift went well well as long as I stayed in the range in which I had trained. My heaviest deadlifts in training recently have been 335, and I hit 315 and 325 with no problem. I assumed that I could pull 20 pounds heavier than I trained with last week. Wrong. Not at the end of the meet, hyped up on adrenaline. I assumed that the inertia of the event would increase my lifts. Dead wrong. I've heard that you will not rise to the occassion; you will rise to the level of your training. That's exactly what happened.
I also learned that I need to develop "low gear" deadlifting strength. I used to have it, when I was focusing on the deadlift using the Power to the People program. My best ever deadlift is 405 at a bodyweight of 202. I have the lift on video- it took me nearly 5 seconds to take it from the floor to lockout. Some lifters pulling the big weights kept the tension turned on for 6 or 8 seconds, pulling as hard as they could. I stalled after 2 or 3 seconds. Pavel Tsatsouline has described training that inhibits the central nervous system shutdown I experienced- low gear strength that just keeps pulling. I need it, big time. I know that if I can get 375 to the knees, I can lock it out, because I do rack pulls from time to time. But I can't get 355 off the floor.
What's the prescription, now that the powerlifting bug has bitten me? The same prescription as for all lifting, I think: the basics. I like how the push/pull format complements the jerk and snatch in kettlebell sport, and how I can recover faster, without knee pain, than when I squat. I'm going to train for the kettlebell meet at the end of June, then seriously prepare for the next push/pull meet in Morganton in November. Lots of benching and deadlifting, along with high rep kettlebell ballistics.
Oh, and I learned one more thing, looking at the other lifters in the meet: I should probably lose the gut and compete in the 165 division.
Edit: I thought of one more thing I would do differently. I stopped deadlifting 8 days before the meet, and stopped benching on Tuesday. I was a lot stronger last week- I think that I took too much time off.
A few quick lessons learned. First, I learned that I will not rise to the occasion. In the moment of truth, I failed on bench presses that I can hit every day at home. Why? The first lift was lost because my technique wavered, and the second lift didn't happen because by that point, I had used up so much energy pacing and worrying about making the lift after failing. My deadlift went well well as long as I stayed in the range in which I had trained. My heaviest deadlifts in training recently have been 335, and I hit 315 and 325 with no problem. I assumed that I could pull 20 pounds heavier than I trained with last week. Wrong. Not at the end of the meet, hyped up on adrenaline. I assumed that the inertia of the event would increase my lifts. Dead wrong. I've heard that you will not rise to the occassion; you will rise to the level of your training. That's exactly what happened.
I also learned that I need to develop "low gear" deadlifting strength. I used to have it, when I was focusing on the deadlift using the Power to the People program. My best ever deadlift is 405 at a bodyweight of 202. I have the lift on video- it took me nearly 5 seconds to take it from the floor to lockout. Some lifters pulling the big weights kept the tension turned on for 6 or 8 seconds, pulling as hard as they could. I stalled after 2 or 3 seconds. Pavel Tsatsouline has described training that inhibits the central nervous system shutdown I experienced- low gear strength that just keeps pulling. I need it, big time. I know that if I can get 375 to the knees, I can lock it out, because I do rack pulls from time to time. But I can't get 355 off the floor.
What's the prescription, now that the powerlifting bug has bitten me? The same prescription as for all lifting, I think: the basics. I like how the push/pull format complements the jerk and snatch in kettlebell sport, and how I can recover faster, without knee pain, than when I squat. I'm going to train for the kettlebell meet at the end of June, then seriously prepare for the next push/pull meet in Morganton in November. Lots of benching and deadlifting, along with high rep kettlebell ballistics.
Edit: I thought of one more thing I would do differently. I stopped deadlifting 8 days before the meet, and stopped benching on Tuesday. I was a lot stronger last week- I think that I took too much time off.
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