powerlifting state records

Friday marked the end of my Family Medicine rotation (more on that later!). We had the day off to attend Education Day. The student presentations ended much later than I’d hoped they would, so I had a pretty late start in getting back to West Virginia to drop off Princess Muffin for the month. I made it to WV around 10 p.m. and helped out at the cat shelter til around 12:30 a.m.

Since I’ve been on/off mentioning the powerlifting meet I entered, I thought I’d talk about what a powerlifting meet generally entails! (In my experience, anyway.)

Whilst running on 2 hours of sleep, I made it to the venue at 7 a.m. to weigh-in. My body was being completely uncooperative, so of course, when I was about to go in for my weigh-in was when it finally decided that it did need to use the restroom after all. Really, body? You couldn’t have done this at any point in the day on Friday or even Saturday morning? Thanks for a whole bunch of nothin’!

Thankfully, it turned out okay. I weighed in at ~0.5 lbs under my goal weight (whew!), picked out my openers, and scooted out the door to quickly rehydrate and refuel. After downing a 20 oz. bottle of Gatorade, a dark chocolate coconut almond bar, an apple and a handful of chipotle maple almonds, I wandered over to let them know my rack weight and to find a spot to get situated, because the place was packed!

At 9:15ish, we had a rules debriefing and a short prayer followed by the pledge of allegiance. (Apparently, at a meet earlier this year, they said, “May you let us pick these weights up and put them back down” in the prayer. :P )

See this post for what you might want to bring with you to a powerlifting meet!

Squats

• The head judge will wait for you to lift the weight, step back and situate yourself into your starting position. Do NOT move your feet after you establish this position. The judge will give the command to “Squat” (along with downward movement of the arm). Squat just below parallel (top surface of legs at the hip joint is lower than top of knees), but I generally try to go as deep as possible just to minimize any chances of being disqualified for that.
• After you stand back up and seem to be back in your starting position, the judge will give the command, “Rack,” with a backward motion of the arm. Any foot movement (e.g. stepping forward or backwards) before this command is given will disqualify the lift.
• Tip: To remember the “Rack” command, just pretend you’re doing multiple reps so you don’t step forward to rerack too early! I’m too used to efficiently lifting alone and stepped forward before he gave the “Rack” command, so my first lift didn’t count even though it was a good one. :[

Bench Press

• Lie with your head, shoulders and back against the bench. Your feet must be flat on the floor. After you remove the bar from the racks (with or without help), wait for the judge’s signal, which will be given as soon as the lifter is properly positioned (and in control of the bar).
• Lower the bar to your chest and hold it (motionlessly + controlled!). The judge will give the command to “Press.” Return the bar to straight arms’-length with the elbows locked and hold it motionlessly until the command, “Rack” is given.
• Tip: If you have short limbs like me, I’d recommend asking someone to help with liftoff. I effed up my shoulder last year and disqualified myself for bench, or I could well have taken home all the trophies. :[ (This was obviously before the Boards Deconditioning of 2014 occurred.) Make sure your arms are locked out and bring the bar down in a controlled manner so they’ll expedite the command and you won’t tire out as quickly.

Deadlifts

• This is my favorite lift because it’s always been my best event and also only consists of just one command. :D!Lift the bar until standing erect and motionless, with knees in locked position and shoulders back (but don’t shrug your shoulders!). The head judge will give the command, “Down,” along with a downward movement of the arm.
• Tip: Any rising of the bar or deliberate attempt to do so will count as an attempt, and no downward movement is allowed until you’ve reached the completed position. Don’t bounce it on your knees or hips, and don’t move your feet (e.g. stepping forward or backward) from your starting position!

General Tips:

• Find out your rack height before the meet begins to streamline the process! If you’re not sure, just go and ask them to help you out!
• Know that you can NOT decrease the weight from whatever you chose to be your opener, so choose carefully.
• A shirt is required underneath your singlet for both squats and bench press, but you can go without one (but still wear your singlet) for deadlift. Knee-high socks are required for the deadlift for hygienic purposes (in case of scraped skin/bloody shins and the like).
• Wait until they say, “bar’s loaded,” before you step onto the lifting platform.
• “On deck” = 2nd in line to lift
  “In the hole” = 3rd in line to lift
• 2-3 white lights mean that your lift was good!
• If you have someone to take pictures/videos for you, that’s always awesome, since you can see what you need to improve on. I always come to these alone and waffle between entrusting total strangers with my only form of communication with the outside world (people are really nice, but still, you never know :[ ), so I didn’t get any this time.
• If you aren’t well-versed in the conversion rate between pounds to kilograms, printing out the conversion chart might be helpful.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help! I lift to destress from med school, so I obviously don’t have a coach or a trainer, but I asked one of them for pointers on how to choose an opener and how to choose what the weight I wanted to lift next, and he was more than happy to help me out. General rule of thumb is to not jump more than 30 lb. at a time, even if it’s a big lift (unless it really did feel that unbelievably easy).
• This isn’t exactly mandatory, but I think it’s good practice. Thank your spotters and judges and be polite! I go to these meets alone and I’ll be honest–I’d be much less inclined to do so if it weren’t for how supportive the audience and all the other athletes/coaches were of me.
  Even though I knew absolutely no one there, I’d hear the crowd cheering me on and people yelling, “Go Farrah! / You got this, girl! / Piece of cake!” It makes a big difference. :] (I really wish I had someone to train with/under sometimes, but it’s a-okay! I’ve gotten pretty used to going it alone.)

That being said, despite my very suboptimal performance, I managed to place second in my division, and also took home my 3 state records for the state of Kentucky under the federation I lift under. :D Overall, I managed to accomplish some of the goals listed here. My hope is to bring home all the trophies next year. :]

There were a lot of factors, both planned and unplanned, that probably affected my performance. :x After I’m done basking in the glory that is my 3 state records and my shiny trophy (next year’s goal is to win all of them!), I’m going to write a post about what NOT to do when prepping for a powerlifting competition (or any competition, for that matter).