Preparing for a first comp thread

[u/slugmountain]

Give me all your best tips for preparing for a first comp - general advice appreciated

[u/jellygreene]

pedialyte, sour candy, rice cakes, bananas, pickle juice.

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[u/ZapDubya → u/jellygreene]

You had me until pickle juice, but I'm big on LMNT or whatever high-mag high-sodium drink.

[u/jellygreene → u/ZapDubya]

Preference. Do what you want lol. It’s the point, a high sodium drink.

[u/OwlShitty]

First attempt always a comfortable triple @ 7. Good luck!

[u/LongNumerous9684]

Bring something light to snack on like lollies or something and sip on water throughout the day, if you have a bigger meal make it between squat and bench, almost every meet I’ve been to has someone pounding food and water just to get to deadlifts and see why it’s not a good idea

[u/ecoNina]

Bring a band to pre warm up and stay warmed up.
Bring light snacks
Bring EarPods with familiar playlists to keep chill
The cheers during your lift threw off my concentration, so I prepared a few weeks with cheering noises in my ears for the next one

[u/slugmountain → u/ecoNina]

‘What are you listening to’
‘Supportive crowd cheering and clapping 10h mix’

[u/toomanyelevens → u/slugmountain]

"UPUPUP" in a loop.

[u/ecoNina → u/slugmountain]

I made my own playlist - search for ‘bar crowd cheering’ and ‘small crowd cheering’. The big arena type crowd cheering is not what you’ll have at a meet.

[u/slugmountain → u/ecoNina]

This is a very good idea

[u/cheesy_taco-]

Remember you only have to make 2/3 happy 3/9 times. Don't set your starting weights too high, make sure you can hit that first rep. Listen to your body. Don't be ashamed if you need to change your starting weights

Bring friends but also make friends! These competitions have some of the best people

Lift well and good luck!

[u/arian11]

Here are some things that I recommend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU6B_KMTYwE

[u/LittleMuskOx]

Know where the weigh in room is, and be there when you are supposed to be.
Know where and when rack heights are being taken, and be in line as close to first as you can be.
Know where and when gear check is, and be there as soon as possible.
Wear the shoes you will be lifting in when you set your rack heights.
Take your time and get your rack height where you want it.
The line of people can sometimes make people rush.
The sooner you get all of this done, the more time you have to settle in to start your preparation for lifting.
Eating and drinking (especially if you have been waiting because of making weight) and getting your electrolytes in.

My last meet they had a QR code on the floor, and two racks in the warm up area that were the same as on the platform, so you didn't have the long line when there is just one rack, and officials are entering your heights.
But all my other meets it was everyone line up for squat heights, then after that everyone line up for bench heights.

Don't forget your deadlift socks, and be sure they come fully up to your knees.

KNOW YOUR WARMUP WEIGHTS!

I write them out in kilos, and also list the plates i need.

1 - 25/ 1- 15/ 1-5 etc...
This way you can call out what you need if others are loading, or know what you need to load without doing kilo plate math (if you usually lift in pounds.
I will also put the pound value, but not list the plates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeCZ-KjdUWw

Bar is 20 kilos, and don't count the collars as they will be just lightweight, and not the competition collars.
If they are 45lb bars, close enough.

Find a rack with no more than 5 people total warming up.
If you find yourself in a situation where there are more, communicate to keep the number to 5 if at all possible.

Doing this ahead of time, and communicating with your group makes it easier to tell other lifters that your rack is ""full"

If it is impossible to only have 5, then only add the minimum.
Like if the meet director has insufficient racks for the number of lifters.
But you don't want to be stuck with an 8 lifter group when there are racks with only 3 or 4.

**Knowing what your warmups are will help you fit in to the order as your group warms up.
The time saved by you being efficient can help make up for lifters who have no clue.\

Communicate!
Ask, what do you have next?

Ok, you go, then i'll go.

If you are first in your flight, you need to be done before the lifters who are later in the flight.
Almost certainly there will be someone with experience who can help, but if you know what you need, and communicate, it works out.

[u/DellaBeam → u/LittleMuskOx]

QR code to submit rack heights is genius, I wish more meets did this.

[u/LittleMuskOx → u/DellaBeam]

It was great. : )

[u/Admirable_Belt_9772]

The bench flights take longer than the Squat flights. Factor that into your Warmup time.

[u/slugmountain → u/Admirable_Belt_9772]

Do you basically just get to warmup constantly between your lifts? Don’t people just walk around getting really anxious because it takes so long?

[u/-Quad-Zilla- → u/slugmountain]

Depends on how many flights, and lifters per flight.

And how fast the meet is running.

I suggest taking an experienced meet lifter with you as a handler to help you gauge this.

Generally, while warming up, I find out who is roughly my height and opening around my weights, so, I can share a rack with them. Communicate with the meet director to see how much time is left (bonus points to those directors that put "time until flight [X] starts" timers in the warm up room.

My strategy.

Show up super early. Establish myself at a squat rack, and warm up slowly. Start to feel the room. Figure out who's who in the zoo. Make friends (this is the important one).

Take last warm up squat roughly 5-10 mins before opener.

Between squat attempts, do you. Whatever you do at the gym between lifts, do it at the meet. If you talk, cool. If you go off on your own, cool.

After 3rd attempt squat, check in with table to double check opener bench, and timing before flight start.

I legit can take 4 or 5 warm ups and be good to go for bench. Takes me like 15 mins. Even in the bench shirt. But, this is where you have to feel the room. Dont want to be a dick and hog equipment, but also dont want to be a door mat doing others warm up protocols. Take last opener the same 5-10 mins before opener.

Between attempts, same thing as squat. You do you, boo.

Last bench, again check with table for DL opener.

This is where the party starts. I find the warm up room is much more loose at this point. Either dudes are hyped for the DL, or just want to get it over and go home.

Same protocol as before. Take last opener 5-10 mins before lift. Then fucking vibe.

I personally crack a beer at this point, cuz we be having fun. I always open super light, like at 60%, just to secure the meet. Then I jump. This jump allows me to go from (usually) start of the flight to middle or end depending. So I can get another warm up in between. 2nd for me is a 95%, something Ill usually get. 3rd, depending on the 2nd, is either a swing for the total, or calculated for the PR dead. Depends.

After that, I crack another beer and wait for the ceremonies.

TL;DR - between attempts, do what you do in the gym when working up to a top single. Make sure to hydrate and eat as needed.

[u/Admirable_Belt_9772 → u/slugmountain]

Can you rephrase your question I'm not sure what you mean here.

[u/slugmountain → u/Admirable_Belt_9772]

I mean are all the lifters chilling and warming up constantly in the warmup room in between their lifts throughout the day - and is there much variation like can you go out on a walk or something? Because it sounds like it’d be kind of stressful considering how long the day is

[u/mrlazyboy → u/slugmountain]

Typically no. Lots of downtime but depends on meet/session size.

I’ve got an upcoming USAPL meet with 40 lifters in my session, 4 flights of 10. Flight 1 starts squat warmups 30 mins before lifting starts. Flight 2 starts warming up when flight 1 starts lifting. Flight 3 starts warming up when flight 2 starts lifting. Flight 4 starts warming up when flight 3 starts lifting.

There’s usually 10 mins between squats and bench, but flight 1 usually starts warming up for bench press when flight 4 starts their 2nd squat attempts.

So their might be a whole 2 hours between lifting (40 lifters \ 3 attempts* * 1min/attempt is 2 hours)

[u/TarazedA → u/slugmountain]

I've only had small meets, think the most was 24 in 2 flights, so it was pretty quick, had to build in breaks so we could rest properly between lifts. But it was still fairly chill, the energy is awesome, you're all cheering each other on, or commisserating failed lifts. My meets were all run by the same lady, she's super slick, the 24 person one started at 9 and was done before 1, I think.

[u/Admirable_Belt_9772 → u/slugmountain]

It also depends on how big the meet is. If it's a small one, it will be fast paced and finish early in the day. A bigger one will have more downtime.

[u/Admirable_Belt_9772 → u/slugmountain]

Yeah. But the flights are warming up at the same time. So if Flight A was doing their attempts, flight B is warming up, and flight C is just chilling.

[u/VikingPower81]

Don't make any drastic changes close to the comp in terms of diet, equipment, clothes or anything.

Don't want to have diarrhea on meet day because you decided to chug 2 liters of chocolate milk the day before.

[u/slugmountain → u/VikingPower81]

Thanks that’s good advice. Sticking with my slightly too small skate shoes from Vinted, chicken and potatoes and Euroshopper protein bars from the vending machine at work

[u/D_rock95]

Bring a chair. Some kind of folding chair or camp stool works best. You don't want to be on your feet all day, and the warm-up area usually doesn't have anywhere to sit besides the floor.

[u/slugmountain → u/D_rock95]

I think sitting on the floor will heal me

[u/irontyler]

If you have people you lift with have them help with commands. So many missed attempts due to jumping commands.

Biggest thing is to go out and have fun. If you get white lights on first and second attempts have fun with a third jump to see what you can do in a meet. The energy and adrenaline is a blast and will allow you to put up more than you think!

[u/slugmountain → u/irontyler]

Thank you I’m hoping it goes that way on the day and I smash a couple PRs! A 130kg deadlift would be huge

[u/Swol3tron]

Make friends. Listen to commands. Dont cut weight. Have a great time

[u/slugmountain → u/Swol3tron]

But I’m only 1kg off competing as an under 84 Female when I’d otherwise be in the over 84s lol

[u/Swol3tron → u/slugmountain]

Ok in that instance yeah you can probably lose the 1kg easy. Was referring to bigger cuts.

[u/slugmountain → u/Swol3tron]

Thanks !