OR state drug tested championship meet report/personal

[PhDPepper1111]

I competed in the OR state drug tested championships last Saturday and wanted to give a report regarding my progress and the meet itself.
Newer folks interested in powerlifting may enjoy a quick snapshot of what it was like to train and compete.
This will be a longer post so feel free to skim or skip to the videos

I decided to try a lifelong dream of powerlifting which I had never followed up on for ... well reasons (car accident, cancer, life in general).
I did my first competition in Oct last year and loved it, which motivated me to continue training and make changes to my lifestyle including eating which I'd never done since my high school wrestling days.
My first few posts in these forums give a little background if interested lol.

I signed up a couple of months ago for this competition which gave me time to tailor my training cycle to peak for the meet.
Be sure to sign up for the federation you are competing in, as well as COVID waivers. You will need to have proof of both - as well as ID when you weigh in for the meet.
I have been training in a friend/coworkers' basement gym which has a pretty decent set up and we've both been adding to the equipment.
I was lucky to find a training partner who is an experienced powerlifter and he's essentially become my coach as well.
There are a million training programs out there; pick one that works for your goals. I initially did a 4x per week plan that had me benching twice a week and I think it actually hurt my numbers for a while. I now do each main lift 1x per week.

Two weeks out I spent a day (M,W,Th) maxing out on each lift (or very close) - this may not be something I always do but we wanted to gauge my progress. Monday the week of the meet I did warmups and my openers and then took the rest of the week off. I kept my normal eating plan all week.

Weigh ins for USPA are 24 hours, so I ate normally and weighed in after work Friday. I have lost weight since my first comp so making weight was not a concern; I weighed almost 18lbs under max for my class.
Ate a big bowl of pasta, with bread for the complex carbs along with regular protein intake.
Didn't sleep much because I was too keyed up but woke feeling pretty good.

Ate breakfast (I normally don't eat until 1-2 pm), then headed to the gym for the rules briefing.
Masks were mandatory, they did temp checks at the door. Only 1 spectator/coach allowed per lifter, but at least everyone was allowed inside the gym.
Had plenty of time to gauge the mood since I was in flight D.
Crew were all friendly, I'd seen many of the same lifters and judges in last October meet in the same venue.
All day I felt the judges were generally about right, but they did make some head scratcher calls (more on that later). I sat in the front row for a good view of all the lifts.
Lifters in general are a very friendly bunch and had good conversations all day. Everyone cheered loudly for everyone so was great with the standard music blaring etc.
Saw some really strong lifters and had a great time!
Two ladies over 60 knew my coach so we sat with them during the meet and both broke national records!
A young man in the 184 class came up from CA to compete at 17 and was VERY impressive. I'll keep an eye on him - he broke CA records in all three lifts, deadlifting well over 600lbs. I think he had a national record or two. VERY bright future for him.

On to my personal match report.
Our game plan was to open at 'sure things,' but heavy enough to let me feel the weight. My openers were aimed at just chipping my last meet total, My second lifts were all meet PRs, and then third lifts were 'pushing it' a bit.
Took plenty of time to stretch, warm up, and didn't use a lot of energy on warm up lifts. My last warmups were about 20lbs under openers. Took my new percussion massager and felt it really helped a lot to get loose and knock out kinks!

SQUAT:
I was MUCH stronger on this than 4 months ago, so opened at 446. Moved very smoothly.
Jumped to the planned 468lbs and still felt very good. This chipped my gym PR by 3lbs.
Went for 479 - which is 30lbs off the national record, and got the weight, but started to get on my toes out of the hole. Judges felt I dipped (I guess) and gave me 2 reds.
I was a little upset but at least now I know I can get it!
Vids are for the 468 & 479 attempts




BENCH:
Opened at 285 which moved easy, although I didn't feel I engaged my legs well and grooved the descent too high on my chest.
Jumped to the planned 308 which was a meet PR and had the same issues and it was a bit of a push. Coach asked if I wanted to try the planned 319 and I said yes. In retrospect I should have gone for 314.5.
I tried to lower the weight too fast, dropped it too high on my chest and failed just off my chest.
Vid is for the 308.



DEADLIFT:
Opened at my previous PR of 474 and it moved very quickly. I'm still baffled as to how I got 3 reds but I asked and they said I leaned back at the top but didn't lock out my legs.
The audience reacted and my flight all said no way it was a good lift but w/e.
This got in my head pretty bad but my coach wanted me to jump to a PR of 496. I was pretty scared of bombing out and the lift was ugly with me really bobbling at the top but they gave it to me.
I finally was able to relax and felt good about going for the big 500; pulled the 501 with no problems at all!
Videos are of the first attempt and the 501.
Lift total for the meet was 1278.68; 93.5lbs more than my first meet in October!
Gotta love those newbie gains!




SUMMARY:
Had a great second meet and got to hang out with some awesome folks.
Hit meet PRs in all three lifts, and went over 500 on the DL. Came up a little short of my hoped for total but generally very happy with my results.
Got best male masters lifter and couple nice little gifts for the prize.
Total is #6 all time and 4th best Wilks/DOTS for 45-49 in drug tested USPA so very happy with that and looking forward to next training cycle/meet!
I'll be over 50 for my next meet so will be working towards those records and interestingly the 50-54 records are higher than the 45-49 but the targets are there for me to shoot for in any case.
Feels good.

[PhDPepper1111]

Good show. Congrats.

Thanks Brother!

[bodyhard]

Awesome man!! You must have had a great time!!

[Drew23]

Great job!

[getbigordie18]

I competed in the OR state drug tested championships last Saturday and wanted to give a report regarding my progress and the meet itself.
Newer folks interested in powerlifting may enjoy a quick snapshot of what it was like to train and compete.
This will be a longer post so feel free to skim or skip to the videos

I decided to try a lifelong dream of powerlifting which I had never followed up on for ... well reasons (car accident, cancer, life in general).
I did my first competition in Oct last year and loved it, which motivated me to continue training and make changes to my lifestyle including eating which I'd never done since my high school wrestling days.
My first few posts in these forums give a little background if interested lol.

I signed up a couple of months ago for this competition which gave me time to tailor my training cycle to peak for the meet.
Be sure to sign up for the federation you are competing in, as well as COVID waivers. You will need to have proof of both - as well as ID when you weigh in for the meet.
I have been training in a friend/coworkers' basement gym which has a pretty decent set up and we've both been adding to the equipment.
I was lucky to find a training partner who is an experienced powerlifter and he's essentially become my coach as well.
There are a million training programs out there; pick one that works for your goals. I initially did a 4x per week plan that had me benching twice a week and I think it actually hurt my numbers for a while. I now do each main lift 1x per week.

Two weeks out I spent a day (M,W,Th) maxing out on each lift (or very close) - this may not be something I always do but we wanted to gauge my progress. Monday the week of the meet I did warmups and my openers and then took the rest of the week off. I kept my normal eating plan all week.

Weigh ins for USPA are 24 hours, so I ate normally and weighed in after work Friday. I have lost weight since my first comp so making weight was not a concern; I weighed almost 18lbs under max for my class.
Ate a big bowl of pasta, with bread for the complex carbs along with regular protein intake.
Didn't sleep much because I was too keyed up but woke feeling pretty good.

Ate breakfast (I normally don't eat until 1-2 pm), then headed to the gym for the rules briefing.
Masks were mandatory, they did temp checks at the door. Only 1 spectator/coach allowed per lifter, but at least everyone was allowed inside the gym.
Had plenty of time to gauge the mood since I was in flight D.
Crew were all friendly, I'd seen many of the same lifters and judges in last October meet in the same venue.
All day I felt the judges were generally about right, but they did make some head scratcher calls (more on that later). I sat in the front row for a good view of all the lifts.
Lifters in general are a very friendly bunch and had good conversations all day. Everyone cheered loudly for everyone so was great with the standard music blaring etc.
Saw some really strong lifters and had a great time!
Two ladies over 60 knew my coach so we sat with them during the meet and both broke national records!
A young man in the 184 class came up from CA to compete at 17 and was VERY impressive. I'll keep an eye on him - he broke CA records in all three lifts, deadlifting well over 600lbs. I think he had a national record or two. VERY bright future for him.

On to my personal match report.
Our game plan was to open at 'sure things,' but heavy enough to let me feel the weight. My openers were aimed at just chipping my last meet total, My second lifts were all meet PRs, and then third lifts were 'pushing it' a bit.
Took plenty of time to stretch, warm up, and didn't use a lot of energy on warm up lifts. My last warmups were about 20lbs under openers. Took my new percussion massager and felt it really helped a lot to get loose and knock out kinks!

SQUAT:
I was MUCH stronger on this than 4 months ago, so opened at 446. Moved very smoothly.
Jumped to the planned 468lbs and still felt very good. This chipped my gym PR by 3lbs.
Went for 479 - which is 30lbs off the national record, and got the weight, but started to get on my toes out of the hole. Judges felt I dipped (I guess) and gave me 2 reds.
I was a little upset but at least now I know I can get it!
Vids are for the 468 & 479 attempts




BENCH:
Opened at 285 which moved easy, although I didn't feel I engaged my legs well and grooved the descent too high on my chest.
Jumped to the planned 308 which was a meet PR and had the same issues and it was a bit of a push. Coach asked if I wanted to try the planned 319 and I said yes. In retrospect I should have gone for 314.5.
I tried to lower the weight too fast, dropped it too high on my chest and failed just off my chest.
Vid is for the 308.



DEADLIFT:
Opened at my previous PR of 474 and it moved very quickly. I'm still baffled as to how I got 3 reds but I asked and they said I leaned back at the top but didn't lock out my legs.
The audience reacted and my flight all said no way it was a good lift but w/e.
This got in my head pretty bad but my coach wanted me to jump to a PR of 496. I was pretty scared of bombing out and the lift was ugly with me really bobbling at the top but they gave it to me.
I finally was able to relax and felt good about going for the big 500; pulled the 501 with no problems at all!
Videos are of the first attempt and the 501.
Lift total for the meet was 1278.68; 93.5lbs more than my first meet in October!
Gotta love those newbie gains!




SUMMARY:
Had a great second meet and got to hang out with some awesome folks.
Hit meet PRs in all three lifts, and went over 500 on the DL. Came up a little short of my hoped for total but generally very happy with my results.
Got best male masters lifter and couple nice little gifts for the prize.
Total is #6 all time and 4th best Wilks/DOTS for 45-49 in drug tested USPA so very happy with that and looking forward to next training cycle/meet!
I'll be over 50 for my next meet so will be working towards those records and interestingly the 50-54 records are higher than the 45-49 but the targets are there for me to shoot for in any case.
Feels good.

nice work!

[PhDPepper1111]

Great job!

Thank you!
Some nice numbers there Drew!
I've never lifted equipped - you put up some impressive numbers in a suit and raw!

Awesome man!! You must have had a great time!!

Indeed I did! Thanks!

nice work!

Thank you!

[Atom1980]

Nice work and nice to get PR's!

[PhDPepper1111]

Nice work and nice to get PR's!

Thank you Atom!

[PhDPepper1111]

Interestingly, the #3 lifter in my age/weight class disappeared... I'm guessing because they tested positive in a meet?

In any case, my total (which has a lot of room to improve) is now up there on the boards as #3 DOTS in the USPA tested category. LOL
On to the Master's III category

[OldManNoob]

These numbers are super-impressive! I have to ask (as someone who can't lift 1/2 of what you can) - I see some big gains in DL and Squat but no real gain in your Bench... did you just not work the bench as much over the 4.5 months? - I have no experience at all with this stuff, just curious why you'd gain 61 and 27 (which seem like big jumps to me)... and then only 5?

[PhDPepper1111]

These numbers are super-impressive! I have to ask (as someone who can't lift 1/2 of what you can) - I see some big gains in DL and Squat but no real gain in your Bench... did you just not work the bench as much over the 4.5 months? - I have no experience at all with this stuff, just curious why you'd gain 61 and 27 (which seem like big jumps to me)... and then only 5?

Thanks OMNoob!
Certainly, gains can be a head-scratcher for each person.
The short version of the long story (chronicled elsewhere on these pages) is that I was in a car accident in 2007 that fractured two vertebra and herniated a bunch of others. The main long term effect was de-enervation of the nerves leading to my right pec and tricep. It's a bit ironic I suppose as prior to the injury bench was my best lift, with a gym PR of 415. But post injury my lifting has had to change a lot. I thought I'd never be able to get that pec and tri working again - and they're still not doing as much work as I'd like but after training for the past 5 months and seeing a PT, I'm actually seeing some recovery after all these years.
I've been trying to change my bench technique to utilize my lats etc more as well.
I'm hoping that the bench will start creeping up there again soon now that I've laid a technique and muscular foundation for it.

In terms of 'typical' growth, I think it's common to see stepwise progression - the work you do over a cycle builds the foundation for growth and then all of a sudden you see a lift in a particular area explode.
May you have similar success in your new/old journey!

[GatorBison]

I haven't posted in quite awhile, and I logged in to say I would've white lighted that squat. Goodjobman

I have my first meet since November '18 first of May, you got me pumped up brah!

[PhDPepper1111]

I haven't posted in quite awhile, and I logged in to say I would've white lighted that squat. Goodjobman

I have my first meet since November '18 first of May, you got me pumped up brah!

OOh sorry I missed your comment. Thanks for the encouragement.
Good luck next week! Let us know how it goes!!

[GatorBison]

Thanks brother.

2/3 on SQ. Smoked 474 on 2nd attempt. Went for 501, but I popped my knees out a little too much on third, they were being very strict on depth, and lost my spring out of the hole.

Went 3/3 on BP, finished with 370.

DL was garbage all training cycle, got my opener at 427. Toes too far out, lost balance and fell backwards with 464. Had the grind of my life on 3rd retaking 464, just couldn't finish it off. 1/3

Meet PRs on SQ and BP, not so much DL and total.

[PhDPepper1111]

Thanks brother.

2/3 on SQ. Smoked 474 on 2nd attempt. Went for 501, but I popped my knees out a little too much on third, they were being very strict on depth, and lost my spring out of the hole.

Went 3/3 on BP, finished with 370.

DL was garbage all training cycle, got my opener at 427. Toes too far out, lost balance and fell backwards with 464. Had the grind of my life on 3rd retaking 464, just couldn't finish it off. 1/3

Meet PRs on SQ and BP, not so much DL and total.

Good stuff. Thanks for the update! FANTASTIC work. I hear you about the DL and sorry it didn't go well - I'm right there with my bench not doing much, but keep at it!

My next meet is in two weeks, so I'll post the meet report etc after that. Can't wait!

[GatorBison]

Good stuff. Thanks for the update! FANTASTIC work. I hear you about the DL and sorry it didn't go well - I'm right there with my bench not doing much, but keep at it!

My next meet is in two weeks, so I'll post the meet report etc after that. Can't wait!

Good luck brother!! I'm doing another November 21. Motivation has been trash with work stress, need to get that cleaned up pronto!

[Forelight]

Good report. Read this a while ago, but didn't find the time to comment. Thanks.

[PhDPepper1111]

Good report. Read this a while ago, but didn't find the time to comment. Thanks.

Thanks Forelight!
I appreciate you taking the time to read through and give me feedback.