Competing in first meet June 26th!

[|3ossman]

APA/WPA bench/dead championship in CT. i cant wait! ive done a few bench contests when i was a teen, but never a true meet. Ill be competing in Junior 20-23 either 181 or 198(most likely be in 198 cause ill be hitting a cycle here pretty soon). Any tips you seasoned PL's can offer for my next few months of training for this meet. currently 185 5'9" coming back after couple months off, been at it for 2-3 months now again.

Bench is currently 335 raw, and my deadlift is 495-525 range with straps. Before my time off i was at 350 and 555. I need to get my grip up there cause by the time june 26 rolls around i should be pulling around 585-600 with just a belt. Any suggestions on how to strengthen my grip as much as possible would be great. Ive never used chalk either and ive heard that helps considerably, chalk is allowed at apa meets correct? I have an INZER EHPHD blast shirt (single ply) size 50 that i only messed with a few times, should i work this thing into my routine at all? I already cut the back (not the collar though, should i?) and it may be a bit small for me, but ive heard the better you get with them, the smaller the better right.

What gear should i get for deadlifting training/competing. Groove shorts, and a dead suit and singlet? I want to be able to squat in the same suit also for when i do a squat competition.

Woohoo im pumped! i cant wait to compete. anyways thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

 

[Parabellum]

I can't help with the dead gear. But it;s great to hear your going to compete.

Maybe I will too, if I have off. I'm, in NY not too far awat from CT. I'm doing a meet June 16 in PA. APA.

 

[|3ossman]

Cool maybe ill see you there, PA is too far for me bro. How is APA? Good organization or what?

 

[pwrlftrscott]

Cool maybe ill see you there, PA is too far for me bro. How is APA? Good organization or what?

apa is a good org, and im sure the one in ct is being ran by dona slaga, she puts on great meets, has lots of lifters, and some really good ones, you will love her meets, and it is a good one for a first meet as well, as far as the gear goes, the apa don't allow the long groove briefs like power pants, but the short ones are legal, get a squat suit to pull in and use both, there is no need for a seperate one for deads, i usually squat and pull in a titan dual quad and it is good for both, i have pulled in an inzer hardcore as well. the only tips i have is get your gear now, that you are planning on using and train in it, so you are very familiar with it, also practice lifting with the commands since it is your first meet, you will get a squat and rack commannd for the sq, and press and rack for bench and jsut a down command on deads, be sure to wait for the commands, that is usually what first meet lifters mess up on the most. also do not open too heavy, you will be nervous on your opening attempts so pick a weight you can triple in your sleep for an opener, jsut to get in the meet, then go for it. good luck, you will be hooked after this meet if your not already.

 

[|3ossman]

apa is a good org, and im sure the one in ct is being ran by dona slaga, she puts on great meets, has lots of lifters, and some really good ones, you will love her meets, and it is a good one for a first meet as well, as far as the gear goes, the apa don't allow the long groove briefs like power pants, but the short ones are legal, get a squat suit to pull in and use both, there is no need for a seperate one for deads, i usually squat and pull in a titan dual quad and it is good for both, i have pulled in an inzer hardcore as well. the only tips i have is get your gear now, that you are planning on using and train in it, so you are very familiar with it, also practice lifting with the commands since it is your first meet, you will get a squat and rack commannd for the sq, and press and rack for bench and jsut a down command on deads, be sure to wait for the commands, that is usually what first meet lifters mess up on the most. also do not open too heavy, you will be nervous on your opening attempts so pick a weight you can triple in your sleep for an opener, jsut to get in the meet, then go for it. good luck, you will be hooked after this meet if your not already.

correct, donna slaga is the head of the ct apa meets. ill check out the titan dual quad, thanks for answering that ?. Do you know about the chalk i asked about in my first post? Grip is the main thing im worried about here. And yes im hooked already

thanks alot scott for the tips

 

[pwrlftrscott]

correct, donna slaga is the head of the ct apa meets. ill check out the titan dual quad, thanks for answering that ?. Do you know about the chalk i asked about in my first post? Grip is the main thing im worried about here. And yes im hooked already

thanks alot scott for the tips

if you go with titan, get it form a distributor not titan, they are slooow! you need it soon to get some time in it before the meet. i wear gear starting at least 10 weeks out form the meet.

 

[suk1978]

good luck! if you're trying to make a weight class, start monitoring yourself as soon as poss, no good trying to shed lots in the last week or two. check this link:
http://www.powerlifting.com/article.cfm?aID=1&msID=1&sID=0
as for grip training, use 2 thick weight plates with the grooves/writing facing inside and hold them for as long as posisble (30 secs +) or do the farmers walk with them. the weight you choose will depend on your current strength. my grip was piss poor a month ago and was affecting my DL. been doing these and increased my PB by 30kg in 3 weeks. for extra difficulty cover your hands in talcum powder so they slip easy and make you hold tighter.
i was hovering around 165lbs pre-gear cycle, knowing i'd put on 10lbs in eight weeks of deca. so i started using sida corfilia by Chemical Nutrition 4 weeks ago and riding my bike to work (20 mins). thats all the cardio i ever do. i've lost fat and its allowed me to stay within my weight category by under 4lbs as of yesterday- my first meet is on saturday.

 

[|3ossman]

good luck! if you're trying to make a weight class, start monitoring yourself as soon as poss, no good trying to shed lots in the last week or two. check this link:
http://www.powerlifting.com/article.cfm?aID=1&msID=1&sID=0
as for grip training, use 2 thick weight plates with the grooves/writing facing inside and hold them for as long as posisble (30 secs +) or do the farmers walk with them. the weight you choose will depend on your current strength. my grip was piss poor a month ago and was affecting my DL. been doing these and increased my PB by 30kg in 3 weeks. for extra difficulty cover your hands in talcum powder so they slip easy and make you hold tighter.
i was hovering around 165lbs pre-gear cycle, knowing i'd put on 10lbs in eight weeks of deca. so i started using sida corfilia by Chemical Nutrition 4 weeks ago and riding my bike to work (20 mins). thats all the cardio i ever do. i've lost fat and its allowed me to stay within my weight category by under 4lbs as of yesterday- my first meet is on saturday.

Wow! thanks alot for that article, great read. ill try out those grip training methods you listed, that sounds difficult, what do you use , 25's, 35's? I am going to start doing farmers walks every time i train my back/shoulders. Figured twice a week taking 2 laps around my gym with 100+ should strengthen my grip quite a bit.

Does anyone know of a good basic bench program i can use to get ready for this contest. I dont have any bands or chains, i have boards though. I actually plan on getting about 50-100lbs worth of chains soon. Im not worried about my deadlifts, i can pull plenty for a 181 Junior, but my bench is lagging. I have a single ply Inzer EHPHD thats a little small and an Inzer Blast shirt thats a little big. I was planning on using the larger shirt first to get used to using a shirt for about 4 weeks, then switch to the newer EHPHD for the remaining 6 weeks. This sound like a good plan?

 

[suk1978]

i use two 5 kilo plates, sometimes two 10kg plates, 3 sets to failure then for an extra bit of punishment some wrist curls and reverse wrist curls...when you deadlift, make sure you really wrap your hands round that bar. i think that article can be summarised in "eat brown rice, lots of protein and drink lots of water"
i've never used the chains or bands either, but we use boards. the guys start off week1: 3 boards, week2: 2 boards, week3: 1 board week4: no boards. they use shirts, not really taken much notice of whether they use the single ply first and then the metal shirts later or whether they use the same one throughout, as there's about 8 of them and they all have different shirts. (i dont use shirt yet - will buy one if i qualify on saturday, and i start from 2 boards cos my arms are short - im 5'5'') with the boards we try to get 3 reps out so that without the boards we can get at least one rep.

 

[blut wump]

Wow, time flies, suk1978. It seems like hardly any since since you were posting to say you were planning to go to a meet. Good luck for tomorrow.