A friend of mine started lifting around 4 months ago.

They started at a bodyweight of 160, with respective lifts of 225 squat, 265 deadlift, and 155 bench.

In around 4 months these lifts skyrocketed to a bodyweight of 180 with a 385 squat, 435 deadlift, and 285 bench, naturally, at the age of 20.

Just wondering if there is anyone else who has seen similar numbers or if this is some kind of anomaly.

Well, I will start with the good things because there weren't very many of them. Nothing got injured. The meet was run very well. This was my 50th time competing in powerlifting and the following information should make an excellent case for me still not knowing what the fuck I am doing.

On to the litany of things that sucked. Two days before I weighed in, I was 267lbs. My goal was to compete at 242 but it's hard to do that when you sabotage your own diet and fuck it all up. I started a slower weight cut months before the meet and it was going fine. Then, two weeks out, I went to a family reunion and spent about 72 straight hours stuffing my face and getting hammered. Whatever calories I cut over the two previous months were re-consumed in that time frame and my soft shitty body responded very well to them. I did a pretty east water manipulation a week before the weigh in, cut out salt and carbs about 36 hours out, fasted and did a couple HIT sessions to attempt to deplete my glycogen (which I calculated out to about 15lbs of my total bodyweight), and then spent about an hour total in my sauna the morning of the weigh in. This got me down to 245lbs. I hate weight cuts. I don't advocate for them ever, but I had some personal goals I was trying to hit that were all pretty much immediately out the fucking window when I didn't make 242. I had my weight back up in the 260's by that afternoon so I was hoping that it wouldn't negatively impact my lifts too much. But, oh boy, I was wrong.

Squat: I opened with a 600lb squat that looked like an empty bar. I was feeling a little tired and the polar opposite of anything resembling being "fired up," but this flew. Even though my motivation for the day felt like something akin to soul diarrhea, I was happy about this and thought the day could possibly go well. The moment I unracked my second attempt, 633lbs, my brain immediately started screaming, "PUT IT BACK DIPSHIT, PUT IT BACK!" Me, being the seasoned experienced competitor that I am, completely ignored the cascade of biological-left-over-Neanderthals'-survival-mechanism messages that were flooding every inch of the inside of my body and walked the weight out anyway. To really drive home how absolutely fucked I obviously subconsciously wanted this squat to be, I got my feet set somewhere between a full fucking split and a lunge. The decent actually felt alright. It was out of the hole that I realized two things:

1. I didn't brace at all
2. I have a very durable spine

About halfway up, my suit felt like it was trying to shove my body out of it and I lost the bar going forward. The spotters and loaders were top notch all day. This was a good thing because the first 5 rows of spectators would have been killed if they didn't save my life as well. I scratched my third because I just didn't want to do that again.

Bench: Weirdly, this is my worst lift and the only one that went well. 402 and 435 were about as easy as bench presses have ever been for me in a meet. 451 on my third would have been the most I have benched since a pretty catastrophic shoulder injury and surgery a couple years ago. Key word, "would." For a reason I will never understand, I decided that the best position for me to press out of would be with my back completely flat on the bench and me aiming the bar at my fucking knees off my chest. Luckily, again, the spotters caught the bar before I could crush injury induce an evisceration on myself.

Realistically, I only sign up for these stupid fucking things to deadlift anyway so I wasn't super bummed out... yet...

Deadlift: I am pretty sure my 705 opener is still floating around in outer space somewhere. This could have been a power clean. I went to pull 766 on my second, got it up to my knee in about a millisecond, and then just didn't feel like doing it anymore. I had pitched way forward and again completely forgot that bracing was important. I can't even explain that fatigue I was feeling at this point. All I wanted was to sit down have have a bourbon. Scratched my third, took all my shit off, couldn't find my pants, and called it a day.

Something was definitely off the day after. I am almost never sore from competing. My hips and middle/upper back were so lit up when I got out of bed the next morning that I thought I slipped a disc in my sleep.

50 meets I have done and this was probably one of the worst ones I've ever had without actually bombing out. Whatever. 14 weeks until Nationals in Vegas. That should be plenty of time to unfuck my stupid body.

The biggest ever IPF worlds kicks off on the 11th June with 401 lifters nominated across the 16 weight classes in Valletta, Malta.

Timetable

https://ipfmalta.com/ipf-competition-schedule/

Nominations

Male

Female

Where to Watch

Livestreams on the Olympics Youtube channel

Live scoreboards on Goodlift

The primetime sessions on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th will be broadcast live on TV on Eurosport 1 and Eurosport Asia

Sheffield 2024 Automatic Qualifying Totals (applies to weight class winners and the best runner up measured by % of WR)

Male

-59: 636.5kg

-66: 675kg

-74: 751kg

-83: 799kg

-93: 840kg

-105: 891kg

-120: 930kg

+120: 1,095kg

Female

-47: 407.5kg

-52: 437kg

-57: 478.5kg

-63: 529kg

-69: 521.5kg

-76: 570kg

-84: 613kg

+84: 646kg

(Jesus Olivares and Evie Corrigan have already secured Sheffield places)

My OpenPowerlifting

Overview

After browsing through tons of meet recaps, I have yet to notice a post by a teenage powerlifter, so I decided to make this post to showcase an alternative perspective to a powerlifting meet. This is the recap of my meet on 5/7, which I am currently writing a month later to capture the meet in full retrospect.

Not only was I a complete amateur in the sport of powerlifting, but this meet prep was as unconventional as it gets. At the time, I had been lifting consistently for around a year and a half and began actual powerlifting training just a mere 2 months before my meet, and it wasn't until 6 weeks out that I properly programmed a peaking cycle. Additionally, I also switched from sumo to conventional two weeks out as while pulling sumo, I would hitch anything over 350 pounds on my legs.

Nevertheless, with minimal prep and a self-made program incorporating Dr. Mike Israetel’s teachings, two friends and I drove from Charlotte to Atlanta, ready to take on my first powerlifting meet.

2-1 Days Out

Two days out from my meet, I began a water cut from my normal weight of 76-77 kg /167-169 lbs down to 75kg/165 lbs. On weigh-ins 1 day out, I made it at around 3 pounds lighter than what I needed. Thanks to USPA’s 24-hour weigh-ins, I was able to have an entire day to carb up so the water cut wouldn’t be as brutal.

Squat

Attempt 1: 162.5 kg/358 lbs ⚪️⚪️⚪️

Opener flew at around RPE 6. Here is a video of it

. I was extremely nervous going into this squat and I walked out feeling a lot better.

Attempt 2: 172.5 kg/380.3 lbs ⚪️⚪️⚪️

Moved a bit slower than the first but still got it up at around RPE 7.5. I felt good and my friends urged me to go into the 400s for my third. The most I’ve ever done on squats was 425. However, my form sucked and I didn’t hit competition depth. So it was definitely risky but we went for it nonetheless.

Attempt 3: 182.4 kg/402.3 lbs ⚪️⚪️⚪️

Biggest grind on a squat single in my life. Here is the video

. When I was in the hole, I genuinely thought I wasn’t able to get it up. My form also significantly faltered on the ascent and it messed up my right elbow. I think I may have overextended my shoulder a little which caused elbow pains to flare up, or it could just be me using my arms to hold the bar instead of my rear delt. But overall both the crowd and I were very hype. I got the lift up and I felt like all my prep finally paid off at the end. I was also super happy with the 9/9 white lights.

Bench

Attempt 1: 94.5 kg/209.5 lbs ⚪️⚪️⚪️

After I iced my elbow for around ten minutes and massaged it extensively. The pain subsided and I felt ready for the bench, which is my worst lift by proportion. I went into this attempt really unprepared as my name was on the board a lot sooner than expected. I went in and got the lift up at RPE 5 without wrist wraps.

Attempt 2: 97.5 kg/215 lbs ⚪️⚪️⚪️

Just a five pound increase from my opener but it moved a lot slower. I misgrooved when I was locking out and it didn’t really feel right. Also if you watch the video

, I had a completely unnecessary and stupid interaction with the announcer, which was on my part. But I apologized to him after and he was completely cool with it.

Attempt 3: 102.5 kg/225.9 lbs 🔴🔴🔴

This is a weight I’ve previously hit in prep and I felt like I should’ve got it. I had a huge struggle around 4 inches up from my chest and it didn’t bulge. Looking back at the bench attempts, the weights I chose were pretty stupid: a 6 pound jump from a smooth opener to a misgrooved second attempt into a 10 pound increase just feels awkward. This is what I would’ve done instead today.

• 209.5
• 220
• 226

Deadlift

Attempt 1:175 kg/386 lbs ⚪️⚪️⚪️

This is the heaviest weight I’ve done in prep conventional. With the bars they use at USPA meets I definitely like a couple inches were taken off from my range of motion, which made the opener easier than expected.

Attempt 2: 184.5 kg/407 lbs ⚪️⚪️⚪️

First time hitting the 400s in conventional. Moved at around RPE7. My form was most definitely terrible and I’ve done a lot of work recently to fix my lumbar rounding.

Attempt 3: 190 kg/418 lbs ⚪️⚪️⚪️

Deadlift ATPR attempt. I was very pumped on caffeine and ammonia salts and may or may not have yelled at the top of the lift. I was ecstatic I hit most of my goals at my first meet and went 8/9; 24/27. I came in first for my weight class of 75kg and age group of 16-17 and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me in powerlifting.

Thanks for reading

Introduction

Second meet! I bombed out on squats at my first meet back in November for several reasons, so my primary goal going in was 9/9 good lifts.

Weigh-In

Did a water cut the week of weigh-ins: started that Monday at about 76.5kg and weighed in Friday morning at 73.0kg. For fluids, I essentially water loaded Monday and Tuesday, went to about 75% normal intake Wednesday, and probably 3 sips all Thursday. For food, I cut out most salt and carbs, and did a heavy calorie restriction from Wednesday morning to Friday morning.

After driving 3 hours and weighing in, immediately went to refeeding and rehydrating (as I stepped out of the gym chugging Gatorade and water, I immediately started looking for the nearest breakfast burrito).

Meet Day

Woke up about 2 hours before meet start even though I was flight C as I wanted to get in a good breakfast and have time to digest (I love me my scrambles, toast, potatoes, and black coffee).

Squat

1. 142.5kg (314lbs) ⚪️⚪️⚪️
2. 155.5kg (353lbs) ⚪️⚪️⚪️
3. 170kg (374lbs) ⚪️⚪️⚪️

I was SUPER conservative with my squat weights as I have a persisting left knee injury and didn't want to push it too far (and bombing out last time was still pretty heavy on my mind). Opener and 2nd attempt felt good, but knee started feeling a bit funny as I came out of the bottom on 3rd. Still, didn't bomb out so already improved from last time.

Bench

1. 102.5kg (226lbs) ⚪️⚪️⚪️
2. 115kg (255lbs) ⚪️⚪️⚪️ (Meet PR)
3. 120kg (264lbs) ❌❌❌

Opener was something I could confidently pause triple, and while it felt like a small grind on the platform it flew in the video. 2nd was something I had never paused, but was fairly confident I could do; definitely a more noticeable effort. 3rd attempt was something I had only ever done touch and go, but decided "screw it." In retrospect I think I got way in my own head and loosened up during the grind. Oh well, still meet PR.

Deadlift

1. 200kg (440lbs) ⚪️⚪️⚪️
2. 220kg (484lbs) ⚪️⚪️⚪️ (Meet PR)
3. 227.5kg (501lbs) ⚪️⚪️⚪️ (ATPR)

Like a lot of people, deadlifts are my favorite of the three so I felt the most confident about these. Opened with my 3rd attempt from last meet, and it felt really good. 2nd attempt was a match of my training PR and it moved way easier on the platform (my god I love deadlift bars). 3rd attempt was my second ever attempt trying for 500 (failed the first attempt in training). So hitting this felt extremely good. After pulling it and watching the video, I probably had leeway to add a little more weight on 3rd attempt, but pulling 500 was a side-goal for this meet so am still satisfied.

Link to videos of all attempts

Conclusion

Went 8/9, 24 white lights. Ended up getting 2nd place in 75kg class, which I was absolutely not expecting. Next thing is figuring out this knee thing so I can really start testing my squat again.

I am just interested in your experiences I ran a sheiko block and it worked very well but one think i noticed it wasnt as hard as people tell me it is when i did 5x2 with 80% that was still pretty easy even the last set And i often read that its super hard bit thats not really what i found

Well, I will start with the good things because there weren't very many of them. Nothing got injured. The meet was run very well. This was my 50th time competing in powerlifting and the following information should make an excellent case for me still not knowing what the fuck I am doing.

On to the litany of things that sucked. Two days before I weighed in, I was 267lbs. My goal was to compete at 242 but it's hard to do that when you sabotage your own diet and fuck it all up. I started a slower weight cut months before the meet and it was going fine. Then, two weeks out, I went to a family reunion and spent about 72 straight hours stuffing my face and getting hammered. Whatever calories I cut over the two previous months were re-consumed in that time frame and my soft shitty body responded very well to them. I did a pretty east water manipulation a week before the weigh in, cut out salt and carbs about 36 hours out, fasted and did a couple HIT sessions to attempt to deplete my glycogen (which I calculated out to about 15lbs of my total bodyweight), and then spent about an hour total in my sauna the morning of the weigh in. This got me down to 245lbs. I hate weight cuts. I don't advocate for them ever, but I had some personal goals I was trying to hit that were all pretty much immediately out the fucking window when I didn't make 242. I had my weight back up in the 260's by that afternoon so I was hoping that it wouldn't negatively impact my lifts too much. But, oh boy, I was wrong.

Squat: I opened with a 600lb squat that looked like an empty bar. I was feeling a little tired and the polar opposite of anything resembling being "fired up," but this flew. Even though my motivation for the day felt like something akin to soul diarrhea, I was happy about this and thought the day could possibly go well. The moment I unracked my second attempt, 633lbs, my brain immediately started screaming, "PUT IT BACK DIPSHIT, PUT IT BACK!" Me, being the seasoned experienced competitor that I am, completely ignored the cascade of biological-left-over-Neanderthals'-survival-mechanism messages that were flooding every inch of the inside of my body and walked the weight out anyway. To really drive home how absolutely fucked I obviously subconsciously wanted this squat to be, I got my feet set somewhere between a full fucking split and a lunge. The decent actually felt alright. It was out of the hole that I realized two things:

1. I didn't brace at all
2. I have a very durable spine

About halfway up, my suit felt like it was trying to shove my body out of it and I lost the bar going forward. The spotters and loaders were top notch all day. This was a good thing because the first 5 rows of spectators would have been killed if they didn't save my life as well. I scratched my third because I just didn't want to do that again.

Bench: Weirdly, this is my worst lift and the only one that went well. 402 and 435 were about as easy as bench presses have ever been for me in a meet. 451 on my third would have been the most I have benched since a pretty catastrophic shoulder injury and surgery a couple years ago. Key word, "would." For a reason I will never understand, I decided that the best position for me to press out of would be with my back completely flat on the bench and me aiming the bar at my fucking knees off my chest. Luckily, again, the spotters caught the bar before I could crush injury induce an evisceration on myself.

Realistically, I only sign up for these stupid fucking things to deadlift anyway so I wasn't super bummed out... yet...

Deadlift: I am pretty sure my 705 opener is still floating around in outer space somewhere. This could have been a power clean. I went to pull 766 on my second, got it up to my knee in about a millisecond, and then just didn't feel like doing it anymore. I had pitched way forward and again completely forgot that bracing was important. I can't even explain that fatigue I was feeling at this point. All I wanted was to sit down have have a bourbon. Scratched my third, took all my shit off, couldn't find my pants, and called it a day.

Something was definitely off the day after. I am almost never sore from competing. My hips and middle/upper back were so lit up when I got out of bed the next morning that I thought I slipped a disc in my sleep.

50 meets I have done and this was probably one of the worst ones I've ever had without actually bombing out. Whatever. 14 weeks until Nationals in Vegas. That should be plenty of time to unfuck my stupid body.