Overview
About 6 months ago I wanted to try a new sport. I spent the majority of my life training for track, and finally hung up the spikes after my last collegiate season in 2021. After track ended, I continued to lift recreationally, but I find that I have a hard time working out monotonously with no end goal in mind. A few people at my gym saw me lifting and suggested that I give powerlifting a try. Through the help and support of this sub, I was able to get all the information I needed and the confidence to sign up for a meet.
Prep
At 20 weeks out I tested my maxes. Started with S: 235lbs, B: 115lbs, D: 265lbs. These were definitely not to competition standards and were done at 128lbs BW. I know everyone says not to cut weight for your first competition, but I did anyway... I gave myself ample time to cut extremely slowly, and I genuinely felt that a lower body weight would be healthier overall. I ran juggernaut 16 week and added my own accessories. I left 2 extra weeks with nothing planned so I had an extra week for an emergency and for a taper week. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until AMAP for the 8 rep wave for deadlift. I felt a weird pull in my hamstring tendon by my knee. Unfortunately, it hurt to walk for a week so I had to use my extra week to rest pretty early on. When I came back into the gym it was still bothering me a lot to pull sumo, but not much at all pulling conventional. Therefore, I switched halfway through my prep... not ideal, but I feel will be better for the long run as I found conventional to actually be much easier for me off the ground which is my weakest point. For the bench, my numbers were improving a lot in the higher rep range, but little to none in lower reps in later waves of the program. Overall, my upper body has more muscle mass, yet my bench was not much better. This is something I will have to address in the future. Week by week my training maxes for deadlift and squat did go up though.
1 Week Out
At a week out I ran the taper week from Calgary Barbell's program and I made sure to lift at the time that I would be competing in order to get used to lifting in the morning. I was sitting at about ~122lbs so I was in good shape. I still tried to avoid salty foods and overeating though. Powerlifters from my gym helped me to practice commands and assured me that I would be ready.
The Big Day!
The meet was an hour and a half away from me and check in was at 6:30am. I went to bed early, but barely slept due to nerves. After getting to the meet, I was very confused as to what was going on. For a first meet, I suggest bringing someone that does in fact know what is going on. Nothing was really being announced so I had to ask around where/when to get gear checked, weigh in, and give opening attempts. I weighed in at the lightest I have been during the prep at 55.1kg = 121.5kg. After weighing in I ate what I normally eat (overnight oats and coffee). I brought a smoothie, caramel rice cakes, and blueberries as snacks; all foods that I typically eat. I performed my normal warmup with slight modifications due to what was available at the facility. I don't know why, but I failed to realize before hand that attempts need to be in 2.5kg increments. This is probably something I should have known, but i did not... so I had to adjust my openers in a moments notice. These were not huge changes and probably only affected my bench if anything.
Squat
Opener: 102.5kg ⚪️⚪️⚪️
Through the advice of powerlifters at my gym, I was told to go extra deep on my first attempt as a safety measure since my depth sometimes gets cut at heavy weights. I was so nervous and literally shaking when I stepped onto the platform. The head judge had to tell me to lock out my knees in order to to get the squat command. After completing my squat, one of the spotters told me that I did not need to go as deep, so I felt more confident to squat at the depth that I normally do in training.
Second Attempt: 107.5kg ⚪️⚪️⚪️
Looking back, I think I should've made a much bigger jump for my next attempt because I went very conservative on my first attempt. But honestly, I was filled with nervousness, excitement, and adrenaline so I didn't think very much when I put in my second attempt. This weight flew, and the announcer said "Speedy Attempt".
Third Attempt: 115kg ⚪️⚪️🔴
Got called for depth on one side. This was a major PR, but around where I expected to get based on my training. I did not feel any sort of struggle during, so I know I have more for next time.
Bench
Opener: 52.5kg ⚪️⚪️⚪️
In general, my bench is by far my weakest lift, especially when doing heavy, low reps. I have been able to 5 rep 110lbs and double 115lbs at competition standards in training, but anything heavier than that usually will not go up for even 1 unless I'm doing touch and go reps. I wanted my opener to be a little lighter than what it was, but whatever I picked was mistakenly not in 2.5 increments. Ideally I would've liked this to have been my second attempt, but I got a good lift so whatever. I believe this was actually 0.7lb PR, so little wins. :)
Second Attempt: 55kg 🔴🔴🔴
If I was allowed to go up less than 2.5kg, I would've. At this point I was feeling pretty silly for being unaware of this rule. I tried to keep an 'anything is possible' attitude, but I kinda knew that it would be a miracle if I got this lift. My left arm gave out about halfway to lock out. I honestly, thought I had it for a second... unfortunately I did not.
Third Attempt: 55kg 🔴🔴🔴
If you fail, try again... same thing though; my left arm gave out halfway to lockout. I was informed that my left elbow is flared out a lot more than my right, so maybe that has something to do with it giving out. One of my goals is to be able to bench my body weight, so maybe i'll get it next time. But for this meet, I do think that the most I was going to get in 2.5kg increments was going to be 52.5kg.
Deadlift
Opener: 120kg ⚪️⚪️⚪️
At this point in the meet, I was feeling a little tired and a lot discouraged from my bench. But, deadlift has always been my easiest lift. Opener flew, which helped me to get my mindset back into the zone.
Second Attempt: 132.5kg ⚪️⚪️⚪️
I purposely chose this weight as a second attempt to secure my goal of >300kg total. This weight again felt not too difficult and was actually about a 5lb PR. My confidence definitely came back, so I decided to take a big jump to 314lbs. I wanted to leave everything on the table for my last lift, knowing that there was a good chance of failure.
Third Attempt: 145kg ⚪️⚪️⚪️
As I stepped up to the platform, the announcer said, "attempting a big lift of 319 at less than 123 body weight!" At this moment I realized that I failed to correctly math lbs to kg... 314 was supposed to be a hail mary, and now it was 5 pounds heavier than that and there was nothing I could do about it. As I pulled on the bar, it was not moving. I considered stopping as I was pulling for so long with absolutely no movement at all. After what felt like an eternity, the bar finally left the ground and I proceeded to perform the worst formed deadlift I've ever done. I was described to have looked like "a piece of spaghetti". But I got a good lift and a huge PR!
Placing
First place due to being the only women competing in the -56kg open class. But I got 18th overall out of 50 lifters based on DOTS.
Overall Thoughts
I had a lot of fun preparing for and competing in my first meet. It was really nice to be in a sport environment that everyone is so supportive, helpful, and cheers for one another. Unfortunately, a few people in my life have not been as supportive about it. Some telling me that I now look too bulky in my upper body, and that I should not lifting so much or i'll look like a man... etc. I guess the curse of being a woman is having your accomplishments belittled to how good you looked while achieving them. Even so, I do want to compete again, most likely at the end of December to get one more meet in before having to renew my membership. I may be trying to drop to the -52kg weight class though, as I am only 5ft tall, not lean by any means, and maybe I am too bulky since I noticed most of my shirts now fit tight around my lats and shoulders. Any advice on that would also be appreciated.
TLDR: Completed my first meet, hit PR's in all my lifts, my bench needs work, all lifts must 2.5kg increments, I can't math lbs to kg, I will compete again.
Lastly, thanks to everyone in the sub who answered my newbie questions over the last few months!