My First Lifting Contest
by Krista Schaus (posted on NaturalStrength.com March 2001)
On July 8th I lifted in my first sanctioned Powerlifting contest. As a result, I learned a great deal. Of course, I learned the way most of us do - I made a lot of mistakes that could have been avoided. Lift and learn!
To start I had to drop weight for the contest. Which I pretty much hate to do because I love to eat. I wanted to weigh in at less than 56 kg (123 lb.). Why you ask? If I love to eat and hate to diet why not just lift at whatever I weigh in at? Well, if I weigh in >56 kg, I qualify at that weight class for upcoming contests. I want to compete in the Provincials (Ontario, Canada) and the Nationals. You can only go up in weight classes once you qualify, not down. So, if I weigh in at less than 56-kg I can compete in that category OR the 60-kg (132 lb.) class at provincials. Doing so, I have more control; it gives me more options.
My weight naturally hovers around 128 lbs. and I don't skimp on food 99% of the time. So, I really don't have to come close to death in order to lift in the 56-kg class. (Well, I know that now anyway.)
Dropping Weight
I was a little (OK, very) concerned about weighing in under. Only because I don't have a lot of experience with making weight AND it was the week before my period. When, as most women know, we retain water like a sponge. We also want to eat everything in site and we also weigh about 5 lb. more.
So, YES I was concerned. Being female was working against me.
I jumped the gun a little bit. I started "dieting" on the Monday before the contest. I dropped all starchy carbs (breads, pasta, potatoes, rice, snacky stuff...) except in the morning I allowed myself the choice of oatmeal, All Bran or one slice of whole wheat bread. That day my weight was at the standard 128 lb. I also began drinking a ton of hot tea, about 12 oz an hour to be exact.
I do not drink coffee, tea or caffeinated soft drinks. So, hello! Imagine what 12-oz of tea an hour did to me that day. I tossed and turned all night and was dead tired the next day. So I made the switch to decaffeinated tea.
I also cut out most of the salt including cheese, lunch meats and condiments... I think I went a bit too far too soon. By Wednesday morning I was weighing in at 123 lb. Great right! Nope...because it was still 3 days away from my contest and I started feeling light headed from lack of carbohydrates. Carbs = energy. But, I was so afraid of not weighing in. I thought, "do I eat more now and take the risk of gaining too much, or just go with it and be depleted of energy?" I chose to eat a bit more on Thursday. I continued to drink tons of tea and hot beverages and avoid added salt.
Friday I didn't put anything in my mouth after supper. That was killer! I am used to drinking quite a bit of water and eating when I am hungry. So by Saturday morning I was extremely dehydrated, hungry and very low on energy. I felt like I had the flu for five days...just drained. But, I still wouldn't do anything about it fearing that eating too much at breakfast may add a pound or two too much. I had my vitamins in the morning and nothing else.
Something else I didn't consider. Many people have active bowels when they are anxious or nervous. So in addition to already being under nourished and dehydrated I was in the bathroom every 10 minutes.
I packed tons of food for after weigh-in. Weigh in was at 9:00 am and the contest started at 11:00 am. That gave me 2 hours to refuel. I was dreaming of those two hours!
At 9:15 am I weighed in. 55.5 kg (122 lb.)! Amen! Then the eating began. Protein bar, egg sandwich, a litre of Gatorade, banana...OK, I wanted to be able to get my suit on. I felt 100% better and ready to lift. The pressure of weighing in was off.
Lesson Learned: Don't drop weight too soon. If you stay within 5 lb. of your contest weight, you can likely drop that within 24-48 hours of your contest. This way your body doesn't know you have deprived it and you will not feel depleted.
If you have too much weight to lose you are better off to just eat and compete wherever you happen to weight in. It is useless to lose too much and bomb at the lifts.
Equipment
Many people train at the gym with little equipment or gear. Some may use a light belt or wraps to protect an old injury or something, but we rarely wear a lifting suit in the gym, right? I made the mistake of not getting all the information I needed before the meet. I was of the understanding that one chooses to wear gear, but it is not mandatory. I did not know that there are raw meets and regular meets. You must have a plain white T-shirt with a regular collar, no pockets, no logos (unless they are from a past meet, the federation you are lifting within, your lifting club, or they are an approved sponsor) and it cannot have spandex, lycra or stretchy type material. You must wear at least a singlet in order to lift. Also, all equipment is inspected prior to the contest to ensure it meets the regulations.
I found this out the Wednesday before the contest. I had mail ordered a lifting suit two weeks before the contest when I found out that darts (sewn in) were not regulation. I had an old lifting suit of my coach's that I had taken in to fit me. The mail order suit had not arrived by Wednesday either. I was in a panicked mad rush on Thursday to find a singlet. These are not the easiest things to find on a whim. Powerlifting, and other weight lifting, equipment is not found at the standard sporting goods store. Most equipment is purchased by mail order or over the Internet.
Canada Post and my brothers and sisters of Iron came through for me. Through an email 911, about half a dozen suits and singlets would be brought for me at the contest. And, the lifting suit arrived in the mail Thursday. Thankfully, the lifting suit fit great...not too tight, not too loose. Took me about 10 minutes to wrestle into Friday night.
Lesson Learned: Know the federation rules and regulations and what equipment you need far in advance. Always bring extras in case of emergency or something is not approved (shirts, socks, shoes, suits...)
Get as much experience as you can before you compete. Go see a contest, talk to those who have competed, read about contest preparation and what to expect. Be prepared.
THE LIFTS
SQUAT: The equipment was checked and approved, the weight was in and under. Now time for action. This contest was the Toronto Open and Blind. The lifts always follow the same order: Squat, Bench, Deadlift. There would be three phases. Phase one would lift all three attempts before phase two would start to lift and so on and so forth. I was in phase one. The order in which I lifted within my phase depended on the weight I planned on lifting...lightest to heaviest naturally.
For the first lift, the squat, I was third on the list, opening with 92.5 kg (203 lbs). It was difficult for me to think in Kilos because all my training and experience has been in Pounds. The weights on the bar look and feel different in Kilos. A 225 will not be 2 plates. This didn't really throw me off but it can for some people.
My openers were planned as if it were my last warm up. I wanted to ensure that I got my first lift no matter what. Also, all my openers were planned so even if I failed my last two attempts I would still qualify for provincials. At 56 kg, I needed to lift a total of 225-kg (495 lb.). Which would normally be a walk in the park for me, but as I learned, lifting in the gym is not at all the same as lifting in a contest. Never say never and expect the unexpected.
In a contest the lifter has to listen for the referees signals. For the squat the head referee will raise their hand when you are taking the bar off and will wait for you to get set up. Once they see you are set up and ready to go, they will call out the command "Squat" and drop their hand. The lifter squats down and up and at the top position the referee will say "Rack". Don't squat or rack before the signal.
I got the first lift no problem. But the suit did throw me off a bit. Because I had never lifted with a contest-fitting suit before, it can bring you forward at the hips and it can prevent you from going as deep because you can't "feel" your depth the same way as you can raw. It also wants to propel you up from the bottom position, this is the benefit of a suit.
So, you must be certain to go even deeper (ass to the grass) in order to be deep enough.
For my second attempt I chose 103 kg (225 lb.); a safe weight, one that I had done in the gym many times. The weight felt light on my shoulders and the lift was completed with no struggle. Red lighted! Failed attempt.
One of the guys from my team approached the head referee to find out why. Not low enough. I failed to break parallel. The disadvantage to having no experience with the suit. Felt deep but it wasn't. I had a choice now to go up in weight and risk not getting it and settling with my opener only or stay at 103 kg again and go deep and get it. I chose the conservative (or some may say wimpy) approach and stayed at 103 kg. You only have 1 minute after your attempt to hand in your weight for your next attempt. I was lucky enough to have plenty of members of my club who were not competing to take care of this for me.
My third attempt was white lights across the board. Made sure to go real deep and get the lift. So finished off with 103 kg in the squat. Nothing to write home about but I was still pretty content with that.
Lessons Learned: Try not to always train at the same location. You will not be lifting at your gym in the contest so get accustomed to different locations and atmospheres. Train in the equipment you plan on competing in weeks before the contest.
BENCH: Now onto the Bench Press. Which, I must admit, is my nemesis. My stating this is a problem in itself. I must learn to take my weakness and make it my strength or else it will destroy me. I definitely have a weakness in the bench press, but it is more mental than it is physical. I am really not that weak in this lift but I have conditioned myself to believe it is my weak lift. This is a bad foot to start off on.
The signals for bench press are similar to squat. You get set up under the bar and take the bar off with the assistance of the spotter. When the bar is in position over you the referee will give you the command to start the lift. The bar must come to a complete stop on the chest before you press out. I try to say "One-one thousand-two" at the bottom. At the top position you will hear the command "Rack" . You have to wear a one-piece singlet for benching at least. Bench shirts are allowed. I didn't wear one. I was actually the only female lifter not to wear one (of 5 lifters) and the only guys I saw without a bench shirt were also from my team, Steel City Powerlifting. We were calling ourselves "shirtless wonders".
Not really - my bench press went miserably. I planned on opening at 47.5 kg (104.5 lb.), a second attempt of 55 kg or 57.5 kg (121.5 or 126.75 lb.) depending in how I felt and my third attempt would be 57.5 or 60 kg (132 lb.). The thought of 132 lb. scared the crap out of me because I had only lifted 130 in the gym maybe once or twice and it was shaky. I got my opener no problem, but failed on both my second and third attempts at 57.5-kg (126.75-lb). I tried to deal with my negativity towards the bench by going big for the second attempt and chose 57.5 kg. Thinking this would help my confidence level if I got it. I honestly believed I would get it because I never failed at 125 lb. in the gym. But, that extra 1.75 lb. can make a big difference.
In addition, I was over eager to get the bench press over with so I warmed up too early. I warmed up during the third phase's second attempts of the squat. My warm-ups were timed perfectly when I warmed up during the third phases third attempts. But, for some reason in the bench I went against this and warmed up earlier. I went into the bench cold.
Lastly, I was lifting with a singlet on. When wearing a tight singlet (and never having lifted in one before) your breasts are pushed up higher than they usually are. So, if you determine your bar position on your chest in accordance to the nipple line, your bar position will be way off. My bar position was a good inch higher than usual. Another contributing factor to the failed attempts.
Lessons Learned: Don't jump too high between attempts. A second attempt should be something you know you can get. You can play around with PR's in the third attempt.
Don't warm up too soon or for too long. You will go into the lifts cold or depleted.
Don't allow any kind of negative thoughts into your mind on contest day. During the off season work on making your weakness your strengths.
Plan your lifts, but keep in mind nothing is written in stone.
Try not to let missed attempts bring you down. You still have a contest to finish.
DEADLIFT: Everybody has a lift that they favour and deadlift is mine. I have no mental blocks with this lift at all. I never tell myself I won't be able to get a lift. I believe there is no threshold in the amount I can pull off the floor. If I could just apply this thinking to all my other lifts!
The deadlift is one of the most technically difficult lifts, but it is the least technical in terms of refereeing. There are fewer technicalities to be called on. When you approach the bar you get set up for the lift. The referee's hand will be up. You can go ahead with the lift when he lowers his hand. Don't think that just because his hand is lowered you have to move the weight at that exact moment. Take time to get set up and in a good lifting position. There is no rush here.
I got a new PR in the deadlift pulling 110 kg (242.25 lb.) in my third attempt. Previously my best was 235 lb. This really made up for the bench press and finished off the contest nicely for me.
My total overall was 259.5 kg. I had a Wilks total of over 300, which I was told is good, but I didn't know anything about this. I qualified for the Provincial, achieving my immediate goal and I got my Class II, by a mere 2 kg, at my first meet. More importantly I learned a great deal and gained valuable experience.
Lessons Learned: Lifting in the gym and lifting in a contest are worlds apart. A personal best in the gym is just that. It may not be repeated at a competition.
After the contest write down everything you learned, what went wrong, what went right, what you need to work on... Don't let this important learning experience go unrecorded.
Enjoy yourself and try to relax. Being anxious or wound up will just drain you.
Contests are long and drawn out. Be prepared to be there for as long as eight hours.
Bring lots of food and water.
Take the time after a contest to get together and talk to your fellow lifters. Have some good food, drink and conversation. Reward yourself. You deserve it.
You may not take the powerlifting scene by storm but you are going to be the strongest lifter that you can be. You are your own competition!
DE Coaching Team
Krista Schaus PICP CPT
Ontario CANADA
krista@definingedge.ca
Kate Kline PICP CFT
Arizona USA
kate@definingedge.ca
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