10-12-15 (2)
*the meet was on 10-11-15
Power Lifting Meet, recap and how a meet works.
The meet was in Phoenix, AZ in the Convention Center.
There was a pretty big crowd watching, and it was very loud because of surrounding events (body building, crossfit, judo). There seemed to be very loud crappy pop music emanating from everywhere.
Singlets are uncomfortable and awkward.
I was probably the lest knowledgeable guy at the meet.
Most of the dudes were pretty cool and helpful, but they were also intently focused on their own lifts and very focused, of course. I tried not to bug them.
The organizers post a piece of paper on the wall in the warm up area with the order you will be lifting and the group you will be lifting with: squat, DL, bench. The less you can lift, the earlier you lift.
In the warm up area my suspicions were quickly confirmed: I am not strong. Pretty quickly I figured out that I would have to warm up earlier than the others because not only would I be lifting sooner, but very quickly the "warm up" weight would be more than I could handle.
There was a bit of confusion for me as I listened intently over the loud music for my name to be called among the early lifters, and then suddenly I'm walking out there for my first lift at a meet.
As far as I can remember:
I got my first two squat attempts and then missed my third (would have been a PR) when I went before the command to do so.
On bench I ended up getting red lighted on all three attempts because my butt was off the bench and / or I didn't completely follow commands.
After that I could either just go home (I was out of the overall comp after I failed all three bench attempts) or approach the meet director about going through with the dead lift part just for the experience. The director ok'd me moving forward.
I got my first dead lift but then missed the next two (405 lbs).
In the end it was a great learning experience and I am signing up for another one in January in Tucson. I'll do better in that one.