I am thrilled and relieved and excited to report that I met my goal of a 600# total at the RPS/TPS Power Challenge meet in Everett, MA this past Saturday.
What follows is a lift-by-lift and moment-by-moment description of the day, feel free to scroll to the bottom for the very short summary of the day's lifts.
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| 295# at lockout |
I got the the Rec Center by about 7:20 at at the same time as my friend Keith, and just before Chris and Emily, with plenty of time to find a spot for my stuff and finish stretching and getting a little warmed up before rules clinic at 7:45am. When Gene Rychlak, the director of RPS, asked how many people were at their first meet or their first RPS meet, I think about 1/2 to 2/3 of the group raised their hands, which made me feel like a down-right veteran and definitely helped calm some of my nerves.
After rules clinic wrapped up around 8:05, I started warming up for the squat in earnest. I don't have specific weights and reps laid out for my warm-ups, because the timing can sometimes be a little unpredictable and you have to share 2 squat bars with the 20+ lifters who also want to warm up when you do, so I prefer to have a general idea of what I want to warm up with and then be flexible enough to work around what is on the bar already. I ended up warming up with something like 85#x5, 115#x4, 135#x3, 165#x2, 175#x1 and felt solid heading into my first lift. I was definitely nervous and a little jumpy and appreciated Chris' advice after watching my final warm-up lift - "Don't get excited and stay tight." My opener was 185#, a weight that I have been squatting for well over a year and a half and recently have been hitting for 4-5 reps at a time so was feeling very confident. Setting up under the bar I felt good, and the lift felt solid all the way down and up.
Walking away from the bar after having the back spotter clap me on the back and say "nice lift," I was shocked to hear "no lift" called out and had to confirm it with Chris. I was certain I had my depth and I knew I had waited for the squat command so I was incredulous that I had gotten a no-lift call. The announcer stated that if any lifter was unclear why they had been no-repped they should ask the judge right away, which is what I did. The first judge I asked said he had green-lighted me, but the second said it was for depth. I have since watched the video and feel really confident saying that I definitely hit my depth. I think it was a bullshit call and it was a rough way to start the meet, but I stuck with my 185# weight, stayed warm for my second attempt and dropped my ass waaaaaaay below parallel and held it there for a moment to make sure everyone was on the same page about this attempt. I got 3 green lights for that one, and probably wasted a lot of energy going so low and hanging there, but with a clean lift on the board I at least knew I was going to make it to the bench. (If you fail to get a clean lift in each event you are not allowed to continue to compete. It's called bombing out and it's pretty much every lifter's worst possible meet outcome.)
For my third squat attempt I went up to 205# which is my current meet PR and a weight that I am comfortable squatting to depth. Walking up to the bar I noticed it was racked up significantly to the left, and I should have either moved it back to the center myself or asked the spotters to move it, but I tend to get so nervous before each lift that stopping to re-adjust myself or the set-up doesn't even occur to me as an option. Instead I also set up to the left of center so I was underneath the bar, but I think it probably ended up messing up my pattern as I failed that lift about half-way up and basically fell to the left side and had to get help from all three spotters to not fall over. Watching the video though I am happy with my attempt to grind it out, I didn't give up until I was literally falling over, which is not something I think I would have been capable of in the past, as fear of failing would have had me bailing on the lift way before I actually physically failed it. Lesson learned: always pause and switch the set-up if you need to. Coming out of the squat with only 1 clean lift at 185#, I figured getting my 600# total just got a lot harder, as I would need to make up 20# with either my bench or deadlift number, but I tried not to focus on that fact too much and instead on staying warmed up and focused for the bench press.
Because I was the very last lifter in my flight (which was pretty cool as it meant that I was lifting decently heavy weight compared to a lot of the women lifting), I didn't have as long a wait between the end of squatting and the beginning of benching as I would between benching and the deadlift. I finished squatting by 9:15 or so and started benching at 11 and was probably done by 11:30 or 11:45, and wouldn't start deadlifting until almost 2. I cheered on Chris, Krys, and Keith as they squatted and towards the end of second attempts for their flight I started warming up for the bench press.
My warm-up for bench was pretty straightforward since I was starting so light. I drank some black coffee about 30 minutes before my first attempt and to warm up I hit 55#x5, 65#x4, 85#x3, 95#x2 and for a single with Chris giving me a hand-off and calling commands for a bit of final practice. My first attempt at 105# felt solid and easy, just as it should have. My second attempt at 120# felt like more of a struggle than it has been in the gym, perhaps due to fatigue or nerves or a combination. I think my set-up was solid but I definitely had to grind it out a little bit and my left butt came off the bench. I heard someone on the left side note that it had, but since my right butt cheek stayed down it was a clean lift. While waiting for my 3rd attempt which I had set at 130# since 120# was a significant struggle (I had hoped to be able to try for 135# but it seemed like too big of a leap at the moment), I developed some pretty painful muscle spasms in my right trap/rhomboid/levator and was worried what effect that would have on my next attempt. Chris worked on me for a few minutes with some scap distractions and mobilizations and that definitely helped calm it down but it was still twinging as I went into my 3rd attempt. Setting up for my 3rd lift I felt really good and solid, and confident that I would be able to move the weight, unfortunately that didn't turn out to be the case. I think I may have lost some of the tightness in my set-up on the way down, for whatever reason though I couldn't even begin to budge the bar off my chest and the judge called it quickly as a no-lift and the spotters pulled it off me. It was a weird feeling as usually I can at least begin to move the bar up even if I won't be able to complete the lift, but at that moment it felt glued down.
With 120# on the bench my running total was 305#, meaning I would need to pull 295# on deadlift, 35# more than my previous competition PR and 30# more than my most recent gym PR. At the time though I was more concerned about how tired I was feeling and how long a wait it would be before I would actually begin the deadlift as I figured I had at least 2 hours since I was in the first of three flights for the bench press but the second of three for the deadlift. I took some ibuprofin to ward off the beginning of an ache in my low back and tried to lay down and close my eyes for a few quick 5-10 minute periods to try to calm down a little and save some energy for the deadlift. I couldn't drink any more black coffee because it was giving me the runs (and trying not to shit your pants while pulling deadlifts is not fun), and although I had two sugar-free Red Bulls in my bag for extra energy as needed, I am always a little leery of getting TOO hyped up on supplements and caffeine as it can make me too anxious to focus.
In between pseudo-naps I also helped Keith with lift-offs for his bench press, and had a really good time cheering him on through a successful series of attempts. It was also super fun to see Chris hit a 300# bench PR. He really is a beast.
I started warming up for the deadlift about 30 minutes before I estimated I'd be lifting (ok, I totally had to ask Chris for help with timing, I don't know why but my brain can never do the math correctly at meets to figure out exactly when I should start warming up), and also drank a Red Bull, which definitely gave me a much needed kick in the pants energy-wise. I warmed up with 135#x5, 155#x4, 185#x3, 205#x2, 225#x1, 1 and 185#x3. The bar felt alarmingly heavy even at 185# and 205#, weights that I am used to handling pretty easily. I also felt like I was pulling really slowly and everything felt like a grind. The final 185#x3 set was on Chris' recommendation as way to practice driving my hips through and grooving the pattern without wearing myself out any more. I went into my first attempt knowing I could get the 245# up but I was worried about whether my form would hold up and what I would have left for my 2nd and 3rd attempts, keeping in mind that I needed to get 295# to reach a meet 600#. Going into my first lift I focused on repeating my set-up to myself over and over and on the fact that I have been lifting 245x5 recently. Happily, 245# came up super clean and easy and the look on Chris' face afterwards told me that it looked as easy as it had felt and gave me a ton of confidence going for my second attempt at 275#.
275# also came up pretty easy, though my back rounded more than I'd like, but it was a clean lift so I was happy. At that point I felt like I could probably pull 300#, but I knew I needed 295# to get my 600# total and didn't want to be greedy or throw myself off with the psychological intimidation of that big, round 300# number. I spent the time between my second and third attempts sitting alone against a wall with my favorite hype music blasting (thank you, Jay-Z, Kanye and Dorrough), focusing on only positive visualization of my having already completed the 295# lift and how good it felt to have done it. Going into the lift there was literally no doubt in my mind that I was going to be successful, and I think that certainly played a part in getting the weight up, as it was only a couple months ago that I failed to lift 275# in the gym. I think I need to be more aware of the power of positive focus and visualization and use this more often in my training. Realistically I also need to give some credit to Red Bull as I was pretty much buzzing with my own adrenaline combined with caffeine and whatever else they put in that little magic silver can.
As with all my heavy lifts, I don't actually remember the actual pull. I can remember setting up for it, and setting it down and walking away and completely freaking out in ungraceful, undignified, spastic, joyous celebration, but I don't remember what it actually felt like to lift the weight off the ground. I think that's partly because my brain is too focused on the lift itself to bother storing memories, and it's one of the reasons I use the same set-up and routine before each lift, so that I can basically switch the flip in my brain that says "deadlift," and not have to worry about the mechanics of the lift at all. I think it's also worth noting for me that before each of my deadlift attempts I was definitely the happiest I had been all day, actively remembering why I choose to spent my time training (because I love it) and focusing on how much pleasure I really do get from lifting heavy weights.
I do want to make sure I remember the tremendous feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction that finishing that lift gave me. The physical reaction (my spastic, unhardcore-powerlifter giddy dancing celebration) was a very visceral reaction to the tremendous feeling of joy and GOODNESS that I felt inside. To work so hard at something and to have it pay off in such a concrete way is truly, deeply satisfying. It was a really awesome moment and I feel so lucky to have had it.
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And, as promised about 17 paragraphs ago, here's the quick recap of my lifts:
Squat 1: 185#, no-repped by 2/3 judges for depth
Squat 2: 185# clean lift
Squat 3: 205# failed lift
Bench 1: 105# clean lift
Bench 2: 120# clean lift (15# meet PR)
Bench 3: 130# failed lift
Deadlift 1: 245# clean lift
Deadlift 2: 275# clean lift (15# meet PR)
Deadlift 3: 295# clean lift (35# meet PR)
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