Singleton Strength Triathlon

So today was my first meet and despite some unexpected failures and some equally unexpected successes, I had an awesome time and cannot wait to compete again. I met some great people, had a great time and just really loved the atmosphere and the culture of competing. I really believe that competing is part of what lifting is all about. It’s one thing to hit PRs and make lifts in your garage or gym and something else entirely to do it in competition, to time your peak and perform on the day. 

9:05AM: Arrive at venue, weighed in at a paltry 80.9kg. Subsequently I consumed 2 litres of water, muesli bars and jerky. 

10:00AM: Begin warm ups for the squat. Everything felt pretty good. My L5/S1 joint wasn’t particularly painful. 

10:30AM: Squatting begins. 1^st attempt – 150kg. Easy. 2^nd attempt – 160kg. Couldn’t believe how easy this was. 3^rd attempt – 170kg. Pretty damn easy considering this was a 7.5kg PR and the first time I’ve ever even had this on back. At this point I was fucking charging and thought today was going to be my day.

10:45AM: Downed another 2 litres of water, Gatorade/BCAAs/creatine, more muesli bars. I was super bloated and would have been at least 83kg by this point. 

11:00AM: Begin warm ups for bench. Felt a bit heavy but I was still charging from squat PR so wasn’t too concerned. 

11:20AM: Benching begins. 1^st attempt – 107.5kg. Comfortable. 2^nd attempt – 112.5kg. Not too bad. At this stage I was pretty confident of hitting 117.5. 3^rd attempt – 117.5kg. Failed. I thought this rep was technically sound, though she held me down there for a while. But frankly, I just didn’t have it. 

12:00PM: I stop consuming a shit-ton of water, have some more food and Gatorade/BCAAs/creatine. 

12:15PM: Warm ups for deadlift start. The bar in the gym, though its rings were like that of an IPF approved bar (and thus different than my home bar), still had knurling in the centre where I usually grip the bar when I pull. The warm-ups didn’t feel particularly heavy, though they didn’t feel light. My L5/S1 was hurting quite a bit by this point. 

12:30: Deadlifting begins. 1^st attempt – 212.5kg. As you can see in the video, I didn’t know where to grip the bar, because there was no knurling where I normally place my hands. If I grip the knurling, my hands are a good 3 inches further out than normal (thus increasing the distance and completely fucking my whole set up). So I decide to grip the smooth and I was barely able to lock it out without losing the bar. Despite all of this, I didn’t feel the pull was that hard and so went ahead with Jordan F’s prescribed 2^nd attempt of 227.5. 2^nd attempt – 227.5kg. Complete failure. I decided to grip the knurling which a much wider grip than normal. I also think my stance was wider than normal, as the difference in distance between rings was throwing me. At the end of the day though, I wouldn’t have been able to pull 227.5 at home on my own bar. The fact is, my pull had already peaked 3 weeks ago after my second last deload. Then I pulled that horrible ball busting rep at 225 2 weeks ago and further beat myself into the ground. 

Total: 495. Wilks: 335. Very disappointing. 

Concluding thoughts: Yes this was my first meet and yes it was good just to get the experience, but I failed to get the total I was after. My squat was a huge surprise and it peaked PERFECTLY. My bench failure wasn’t a real surprise considering the last 12 weeks and we know what needs to happen with my bench (paused benching ONLY, more volume, more frequency and more fucking mass). My deadlift was a huge and unexpected failure. However it seems pretty clear to me that my pull peaked 3 weeks ago and pulling PRs 2 weeks out from a meet isn’t a good idea. Furthermore, I need to get a new bar with the exact same markings/knurling as IPF competition bars. This is essential. 

Moving forward, I’m going to take the whole next week off from squatting and pulling in the hope that my L5/S1 joint inflammation and pain will disappear. Then, it’s time to press forward with some DUP and absolutely smash 495 at my next meet in November. All in all though, I had an awesome time. I made friends with the guy that has the national deadlift record in the 103 class, swapped numbers and will hopefully get the chance to train together sometime soon.