Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 14:39:43 -0600 From: Keith Hobman Subject: First Meet Well, the first meet is over with and done - since I've had so much help from this group I thought I'd let everyone know how it went. Powerlifting is just getting off the ground again here in Saskatchewan, so the meet director (Jeff Butt) was feeling pretty good about 55 lifters at the meet. I can't really comment on the pre-meet greet thing and breakfast since I drove the two hours from Saskatoon to Moose Jaw the day of the meet. Mike Armstrong drove from Saskatoon with me as he had popped into town at the last minute, so it was great to have an experienced lifter 'calm' me down prior to the meet. Half of the lifters were in the special Olympic part of the contest which I got to watch prior to weigh-in. My only real gripe about the competition was the weigh-in. I had phoned Jeff the day before the meet to find out when I was weighing in. He said tentatively at 11. I hate that. It was my first meet and I want to know where I should be and when I should be there. I've got enough things on my mind without having to worry about missing weigh-in. I think a little bit more attention to detail would have helped here. I never did get a shirt, didn't get told where the warm-up room was and really was walking arounf kind of lost prior to the meet. That aside, Jeff, Wayne Cormier and the Moose Jaw Powerlifting club ran a good meet. The lifting went fairly quick as there were only two flights in the regular competition. Judging was fair and seemed fairly strict to me. I really appreciated the judges help with letting me know what went wrong on my lifts. Now, for my mis-adventures in squatting. People, it was ugly!! Started in the warm-up room. I had done three days of protein only to see how much weight I could drop quickly and had no problem taking of 10 pounds. I was kind of worried about what this might do to my lifting, although I didn't have any worry about making weight in the 100 kg class. Anyhow, I took 135 lbs for my first warm-up. Not bad. Did 225. Felt okay. Did what I though was 315. Felt heavy. Did it again. Still felt heavy. Went to 365 - still raw. Felt heavy. Put on my suit (I don't use a really tight suit anyhow) and took what I though was 405 as my last warm-up just as the contest officials were herding us out. I didn't belt or wrap for it and barely made the sucker. Dropped it and could barely come out! My nuts were on the floor, my back hurt and my wonky right knee was killing me! I was devasted as my 'light' opener of 210 kg (about 465) seemed impossible. I had planned on opening conservatively at 210, going to 230 and then 250 if all went well. I was thinking I had screwed up fierce with this diet. Went out to take on the 210 in the first attempt. I was a little shaky on balance, but it didn't feel heavy. 2 reds. The judges told me I was very close, but not quite legal. I called for 210 again. The squat scared me. I train in a gym by myself with no other powerlifters so I had no idea if I was getting low enough or not. The bodybuilders had assured me I was dropping it, but... Second squat also had a red light, but the two judges had mercy and passed it. I called for 230 in the third and lifted it, but got three red lights on it. Ugly, ugly, ugly. I was thinking I could come out of this with 550 and had 465. Couple of lessons here. First, don't trust bodybuilders. :^) Second, thank God for Mike's advice to go light on the opener. Third, check the warm-up weights closely. 4 of those plates that I thought were 20 kg plates were 25's. So the final warm-up I took raw was within ten pounds of my opener at 455, not the 405 I thought I was lifting. I figured this out after the PL portion of the meet when I loaded the bar to warm-up for the bench portion. Felt pretty stupid. Anyhow benching went well and helped me recover my confidence. I did 140, 150 and then 157.5 (350 pounds), which I hoisted after a good pause pretty easy, but lost on hips rising. I could have done the weight, but hadn't locked my legs tight during the set-up. Still, all in all, a huge confidence builder after the squat fiasco. Deadlifting went really well too as I made all three, finishing with a relatively easy third lift of 255 kg (565 pounds). All in all I was happy. I had survived, I learnt something. The crowd and the other lifters were fantastic. I had quite a few comments afterward on this huge grin I had on my face while I approached the deadlifts. Shit, I was having the time of my life! The cameradie in the backstage area was fantastic. It was just great to be a part of it. Considering the back injury that had limited my lifting the last month and only 15 months of training I was pleased with my lifts - except the squat! But I know what I've got to work on and can promise that my first lift will not be red-lighted due to depth next meet! I managed to qualify for the masters national too, which was good. All in all I've just got to say that having this much fun should be illegal. The andrenaline was pumping, all the lifters were prodding each other on and helping with equipment, the spectators were great - man, it was fun! Jeff and Wayne ran a great meet (except for the weigh-in and a few details), national records were set, whooo. My daughter Meghan stuck around for the awards with me. I think we've got a 12 year old hooked on powerlifting! She loved the meet and really enjoyed the people there. Mike, Meghan and I headed back to Saskatoon about 11 tired, but satisfied puppies. Oh, BTW. Since there was only one other lifter in the 100's and he was greener than me I ended up with some gold tinted hardware. See, there are advantages to being grey-haired and overweight! What would I do different? Obviously, train lower in the squat. But the biggest change I'm planning on making is dropping my 13 week schedule and going to a 7 week cycle. I peaked about a month ago and then tore my lumbar muscle shortly after that. So I'm taking Darcy's advice and shortening up the cycle. Then I'm going to add some very low pin and bench squats. I'll be back!! Keith Hobman