Your First Comp!

So, it's your first competition. 

You might be approaching this as a complete beginner looking to dip their toe in or as an experienced lifter looking to take to the stage. Either way, it’s new. 

So the aim here is to break down the details of the day and make sure you know what is coming, are as well prepared as you can be plus have the highest chance of success.

Before we move on I want to address that first, success.

This is a term confused for ‘winning’ but they are not the same. 

Winning is an external outcome, it is impacted for others. 

The success we are looking for is to create the environment to let you perform at the best you can, whatever accolades that may or may not lead to. 

Arriving and getting adjusted 

So, first up we are going to start at the venue (some lifters may have arrived the night before and visited the venue of their competition and if you are able I would 100% recommend this so you can familiarise yourself with the venue, the stage and so on. 

So, it is competition morning, you have been given a weigh in time and we suggest allowing at least 30 minutes ahead of this time to arrive and make sure you are in the right place, an opportunity to see if you have managed to forget anything and so on. 

When you get there the first thing, set up camp. If you have someone with you to spectate or a coach, grab some of the seats where they will watch from and set down your kit, it helps to know where this home point will be through the day as lifters have a habit of leaving things everywhere and you don’t want to lose your belt during the day. 

Once you have, ask an official or fellow lifter where the weigh in room is, this may be a sign posted but make sure you know where and what time you're expected. Some competitions you will queue, some you will be called, it should be clear on the day. 

To weigh in you will need to strip down to your underwear in the room with an official of the same sex, again some competitions will expect this to be IN your competition underwear (we will cover this in the kit list), I suggest having it on, it saves time later. 

Again - SOME - competitions will take your openers at the same time so make sure you have them to hand or memory but be sure they're right. 

These simply refer to your first attempt squat, bench and deadlift and they can be changed at a later time before starting if needed, again, this will be addressed. 

Now this is your first competition so I will be assuming you haven't gone mad with a weight cut to make a class on day one … if you have, reconsider, but either way once you have weighed in this is likely when lifters will want to get some food in before the lifting starts. 

This window between weigh in and lifting is 2 hours in most drug tested federations and so this is what we are aiming at. We will talk about the specifics of food in a later section.

You should be told or be able to see listed flight lists when weigh-ins are completed (if not before the competition online). This should give you an indication of when lifting will start for you and how long you will have until it is your turn in the flight*

*Flight = the group of lifters you are a part of, usually put together based on weight class and opening attempts. These are often limited to 14 lifters maximum or 5 minimum (again federation dependent). If you are 6th in the list, you are 6th in the flight and will lift after the 5 lifters ahead of you, this order may change based on your second attempts as there will be a ‘climbing bar’ just meaning it will be ordered lightest to heaviest attempt so keep an eye on the order. 

So after food it will be time to warm up for squats. With warm up times it is best to be on the side of caution for your first meet, though you may have a handler/ coach with you, the idea is to time it right so that you take your last warm up before your opening squat in a time that would suit you. Something I recommend you practice in training - finding out how long it takes you to warm up, from walking into the room until that last warm up is racked, this will help you set time on comp day.

There are other lifters and often limited warm up kits on the day so, as I say, be on the side of caution with timings. 

Quick notes - On the day you are ENTITLED to warm up. New lifters often go very quiet and won't assert themselves but if you know you need to get onto a bar, just ask and get stuck in, people are friendly and you don’t want to get yourself in a difficult situation without warming up properly. 

Again I will later lay out suggestions on warm ups and timings, but let's move through - onto the first attempt.

As we have said, know where you are in the flight, count the lifters ahead, stick some headphones in and keep the kit you need for the attempt with you (belt, wrist wraps ect). Around 2 lifters before you is when you’ll start setting up your equipment, one lifter out belts on and as they rack their attempt, wrist wraps on ready to go out. You don’t want to be doing this on the platform, why? 

Well, every ‘attempt’ is given one minute. DON'T PANIC. That is a lot longer than you think. 1 minute from ‘bar is loaded’ the sentence the head judge/ref will say before you go out for your attempt, until you are ready to take your attempt (stood stable with the bar on your back for squat, stable and set up with the bar unracked for bench and until you start pulling on your deadlift. I promise its long enough, you just don't want to be faffing with kit at that time.

So the ref says ‘bar is loaded’ you walk out, you set up, walk out the bar and wait for your commands (we will cover these).You nail it. 

You then have another minute to tell the desk (there will be one clearly by the platform) what your next attempt will be. 

You repeat this process for 2nd and 3rd attempts and then you break before doing it all over again for bench and deadlifts. 

Simple.

The gaps between lifts where other flights are doing the same thing you may want to take a breather, start planning when to go warm up with the next lift plus chatting with the friends there to watch who likely are as thrilled as you.

Rules

Okay let's talk about the rules. These are why the competition and training are different so this is key to know and again, CAN vary depending on federations. 

Commands

Squat: Squat, rack. That is it. Simple okay, before we get nervous.

Running through is easy, you set up as you normally would, in your time you step the bar out so you are ready to squat, when you are stationary, stable and have your knees and kips locked you will be given the squat command. Once you have squatted to depth (hip crease below knee) and stood back up and are again, stable, still and have knees and hips locked, you will be given the rack command and you will do so. As long as you wait for the commands before doing either the squat or racking you will be fine. Just remember ‘squat’ doesnt mean go, it means you are now allowed to squat, so brace ect as normal, don't rush.

Bench: Start, press, rack. Bench has the most commands but again, they're very simple, just be patient. You set up, unrack and again when you are stable and stationary you will be given your first command, this is ‘start’. Start just means bring the bar down to your chest, after you do so when the bar is in contact and stationary you will be given the ‘press’ command. You press, and with elbows locked and a stationary position you will hear ‘rack’ and you will do so, end of. 

Deadlift: Bar loaded (arm raised), down (arm drops): Deadlift is the simplest by far, you wont be given a start command except being told the bar is loaded when you come out to the platform. The ref will lift his or her arm to let you know you are allowed to begin, sumo or conventional, at the top of the rep with hips and knees locked out you will hear down, meaning to lower the bar (under control) to the floor.

Equipment

You will be lifting on competition equipment, this refers to the bar, racks and plates. If you have the chance to train on these I recommend it as they will feel different to typical commercial gym equipment and are impactful on your lifting. You will be given a chance at the start of the day to decide rack heights for your squat and bench, when exactly can vary but this is just the height of the hooks the bar is in so you can unrack the bar for either lift, make sure it feels comfortably, try a few heights so you are sure as these will be set for you before each attempt unless you say otherwise. 

Behaviour

As a rule of thumb, be polite. Arguing, swearing ect on the platform may have you removed from the platform and competition. It is a privilege to compete, not a right, act accordingly. 

Lift offs

You can receive a lift off for your bench, this in some federations can be someone you know, if so they will lift off for you and then have to remove themselves out of the way of the judge so you can be seen and given your commands. 

There will be spotters and loaders on the platform and so you may ask for a lift off from them, you have time, explain if you will count them in, expect them to wait a while ect so they know, if you don’t like your lift off don’t just kick off, be respectful, they are likely volunteers, just ask for changes. 

Kit

Comp day is like dressing for any other day ….except you wear a leotard, soak yourself in talk and all in special underwear. Typical Tuesday. 

So, here are the clothing, equipment and miscellaneous list of bits to remember for the day. 

Clothing

• Warm, loose clothing for travelling in, and for wearing between lifts

• Change of clothing (or at least t-shirt) for afterwards

• Trainers (unless you want to travel there in whatever you deadlift in)

• Gloves, hat, extra layers if it’s a cold venue 

Lifting Kit

• Singlet

• Belt

• Wrist wraps

• T-shirt (check your federation’s rules) plus spares, you can swap them between lifts also.

• Sports bra (ditto)

• Pants (ditto – apparently some federations don’t let you wear thongs)

• Normal socks

• Deadlift socks

• Squat shoes

• Deadlift shoes

• Separate shoes for bench press if you’re not wearing your squat or DL shoes

• Chalk

• Talc/baby powder

• Nose tork if you use it

• Pen (Depending on federation you will fill out attempt selection forms so this is a must)

• Band/foam roller, whatever you use in your warm ups

Drink

• Water

• Electrolyte drink and/or some kind of carb drink

• Some sort of pre workout (goes without saying that you’ll check the ingredients if you’re in a tested federation)

• Hot drink in a flask (aka coffee 😉 )

Food

• Fast carbs (this could be in drink form)

• Carb/protein meal/s (something you know your stomach is happy with)

• Faster carb source (sweets, flapjack, bananas)

• Food for afterwards, especially if you’ve got a long journey home

Sundries

• Towel

• Wet wipes

• Music and headphones (recommend you bring back ups)

• Phone charger and plug/in car charger

• Cash

• Toilet roll (yes really)

• Tampons/towels if necessary

• Pant liners if you think “a bit of wee might come out” (yes, really)

• Any pain relief or muscle rub you use

Attempt selection and prep

Okay so this is a little something I wanted to add, not just as I think it is key to know but a lot of information online is pretty outdated (comments like, open on something you can do for a triple). So the following is a mix of my opinion not only on your prep but on the attempt selections/jumps and what to do in different situations when making or missing attempts. 

Warm ups 

5 warm up target - this is something once stated to me for an objective answer to a subjective question. But on competition day you have limited time to warm up and often limited equipment being shared with other lifters so I do agree. 

Plan your warm up to your opener in ideally 5 jumps. Enough to get blood flow going and be primed for the load you are about to move.

Openers: Be conservative. A miss on your opener (technical or strength) is a frustrating way to start. You should absolutely not be missing an attempt on strength. You want a weight that will allow you to focus on completing the lift to the competition standard under stress. Nerves will be rife so keeping this sensible will pay off no end. I don’t agree with a set %, instead knowing where you will realistically be finishing should help you backtrack to your opener. E.g if a bench should end at 100kg, with the jumps we discuss I know this will likely mean opening at 87.5, second attempt 95kg and then my third attempt. 

This is where having a coach with experience to make sensible calls is a huge help.

Jumps

So this is the load change from each attempt and my god does this vary. 

Typical jumps you see in beginner lifters tend to look like the following:

S: Plus 10, plus 7.5 (Females plus 7.5, plus 5)

B: Plus 7.5, Plus 5 (females Plus 5, plus 2.5)

D: Plus 12.5, plus 10 (females plus 10, plus 7.5)

But it is fair to say this is a gross oversimplification! 

So instead here is a rule of thumb. Jump 1 will be more than jump two. They may sometimes be the same amount but that is only if the second attempt is a clear call for the same jump, again play it cautiously. NEVER increase the size of the jump especially on your first comp. As warm ups should have descending jumps and opener to second attempt will be the same, if you start increasing the jump the lift can feel uncomfortably heavier and throw confidence. 

Misses: It is frustrating, I know; but 9/10 the best call is to retake. Think of it like this. You open your deadlift at 100, you jump to 110, you drop it before the command, frustrated you go up anyway and take 115kg. By then tired and frustrated, shock, it doesnt move past your knees and you end with only a 100kg deadlift. Losing 5kg off what you wanted is better than 15kg. Don't gamble, it doesn't pay off. 

The only time I would go up regardless is in one of two scenarios. We don’t intend on competing again and the lifter is just after a shot at a milestone lift than means more to them. Two we have significantly undershot their performance (taken it very easy) and the technical error is a simple fix such as missing a down command on the deadlift but ONLY when I can personally guarantee (near impossible) that the next jump (likely smaller than initially planned) is a dead cert (no but seriously, just retake).

Weeks leading up

So, there is always a difference of opinion for competition prep, but this is going to be my opinion derived from years of coaching competition prep and most importantly, specific for inexperienced lifters (though I would still apply this model with highly experienced lifters. 

Practice how you play! Simple right? Foremost you should be rehearsing your commands, this goes without saying. But for this to be specific, we need to be doing comp lifts, so not just to say that we are to do squat, bench and deadlift, but the application of competition style singles.

This allows us to practice the skill of a single, and if you do not think a single is a skill …. I don’t know what to tell you, you're wrong. 

Now just because you are doing a single DOES NOT mean you have to go balls to the wall. Most often consistent and smooth singles at submaximal loads pay huge dividends to competition day competency and confidence. 

Before I explain I want to say I strictly DO NOT agree with the idea of just practicing openers, this is archaic thinking. 

For our lifters we treat these as ‘exposures’ to the stimulus. So week on week we just increase the single fractionally in prep for competition day. This could be as simple as singles at 77%, 85%, 90% and then competition week.

Maxing in the gym does not serve any benefit other than to not hit a PB on the platform and be disappointed you didn’t magically pull 10kg more out your ass. 

Now when doing these conservative singles, apply competition rules, have a friend calling commands and practice the skill of competition lifting which is nearly always what lets new lifters down on the day.