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So this past weekend I finally got to do my first powerlifting meet, the Twin Cities Open. It was a sanctioned USAPL meet so I had a gotten a high enough total (I didn't), I would have qualified for Nationals. Overall, I think things went really well leading up to the event. Training went exactly as I planned. I was able to hit all my openers for triples, with the exception of deadlift which I didn't really even try. That said, I've hit my deadlift opener for a set of 5 back about 5 months ago and I've been pulling 400 with relative ease so I knew 385 was a great place to start. Went to the early check-in Friday night to get all my gear checked and get my rack heights. Was fairly straight forward although in retrospect I wish I had done more testing of the rack heights because Bench was one too long. Either way though wasn't an issue. Morning of went fine. Weigh-ins were from 7am to 8:30am. I got there right at 7, and weighed in at 101.15kg (223lbs). This is the heaviest I've ever been which isn't surprising given how terrible my diet has been lately. One thing of note... so I was feeling sort of paranoid that I was missing something so right around 8:15am, the line to the registration desk was non-existant, so I thought I'd double-check that I had "all my ducks in a row". Sure enough, the guy hadn't marked down that I got my gear checked the day before. He said it was probably his mistake, but needed to do it again anyway. So rolled through another quick gear check even though I was wearing half of it. Easy enough. So yeah... first piece of advice to others, don't be afraid to double check you are doing things properly and you are registered before the event starts. Anyway, at 8:45am we had rules briefing. Real quick and if you've ever seen any sort of powerlifting meet, it'll all be familiar to you. I was a bit surprised at the lack of formality with warm-up areas. The gym that was hosting is a massive warehouse with CF area, Ninja Warrior area (with peg board, salmon ladder, and warped wall), and then loads of normal gym equipment (machine area, like 5 Squat Racks, plus a boatload of rig areas in the CF area). Anyway... someone asked about warm-ups and the guy said, "We have access to everything here today. Find a spot and go warm-up." So yeah... there wasn't anything designated as the warm-up area, just go find a barbell and start. Ha... that said it wasn't an issue. The gym had loads of barbells and load of weights so it all worked out. Oddly enough, ran into the a guy who was competing in the 105kg class that was right around my strength (he's the guy in the green singlet you'll see quite a bit in the videos). Warmed up with him for most of the lifts. Strange how we ran into each before we even knew we were in the same flight. Below is the picture of the setup. Very simple. 2 platforms with the scoring table in the middle. You perform your lift, then you have one minute to get to the table to give them your next lift. Seems short, but it's plenty easy. I was quite surprised by the crowd. I would say there were probably 300 people there if you included the lifters. So for some of the bigger lifts, the place got rocking. Even for some of the smaller lifts, it's pretty cool to see how supportive the crowd was for people who were really giving it there all. Anyway, I was in the first flight on one of the platforms and as I expected I was in the first 3 to lift (meaning I had the 3rd lowest opener). The 105kg class was full of just animals and was also far and away the largest class. They ended up splitting the 105kg class into 2 flights. Anyway, the lifts are below in the video. Nothing too exciting. My dad was taping the stuff and he doesn't move very well anymore. Hence, some of the stuff doesn't get great visibility. They said they would be throwing up the stream they did of the event eventually so if it hits Youtube, I'll see if I can some better video. Lifts were as follows: Squat 152.5 kg (336.20 lbs)162.5 kg (358.25 lbs) -- 8 lb PR172.5 kg (380.30 lbs) -- 30 lb PR.Bench 102.5 kg (225.97 lbs)112.5 kg (248.02 lbs)125.0 kg (275.58 lbs) -- FAILEDDeadlift 175.0 kg (385.81 lbs)192.5 kg (424.39 lbs)200.0 kg (440.93 lbs)As I stated in my daily log, I got super greedy with my bench. I should have gone with a 120kg attempt for my 3rd. Would have been a PR, and I really think I would have got it. I went with 125kg because I was riding high with confidence after my squat attempts and I really really wanted to get a 275 bench. I moved 125kg off my chest quite well, but just couldn't break the sticking point. And in turn, that dropped my confidence a bit, and I went conservative on my 3rd deadlift attempt. I really wanted to go for a 205 kg lift and looking at the tape of the 200 kg lift, I'm pretty sure I would have had 205. But again, it was my first meet, I had fun, and I crushed my squat PR. Second piece of advice, and I'm stealing this one from Wildross. Bring some solid food. We started lifting at about 9:20am, and didn't start deadlifts until ~12:30pm I believe. I downed a protein shake, a banana, and a PowerBar after my Bench attempts and was really glad I did. I could tell I was starting to get hungry and had I not eaten I would have been really hungry by deadlift time. Would it have affected my performance? I don't know, but why find out? What's next? Well... I have a 5 mile run coming up in October so switching gears a bit until then. Going to use that as an opportunity to drop a bit of weight as I should be in the 93kg class (if not lower). Honestly, I think I'll probably target the 2016 Relentless event for my next Powerlifting meet. It's not USAPL sanctioned, but it's a charity event that gets put on here in the Twin Cities. I went and watched last year and it was good time. Last year it was in March so assuming that's around the time it will be again so I'll have plenty of time to drop the weight, and hopefully put some more pounds (or kilos) on my lifts. Some other fun notes... there was a guy who weighed in a 95 kg (i.e. very light for the 105kg class) who competed beltless the whole time, went ATG squat (i.e. way deeper then you need to) and still posted a total of 600+ kgs (if I remember right). Clearly a very strong guy and I think he was just screwing around. Was pretty funny to watch him. Other wise, it was pretty cool to see the guys in my class, every one was supportive of everyone else. One guy almost had a 320 kg deadlift in my class. Think he was the only to even attempt anything in the 700 lb range. I know at least on National record was set in the Squat. Big rotund older guy. He actually broke the record with his second attempt and upped it on his 3rd. I'm assuming he was the 125+ kg class and I don't even know what weight it was or if was a Raw Open record or a Masters record. Not sure. I'd assume the Masters record, but again, would have to see the results since he was on the other platform and I basically just heard the announcement over the PA and saw the Squat, but didn't catch any of the details. There was also a very old gentleman there (I'm guessing 60+) who was the only geared lifter there. He was also pretty scrawny. Don't get me wrong, it was cool that he is still slinging the weights at his age, just didn't fit my stereotypical image for a geared lifter. Overall, it was really cool. Glad I did it, and I'll be doing more. Hopefully some day I'll move from the bottom of the pack up the ranks a bit. I know most people say this, but if you are thinking about doing a meet, do one. Final piece of advice, go conservative with your openers. I saw one guy who did a 142.5kg opening squat, barely made it, and went to a 145kg second and failed it twice (i.e. very close to bombing out right away). And at least 2 guys in my class bombed out on bench. Just find a weight that you can slay fro each lift and get a number on the board. Very happy I went super light with my openers. Anything else you are curious about, ask away. Happy to answer questions, albeit I'm far from an expert.