I’ve been a part of the powerlifting community for a long while now and I’ve been watching powerlifting meets online and live in person. One thing I’ve noticed that a lot of powerliftters miss a lot of lifts on competition day and even worse, some powerlifters “bomb out”. Why is it that they miss lifts? A lot of them make excuses like “I wasn’t feeling it” and no it’s not that at all. I think one of the big reasons that powerlifters miss lifts is ’cause they don’t choose their attempts wisely.

Why is it that a lot of powerlifters lift a successful 1st attempt on a lift on meet day but they miss their 2nd and third attempts? I think it’s because their 1st attempt was way too heavy. They start off too heavy. The same reason they miss their third attempt when they got a successful 1st and second ’cause their 1st and 2nd attempts were a bit heavy. They don’t choose their attempts wisely at all.

Many powerlifters egos are so huge and they won’t admit that. Many think they’re gonna go into meet day smashing new PR’s when they ended up missing lifts whether they plan to smash new pr’s on either their 2nd or 3rd. They end up missing either one.

Yeah, powerlifting maybe all about lifting the most weight as possible but it doesn’t have to be. There is absolutely nothing wrong with going into a powerlifting competition and lifting the weights that you feel most comfortable and know you’re going to hit successfully. It should be all about building up the score total and winning awards. I would rather go for a full 9 for 9… get 3 white lights on everything. That’s the kind of powerlifter I prefer to be. Be more worried about building up my score instead of hitting new PR’s on the platform hoping to make either 3rd, 2nd and even 1st place in my weight class. I’m hoping to make 1st place in my weight class someday at a powerlifting meet and I haven’t achieved that goal yet but I want to. That’s why I can’t miss any lifting attempts at a meet and I don’t like missing lifts on a meet.

I’ve done only three powerlifting meets so far, just small local meets and out of those three meets I’ve done… I’ve only missed one lift which was the 300 lb. deadlift. That’s because I blame it on myself and went too heavy on my 1st and 2nd attempts which I shouldn’t have done that. If you want to do a successful 3rd attempt lift, saving some in the tank is key. Leaving some gas in for the lift, ya know?

Another problem why powerlifters miss lifts at meets is that I see many powerlifters rushing their setups. Ya know, just walking up to the bar and rushing to pick it up. Many powerlifters would just walk to the bar quickly doing their usual rituals and act like tough guys before they make the lift. You know when you see powerlifters act like tough guys, squeezing their hands into fists, clenching their teeth… growling or screaming before they lift…. blah blah blah, ya get the deal ya know??? In my opinion, I think doing all that is bad. Just a waste of energy and that’s why they miss lifts ’cause they get too excited and too fired up. I understand it’s their way of “attacking” the bar and part of getting “aroused” but I think they need to take their time and slow down. On competition day, they give you one minute for you to get ready before you make your attempt… that’s plenty of time even if it may not seem like it so don’t rush your setup. I like to take my time with my setups during big three lifts ’cause I need to focus and get in the zone.

I also have a problem of “missing lifts” at the gym during training sessions and I read an interesting article about that the other day. It’s not even good to miss lifts during training either. I remember the article saying treat every rep as if it’s your 1 rep max which is a good idea and the article said if you don’t want to miss lifts, train ’til “technical failure” which is also a cool idea.

Powerlifting doesn’t always have to be about lifting the most weight possible… just lift the ones you can do. I think it’s better to do it that way so my scores can count and my total can build up. It’s completely okay to leave your ego at the door. I am into this to get strong and be the best that I can be.

Will I use upcoming powerlifting meets to set new PR’s as my third attempt? Probably not, I don’t know. I would rather set new pr’s in the gym during training ’cause I need to know my 1 rep maxes so I can decide what my 3 attempts are gonna be for the big three lifts. I would much rather have all my scores count instead of missing 1 or 2.

I’m about to start doing meets for the USAPL very soon and I want to do them smart and be careful. One day I’ll become a world record breaking champ and if I want to get there, I got to train smart and I will.

Kev

Whenever I post a video of my lifting, sometimes other powerlifters will always try to point a mistake that I might of done. In other words, they would try to critique my form and that usually happens when I upload a lifting video for all to see. They would tell me to do this and do that, don’t do this and don’t do that… blah blah blah. They would critique every aspect of my lifting and would try to get me to lift their way.

You see, I don’t usually lift the same way other powerlifters do. I just go by what the instructional videos through youtube and the internet tells me, ya know? And another thing, just because powerlifters are very experienced and have won a lot of trophies and broke a lot of records doesn’t necessarily mean they know what they’re doing. I mean, I’ve seen some of the greatest powerlifters and veterans lift with the shittiest form I’ve ever seen. Go watch some powerlifting competitions through youtube for proof on that. For example, when they go start up at the deadlift, they have some of the worst startups I’ve ever seen when they go walk up to the bar.

Many powerlifters even the great ones deadlift with rounded backs, they stand too far from the bar or they lean too far over the bar, etc. I’ve seen it all, it’s crazy. There are also too many deadlifters who lean far back on their lockouts meaning hyper-extending the back which is bad. Many powerlifters tell me to deadlift with your head looking straight forward but no, I think it’s better to deadlift with the head being neutral. Other powerlifters told me a way to deadlift is that the butt needs to be pointing down to the floor with the chest aiming up at the ceiling. I’ve tried that and it’s uncomfortable for me.

The way I like to deadlift is that I like to stand narrow, I reach down to the bar without lowering my hips at all ’cause the hips needs to be higher than the knees and the bar needs to be over mid-foot. You need to straighten your back and making sure everything is tight then you’re ready to make the pull.

Also, speaking of pulling… so many deadlifters make the mistake that it’s just a pull movement only when it’s not. When you deadlift, you think of it as being a leg press as well so when the bar comes off the floor, you use a lot of leg drive to lock it out. Using leg drive by pushing the legs to the floor as hard as you can like a leg press. That’s how I always deadlift.

I’m pretty sick of the egos in the powerlifting world acting like it’s the only way to lift and it’s getting tiresome. As long as you’re following the commands in powerlifting competitions, it doesn’t matter how you lift. You should just lift whatever works for you. You don’t have to lift how others lift. Just gotta listen to your body and lift what’s right. That’s the way my attitude always been. I’ve always done things my way.

I prefer to be a self-taught lifter. I never really enjoyed learning from other lifters. I’ve always felt comfortable doing my own thing. Every lifter is different… gotta respect that. I may not like other lifters form and technique but I just shut my mouth and let them do their own thing.

I think people critique my form ’cause they know I’m new to the powerlifting game and they’re afraid that I might be better than them and they don’t want that. They give me advice on my form and once I correct it for them, it’s always something else that’s wrong. It’s bullshit. So I just say, fuck ’em and do things my way, ya know? That’s the way to be.

Kev