As the sport of powerlifting continues to grow and grow, I am seeing more and more people ask questions regarding their first powerlifting meet.    Often they will describe how they intend to approach it.  Often the ideas, approach or goals that they list are far from ideal, almost guaranteeing a bad experience.

“Do Your Own Research”

That’s not meant to be as critical as it sounds.  You can’t know what you can’t know and I imagine most readers of my site know how I feel about the whole “do your own research” thing.

Mind you, powerlifting arguably has more good information on the web available than many other activities.  It certainly does compared to things like bodybuilding/physique sports or general fat loss.

I think the reason is that powerlifting is an objective thing.  What you did either worked or it didn’t.  You either improved or your didn’t and there isn’t any of this “Well I think this worked” nonsense to it.  The lift went or it didn’t go and that’s all there is to it.

And there is quite a bit of information for beginners in terms of doing their first powerlifting meet.  A lot of it deals with the endless details.  Lifters can find checklists of everything they need to take, what to eat, etc.

Honestly, I recommend taking a book especially as a spectator.  As much as I love the sport of powerlifting, I think it’s dull as dirt to watch.  Even when I’m handling my lifter, it’s a lot of sitting around doing nothing for only a little bit of action.

Don’t get me wrong, I love watching big lifts, watching lifters grind through something they should have missed.  It’s doing it for 8 hours that exhausts me.  Anyhow.  Take a book is what I’m saying.

Continue reading A 6 and a Half Tip Guide to a Great First Powerlifting Meet