Congratulations if you have made the decision to go into your first Powerlifting Competition! IF you have just starting to lift, and you want to know how long you should wait before competing, then hopefully this article helps you set a plan!
I am going to go through a few major factors in my decision as a coach in terms of when I work out when someone is ready to compete, to help explain my opinions.
Firstly, I am going to say right now that there is absolutely no minimum strength requirement to compete. I actively encourage new lifters to pursue competitions early in their lifting career just to see a result of training. Powerlifting is not like a team sport, where you have a defined season, or regular competition each week, so when you are just starting out, I encourage most people to compete at least a few times a year, so you can use these competitions as testing sessions and to provide something to look forward to.
1. Training Age –
Training age is purely the time you have been training. So, some of our junior lifters at our training centre have training ages of more than 5, and some of our adult lifters only have training ages of 1-3 years! I consider sport played, time spent in the gym as part of what makes up training age, but for powerlifting I do look at the time in the gym lifting barbells as an indicator on when the first competition is warranted.
Why does this make a difference? Generally, I like to make sure that lifting technique is well entrenched in our athletes, so that on the first competition, you can think about what to do, rather than be really worried about doing the right thing from a technical point of view. And, the other thing is that for someone with a young training age, putting your body under maximal loads when this has not been done in training or testing will expose flaws in technique. So, there are some good and bad points about competing very early with limited training age.
2. Your skills in lifting
This comes with time and with coaching. The goal of coaching in powerlifting is to refine technique, to allow for better use of your body’s natural levers, or to make you a better mechanical athlete. Coaching is more than just telling a lifter what to do. In the age of video access on phones etc, it is great to be able to analyse your training, as a video never lies!
Your skill as a lifter is most tested when attempting a weight that you have never done before. You have to absolutely trust your technique and all the training you have done. So, my advice to people who are doing the sport, from scratch is to practice in training like you are about to undertake a new PB, or new competition high. Develop your ritual pre-lifting and try to keep it the same so that you know exactly what you are doing when you first get on the platform.
3. Your coach or support crew
If you do not have a coach, or your coach cannot be at your first competition with you, get one of your training partners, or friends/family to come with you. It always helps to have someone to look out for you and help you on the day.
Setting a Training Plan
I usually start people on between an 8 and 16 week plan.
So, finding a competition, registering with Powerlifting Australia and then registering for the competition is the first step.
Next step is to set some competition goals. If the only goal is to complete the competition and whatever you lift is a bonus, this is not a bad plan sometimes! It takes the pressure away from doing a specific weight. One of the things that I find most common is that lifters will train one lift per day and have maybe a day’s rest between training and then expect to do personal bests in all lifts across their first competition. Remember, you have to squat, bench and deadlift 3 times each! So, a PB done in the gym is sometimes a PB for gym, as you are not factoring in fatigue, nerves and being judged on the day! So, set yourself a range and work everything from your opening lifts.
In terms of programming, there are some easy types of programming to follow as a novice powerlifter.
There are a few variables that we look to measure, and the two most basic are:
1. Volume of work completed (how many kilograms or repetitions in a session and a week)
2. Intensity (percentage of a maximal 1 repetition lift).
So, in a basic sense, the easiest way to train for your first competition is to do the following.
4 weeks of 3-4 sets at 10 repetitions where you are trying to slowly add weight each week. Start on a weight that is reasonably comfortable and then try to work on improving by between 2.5 and 10% per week depending on how you are feeling each week and how well you are coping with the training.
3 weeks of 3-4 sets at 8 repetitions
3 weeks of 3-4 sets at 6 repetitions
3 weeks of 4 sets at 5 repetitions
3 weeks of 4 sets at 3 repetitions
Competition time! In competition week, you can just do a squat session on Monday, where you are just trying to do 2 sets of 3 reps at what weight you want to open your first attempt at. You only do this on say a Monday and Wednesday for Squat on Monday and Bench Press on Wednesday. You do not deadlift in Competition week!
Usually, we talk to people about doing a Squat session on a Monday or Tuesday, Bench Press session on Wednesday or Thursday and a Deadlift Session on a Friday or Saturday.