NASA Texas State Championship Powerlifting meet

[KD5NFW]

What a day! Ended up with 140 lifters! Many of them young women at their first meet, so a few flights ran a little slower than normal lol. Still great to see that many new faces trying out the sport. Meet started around 10:30am and finally wrapped up around 8:30pm.

With the exception of one hiccup, the meet went exactly according to plan. Open with an easy but solid weight, hit a small meet PR on the second, and go for broke on the third. Squats went well and I finally hit 4pps! This was a 33lb meet PR. The belt made a big difference, and I think once I can train with knee wraps there will be more gains to come.

Bench provided my only hiccup. This is my best lift, but it has bitten me in the butt in both meets. Must be a bit of complacency here I need to address. My second attempt got 2 reds for heels not flat on the floor. I knew my heels were up very slightly when I started the lift, but I thought I might sneak it by the judges. No dice haha. The judges are strict but fair. Even though I hit the weight with relative ease, I decided not to increase on my third attempt as I wanted to ensure a meet PR. Ended up with 314 for a 6lb meet PR. Maybe a bad decision that cost me 5-10lbs on my total, but I am ok with it.

With the snafu on bench, I had to hit a pretty good meet PR to hit the goal of 1200 total. Really wasn't feeling very confident on deads at all, and by this point in the meet I was honestly losing the will to live lol. Ended up hitting all 3 lifts, ending with 485 for a 22lb meet PR. 5pps is in there. Fully expect to hit the 4-3-5pps milestone at my next meet! I would never have dreamed it possible only a year ago!

Stretch goal was to break the 1,200lb total mark and I just snuck in with 1,201. Hell yeah!!! Beard power FTW!

[JamesWarren]

Good job!

[KD5NFW]

Good job!

Thanks!

[HDJoe]

Outstanding, great job, Rich

[KD5NFW]

Outstanding, great job, Rich

Thanks Joe!

[Nezzy]

Damn, you really make me want to compete. It looks so satisfying to get your maxes on a stage. Congratulations across the board, the bench was interesting, I didn't know your heels had to stay planted whilst benching, get a pair of weightlifting shoes or high heels, you'll crush it next time.

Which weight class are you in out of interest? And where did you place?

[KD5NFW]

Damn, you really make me want to compete. It looks so satisfying to get your maxes on a stage. Congratulations across the board, the bench was interesting, I didn't know your heels had to stay planted whilst benching, get a pair of weightlifting shoes or high heels, you'll crush it next time.

Which weight class are you in out of interest? And where did you place?

Thanks Nezzy! There is nothing like the energy on the platform surrounded by a supportive crowd and other monster lifters to bring out the best in you. If it sparks an interest you should definitely give it a try!

Different lifting federations have different rules, so you have to check the ones for your particular fed in regard to flat feet on bench. Some feds allow head movement, others don't.

I lifted in the Masters Pure division, 220lb weight class and placed first in my division. Masters Pure is 40+ years old and lifetime anabolic steroid free.

[Nezzy]

Thanks Nezzy! There is nothing like the energy on the platform surrounded by a supportive crowd and other monster lifters to bring out the best in you. If it sparks an interest you should definitely give it a try!

Different lifting federations have different rules, so you have to check the ones for your particular fed in regard to flat feet on bench. Some feds allow head movement, others don't.

I lifted in the Masters Pure division, 220lb weight class and placed first in my division. Masters Pure is 40+ years old and lifetime anabolic steroid free.

I figured I'd spend another year getting stronger before investing in a singlet and searching for a suitable meet. I'm not sure how many federations there are in the UK, and don't know much about any of them. There's the British Drug Free Powerlifting Federation, maybe that's worth a shot. I'll do a little research. Last time I looked at a localish competition, if I'd hit my gym maxes I'd have finished 7th, one place ahead of the best finisher in the over 60s category, and 2 places ahead of a guy who failed to register a squat.... and around 150kg below the 1st place.

[KD5NFW]

I figured I'd spend another year getting stronger before investing in a singlet and searching for a suitable meet. I'm not sure how many federations there are in the UK, and don't know much about any of them. There's the British Drug Free Powerlifting Federation, maybe that's worth a shot. I'll do a little research. Last time I looked at a localish competition, if I'd hit my gym maxes I'd have finished 7th, one place ahead of the best finisher in the over 60s category, and 2 places ahead of a guy who failed to register a squat.... and around 150kg below the 1st place.

Singlets are cheap! There's no better time than now to enter your first meet. The true competition is within yourself anyway. The only total you have control over is yours, so sign up for your first meet, set the bar, then train your butt off to surpass that total at your next meet. Rinse. Repeat. You will surprise yourself how strong you already are once you step on the platform. I promise you that

[castille]

Awesome job Rich!! You are making it look easy

[KD5NFW]

Awesome job Rich!! You are making it look easy

Thanks Mark!