This past weekend I spent Saturday handling Lindsey, who was also running a marathon on Sunday. Don't ask 'why,' because it's completely ridiculous and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. However she finished the meet with a 400 wilks and a sub 4 hour marathon (her first marathon too). It was an amazing endeavor and I'm blow away by her toughness.
Because I was just handling Lindsey, I found myself teaching and coaching (Cayt was with us- she's a young spunky powerlifter herself and she's always trying to learn).
My tip- Learn how to calculate the timing of your warm ups on meet day.
Use this metric:
1 minute per attempt per squat
45 seconds per attempt per bench and deadlift
*This will vary, but I've used this with success at every meet I've done and every meet I've handled lifters at.
*Meets or flights with a lot of women or lightweight lifters tends to move faster. Meets or fights with heavyweights will move a little slower.
*A good crew of spotters and loaders will speed that number up. A bad crew will drag out the meet. So pay attention to the pace as the day goes.
In the example of Lindsey this past weekend, she was the first squatter in the second flight. The first flight had 15 lifters. So 15 lifters at 3 attempts at 1 minute for each attempt, it will take them about 45 minutes to get through the first flight.
She was opening at 260, so her warm ups would normally be:
bar - 95 - 135 - 185 - 225 - 245
But typically I'll suggest getting at least 8 warm up sets in on meet day. And this was a 60lb squat bar, so it looked like this..
(3-5 reps) 60-110-110-150-(starting singles) -150-200-220-240
She liked about 3 minutes between warm ups, so she rolled around and stretched during Flight One's first attempts. As they started their second attempts, she got under the bar. 8 warm up sets x 3 minutes each puts us at 24 minutes (45 minutes - 15 minutes for the first attempts = 30 minutes). So she finished her last warm up, sat for 6 minutes, then took her opener.
You'll always want to check on the pace to make sure you're going to come in on time, but this is an important part of meet day that a lot of lifters overlook. You spent 12+ weeks preparing. This is an easy way to approach the platform calm, cool, and collected.
