Adapting To Varying Meet-Day Conditions
As Powerlifters, our sport is far more controlled than most other athletes.
We choose our own weights in competition.
We deliberately & strategically plan out our meet prep- down to the percentages, intensities, and frequencies applied, to ensure our best possible success.
We know what bar we’ll use, our events on meet day never change, and we repeat a lot of the same stuff over and over, indefinitely.
Our success is never defined by another athlete's.
You’re not stepping into an entirely unpredictable environment, possibly being tackled or taken down by someone else- your performance is your own.
Because of this, we can get very particular, potentially even to a neurotic level, about our training conditions. It creates a sense of control that provides comfort and eases our anxiety.
And yet, we still don’t have control over everything on meet day. And I’d argue that if you’re only strong with your favorite bar, plates, and shoes, for example- you’re not the best athlete you could be.
A proficient, powerful, and capable athlete can adapt to any competitive condition- and still end with a decent performance- on the other side. This false sense of complete control, stability, and knowledge over every variable- can handicap you, becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What happens when the meet doesn’t start at the time you want, when things run differently than you’d prefer, when you miss your opener, when you have less time to rest? With multiple meets under your belt, it’s bound to happen at some point- and these changes should not ruin you or remove your strength.
Control your variables, but at the same time, avoid allowing unpredictability to be a source of anxiety (at a detrimental level). Let’s discuss the balance between those two aspects- and how to roll with the various obstacles on a given meet day.
Getting Tied To Training Equipment
Specifically, Elite-level Powerlifters tend to obsess over these details- using comp-standard equipment for everything. This tactic is beneficial, especially at a higher level- deadlifting on a stiff bar with bumper plates will feel different than on a Kabuki bar with kilo plates, and the latter is what your competition may replicate.
We want to be as physically prepared for this event as possible while preventing ourselves from becoming too tied to other, less significant.
Closer to a meet, train on more comp-specific equipment, especially for openers, top singles, etc. Doing so will give you the best idea of what you’ll be capable of on the platform, preparing your brain through your setup and execution of those reps.
However, obsessing over having a “favorite bar” or “favorite bench” that “allows you to lift more” and exclusively using these pieces of equipment- is not helpful to you. There's no guarantee that Meet Day will provide these specifications, and the difference these tools are probably actually making- is minimal.
You should be able to grab any bench or bar in the gym and lift on it, so practice that- (especially further out in prep, when these details mean less).
Distinguish between important variables and irrelevant ones:
Kilo plates feel harder- and the numbers are different,
Deadlift and squat bars may change your setup & feel during each lift,
Practicing on comp racks at least once will help you get used to setting up and un-racking with them,
But the specific deadlift bar or comp rack type, kilo plate brand, etc. doesn’t matter. If you’re always using the same one on purpose, try changing it up.
Additionally, take the opportunity to make your training harder.
Include variations on the stiff bar,
Choose the shitty bench or the wonky squat rack sometimes-
As proof that you can still lift strong when you don’t have the perfect equipment at your disposal.
2. Training Time of Day
Morning vs. evening lifters cause a big divide- and we all feel we have a time for better performance. This isn’t inherently bad: our schedules, routines, and personalities all play a role here, and you can acknowledge when you generally feel better & can be more consistent with training.
That said, especially with more meets switching to a session-based format, you want to be able to lift at various hours. Keep your consistent schedule through prep (most people don’t have the flexibility to train whenever, wherever), but change it up here and there, especially if you know you’ll be competing at a different time of day. You should be able to deadlift at 4 PM even if you’re used to doing so at 9 AM, and vice versa. Your fueling and recovery habits may change slightly, but your body can still do the work.
Try changing up your training days/times for a week and incorporate an off-hour training session here and there. When life's schedule gets crazy, take that opportunity to move things around slightly- a chance to express your abilities less predictably.
3. Different Psychological Conditions
Challenge yourself to continue your same training programming & intensities through different phases of life. As written about here, stress and psychological state can impact your performance, which isn’t necessarily something you have control over. That said, as a human going through life and developing a consistent training habit, external circumstances will always exist, impacting you in the gym. Maintaining a level of routine & autopilot allows you to get strong even when times are difficult. Meet days can be stressful and anxiety-inducing as fuck, too, and if that causes you even further uneasiness- well, we know how that goes.
If you’re used to training through stress and still performing well, this event won’t seem as shocking or debilitating. You’ll have prepared yourself to continue prospering through whatever arises, able to handle obstacles and break past them- like a bulletproof layer of army revealing your strength. We want to be tenacious, determined, and willful AF- ready to conquer every event. After all, that’s what our physical strength is for, and those trying moments are where it shines through.
So, when you’re experiencing significantly pressing circumstances- challenge yourself to maintain programming, to continue training through it, going for the same volumes and intensities- and see where you end up. You may find more comfort, empowerment, and consistency in the gym than you knew you could create.
4. Recovery Variables
This category is one where athletes arguably have the most control- and yet often fail to follow through with it.
Nutrition. Sleep. Stress management. Rest days. Etc.
On actual meet day, managing these factors can simultaneously be more of a challenge and more manageable:
We often block this time off for ourselves: our focus is entirely on our performance as athletes. We avoid other distractions and responsibilities of life for a minute, but also-
The time of day we’re lifting is different, and fueling ahead may be more challenging. Planning everything down to the minute details may not be possible, and there’s a lot of chaos involved.
It serves as another point that you can choose to manipulate the tools at your disposal, but there may still be some aspects up in the air, and that’s life.
You have a high level of autonomy and agency over your habits, so to replicate the most success in an ever-changing environment, choose to remain consistent with those.
How would you fuel up for a meet day? Would you skimp out on carbs, forget to eat your protein leading up, or go hours without a single morsel of food?
Would you stay up past 1 AM, getting maybe 5 hours of sleep?
If you felt stressed and anxious getting under the bar, would you: ruminate, ignore it, or spiral into even more distressing thoughts?
Would you go for a run between attempts, do a bunch of cardio the day before and refrain from listening to your body when it needs rest?
No, at least hopefully not- you might bomb out.
Treat your training sessions, especially during meet prep, the same way. Of course, the platform is an extreme example- but look for ways to integrate those aspects into your daily life.
The more recovered & properly nourished you are- the more resilient you can be to times of stress, lifting at different periods of the day, and all other potential obstacles. Being a well-fed and well-rested athlete is like a damn-near-invincible shield that keeps performance high when everything tries to undermine it.
Forgetting to eat, sleeping like shit, running around in circles daily in periods of intense training- is like putting yourself in the center of the battle, with nothing but your hands to defend you- showing up with a knife to a gunfight.
Managing your health and well-being allows you to follow the program as planned, execute it to the best of your abilities, and have the most consistent performance possible. It drastically decreases your chance of being thrown off by the insignificant and large-scale changes (alike) that arise in various phases of life.
Re-learning new patterns and breaking old ones is undeniably difficult- especially when you’ve got so many other responsibilities, and most of these practices have become autopilot. It requires conscious thought, energy, and time to re-establish consistency. Look for 1-3 applicable tasks you can take into your daily life:
batch-cooking for the week,
bringing snacks to work/the gym,
setting an alarm to go to bed,
taking 5 minutes each day to meditate, visualize, recuperate,
planning rest days & periods of “doing nothing” into your week,
When identifying your weak point, choose a way to improve upon it. Perfection is never expected nor realistic, and it’s hard to re-adapt new habits, but know that it will make a difference in the end, and you’ll feel it on meet day.
5. Rest periods & Work capacity
A shift happening with many meets as of late is a decrease in the duration of the event- we’ve previously been used to 8-10 hour meet days, with lots of rest in between lifts, and are now seeing a more session-based approach, with about 4-hour blocks to complete all 3.
Those extra hours can drastically influence how you feel as a lifter, performance during the day, energy fluctuations, stress, downtime, etc. Going from one to the other will certainly be a changed experience- there’s no way around that.
That said, it doesn’t have to debilitate or weaken you.
Missing your last deadlift, losing gas immediately after bench, failing your reps, and feeling overly stressed and erratic- don’t have to be your inevitable on meet day. Again, we train to be prepared for any condition, possessing the ability to express our strength regardless of the specific meet details.
Don’t train just for max-effort attempts. Train for:
the work capacity to endure all 3 in the same timeframe,
the ability to express strength in your deadlift after squatting just a couple of hours before,
the recovery to get between each one quickly and efficiently,
the confidence to warm up, give your best, and repeat back-to-back,
the resilience & health to withstand such a grueling effort without breaking yourself.
These lifts don’t exist in isolation- we are doing them together as a complete event. Your training should reflect that.
So, if you’re winded after your set of 5,
if you need 5 minutes of rest between every single,
if you never train your lifts on the same days-
You’re doing yourself a disservice, and your meet probably won’t go how you want it to.
Versus, if you:
Incorporate some higher-rep sets earlier in prep to develop work capacity,
Use timed rest periods to ensure you recover more readily,
train SBD days, or S/B, B/D, S/D, on a regular basis,
Use fatigued singles/doubles/triples as a tool to express strength when you’re not fresh,
Use your rest periods wisely, taking time to get your heart rate down and refocus between lifts,
Develop consistency in your setup and warm-up sets so they all feel second nature,
Stay on your mobility/prehab work before, during, and between sessions, and pay attention when pain arises-
You’ll feel far more prepared for what a meet day looks like. You’ll have done your due diligence during prep (which is the whole purpose) to make you the best Powerlifter possible: not just the dude who can max out a squat and go home- on a random day at the gym.
Because there is a difference:
Yes, we train for maximal strength, but that does not mean we don’t need conditioning, recovery time, tissue capacity, and the ability to sustain effort under fatigue- those qualities are all required on actual competition day.
Train the hard way. Choose to make it more difficult for yourself. Address the things you suck at, seek to build them, and that’s how you become a better athlete.
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Essentially, being prepared for varying competitive conditions means adapting your training to reflect that goal. Life naturally throws you hardship and uncertainty- your job is to continue pushing through all that. Don’t develop emotional attachments to the bars, plates, and racks you use- change it up. Refrain from making drastic changes when you’re experiencing stress and uncertainty- try following your program as written. Stop avoiding conditioning, resting for years on end, and separating your lifts all of the time- make your training harder, and practice for the potential circumstances meet day may provide. And through all that, stay on your recovery habits as much as humanly possible- so that you can handle, adapt to, and progress through whatever training environment you may find yourself in. As Powerlifters, we are athletes, too- and it’s important to remember that. Approach your work with that mentality, preparing yourself to succeed amidst difficult outcomes, and you’ll set yourself apart on the platform.
