Around mid July I received a message from BRUTE challenging me to get on the platform. Needless to say, I accepted the challenge and began my journey. I wasn’t really sure where to start, so I decided to ask BRUTE as many questions as possible. He (along with some others) gave me great advice and was very encouraging. One piece of advice that really stuck was to “not make any drastic changes”. This made sense to me and although I kept my routine, I did make some minor changes when something was pointed out to me in my training log. I kept pushing myself to beat my own PR’s and tried not to think about how nervous I was. Each night I would lay down in bed and start to think about all the “little things” involved in a Powerlifting Meet. What do I need to bring in my gym bag? Do I need to bring snacks? Will I make weight? What should my opening attempts be? These were all important questions, but not questions that needed immediate attention. I kept my lifting at a normal pace until the week of the meet. The week of the meet, I decided to do a light workout on Monday and was planning on doing a light workout on Wednesday. When Wednesday rolled around, I decided that I would get a deep tissue massage done instead of working out (my mid-back was tighter then shit), and just really focus on resting up for the meet on Saturday.

On Thursday morning when I woke up I weighed about 248 pounds. I was a little nervous about making the 242 pound weight class, due to weigh-ins being the next morning, but I ate a hearty breakfast and then a couple of hours later had a protein shake. I decided to make lunch my last meal of the day, so at around 2:30 I ate one last meal. The rest of the day, I did not have any more food or fluids. By 10:30 at night I was dying of thirst, so I had some ice cubes. I took a burning hot shower for about 20 minutes and tried to sweat as much fluid out of me as I could. Needless to say, it all worked out. I weighed in a 239.5 and as soon as I left from weighing in, I bought 2 32oz Gatorades and chugged both of them. The rest of the day was spent at the mall in Tucson hanging out and eating. I haven’t walked that much for a long time so I got some “conditioning” in. Late Friday night, I spoke with BRUTE on the phone for some last minute advice. He gave me some last minute pointers.

The next morning, Saturday, I woke up at about 5:30 and pounded a protein shake. An hour after that, I went and had a big breakfast and then headed back to my hotel room to relax for about an hour. We left for the meet at 7:45 and that is when my nerves started to jump around. I had no clue what to expect so I did what any man would do, I got drunk (just playing-lol). I walked in and sat down at some tables and saw the other lifters. We were waiting for the rules clinic to begin, so I just sat there and BS’d with my dad. When the rules clinic was over, my dad left to go get my wife and kids and that is when BigB (Brandon) walked in and introduced himself. That was a relief because I didn’t want to just sit there and twirl my thumbs. We talked for a while and then it was time to start warming up. Once the lifting had begun, my nerves subsided and it was just like lifting back in my garage. The warm-up benches were a lot lower to the ground which made warming-up a little awkward. I couldn’t get myself set to a “normal” position. This played with my head a little, but I worked through it. It made me feel better that I was not the only one having problems with the bench being so low to the ground. Other were finding it awkward too! After my last warm-up I felt ready to go. The platform bench was a little higher so when I laid down for my first attempt everything felt a little more natural. My bench attempts were: 1). 325 2). 350 and 3). 365. 325 flew up with no problem. On my second attempt with 350, as soon as I started to lower it, I knew it would go up. The third attempt was a little awkward. It felt easy as I was brining it down and on the first few inches on the way up. I am not sure if I lost concentration or what, but about half way up I hit a brick wall. I was pissed off. I have never in my life gotten stuck at the half way point. Needless to say, I missed my third attempt.

On to deadlifts. My attempts were: 1). 450 2). 485 and 3). 525. The first attempt of 450 went up fast enough where the head judge told me that “warm-ups are over, put some weight on the bar”. I decided to go for 485 on my second attempt and again, the lift went up fast and smooth. Somebody in the crowd yelled for me to put more weight on the bar, again. I was a little confused at this point, because I have never pulled more then 500, but my grip and back felt awesome and I knew I had more then 500 in me. I decided to ask the meet promoter on what his thoughts were. He said I had at least another 40-50 pounds in me. I must have gave him an odd look because he said, “Seriously, at least that”. I decided on 525. I walked to the platform and really focused on lifting my PR. I ended up pulling it fairly easy and I was really pumped up after that. I was wishing that I could have another attempt.

Well to make this long story, shorter, I ended up having a great experience. Everybody was friendly and helpful. There was a lot of “first timers, getting their cherries popped”. I am sure you could tell who us “rookies” were. I think I was the only one who didn’t put baby powder on my thighs for deadlifts. I’ve never used it before so I didn’t want to change anything. For the person who is waiting to compete, or who is wanting to compete, I say DO IT! Don’t wait until your “strong enough”, because you’ll never be strong enough. Don’t wait until you think you are ready. Just go do it. The spectators were loud and cheering for everybody regardless of how much someone was lifting. It is great to be around a bunch of other people who love to lift as much as I do. All of the lifters who were competing were helpful and willing to give some advice. I always say not to worry about the other guy, just focus on yourself, and try to set some new PR’s, but the most important thing to do is HAVE FUN!!!