Learn to calculate your powerlifting attempts for competition in less than 5 minutes.
** For the Free Powerlifting Attempt Calculator, scroll down to the PS section of this article**
“Your opener should be a weight you can hit for an easy triple on a bad day… with a cold”
^^ that’s one of the best pieces of competition advice that my early mentors in powerlifting gave me and damn does it ever ring true.
One of THE most common mistakes I see at meets is a missed opener, especially on squats.
An overwhelming number of powerlifters will set their first attempts too heavy in an attempt to:
- hit some milestone weight; or
- have a good subtotal; or
- satisfy an emotional attachment to X weight
In reality, what this often does is create a scenario where:
- the attempts end up too heavy too soon. The lifter needs to take their 2nd and 3rd attempts too close together which fatigues them too much for a quality third; or
- the lifter will miss their opener and spend the rest of their attempts doing damage control; or
- the lifter bombs out
I can tell you this: nobody remembers your opener unless you miss it.
A good rule of thumb is to open with ~88-91% of your 1RM to set yourself up for an optimal 3rd attempt.
If you’re someone (like me) who gets hella nervous before first squats, going even a little lighter than 88% can be a valuable tool then taking a bigger jump into seconds.
Have you ever bombed out of a meet?
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