EABC Powerlifting Competition Recap 2016 [Weight Cut + Class Change]

The weekend before Christmas I competed at the East Auckland Barbell Club Powerlifting Competition. We (Coach Carli & I) had decided that I would do this competition when I originally didn’t make the team for Oceanias. After I was selected for the B team for Oceania’s I decided that I still wanted to do this competition.

The plan for the EABC competition was to practice a weight cut down to the 52kg class and see how I went. I’ve never had to do a weight cut for a powerlifting competition, and for me all I generally do is watch what I am eating a couple of days before to make sure I will definitely be under the 57kg. If I could lift what I was doing in the 57kg class in the 52kg class I would be doing pretty freaking well, this was the theory but we didn’t really know if it would work in practice or not.

The EABC competition was exactly 10 days after I competed at Oceanias so was always going to be a big ask from my body! The weight cut began the week of the competition with a water load and cut, liquid food, a very hot bath and a lot of spitting into a cup (no-one ever said powerlifting was glamorous!). I am very grateful that I didn’t have to suck on a lemon for the spitting, as one of the girls at Oceanias was doing that and I couldn’t think of much worse!

I woke up the day before the competition at 53.8kg, 1.8kg heavier than I was allowed to be in 24 hours time if I wanted to compete in the 52kg class. I wasn’t stressed about being over as I knew that at the end of the day it didn’t actually matter if I competed in the 57kg class as it was all just a trial to see how my body reacted to the cut and how my strength would be affected. At this point I doubted that I would actually get to 52kg but kept doing everything I was supposed to do right until I stepped on the scales for weigh-in Sunday morning. I actually kind of enjoyed just doing what I was told to do, as if I’d set my own plan I probably would have given up part way through!

Long story short, I was pretty good until I had the hot bath Saturday Night. I don’t do well in the heat and this pushed me over the edge and I was sick. I know for the future that I want to avoid a hot bath as my body really protested it, during and definitely after. I’d always said that I wanted to avoid the sauna as I don’t cope well in them and the bath was a compromise – one which I will be trying my best to avoid in the future!

I woke up Sunday morning at 52.4kg – so close but not close enough to get into the 52kg class. We had stayed in Hamilton the night with Kyle’s parents so still had the drive over to Auckland to go before weigh-in. I kept chewing and spitting all the way to the competition and right until I stepped on the scales, combined with going toilet I managed to weigh in at exactly 52kg (I had to take my crop top off to get it!).

Straight after weigh-in it’s a rush to try and get as much food as you can in and re-hydrate without feeling too bloated or making yourself feel sick, I usually struggle to eat the day of a competition anyway so this was an extra struggle, added to by the fact that my throat was sore from being sick the night before. I felt a little bit off all day (even when we had gotten home that evening!), my head was a bit fuzzy and my tummy a bit crook but I just took it one lift at a time and put trust in my body that it knew what to do.

Squat

Warmups felt heavy and a little bit unusual as Carli had asked me to wear a belt and knee sleeves for the competitions for the first time. I’ve known that the time was coming to get sleeves and a belt so agreed it would be a good idea to trial them in this competition. I just kept adding the weight and following the plan we had put down, I had given my B plan lift as an opener for all the lifts with the hope that if I was feeling good I would increase my openers. I decided to leave the squat opener as it was, I opened with a heavy feeling 102.5kg and got it with no issues. No second attempt was a 110kg which I also got with no issues, my goal for this competition was to match Oceanias if I could. Even though I wasn’t sure if I had another 5kg in me I thought stuff it, let’s give it a go and I got the third attempt at 115kg as well which looking back at the video I could have potentially grinded out a 117.5kg if I needed too.

Bench Press

Bench press is my nemesis at the moment, however my warm-ups weren’t feeling too bad so I increased my opener with the hopes that I could have a go at the elusive 65kg. I opened with 57.5kg and got it no problems, my second attempt I had a big jump up to 62.5kg and it was slow! My third attempt I gave 65kg another try with no luck at all, it wouldn’t move off my chest at all. My form seems to break down when I go heavy on Bench, something which is a big goal to fix. One of these days I’ll write a re-cap where I get that darned 65kg bench press!!

Deadlift

Deadlifts have always been a good lift for me, I knew it would be interesting to see how they went after the weight cut! When I went to pull 132.5kg as a warmup and it didn’t move I had a bit of an ‘oh crap’ moment, I then pulled the belt off and tried it again and it came up, but slowly. I decided not to change my opener and kept it at 132.5kg (I know you shouldn’t lift your opener as a warmup, I honestly didn’t think I’d have any issues with it and was planning on changing my opener to either 137.5 or 140kg!), the 132.5kg moved quicker as an attempt on the platform, but still on the slow side for me, I went up to 140kg for a second attempt which was a bit grindy near the top. I didn’t think I had a 150kg in me today but knew that if I pulled a 145kg I would hit my goal of getting a 400 Wilks in competition so I decided to go for the 400 Wilks as opposed to trying the 150kg again. The 145kg moved a bit quicker than the 140kg did and it was a successful lift, granting me a 402 WILKS! While I’m a little annoyed I didn’t try the 150kg I know that I would have been gutted if I missed it and didn’t get the 402 Wilks, I may have had another 2.5kg in me but I think 150kg would have been a bit much that day!

Overall

Overall I am stoked with my results from my first competition in the 52kg class, despite the tough weight cut and competing only 10 days after the Oceanias my body did respond pretty well. My total from the EABC competition was 322.5kg and I got the Best Female Open Lifter Award (which I feel a bit guilty about getting! I probably should have been excluded from that, thinking back on it!). My total was also 10kg above the current (As at October 2016) 52kg total NZ record which is an awesome achievement as well!

Going forward I am enjoying all the Christmas & New Years food and then I will be looking at making some small tweaks to my nutrition so that the weight cut I did for the EABC competition is the hardest weight cut I ever need to do! Just loosing 1kg between now and the next competition (likely April 2017) will make life so much easier when it comes to making weight!  I’ve seen the stressing that some people have done for weight cuts, and the things they have had to do the night before and morning of weigh-in and I don’t want to be that stressed for a big competition as it has to take a HUGE toll on you both physically and mentally! Also if I don’t have to take my underwear off for another weigh-in I’ll be stoked 😉