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Articles of Interest to Those New To Powerlifting,
As Well as Sport Veterans. |
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Bench Press Specialist For A Day
Donna Marts
Do you remember the old cereal commercial where the kids would say, "Let's get Mikey to try it, he hates everything!" Well I'm the anti-Mikey of the Novice Powerlifting World because I will try almost anything if it is a new adventure. With that in mind you can guess what my response was when a few weeks ago Priscilla sent me an e-mail asking me if I wanted try Bench Press Nationals. Let's see, it was being held in Denver where Dan and his crew had done such an awesome job on Women's Nationals, and it was definitely a new adventure for me because I had never been to a single event competition before as a spectator or a competitor. You guessed it, Donna the nutty novice powerlifter entered her first competition for specialists and spent March 25th and 26th in Denver at the USAPL Bench Press Nationals.
I was surprised at how much was similar to a three lift met and how much was also very different. Ah, the best part of all competition was exactly the same, making weight. Yuck, enough said about that. We were all given our attempt cards but only one set since there were just three attempts. The corollary to that was also true; there were only three attempts. I think that "only" in there made the warm-ups a little different. For three event meets we want to be warm but make sure we don't use up too much of the fuel in our tanks since there are more lifts to come. Endurance is much less of an issue for a single event competition so I noticed the women warming up heavier and longer. The attempts seemed to be a little bolder and more daring on second and third attempts as the Women went for the big numbers. The competition went very quickly so my nerves barley registered on the panic meter which was a new sensation for me. I was amazed at how many Women and Men made Bench Press such a beautiful event to watch.
So, why would a novice like myself consider going to an event for specialists? It's simple; to get the platform experience with elite level Referees that you just can't get in the gym. I march onto the platform and told a complete stranger where I wanted the bar placed above my chest and it hardly fazed me. I didn't have to wait to see the lights to know my first two attempts were solid but my third one did a dip before locking out and was no good. All this experience left Denver with me and will travel with me to my next competition where I will put it to good use.
Have I converted to a single-event specialist? This novice has way too much learning to do and adventures to have to say that but I will tell you I enjoyed every minute of my day as a Bench Press Specialist!
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