"Failed" Powerlifting Meet

You win some, you lose some. This past weekend, I definitely did not win on the platform.

But what I didn't win on the platform, I won in experience.

For the many people who are likely unfamiliar with powerlifting, it consists of 3 attempts at the squat, 3 attempts at the bench and then followed by 3 attempts at the deadlift, with the total being the sum of the best of each 3 lifts. It is also broken up by weight classes, with the classes being closer together in weight, and spaced further apart as they go heavier.

My last meet I totaled 1100 pounds weighing 181 pounds, this meet I totaled 972 at 165 pounds.

I obviously did much worse, but what did I learn from it, and how can I apply that to other aspects of life?

• I decided to do this meet at a lower weight class, while in preparation for a bodybuilding contest. Even though they are both fitness related, the end goals are not the same in each. This reinforced my notion that I can't split my focus if I want to get to the top.
• Not hitting depth on my second squat attempt. I absolutely smoked this weight and I thought I was deep enough, but it turned out I was at parallel instead of below parallel. If you're going to put in the effort to do something, make sure you know exactly what it is you're doing, so you don't waste time and energy.
• Only going 4 for 9/making too large of jumps between my 2nd and 3rd attempts. I definitely left plenty of weight on the platform, because I made bad selection attempts. You have to know when it's best to take on something a little easier and knock it out of the ballpark, as opposed to reaching too far and come up empty handed(you also have to know when you need to reach).
• I underestimated the impact that dropping weight and recovering from the stomach flu would have on my lifts. Similar to above, I knew I had a few outside factors which would affect my strength, so I probably should have backed off a bit. In life, the default seems to be to say yes to everything coming your way, but sometimes you are overloaded and have to say no or back off a bit.

Could I have totaled more? Yes. But this meet wasn't an entire failure, I will take what I learned and apply it to life and the next meet.