[Meet Report] 2016 USAPL Aggie Showdown - College Station, TX (490kg/1080lbs @ ~70kg/154lbsBW, raw, 21y.o., 368 Wilks)

Disclaimer I don't post much so sorry if somethings messed up, I'll make edits if that's the case

TL;DR Went 9/9, 27/27whites, total meet PR of 90kg/198lbs and 61wilks, total PB of 16kg/35lbs I'm 5'8", walking weight of about 159lbs, got second in the 74KG raw JR

Backstory/Meet Prep Howdy, ya'll! I know there's been a lot of meets as of late so I kinda expect to get this buried, but I have an obligation lol. So I started "going to the gym" when I was about 17 years old. I did some machine and dumbbell work but found a fondness for calisthenics so for the next 2ish years I worked my way up the bodyweight ladder learning dip variations, mucleups etc. When I turned 20 (July,2014) I got tired of being 135lbs and wanted to try something new. So I found a Zyzz workout template (yes really) and started the body building life from there. I didn't really enjoy it too much; I only did it for maybe 3-4 months. But on the full body days it called for deadlifts, clean and jerks, and squats. I didn't really know how to do those so I looked up a few videos on youtube which lead me to Jonnie Candito's channel. Learned all about powerlifting and competition and the rest is history.

So my first meet was on July 11th, 2015 in Houston where I competed in the 74kg Jr division and totaled 400kg. I heard that its best to get your feet in the water early and I'm glad I did. I knew that I wasn't gonna do very well but I had a blast and met a lot of great people, some of which I'm still in contact with today. But after I finished at the bottom of the pack, I knew I really wanted to make more of a statement in my next one. I heard about this meet and thought it was a good time to compete again, so on August of that year I began my push.

For the first few months I worked to build up my squat. Due to my calisthenics days, I had a pretty (relativity) solid bench and deadlift but my squat was MUCH to be desired. So I took this time to build a 2 month template with tons of squat volume to get it out of laughable tier to regular poverty squat status. Afterwords I ran two cycles of Candito's 6 Week program for my Squat and Deadlift with a few weeks of volume work in between cycles. I do a GZCL style method for my bench. I used C6W to peek into this meet which went okay. I got sick two weeks out but thankfully it didn't last too long as was able to hit my top sets. The deload week saved me and I felt really energized the days following up. I was to weigh in around 11pm or so, so I got to sleep in a bit (whoop!).

The Meet I weighed in at about 69.7kgs (rounded up in the title) which is kinda expected since I tend to be very light in the mornings since I sweat a lot in my sleep. I general I have a conservative attempt selection mentality. Main goal was to break 1000lbs total, extended was 1080, and dream was 1100.

Squat 1: 142.5kg/314lbs 33lbs meet PR, three whites, felt easy. As you can see, I squat too deep. That's actually higher depth than I did at my first meet believe it or not. Its just where my groove takes me and I'm slowly working on bring it higher and higher as I get more competitive.

Squat 2: 152.5kg/336lbs 55lbs meet PR, three whites, looked better than it felt. I messed up my warm ups so I was worn out already by this point. I knew on a fresh day at the gym I could make a good jump for my third but decided to play it safe.

Squat 3: 162.5kg/358lbs 77lbs meet PR, 8lbs PB, three whites. I have a problem with my chest coming down. Normally I remember to que myself to keep a big chest on the way up, but forgot in the moment. Still got it up and was happy with the end result.

Bench 1: 105kg/231lbs Three whites. I don't know why but my armed weren't steady. I wasn't nervous; I think it could be the hand off. Regardless it flew up. Shout out to Team ChalkButt.

Bench 2: 112.5kg/248lbs 18lbs meet PR, three whites. Literally the easiest thing. Nothing much to say. If I saw this video I would have jumped to 120kg but that's hindsight for ya.

Bench 3: 117.5kg/259lbs 28lbs meet PR, 4lbs PB, three whites. I really should have gone up another 2.5kg. The only pounds I truly feel I left on the platform was here. Though still PRs a PR and was looking forward to deadlifts after the 6/6 so far.

Deadlift 1: 185kg/407lbs 38lbs meet PR, three whites. I think my stance was too narrow for this one. I don't use competition equipment so trying to eye ball where I normally have my stance took an attempt to get right. Flew up regardless and felt right on track.

Deadlift 2: 197.5kg/435lbs 66lbs meet PR, three whites. Looked and felt okay. I am trying to keep my chest up more but I think my shorter torso prevents me from being too upright... Or my forms just bad. Cut my knee on the bar so... sorry about the blood lol. Had to band-aid up for my third.

Deadlift 3: 210kg/463lbs 94lbs meet PR, 23lbs PB, three whites. This was the lift I'm most proud of. Felt heavy off the floor but I think it moved faster than my 2nd attempt; though I don't think I could have pulled any more this day. With that I totaled 490kg/1080lbs and got second place in the 74kg Jr division.

Plans and Shoutouts I wana thank Ryan and Micheal for being there to chalk me up and cheer me on. They got second in 74kg open and first in 74kg Jr respectively. Thanks Pa for filming. Thanks u/Magic_warlock0- for head judging. Sorry I couldn't stop and say hi to everyone from reddit at the meet, the fam was pretty ready to leave after the awards. Thanks to the one side judge for the complements on my squat lol. Not sure what I'll do for the next few weeks, probably just recover and do volume work, and set a more accurate bench 1RM for my programming %'s. Been looking at a few different programs to try like Mag/Ort but I think I'll do another C6W cycle before that. Had a blast. I think I'll compete again at a meet in Houston in July this year. Not sure on the goals, but now's the time to enjoy the present I think. Thank you for reading and thanks for everything, r/powerlifting !