powerlifting

The Powerlifter’s Arsenal: A Game of Inches

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The weight is over! Now that the rookie and intermediate lifters are taken care of, it’s time to turn our attention to the more advanced lifters with money to burn who are looking for every advantage they can get. Wrist Support When most people think of wrist wraps, they think bench press, but I bought them to help with my squat. I never thought I would need wraps until I began experiencing symptoms of carpal tunnel, and wanted to see if more wrist support would help after I noticed during higher rep squat sets I’d end up letting my wrists extend. The wraps did wonders to help with not only the carpal tunnel symptoms but let me push harder on high rep sets for both squat and bench. I ended up picking up a pair of the 20” medium [Read more...]

The Powerlifter’s Arsenal: Leveling Up

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With the basics, the key is to stay simple and cheap. As with all hobbies, it makes little sense to invest heavily in equipment until you’re consistent, and know you’re sticking with it for the long haul. Once you near intermediate level, you likely will not achieve significant leaps in progress through improving your form, so now is the time to buy your way to new PRs. Chalk It Up Certainly not a significant expense, gym chalk still seems best reserved for more experienced lifters, who lift at a gym that even allows the use at all. Likely when you first start, your grip strength is the least of your concerns, so there is little need to deal with the hassle and mess of chalking up for your lifts. Once you’re pushing the limits of [Read more...]

The Powerlifter’s Arsenal: The Starter Pack

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When I first started lifting, I’d see giant dudes at the gym lugging comically large duffel bags, filled with who-knows-what, and would wonder how anyone thought all of that stuff was necessary. Fast-forward seven years, and now I’m somehow one of those dudes. Life at the gym used to be quite simple. But as the years went on, and I worked with increasingly heavy weights, I slowly added tools to help me in my quest for strength. Just The Basics This is the first in a series of posts to document my accumulation of lifting gear, starting with the bare bones essentials to start your gym Odyssey. Notebook When you’re just starting out, the most important items to have with you at every session is a notebook and pencil. I’ve found that a [Read more...]

Albany Strength USAPL Powerlifting Meet

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deadlift

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of doing something I never thought I would: competing in an honest-to-goodness powerlifting meet! Background For the uninitiated, a powerlifting meet typically consists of three main lifts: barbell squat, barbell bench press, and barbell deadlift. The competitors are divided into various weight classes, and each is given three (one rep) attempts at each exercise to move as much weight as possible. Winners are picked in each weight class based on the total of the heaviest successful attempt in each lift. The Results Since it's what most will want to know, might as well go over it first: how did I end up doing? The Squat I was very happy with my performance in the squat. To kick things off, I [Read more...]