It was a nice early morning for the morning group of the powerlifting comp as weigh-ins started at 6 am. Des, Jasmine, Jess, Tyrone, Charlotte, Bonner, Petra, Lisa, Jack and Brad all weighed in and relaxed before warming up for the day. I arrived at 7 am ready to coach the group. Everyone looked happy (for now) and Tyrone was eating his whole day of food within 20 minutes.

As always everyone started warming up slightly late, the only issue with this is pressure increases and most of the time it is a rush to finish warmups in time. Everyone seemed to catch up and get all of their warm-ups in.

I’ve decided to call the competitors who compete at comps the ‘Xteam’ previously our PT company which is now UHP PT. Any Competitors reading this- you will be supplied with branded merch if you make it to nationals- bags/ jackets etc. So get training!

Everyone had easy first attempts- 0 fails just a few red lights for technicalities- Des and Tyrone got the red light call for depth, from that point everyone knew the judges were strict on depth today and they all got their lifts on the board with the second attempts.

I don’t think anyone actually failed their squats due to not being able to get it up- just a few red lights due to depth caused a no lift (Jess and Des, unfortunately, got a no lift due to depth).

Final Numbers for the Squat:

Des: 107.5kg

Jasmine: 100kg

Jess: 95kg

Charlotte: 75kg

Bonner: 120kg

Petra: 90kg

Lisa: 112.5kg

Jack: 200kg

Brad: 180kg

Next up was the bench press, the most technical lift of the day. You will find that this lift is most affected by comp due to the technicalities of the lift itself and the greater number of commands that have to be adhered to.

Everyone seemed to have no issues with the bench press today as the first attempts were all white lights (meaning good lifts). It was one of the first comps that had over 50% of lifters hitting their 3rd attempts, with only Jess and Petra not being able to complete theirs. (Jess was pushing hard for this comp. She plans to redeem herself shortly at another qualifier comp for states- stay tuned for that one!) Bonner had an impressive comeback hitting her 72.5 after red lighting her 2nd attempt! Overall a very good day for benchers- Des did a good grind for her 3rd attempt also which was entertaining.

Final Numbers for the Bench Press:

Des: 55kg

Jasmine: 57.5kg

Jess: 52.5kg

Charlotte: 42.5kg

Bonner: 72.5kg

Petra: 65kg

Lisa: 60kg

Jack: 120kg

Brad: 122.5kg

Deadlifts were quite clean all round in my opinion- everyone pumped out their deadlifts and Jack had a big go at 240kg! I thought he was going to get it but unfortunately, he couldn’t get it past the knees! Attack the 250 at states, Jack! I have faith!

Jasmine had an easy attempt which flew up, Des got a PB after training with conditioning numbers, Jess ground it out but got it done anyway, Charlotte made it look pretty as always, Bonner wanted to kill the bar, Petra just wanted that white light, Lisa just reefed it up, Jack just wanted to beat his coach (Brad) and Brad got angry at hook grip and keeping his back flat.

Finishing Numbers Deadlift:

Des: 142.5kg

Jasmine: 140kg

Jess: 110kg

Charlotte:115kg

Bonner: 150kg

Petra: 120kg

Lisa: 155kg

Jack: 230kg

Brad: 220kg

Everyone went really well at the comp! And it was good to see everyone enjoying themselves and others’ achievements. Thanks for all the support you guys provided on the day! Looking forward to conquering states with you all 🙂 Keep training hard

Jasper, Maruna, Dylan, Ben and I competed in the 2nd session, stay tuned for the recap of these lifters! Jasper thought it would be funny to sink in until he was cm’s from the floor ‘just to make sure’ apparently. I think it was to show how easy the weight was.