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On the weekend of the 26th June Tom and I competed in the European Drug Free Powerlifting Championships in Maromme, France. I thought I would share the experience with you and see what lessons I learnt in the process.

The ferry was booked for Friday morning at 8:30, which meant we had to set off at 05:30 to make the drive and then obligatory 90minute sit around at the port. This all went well and we arrived in Le Havre at about 12:30 and then drove to the town of Le Petit Quevilly, in which we were staying. Thirty minutes or so of blindly driving around the streets and a little walk and detective skills found us our hotel. It was hardly the Ritz but was cheap and only 15minutes drive from the competition venue. After we had settled in we decided it would be a good idea to drive to the venue so we knew the way and would have no stress on the morning of competition, it was a 07:00 weigh in and driving around aimlessly would only make the day longer. The venue was a well set up sports hall with a large gym for warming up, so we were looking forward to a great day of competing. That night I weighed in light so had a sandwich for tea and we all went to bed early.

Through the night it seemed that French people think banging on the walls and talking really loudly is the perfect way to ease themselves to sleep, so it wasn’t the best night’s sleep, but I woke up feeling reasonably crisp and 81kg on my scales. Its plenty under the 82.5kg that I needed to be but I have gained places in both the British champs I have competed in by being lighter than someone who got the same score as me so I didn’t eat anything.

On arrival we had to sign in and get rack heights before we could weigh in, slightly frustrating when starving and thirsty but by 07:30 I had weighed in at 80.6kg and got everything sorted. A bottle of Lucozade and a Snickers bar later I was feeling much better. We then had to wait for the Mayer of the town and the opening ceremony. Each team had their flag and had to come out to the sound of their national anthem. There was no clue as to the order and it was somewhat rushed, but it was cool to do in the end and the first time I have done it.

After the ceremony the flights were announced and we found out that we were squatting at 12:30. The morning was spent watching the lighter men and women squatting. The judging was incredibly harsh, people were getting 3 reds for uneven bar path, inadequate depth for what seemed like perfect squats and many other reasons. It was then quite difficult for the lifter to get a reason for their failure not just because of the language barrier, as the judges had no cards to show the standard reasons and did not always seem happy to give the reason.

When it came to warming up for the squatting Tom and I were sure to go as deep as possible and drive our heads up to make sure we didn’t get failed for piking our hips. The warm up went well and we went out for the squats. Tom had lowered his opener due to the harsh judging but I was confident with mine at 180kg so stuck with it. Tom smashed his comfortably and a few lifters later it was my turn. I dropped in deep and drove my head up and it felt great, 3 whites confirmed that the judges agreed and I was pleased to be in the comp, many others could not say the same at this point. The second round came and Tom missed his 172.5kg, I dropped in nicely with 192.5kg and got 3 whites, very pleased and confident that I could keep pushing and get a PB. Third round saw Tom make the 172.5kg on a 2 to 1 decision but he was quite happy with it. Psyched up ready to get under 200kg I confidently picked it out of the rack, but was a little unsteady, a deep breath to fill my lungs and get some pressure readied for me the call....”squat” in a French accent came loud and clear. I sat into it very deep and then started the ascent. My head went forwards and was going nowhere, the spotters just about bundled me back into the rack with a missed catch on one side and a then a missed placement in the rack. I was disappointed but still generally pleased given the circumstances.

We then had an hour or so to fill until we started warming up for the bench, so we grabbed some food and watched the 90’s squat and the lighties and women bench. There were some very pretty squats and the decisions seemed to be fairer so things seemed to be improving. We warmed up for the bench and it felt OK, not He-man but not bad. On the platform Tom nailed 105kg and I got through 110kg, it was harder than I wanted but I went on with the plan of 117.5kg for the second lift. Tom confidently moved through 112.5kg and I came out for 117.5kg struggling to get psyched for it yet confident of pushing it, as I had done in the gym many times. I set myself up on my shoulder blades, back arched, glutes tight and called “ready”, the spotter lifted me out “my bar” left me with what felt like much more than 117.5kg. The ref called “start” and down it went, holding it on my chest didn’t feel great and on “Press” I drove hard but the bar stopped dead about half way up, my standard sticking point. In the third round Tom dealt with 115kg easily and I came out for 117.5kg again. As soon as I took the weight I was feeling weak, after the “press” call the bar moved about an inch before I totally ran out of strength. Another fail on a weight that should be no problem. I was angry and starting to feel that things were slipping away from me.

The deadlift was another hour or so away so we tried to find a cool place to relax, the whole building was roasting and we were both feeling very tired and overheated. The deadlift came around, the warm up went well and my first lift of 220kg came up fine, as did Tom’s 200kg. 210kg went up well for Tom and 232.5kg was the same for me. There was a screen with the competitor’s lifts in the room but it wasn’t showing the lifts for this competition, the judges were completing it for the lower weights and when I asked them to change it for me they either didn’t understand me or just didn’t want to so I had no idea how close I was to my competition. I decided that I may aswell try to finish the day with a big lift and try to equal my PB of 242.5kg. I went back to help Tom get ready for his final lift, he knew that he needed to make this lift to win so I slapped him round a few times and reminded him of why he was here while he snorted some ammonia and strode out onto the platform. The MC then announced that this was the lift for the European Powerlifting title and Tom set to it. The bar slowly rose past his shins as he drove hard upwards, as it passed his knees they juddered and locked it out...”Down” from the ref and an ecstatic Tom turned to the lights, which delayed for a few seconds and then showed....3 REDS!

This was due to the fact that judges thought the shuddering legs were a form of hitching. So he had finished 2nd by 2.5kg on his total of 497.5kg. A few lifters later I walked out for my 242.5kg to save some face for the competition. I set myself up and pulled, the bar moved then swung away from me and I was stuck, we came down to the floor and my day was over. Pure anger and disappointment left me striding around the car park cursing myself and my poor preparation for the event and vowing that I would never be nonchalant about a major competition again. I also managed to rip my leotard when I sat down outside so I was pretty unhappy with the whole affair.

As it turned out I had come 3rd in the 82.5kg senior men with a 535kg total,17.5kg less than my PB but not a bad achievement, I had missed 2nd by 2.5kg. Had I known this during the competition I would have adjusted my lifts accordingly and may have got them.

By the time the awards ceremony came around Tom and I had calmed down and perked up when we saw the size of trophies we going to get and the bags with “W.D.F.P.F. Finale Europeenne de Powerolifting” written on them. We left feeling like we had enjoyed the day, which was generally run well and we had taken a lot from the experience.

Reflecting on it now I am looking forward to some very hard training to get my squat and bench up to scratch. I also know that I need to recognise that when things aren’t going well for whatever reason I need to re-evaluate my lifts. It is fine to plan them all out before hand so that you get PB’s and a giant total but it doesn’t always work that way in competition. Sometimes you should dial things back to allow you to get all 3 final lifts and secure the best total on the day, let everyone else get big balls and make the mistakes.

In the end it was a great weekend spent with a great lifting companion and also my girlfriend Jen, who offered endless support and great camera work to film all the lifts. I can’t wait to compete again and right all the wrongs from this weekend.