This is a Facebook comment that US IPF worlds champion coach Matt Gary posted. I feel all of you involved in powerlifting (coach or athlete) should read this. Especially some of you having recent post meet blues. "OK, this is a mouthful. Apologies in advance. To me, this begs the question that Brad alluded to ... “Why do some perform better in the gym than in competition or vice versa?” Some thoughts ... At SSPT, we use skills evaluations (aka in-gym test days) as a means of assessing a lifter's current strength levels. Perhaps it’s been a long time between competitions and we need to determine their current state. Alternatively, some may be amidst an off-season block with no competition on the horizon and we don’t want to wait that long to test again. For others it may mean they're coming off an injury and we're trying to determine their current preparedness headed into a block. At other times, we may be trying to gauge the efficacy of a new stimulus (loading pattern, different assistance exercises, etc.). The skills evaluation comes with few consequences other than perhaps a bruised ego when your expectation may have been higher than the result. It’s arguable that skills evaluations are better for determining one’s true strength level. A lifter can warm-up at their own pace, take as many attempts as they wish until they either hit a number where they know they have nothing left or they actually miss. They’re often not under a judge’s scrutiny or done with a weigh-in. Either way, if you miss a lift, so what? No big deal. For some people, it’s the lack of pressure that enables them thrive. It’s like the player who can sink 10 consecutive free throws in practice when no one’s watching but can’t sink the last two when the game’s on the line. For a powerlifter, it can also work that way where they perform well when the lights are shining. Our lifters are coached and trained to be the opposite. We want to be our very best on game day and on the platform when and where it matters most. While some thrive without pressure, others thrive under it. I crave the pressure. I like weighing-in, having my lifts scrutinized by tough judging, all of it. Most in the SSPT stable all utilize the competitive adrenaline to our advantage and especially in the DL. Mike Tuchscherer and I discuss this all the time. Powerlifting competition does NOT measure the strongest person. It determines the best powerlifter. Obviously strength is a huge component of that but think of it as we’re all trying to fill a cup with water while not spilling any. You don’t want it to overflow. That’s precisely why attempt selection is so critical and the single most important game day variable. In the gym, we can all keep taking as many attempts as we want. In competition, there’s only three per discipline and the consequence of missing is that it detracts from your total and potentially carries a negative momentum wave into the next event. It’s always better to make a lift knowing you had another 2.5kg than to miss and wish you’d taken the lower number. The only attempts we get credit for are the ones we make. Nobody gives a damn what you miss. Training maxes (PRs) serve as a number to program from in a training block using percentages and/or RPEs. They rarely take the place of our competition PRs in terms of calling attempts UNLESS there’s a vast difference between the numbers. I’ll elaborate … let’s say you have a lifter with a competition BP PR of 314-pounds (142.5kg) and a gym PR of 325-pounds (147.5kg). That 5kg difference is significant in terms of several variables. We already know the 314 was done to standard in terms of weighing-in so my first question would be, was the 325 gym max done at the same bodyweight? If not (and the lifter is almost always heavier) that’s a red flag. Secondly, was the gym PR done AFTER a heavy/max SQ? Again, we already know the 314 was performed after a heavy SQ unless in was a BP-only or push/pull competition. If the gym max wasn’t performed after a significantly heavy SQ, that’s another red flag? Another variable … was the gym lift performed to competition standard in terms of commands? Of course most of us practice commands but do we practice them hard enough? I remarked to Sioux-z just this past weekend that I wanted her to start giving me longer press calls in training. We already do a lot of extra-long pause work but I’m just talking about our regular competition-style BP volume. The point is that you can already recognize potential disparities between gym lifts and those performed to competition standard. Accordingly, if I’m calling that lifter’s numbers, we’re going after the 314 number and NOT the 325. The attempts would therefore (likely) be 286/303/319. It’s better to smash 319 than to miss 325 or 330. Repeated misses leads to stagnation, frustration, and a negative mindset. Another example … a novice lifter with only a few competitions under her belt may be hitting much greater numbers in training than in competition. If her meet PR is a 75kg BP and she’s been routinely hitting 82.5kg in training, then obviously she has a justification to base her attempts from a higher number and go after a training PR. Last example … lifters who routinely chase the milestone PR rather than the next incremental one. A guy squats a 479-pound (217.5kg) PR in competition and then proclaims, “501 is next, baby!” What about 485, 490, or 496 first? Why does it HAVE TO BE 501? These idiots will go into the next competition and put 501 on the bar without any thought whatsoever. Of course, that lifter can and should take a shot at 501 if the training mandates it but they’re fools to just frivolously go into the next competition and put it on the bar because it’s the next big milestone. Sometimes large PRs will come. I just hit a 10kg SQ PR at the American Open. I attribute it to more volume at higher intensities and a different approach … one that obviously worked quite well. The problem is when people get so wrapped-up in their training maxes that they forget the competition PRs or they get lost in the milestone PRs rather than the next smaller one right in front of their face. Progress is still progress, no matter how small. And the last time I checked, they don’t give out awards for training maxes or what's done in the warm-up room. Medals and titles are awarded to what is done on the competition platform and those are the PRs important to me."
