Competitions - Part 4

Choosing competition ‘openers’?

Opening lifts are the first Snatch and Clean & Jerk you’ll attempt in the competition. These should be lifts you are wholly confident in hitting. Remember, you can always add weight for attempts 2 and 3.

In your first (many) competitions, chose openers sensibly, these should be a no-brainer and a weight you can hit on any day of the week. Use the competition to gain experience, see what works for you and see how you deal with competition pressure. We’ll have a separate article covering the in’s and out’s of Championship lifting. This article is intended to guide you through your first few events.

In the run-up to competition, you’ve likely tested your max lifts to see what you’re capable of, and to set some goals for the competition itself. We cover maxing out and competition prep programming elsewhere, but generally, for an established lifter, t’s a good idea to test sometime 10 – 14 days out of competition for Clean and Jerk and 7 – 10 days for Snatch. For beginner lifters limited by technique and mobility, maximal attempts are not going to be as taxing on the system so these can be performed far closer to competition.

Use the pre-competition max out to establish some suitable ‘opening’ attempts.

It’s also worth noting, some people lift incredibly well on the platform and seem to gain an extra 10kg from nowhere. Others need to warm up to 1kg below their opening attempt and rarely PB in competition. You won’t know what type of lifter you are until you try. But making your opening lifts in either case will set you up for success and a smile at the end of the day. There’s no point opening on lifts you’ve never hit before or struggled to lift in training. It might pay off… but you may also leave feeling disheartened if it doesn’t go in your favour.

There may come a time in your career when you need to make a certain total to qualify for an international team, and you’ll put the weight you need to hit on the bar to start with and have 3 attempts at it. But these instances are very few and far between. When starting out, aim to hit 6 for 6 every time. To do this you need to hit your openers!

The competition doesn’t end on your openers, however. So have a general plan for your next 2 lifts. Keep these to similar weight jumps you’d take in the gym, e.g. a 3kg or 4kg jump. Pre-planned attempts don’t need to be followed exactly, but they’ll give you a rough idea as to what to do next. If you’ve hit your openers, you can have a little fun with these. The pressure’s off. You already have a score on the board. The 3r attempt is a great space to go for personal bests.

Be prepared to make more, or less, conservative jumps based on your previous lifts. A coach will make these decisions for you if you have one there. Don’t get carried away, it’s better to take a 3kg jump and make the lift than a 5kgand miss.

Don’t leave Kg’s on the platform! They all add up.

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