MEET DAY... 10/22 .. Kellie and I got prepared the night before.. it was going to be a long day.. lifting doesnt start until 10:30am.. but weigh-in was at 8:00am and rules review at 8:45am.. we packed a bunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for stamina and protein.. plus bottled water.. we were cautioned against energy drinks because the day is so long, that you end up crashing before the meet is over. We shipped the kids off to Nana's.. so that Mom and Dad could go crush some weight! (or attempt to!) In the car by 7:00am .. AC/DC cranking on the stereo.. we were both really amped up! All our gear was packed.. we were excited.. but really didn't know what to expect. We were very lucky that our friend Fred was coming to be our coach for the day.. he had done several meets and knew how the whole thing worked.. we were both really nervous.. but excited. When we got to the gym, Boston Barbell in Attleboro, it was a classic powerlifting gym.. tucked into an industrial part of town... no fancy signs.. no fancy chairs... no treadmills.. just hard core lifting equipment... for the first time, I saw a "Monolift".. which is this heavy duty squat rack ..we weighed in.. check... now was time to get our numbers for our Squat height.. what this means.. is we go up to the monolift and find out what "take off" height is comfortable, so that when the bar is loaded it is exactly the height we want it to be for take off.. The order of lifts are Squat-Bench-Deadlift.. Kellie was first for us to lift because she was lifting lightest.. she was really excited.. so excited that while she killed her first squat, she didn't wait for the "Squat" command.. and just dropped down and did it before the judges said to "Go."... in powerlifting.. everything is command based... "Squat"... means "Go.." and "Rack" mean you are done.. My first lift was 405... I knew I could do it fairly easily.. but I was worried about the commands and comfort depth... I got up there.. so pumped up... it felt like 100lbs.. and nailed it! Great start to the meet... stay tuned to the next entry for more updates.. and I'll tell you about what happened with my last Squat attempt...!