Congrats on doing a meet. You'll have a blast and get addicted in short order.
MP has some solid advice as always. I'll give some alternate ideas but the idea is to do what you think helps the most.
As for what to wear under your singlet look at your Feds rule book. My fed allows shirts so long as they have no profanity and you're allowed to wear whatever for underwear so long as it's not gear like power briefs or squat suit etc. I chose to wear some under armour compression briefs which are basically boxer briefs but spandex and tight to hold my junk snug....and bc I wear it in the gym so I'm comfortable in them.
Different Feds have different rules. Mine allows knee sleeves but you must sign up for raw modern. Raw classic is just belt and wrist wraps no knee support. If you have the funds I'd suggest getting a good belt also ASAP. Wear it in quick and get used to training with it and learning how to breathe and hold your air in your belly not your chest. It will add pounds to your lifts from the first use for most ppl.
I agree not to cut weight for your first meet. I mean if all you need to drop is a few pounds of water then that's one thing. You could eliminate caffeine for a week prior so your tolerance goes down then the day of and before take some caffeine pills or coffee and maybe hawethorne berry also to drop a couple pounds of water. I also did some fasting and glycogen depletion since I had a 24hr weigh in and ample time to hydrate and carb load before the meet. Don't cut by going into a calorie deficit though.
If you're meet is in August it's too early to really have a good gauge of your attempts. By mid to late July you'll have a much more clear picture. Don't worry about your attempts much either. You should be able to be relaxed, calm, and not stressed over minor details. Concentrate on taking care of business on the platform. The last 4-8wks or more even before your meet you should be training under meet conditions. This means same shoes, same protective gear, maybe even in your singlet, work on commands, add pauses to your bench, etc. Specificity is going to be very important in those weeks.
Without knowing your exact training and recovery it's hard to gauge when to pull back but if you're doing something closely resembling starting strength then your last lifting session before a Saturday meet should be around Saturday or Sunday. A heavy bench for single or double and maybe some squats too. Deadlifts I'd stop at least 1.5wks before. The week before the meet work on foam rolling and mobility drills and staying loose and fresh.
Also read your Feds rule book about what's expected for each lift. It's not fun getting red lighted for a technical issue even though you got the lift up. Ask me how I know
The key is getting your total on the books your first meet. That is priority number 1. My friend told me this:
"I have left lots of pounds on the table, and I have bombed out. Guess which sucks worse.........
Your first attempt should be something you can easily hit for a double or triple anyday of the week. Somewhere around 85% or so. Your second attempt would be around 92-95% and something you can also do for a hard but not grinding single. Last attempt go for a moderate PR.
Here's what my friend has to say about that
Lift selection can be difficult. I do it differently than most. I take a strategic approach to the opener that many disagree with, but here are my thoughts on the methods.
One method:
First: 200 (easy)
Second: 300 (moderate)
Third: 400 (grinder)
Average loading: 300lbs
Max load: 400lbs
Other method (person of equal strength)
First: 350 (moderate)
Second: 375 (difficult)
Third: 400 (grinder)
Average loading: 375lbs
Max loading: 400lbs
This is an obviously exaggerated example of lift selection, but look at the work done per attempt. The first lifter gets on the board easily. And even though both guys are 400lb lifters, the first lifter has achieved a successful lift with much more energy conserved for the PR attempts. The second guy has been working his ass off on high percentage sub-PR attempts that may compromise his PR attack.
Spacing all of your lifts within striking distance of your PR isn't always the best plan.
Rule #1--get on the board.
A grinder on your first attempt is a bad sign. Kind of leaves you nowhere to go.
