The Mock Meet: Your Ultimate Dress Rehearsal for Competition Success

You've spent months training for your powerlifting competition. Your strength is peaking, but are you truly prepared for the unique pressures of meet day? The best way to find out is to run a mock meet. A mock meet is a full-scale simulation of a competition, performed in your own gym. It is the ultimate dress rehearsal, allowing you to test your equipment, nutrition, warm-ups, and attempt selection in a low-stakes environment. This guide will walk you through how to run a successful mock meet.

Why a Mock Meet is Non-Negotiable

A mock meet bridges the gap between training and competing. It helps you:

• Test Your Openers: This is the most important reason. It allows you to feel your planned opening attempts under conditions of accumulated fatigue.
• Practice the Commands: Having your training partners give you the official "Squat," "Press," "Rack," and "Down" commands makes them feel automatic on meet day.
• Dial in Your Warm-ups: It's your chance to test your planned warm-up progression and timing. Did you finish your last warm-up too early? Too late?
• Test Your Meet Day Nutrition: You can practice your entire meet day nutrition and hydration strategy to see how your body responds.
• Build Confidence: A successful mock meet is an incredible confidence booster and can significantly reduce meet day anxiety.

As recommended by many top coaches and resources like BarBend, a mock meet is one of the most effective preparation tools available.

How to Structure Your Mock Meet

Plan your mock meet for 2-3 weeks out from your actual competition. This is close enough to be a true test of your current strength but far enough out to allow for full recovery.

1. Replicate the Environment

• Time of Day: Start your mock meet at the same time your real competition will begin.
• The Crew: Get your training partners involved. You'll need 3 "judges" (one to give commands) and spotters.
• The Gear: Wear everything you will wear on meet day: your singlet, belt, sleeves, and wraps.

2. Follow the Competition Flow

• Weigh-in (Optional but Recommended): Go through the process of weighing yourself in the morning.
• Warm-ups: Follow your planned warm-up progression for the squat exactly as you would at a meet.
• The Lifts: Perform three attempts for the squat, then three for the bench press, and finally three for the deadlift.
  • Attempt Selection: Use your planned openers. For your second and third attempts, make your selections based on how the previous lift felt and looked, just like you would in a real meet.
  • Rest Periods: Take the appropriate rest periods between attempts and between lifts.
• Handler Practice: If you have a meet day handler, this is their dress rehearsal too. Let them run your warm-ups and help with attempt selection.

3. The Post-Mortem: Analyze and Adjust

After the mock meet, analyze what happened.

• Review Your Logbook and Videos: What went well? What went wrong?
• Were your openers the right choice? If your squat opener felt like an RPE 9, it's too heavy and needs to be adjusted down.
• Did your nutrition plan work? Did you feel energized or bloated?
• Did you have enough time for warm-ups?

A mock meet is the ultimate tool for bridging the gap between training hard and competing well. It exposes weaknesses in your preparation, allows you to make critical adjustments, and builds the confidence you need to step onto the platform and perform at your absolute best. Don't let your first time running through a full meet be on the actual competition day.