Yeah I'm still looking at the rules but I'm wondering how should I prepare. First of all my total is still under 1.1k at 185#. I never lifted with any belt or wraps.
What do I need to compete in classic? Belt wraps/straps and a singlet? Can I use boxing shoes?
I'm starting week 3 of the cube, should I switch to a peaking program for the next 6 weeks? Should I stop all cardio?
Of all my lifts, my squat is lacking (bench 275, squat 315, dl 435). Any other advice?
First, I'll go ahead and answer these questions, then I'll go off on a tangent about what will happen. what to expect at the meet, by all means skip that part.
First thing you need to do to prepare is get in your entry form and your membership form. That's when your prep starts. The membership form is not something to slack on, if you don't get that in and have your card, you don't lift.
Your numbers will likely be better than I got at my first four meets, at a lower body weight. No one will care what you lift and it will be awesome.
List of things you need to have in a classic meet:
-singlet
-t-shirt (depending on how strict the meet is, it may need to be plain or have only images and names of a sponsor company. This is in the rulebook, whether or not they follow it at a local open meet is another story).
-knee high socks
-briefs (that's not boxer briefs, that's tight whiteys, colour being optional.) Every meet someone will show up with regular underwear and have to run out and buy some, or cut up the ones they are wearing, trust me, I've been there.
-shoes of any kind. Boxing shoes are fine.
Other things you can wear:
-belt
-knee sleeves
-wrist wraps
Keep in mind all three of those things must be brands that have paid their dues to the IPF. A list of approved equipment can be found here:
http://www.powerlifting-ipf.com/51.html
I wouldn't switch to a peaking program, assuming you are getting better on the one you are on now. You certainly can change the required reps on your heavy days in order to help you be more confident heading into the meet. Brandon says outright the samples he wrote are just that, and you don;t need to follow it to a tee. Hitting a heavy triple would be a good idea, since that's a good rule of thumb for your opener. Hitting a heavyish single, around a second attempt (assuming your plans aren't to PR on seconds then go for broke on third attempts), wouldn't be a bad idea either. If you can arrange that within your cycle on your heavy days, I think you'd be plenty prepared.
There isn't much you can do in six weeks to give your squat a big bump. If it's moving, stick with what you're doing. Form checks are never a bad idea, but you also don't want to make drastic changes close to a competition.
Onto my tangent, as if this wasn't already tl;dr enough. Here is what to expect at the meet.
You will need to show up two hours before for all kinds of bookkeeping. You don't want to cut this close, you really should be there early. You will need to do three things when you show up. 1) Weigh in. 2) Get your equipment checked. 3) Get your rack heights.
First thing to do is weigh in. What will happen is there will be a room for this process with a list posted outside. This will be the order in which you will get to enter the room to weigh in. Someone will be outside calling names, make sure you pay attention, because if you miss your turn, you wait until everyone is done. This could be as long as an hour and you don't want to have to worry about this. Once your name is called you will enter the room, get down to your underwear or naked and weigh in. While that is going down, you will be asked for your CPU card and your opening attempts in KILOS. You have to be prepared to give these numbers. You will also be given your attempt cards here, more on that later.
Onto equipment check. Anything you plan to wear on the platform, that's all the equipment listed above, you will need to present at this table. You will need your CPU card here as well.
Rack heights are normally far more casual. There will be a person, maybe a referee, maybe staff, who will have a clipboard who are ready to write down your numbers. You get under the bar, get it moved up and down until you are happy with one. This will be squat height, bench height, and the safeties for the bench.
Now you chill for a bit. Eat something, drink something, relax, chat with the other lifters. Be friendly with the guys in your flight, because you will need to work with them in the warm up room.
You are now ready to warm up. You most likely won't be in the first flight. That will be women and the really light guys. This means you will have to time your warmups to the lifting going on in the main room. As a general rule, each attempt will take one minute. That means a 10 person flight is going to be about half an hour and when they are on last attempts, your flight is about ten minutes out. Since you will likely be in a different room than the platform, it would be wise to have someone with you to check back and forth on the progress of the flight before you. This isn't something you should need to do. You are also going to need to know where in your flight you are lifting. First and last lifters are separated by 10+ minutes and you need to be aware of this to plan appropriately. All that should help you figure out when to take certain attempts
Make sure you speak up in the back room and get your warmups in when you need to. There may or may not be a lot of equipment to go around and your lifting is just as important as the rest of the flight's. With that said, don't take really weird plate jumps early in the warm ups. Hit specific numbers on your last, maybe second to last, warmups, but for the rest, take plate and quarter jumps, you're strong enough for that. You don't need to piss off the lifters in your flight over wasting their time and energy, especially since you need to cooperate with each other to perform well.
Now it's time to lift. When you are out in the main room, there will be a platform and an announcer. This is all you need be aware of. There will be chairs. SIT DOWN for fucks sake. I've been at meets where guys are squatting, and they literally stood for 45 minutes over the course of their squat attempts, before taking their final. This is dumb.
The announcer will before each attempt, come on the mic and say X is the lifter, Y is on deck, Z in the hole. This means X is the guy who will be lifting the bar that is loaded, Y will follow him, and Z will follow Y. They may also go as far as to say B is four out, this is obvious. When you hear your name, get ready. Collect whatever gear you need. Get it on and get chalked. If you don't have someone with you, get one of the other guys to chalk your back. It helps, so don't be shy.
When it is your turn, the loaders will load, they will let the judge know they are ready, he will point to the announcer, who will come on the mic and say 'bar is laoded'. Until you hear 'bar is loaded', don't go on the platform. Once you do, you have 60 seconds to start the lift. For the squat, this means you need to have walked the weight out, stand erect and received the squat command. For the bench, you have to have unracked it, lie with your head, butt and shoulders on the bench, with your arms extended and gotten the start command. For the deadlift, there is no command, you have to have started pulling. You have plenty of time, so don't rush through this.
Once you get your squat command, you go down to depth and stand back up. You will need to stand erect until the judge says rack, at which point the spotters will help you in and you walk it in. Since you opened smart and light, you've now nailed this lift. Congratulations, you're in the meet.
You are now on the clock again, or preferably your handler is. You now have 60 seconds to get in your second attempt. This is where the attempt cards you got at the weigh ins come in. You will grab the one that says squat second attempt and put in the number you want in KILOS. I forgot to mention, these need to be signed by you or your coach, this is best done before the lifting starts. You give this card to the head table and weight for your second attempt. You repeat all that above for your second and third attempts. We'll chat about attempt selection later.
You have no finished squatting. How many flights are there? If there are only two, you don't have much time and likely need to start warming up for the bench. If there are three, you are golden. You should eat/drink something if you want. Grab a pillow and have a quick nap. Chat up your new BFFLs in your flight. Whatever, just don;t waste energy.
Now it's time to bench. You will need to time this the same as the squat. Everything else is the same as the squat, except commands. You will get a handoff. You do not get to choose who hands off to you, he will be appointed (again this is in the rulebook, the meet might be slack on rules and let you). You will then lie there butt, head and shoulders on the bench until you get the start command. You lower it to your chest, you then keep it there until you get the press command. You blast that bugger off and you stay at lockout until you get the rack command. These will all feel like a million years long (especially the press command). Same as the squat on the cards and what not.
Onto the deadlift. You only have one command, the down command. Once you hear the 'bar is loaded' you go onto the platform, lift it within the 60 seconds, then once at lockout, wait for the down command. Cards, attempts selection, waiting, etc....
For how to make attempt selection, there are articles out there on how to choose. I'll leave it to people more experienced then me to advise you here
