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How to Choose Your Powerlifting Attempts
In a full power meet you get three attempts at squat, bench, and deadlift, and only your best successful lift in each counts toward your total. The art of attempt selection is balancing a safe, banked total against the personal record you actually came for.
The opener: bank a number you cannot miss
Your opener should be a weight you are confident you could hit even on a rough day, which for many lifters lands somewhere around ninety percent of your current best. The reason to be conservative is simple, because missing all three attempts in a lift gives you a zero in that lift and ends your day. Treat the opener as insurance that guarantees you a total, not as a place to be a hero.
The second: get close to a record
The second attempt is where you build a competitive total, so it usually sits near your recent best, often in the range of ninety five to ninety seven percent of your top number. A good second attempt is heavy but realistic given how the opener felt and how warmups moved, and it sets up a sensible jump for the third.
The third: chase the personal record
The third attempt is your shot at a true personal record, and because your total is already banked from the second, this is the place you can reach. How far you reach depends on how the second attempt looked, since a smooth second invites a bigger jump while a grinder calls for a smaller one.
Let how the day feels guide the numbers
Attempt selection is not a fixed script, since warmups, adrenaline, and how the previous attempt moved all tell you whether to push or hold. This is exactly why planning your attempts in advance and then adjusting them live is so valuable. Ægir Iron lets you build attempt and warmup plans for squat, bench, and deadlift before the meet, and adjust them in real time as the day unfolds, with the same plan visible to your coach so the two of you stay in sync between attempts.