The Meet-Day Checklist
Every tactical decision of a weightlifting meet, in order, on one page. From the entry total to the last lift. Print it, laminate it, keep it in your bag.
Meets are decided at the table, not just on the platform
Two lifters with identical numbers walk into the same session. One leaves with a medal and a qualifying total. The other leaves with three misses and a story about how close it was. The difference is rarely strength.
Before the meet
Entry totals, session cutoffs, opposition research, and choosing openers you will actually make.
During the session
Counting attempts, timing the warm-up, running the card, and protecting your clock.
When it's decided
Last-lift position, forcing a rival's number, and what to do when a call goes against you.
What's on the checklist
Fifty-odd checkpoints, grouped by when they happen. A few of them:
- Use the lowest entry total that gets you into the right session
- Weigh your athlete's singlet. The 250 g deduction is fixed
- Declare openers 3–5 kg under the real one. Not the full twenty
- Add the misses to your count. Six attempts is really eight
- Read other teams' warm-up bars to find their real openers
- Sign for every attempt. That signature is what gives you two changes
- Run all four calling-order factors, including start number
- Never leave the table
- Aim at weights ending in 0 or 5 when you need loading time
- An unexpected two-minute clock after a heavy make is often bait
- Remember the tiebreak. Making the total first means a tie doesn't beat you
- There is no protest and no appeal. The card is your only recourse
USA Weightlifting Senior International Coach. Assistant coach for the United States Olympic weightlifting team at the 2024 Games in Paris. Coach of athletes to national titles and international medals at the Pan American Games, Pan American Championships, and World Championships. Author of Strong Mind and Velocity-Based Training for Weightlifting. He coaches the 1Kilo team in Bloomington, Indiana.
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One page. Free. Built from thirteen chapters of meet-day tactics.
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