Sea Speed said:

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Can y'all parent find a team with donations and fundraisers? I can't imagine it would be too terribly expensive as long as the school lets them use the gym.

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According to THSPA, it has to be a registered school team (schools have to pay an annual membership fee) and it has to be coached by a full-time school employee and they are technically required to work out at the school facilities. Part of what I was told by the AD was that their weight room was too small and it was booked morning to night for use by the existing boys and girls sports and they could not accommodate another team needing dedicated time several times a week.

I would be perfectly happy just having a small group work out together at a local gym and fudge on that and pay all the expenses ourselves. I think the sticking point would be having a school employee as a "coach". Maybe we can find a way around that. I do find it annoying though that THSPA won't allow individual lifters when it's truly an individual sport. Just make the requirement they have to be a registered student at the school. I mean I competed through THSPA years ago, and I assume it's still a great organization. That would be my only complaint.

Can't find a school nearby and do some sort of co-op participation? Or is that not allowed in Texas?

According to THSPA, you have to be a student at said school. If you make regionals or state you are actually required to submit a signed letter from your school admin that you are qualified academically (not failing classes, etc). I've gone through there rule book pretty thoroughly recently

I'm gonna contact them just to see what their response is to our situation, but going by their rules it doesn't look promising. But there are National federations with teen and high school divisions, I just don't know a lot about them, which is why I asked.

Plano high schools have actually had powerlifting teams in the past, but none of them currently do.

Very simple solution. He does not have to compete with a high school team. He can compete in any federation. I have seen young kids at several of the meets. Find a gym that has a bunch of powerlifters. If you want, I can do some research and get you the names of some good gyms. Most of the guys I knew up there were very helpful and very eager to pass along their knowledge. My experience, the coaches at high school are trash. He'll get better coaching from other powerlifters.

Our group, we had all kinds. Had a 15 year old girl that was the daughter of one of our lifters compete with us and compete in high school. I am still pretty good friends with her dad and can get you all kinds of information.

There is $45 yearly fee for youth - 13-17.

Meets are all over. There is one Saturday in Aransas Pass. The 5th of October in New Caney. 26th of October in Fort worth, etc.

I'm not a huge fan of the USPA. I like the APA(used to be APF) and WPC. Won my championships with that group. Competed in a couple of meet i SPA. To me the USAPL/WPC had the best and most consitant judges. Also the USPA did not have an equipped class and I enjoyed that MUCH more than raw.

Email me and I can probably get you a ton of information. Let me know on here if you email. I don't check it everyday.

email is my username94@ gee mail dot com.

Also, from what I saw, these kids and high school coaches - it is all about programming. Learning technique is WAY more important than programming. Most high school coaches don't know crap about technique. The old school guys you will find at a gym will help with that. They will take him under their wing, get him trained up, help with accessory work, help with meet prep and meet day management. All they will ask in return is for him to take it seriously and work hard - and then at some future date - pass the knowledge on.

For reference:

USPA - United States Powerlifting Association

HOME | APA Powerlifting

Like I said not a huge fan of this association, but in all truthfullness, they are the most dominant right now and as you can see, there are plenty of meet opportunities.

Desination Dallas is whay my firend says. He is a judge for USPA, also. Hard azz judge, but fair and consistant. About 15 minutes away from Plano.

Destination Dallas, Texas For the Core of the Iron Sport (destinationdallastexas.com)

Thanks for all the info man! That's exactly what I was looking for. We'll check out that gym as well. It's in Allen, not far from us. Really appreciate it!

After a brief lifting hiatus, I am getting back in the saddle. Took about 4 months off, got in some random training here and there but nothing consistent.

Planning to cut my volume in half from where I left off and build back up. Hoping I can get relatively close to where I left off in about 2 months.

Feel pretty pathetic not even having 2 plates on the bar for my squat workout and still being sore, but I'll shake the rust off soon.

It won't take long to get it back.

Regarding your volume, I actually think keeping your rep range higher as you're getting back into the swing of things. Sets of 12-15-20 reps as you rebuild your strength. That rep range limits the amount of weight you're using while you're getting back into the swing of things.

Squats on the other hand… I wouldn't wish someone doing more than 12 reps on squats on anyone lol

Yes, I'm going to reevaluate after a couple of weeks and see how things feel. My cardio has taken a hit, so I may try to knock out some sets of 10 after my working sets.

Going to spend November feeling things out and December to try to build back to where I left off. I did lose some weight so I'd like to keep it off, so I will be dialing my nutrition in too (as much as I can during the holidays anyways).

Then spend January building a solid base and start really pushing again in February.

More importantly, will you go back to the gallon of milk per day?

Hey, it was only a half gallon!

I probably will if I plateau. I still want 5 plates on squat and deadlift but with kids getting older and more extracurriculars it's probably going to be a slower grind than I'd like.

Returned to bb bench this week after a year long hiatus. Typically bench with dumbbells. I lifted 240 lbs x 3 without too much exertion. I also got my pitiful squat up last night to 310 lbs. I've seen women squat 300 lbs but for me it was a real milestone of which I'm quite proud. Needless to say I won't be bragging at the water cooler about my squat. I also returned to deadlifts after about a year and knocked out 315 x 5 without too much exertion.

I'm going to be 52 in 12 days.

What's your usual dumbbell bench routine and how much do you lift relative to what you did on barbell?