How to Choose Your Powerlifting Meet Attempts: Openers, Seconds and Thirds

What each attempt is for

You get three attempts on each lift, and each one has a different job:

• Opener: gets you into the meet. If you miss all three on any lift you have no total, so the opener should be a weight you would make on your worst day.
• Second: builds a solid total. It should be a weight you are confident of, usually around your recent best training single or a little under.
• Third: your shot at a PR or your goal, chosen from how the first two moved.

Lifters who go 9 for 9 are rarely the strongest people in the room, but they usually finish ahead of people who are stronger and missed lifts.

Starting points

Work from your current best: a recent heavy single in training or an honest estimate from a recent hard set, not your best from last year. As a starting point:

Attempt	% of current best	How it should feel
Opener	about 90–93%	A single you could do for a triple on a good day. Around RPE 7.
Second	about 95–98%	Heavy but certain. Around RPE 8.5–9.
Third	about 100–103%	Your goal or a small PR. RPE 10.

If you are not sure of your current best, the 1RM calculator will give you a fair estimate from a recent hard set, and the RPE chart shows what a single at RPE 7 looks like for your max.

A worked example

Say your best recent squat in training is 200 kg:

• Opener: 182.5 kg (91%). You have hit it for a triple in your last block.
• Second: 192.5 kg (96%). If the opener moved fast, go to 195 kg.
• Third: 200–205 kg. Decided after the second, not before.

Write a plan A and a plan B for every lift before the day, so you are not doing maths in the warm-up room.

Adjusting on the day

Your plan is a starting point. Change the next attempt based on how the last one actually moved:

• Fast and easy (felt like RPE 7 or less): take a bigger jump than planned, up to the top of the ranges above.
• As expected: stick to the plan.
• Slow or grindy: take a smaller jump, or keep the second close to the opener so you build the total.
• Missed for technique (depth, racking early, not waiting for a command): repeating the weight is usually right.
• Missed because it was too heavy: repeat it only if you have a good reason to think it will go next time.

Pay attention to how your squat felt when you choose bench and deadlift attempts. A grinding squat third often means you have less left for the deadlift than you think.

Know the rules for changing attempts

Rules vary between federations, so read yours before the day. In IPF-affiliated meets, for example:

• You declare openers at weigh-in, and you can usually change them up to a few minutes before your lift starts.
• After each attempt you have one minute to hand in your next one.
• Each attempt must be at least 2.5 kg heavier than the one before. After a miss you may repeat the same weight, but you can never go lighter.
• The deadlift third can be changed twice, which helps when you are chasing a total.

If you have a handler, agree your plan with them before the meet so they can hand in attempts while you rest.

Common mistakes

• Opening too heavy because a big number looks good on the board. Nobody remembers your opener.
• Planning the third before the meet and taking it whatever happens.
• Picking attempts from an all-time best rather than where you are now, especially after a cut or a hard block.
• Forgetting the total. If you need a deadlift to hit a total or qualifying standard, the deadlift third is about the total, not a deadlift PR.

How Iron Raven helps

Iron Raven's Meet Day mode builds openers and goals from your training data, so the plan comes from what you have actually lifted. On the platform, you log each attempt as a good lift or no lift and it recommends your second and third from what happened. It works offline once the plan is loaded.