Planning My Garage Gym Competition Meet
The Garage Gym Competition has always been about that one person, grinding away in their garage, for the sake of personal goals. It is who I am as a strength athlete, and who the vast majority of our athletes are today. This is who the GGC was created for… to give YOU the opportunity to compete, to push, to challenge yourself, and to have some fun.
But we learned the very first year, by means of Ryan Di Pompeo and the Working-class Barbell crew, that opening your doors to others is pretty badass. Ryan has ran the most awesome meet every single year, which garnered him and his team the first official GGC Ambassador award in the Spring of 2022.
With his lead, others have followed and created their own local meets, which then encouraged us to create resources and tools to help others do the same. You are 100% allowed and encouraged to keep your garage locked down for YOU and ONLY YOU. But if you want to open it up and welcome fellow lifters, we got you. So today, we are gonna chat about my personal plans and how I am working towards my 2nd event this Fall and what I see as the future for the local meet concept.
Gray Matter Lab
If you know my personal side of the GGC, I go by Gray Matter Lifting. My gym has been called the Gray Matter Lab. A buddy of mine after a grueling bodybuilding workout, told me I would have made a great Nazi Scientist with how terrible my workouts were. I took it as a complement and dubbed my gym the lab shortly after.
I ran my first local meet in May 2022, managing to only have 2 athletes total, 1 being myself. No worries, I wanted to test the waters and see how things went with a small crew anyway. I’m a firm believer in pilot testing processes before a full launch and commitment, so this worked out well.
We started at 11am. We went in the traditional order of Squats, Bench, and Deadlift, and we took our time as needed between lifts. Even took breaks to walk the neighborhood and let our systems cool down a bit before getting back at it. We managed to do all of our lifts, with ample breathing room, and finish just shy of 4PM. I set a few PRs, he was rehabbing a low back injury, and we had a blast.
Lessons Learned
Lessons learned were that I need confirmation of lifters a few weeks out. Not “maybe”, or “probably”. You are either in, or out, 2 weeks out. If you have a larger crowd, are planning food, or anything else, this is paramount. If YOU yourself are lifting, having the least amount of to figure out a few days out is key to keeping your head straight for the big lifts.
Make sure to have plenty of water, chalk, ammonia, and maybe some electrolytes handy. We made it through the day fine, but my hamstring after was BUGGING. Didn’t calm down till I got some potassium in me. Might be a nice addition for your competitors.
Weather was solid, we had music roaring, everything went smoothly. With only two athletes, we could make up our timing as we went. For just two people, I wouldn’t change a thing.
November Planning
I want to really make my local meet into something badass. I’d like to have
- about 10 lifters
- the event live streamed
- some local sponsors,
- food cooking, spectators, maybe even turn it into a little neighborhood block party
- kids have a jump house, etc.
With that comes some preparation. First, I’m leveraging the same tools we’ve provided those that have registered to host a local meet. These help me think through a lot of the potential hurdles, week before items, day of items, you name it. I’ve already sent out my initial invites to get some idea on who wants to show up.
Sponsors
WARD sent me some smelling salts refills, so those will be front and center for everyone, and I’ve got some fresh packs of chalk from Spider Chalk ready for some big lifts. I’ll likely talk to my local beef guy and get a good deal on a few big cuts of beef to smoke, and maybe my local grocery store for some sides and additional items.
One big piece with adding additional athletes, is around juggling different sized athletes. I am 6ft, my buddy who lifted with me in May is about an inch different. I already have friends who are 5ft 8 and closer to 5ft 5 booked for November. We DO NOT use the same safety settings on my rack, same J-Cup placement, etc. This can become a nightmare trying to load the bar, unload it, move rack placements, rinse and repeat a bunch more times. It wastes time, energy, creates the possibility for injury, and just isn’t a good experience. I’m eyeing down a Combo Rack for this reason. If you are hosting your own meet, make sure to think this one through. How are you going to accommodate multiple lifters with different heights and requirements?
If I can get the equipment I’m planning to have, I want to make sure my space is set up and looking good. I’m going to order three of these Backdrops which will allow me to cover up the walls, laundry, freezer, bikes, and other odds and ends in the garage, give me a cool backdrop, and the ability to take some clean video, photos, and add sponsor details behind the lifts. Really make this a professional set up.
Videos
Speaking of videos/photos, I’m going to be looking for a local photographer and videographer who wants to do something cool with the footage for the day. This will give us some cool stuff for afterwards. We’ll also have a dedicated tripod for phones, so everyone can have their lifts captured and ready for upload for the competition.
With more lifters I think the rhythm will move a bit faster and some of the dead space between the back and forth lifts we had with only two athletes would be eaten up, so I don’t believe I need to plan a TON of extra time for the additional lifters. That said, if we move towards the 10 number, we’ll likely finish closer to dinner time and the smoked meats and everything will be ready to rock.
I have a buddy who used to sing the national anthem at San Jose Sharks games and other locations, he’ll come kick it off for us. JGIII at Garage Gym Life Media has offered to live stream for us, and I’m looking into a few other odds and ends.
Basically, I know I want my event to be something really clean, presentable, professional, and badass, but still have the backyard meet feel to it. So I am prepping, preparing, and purchasing what I need to make it happen.
What Does This All Mean For YOU?
If you are looking to host your own local meet, you can register here. It makes sure you get all the details, resources, discounts, and other ideas and support. You do NOT have to go all out like I am. Many will leverage what they already have, not spend a dime, and have a kickass event with friends and family.
I want to continue to grow these events, make them available to more people, and help those hosting them take them up a notch or two. Hopefully the more visibility we can garner here (part of this is registering your event BTW), the more I can convince some sponsors in the future to support the local meets directly. Funds, food, equipment, accessories, and more. What we get from Jake at Garage Gym Experiment is awesome and is a big step in the right direction. But I see more of this in the future.
And if you have any ideas for me… things I should add to my space, equipment, lights, video stuff, live stream ideas, or anything else… let me know in the comments!
