I’m sorry to say you don’t qualify mate. You don’t enter novice meets and start doing all that dumb shit.
Seriously, I couldn’t care less if someone just wants to play around with stuff. What pisses me off are the ones who just do novice meets and count gym PRs as PRs. You can make a safe bet that they don’t learn on their own either. You could ask them who Ed Coan or Louie Simmons are and they wouldn’t know. They don’t know what equipped lifting is either and when they do find out probably say it’s cheating.
That’s just me being a cranky fuck though.
Fuck, it’s none of my business. I know. I just want people to have some kind of respect for the sport and not treat it like some fun little game they play a couple of days a week.
Doesn’t everyone have to start somewhere hence the novice meet? If they don’t do these then surely the card is packed at a proper meet with people who have no business being there ??
It’s when people do multiple ones I get shitty. I figure, you do a novice meet once. After that, do it properly. Then the excuses come up, I’m uncomfortable, I don’t like the soft suit, it’s about participating, I won’t be competitive…
Squat, walked out
2x5xbar/60 lbs
5xplate/170 lbs
3x2 plates/280 lbs
2x3 plates/390 lbs - belt and wraps at five revolutions
4x1x435 lbs - first set five revolutions then six for the remainder. Rest between sets was watch video, roll wraps, wrap knees again. Even with that the four sets took 20 minutes, wrapping my knees takes around two minutes then another minute to do my wrist wraps and put my belt on.
8x435 lbs - out of the mono, AFSAP done in one set, had to go someplace I don’t like much but it’s effective. Seven revolutions
If they’ve been giving the iron game 100% and going balls to the walls and not just showing up for Bench Monday for a chat then I reckon they do have a business being there to test the waters. I’ve found the lifting community is full of very supportive people in comps, all egging each other on to do their best.
I just think that for a lot of people going from training to competing is a big step. The introduction of the novice comp (which I assume is a recent thing, could be wrong here). Fills a gap where people who think they might like it can dip a toe in the water before they do a running bomb!! This in my opinion is done to drive participation and ultimately membership and revenue.
Woke at 251.3 lbs, looking similar to yesterday but drier. Probably dehydrated, did a shit job of eating and drinking in the evening plus ran my squat/DL fever I seem to run these days after heavy sessions so I was burning up and pissing out sweat.
In my opinion, a “novice” class for a powerlifting comp is pretty pointless. You get to pick your own weights that you are lifting! I guess you could then say you placed higher in the novice weight class than if you were to compete with the regular guys?
There is obvious value in a “novice” class for sports like strongman, where the weights are adjusted.
In powerlifting, you’re going to be positioned in the lineup/flight based on your lifts regardless if you’re in novice or open. In my local competitions there are usually only ~50 lifters in the entire competition. This means you are likely only competing against 2-3 other people in your weight class (further split between Raw vs Classic Raw vs Equipped). Break this up even further into a novice division, and over half the lifters will be able to walk away saying they “came first” in their category!
I could be missing something here, but I just don’t see the point.
EDIT: After re-reading the posts above, I think I assumed this was a novice class in a powerlifting meet, but now I’m thinking you were talking about an entirely novice meet?
Hmm…I guess if it is cheaper and you don’t want to buy “approved” equipment, then I guess that would make sense.
Interesting @littlesleeper I wasn’t aware that meets had so few people in the classes. Would there also be clothing or equipment restrictions in a meet that may not apply in a novice meet ?
I did edit my post after I realized you may have been talking about an entirely novice meet vs a novice class in a meet. I think an entirely novice/amateur meet would be fun. I just didn’t like the thought of making yet another division of how people are placed in a meet.
I think if the costs were less (no yearly membership) and you didn’t have to lift with approved equipment, it could bring in some interest and transition people into the real deal if they liked it.
If you want more lifters to join PL, I don’t think putting a novice up against either you Mark or Sleepy is the way to go.
Do a novice series of meets during the season ending with a final for the best lifters.
You can only do the novice meets one season, that way you could end up doing 1 - 4 meets.
If you like it, then you have a foundation to build from and are more likely to enter a “real” meet.
EDIT: Awesome squat Mark. you’re looking so confident.
Also, and I think @The_Myth@littlesleeper and @FlatsFarmer bear me out here, around eight weeks pre meet I get cranky as fuck and don’t like many people in the gym.