Meet Results? There Werent Any

Training Powerlifting
81

[quote]jsmiley07 wrote:

[quote]TigerPower wrote:
Farmerson: If you’d like to give USAPL another try, please come to Summer Powerfest in Killeen. I, along with a handful of my friends, will be competing, and I can promise that as long as we’re around, you’ll have some friendly people to help you out if you need something. A few of us were lifting in the Louisiana State Meet and helped other lifters put on shirts, wrap knees, etc. whom we hadn’t met. When in doubt, blast the forum with questions about the federation. There are plenty of lifters here who lift in every federation and should be able to help you sort out nuances so you can just go lift and enjoy yourself. [/quote]

What is the date of this summer powerfest meet? There is another meet with the same name in Spring Texas on July 16th.[/quote]

I was about to ask the same question. It would be awesome to come Tiger. I dont know if I would compete or not but nonetheless it wouldnt hurt to gain more knowledge and tips. Let me know the date and Ill see if it will fit my schedule.

82

[quote]jsmiley07 wrote:

[quote]TigerPower wrote:
Farmerson: If you’d like to give USAPL another try, please come to Summer Powerfest in Killeen. I, along with a handful of my friends, will be competing, and I can promise that as long as we’re around, you’ll have some friendly people to help you out if you need something. A few of us were lifting in the Louisiana State Meet and helped other lifters put on shirts, wrap knees, etc. whom we hadn’t met. When in doubt, blast the forum with questions about the federation. There are plenty of lifters here who lift in every federation and should be able to help you sort out nuances so you can just go lift and enjoy yourself. [/quote]

What is the date of this summer powerfest meet? There is another meet with the same name in Spring Texas on July 16th.[/quote]

Maybe it’s in Spring this year? I know it has been in Killeen before. Regardless, that’s Summer Power Fest.

83

Don’t get me wrong, USAPL has a pretty good rep and I’d encourage you to lift in another meet, but I was just relaying a negative experience to let you know that you arnt alone in things that happen. BTW, I bet when they said ‘registered’ it meant that they didnt pay the promoter to advertise! LOL! Give USAPL another go, especially in Texas where I believe the meets are awesome from what I hear, shake off the bad experience and drive on.

84

Honestly, this kind of thing is what makes competition so difficult and more than 50% of it mental. Things almost never go as planned.

Get treated like an asshole at gear check, get told on your opener a belt that was passed by the same goon is non-conforming, have judges ruminate over a lift and turn it down (complete BS) and then get thrown out of the meet over a pair of boxers.

Great Googlymoogly.

A couple years ago Gillingham and I were discussing this and told me he thinks it takes most lifters at least 10 meets before they start to hit their stride and begin to bring training cycle performance, etc. consistently to a meet.

Just keep doing meets and it will all fall into place.

BTW, for those watching the Arnold be sure to check out Jordan Krogman. He is doing the RAW challenge and right now Jackal’s has some ridiculous upcoming young talent. These kids are fuggin’ beasts.

85

[quote]farmerson12 wrote:

[quote]SteviGX wrote:
Just too many petty rules in the USAPL. I’m all for Drug Free lifting but when your main advertisement at a meet is about being drug free not about the lifters or the great squats that just happened but about some washed up drug free lifter its just stupid.
[/quote]

That brings up a question. How many other feds are drug free or have a drug free class or division? I ask since thats why I competed in this meet.[/quote]

IPA has a tested division. It’s the amateur division. If you total a certain level you must lift amateur elite, which is tested. Or you have to lift pro, which isn’t.

I think the APA is the same. I decided to let my son lift in an IPA meet because it’s close to home and the monolift issue. I have one and bought it years ago for safety reason and it was easier to use bands when you did the squats with a monolift.

86

[quote]OBoile wrote:

[quote]tom63 wrote:
Agreed . I’d never lift usapl again. That rule on underwear is retdarded. The t shirt rule is stupid. Make a rule against obscenity and let it at the discretion of the meet director and head judge.

What many don’t realize is many of these rules are adapted from Olympic weightlifting . The same bar must be used. Continuous upward motion is another . Now I’m nit advocating hitching , but if a bar stalls on say a deadlift and someone pulls it out without a hitch, it’s a good lift in my book .

As for depth , it was called very strict at last summer’s ipa meet .

[/quote]
I’m pretty sure a bar can stall, it just can’t dip back down.
[/quote]

A rule back in the day. but this is one reason for the different feds. Some guys just thought these rules were stupid. Some guys wanted to lift and not be tested.
I could write a book about this stuff. I first lifted in the USPF in 1982. Lifted in that and the ADFPA until graduating in 1988. Did a few deadlift meets locally in the early 2000s. these were IPA, mainly due to closeness.

Most arguments about feds are stupid. the rules should be the same on the lifts. squat deep enough, but breaking parallel is breaking parallel. A squat isn’t better because you squat 6" deep. that’s like paying 20 bucks for a pack of gum.

Use a monolift for spotter and lifter safety with some straps or chains to catch the weight. Yes’ I know this allows goofy wide stance squats, but if depth is enforced it should not be a problem.

Lose the restrictions on gear. seriously, at 148 I doubt I got 50 lbs on my squat with the latest supersuit, Inzer wraps, and a belt. you don’t have any moral superiority if you’re getting 200 lbs from a squat suit and wraps and 150 on a bench shirt.

As I said, the old Inzer blast shirts gave you ten pounds maybe. but the issue with this is the IPF. They have been trying to get powerlifting in the Olympics for my lifetime as a lifter and it’s not going to happen. This is where we get a lot of these ridiculous rules on apparel etc.

Judge the lifts fair for all competitors, let guys wear their goofy gear but include a raw division, play the music they want, wear your silly t shirt that isn’t obscene and lift heavy weights.

87

[quote]tom63 wrote:

[quote]OBoile wrote:

[quote]tom63 wrote:
Agreed . I’d never lift usapl again. That rule on underwear is retdarded. The t shirt rule is stupid. Make a rule against obscenity and let it at the discretion of the meet director and head judge.

What many don’t realize is many of these rules are adapted from Olympic weightlifting . The same bar must be used. Continuous upward motion is another . Now I’m nit advocating hitching , but if a bar stalls on say a deadlift and someone pulls it out without a hitch, it’s a good lift in my book .

As for depth , it was called very strict at last summer’s ipa meet .

[/quote]
I’m pretty sure a bar can stall, it just can’t dip back down.
[/quote]

A rule back in the day. but this is one reason for the different feds. Some guys just thought these rules were stupid. Some guys wanted to lift and not be tested.
I could write a book about this stuff. I first lifted in the USPF in 1982. Lifted in that and the ADFPA until graduating in 1988. Did a few deadlift meets locally in the early 2000s. these were IPA, mainly due to closeness.

Most arguments about feds are stupid. the rules should be the same on the lifts. squat deep enough, but breaking parallel is breaking parallel. A squat isn’t better because you squat 6" deep. that’s like paying 20 bucks for a pack of gum.

Use a monolift for spotter and lifter safety with some straps or chains to catch the weight. Yes’ I know this allows goofy wide stance squats, but if depth is enforced it should not be a problem.

Lose the restrictions on gear. seriously, at 148 I doubt I got 50 lbs on my squat with the latest supersuit, Inzer wraps, and a belt. you don’t have any moral superiority if you’re getting 200 lbs from a squat suit and wraps and 150 on a bench shirt.

As I said, the old Inzer blast shirts gave you ten pounds maybe. but the issue with this is the IPF. They have been trying to get powerlifting in the Olympics for my lifetime as a lifter and it’s not going to happen. This is where we get a lot of these ridiculous rules on apparel etc.

Judge the lifts fair for all competitors, let guys wear their goofy gear but include a raw division, play the music they want, wear your silly t shirt that isn’t obscene and lift heavy weights.

[/quote]

Exfugginxactly!

The other thing that drives me crazy is the wandering interpretation of rules.

We had a lifter get a bench turned down that would have unseated a 10+ year old record because of a new interpretation of the ‘uneven lockout’ rule which only lasted a year because it was fuggin stupid but in the meantime, likely due to an effort to assert controls over the shirts, a lift was turned down that measured up to the standards at the time the standing record was set.

Things like this are just aggravating.

88

[quote]tom63 wrote:

[quote]OBoile wrote:

[quote]tom63 wrote:
Agreed . I’d never lift usapl again. That rule on underwear is retdarded. The t shirt rule is stupid. Make a rule against obscenity and let it at the discretion of the meet director and head judge.

What many don’t realize is many of these rules are adapted from Olympic weightlifting . The same bar must be used. Continuous upward motion is another . Now I’m nit advocating hitching , but if a bar stalls on say a deadlift and someone pulls it out without a hitch, it’s a good lift in my book .

As for depth , it was called very strict at last summer’s ipa meet .

[/quote]
I’m pretty sure a bar can stall, it just can’t dip back down.
[/quote]

A rule back in the day. but this is one reason for the different feds. Some guys just thought these rules were stupid. Some guys wanted to lift and not be tested.
I could write a book about this stuff. I first lifted in the USPF in 1982. Lifted in that and the ADFPA until graduating in 1988. Did a few deadlift meets locally in the early 2000s. these were IPA, mainly due to closeness.

Most arguments about feds are stupid. the rules should be the same on the lifts. squat deep enough, but breaking parallel is breaking parallel. A squat isn’t better because you squat 6" deep. that’s like paying 20 bucks for a pack of gum.

Use a monolift for spotter and lifter safety with some straps or chains to catch the weight. Yes’ I know this allows goofy wide stance squats, but if depth is enforced it should not be a problem.

Lose the restrictions on gear. seriously, at 148 I doubt I got 50 lbs on my squat with the latest supersuit, Inzer wraps, and a belt. you don’t have any moral superiority if you’re getting 200 lbs from a squat suit and wraps and 150 on a bench shirt.

As I said, the old Inzer blast shirts gave you ten pounds maybe. but the issue with this is the IPF. They have been trying to get powerlifting in the Olympics for my lifetime as a lifter and it’s not going to happen. This is where we get a lot of these ridiculous rules on apparel etc.

Judge the lifts fair for all competitors, let guys wear their goofy gear but include a raw division, play the music they want, wear your silly t shirt that isn’t obscene and lift heavy weights.

[/quote]
I disagree with just about all of your preferences (like deep squats, and I don’t think the USAPL calls them unfairly, I think monolifts are retarded, think there should be gear restrictions - better yet no gear, I don’t like the idea of playing music at a contest). But, that is why there are different feds. To each their own.

89

[quote]OBoile wrote:
I disagree with just about all of your preferences (like deep squats, and I don’t think the USAPL calls them unfairly, I think monolifts are retarded, think there should be gear restrictions - better yet no gear, I don’t like the idea of playing music at a contest). But, that is why there are different feds. To each their own.[/quote]

Heh, I like music at contests, but I HATE it when they play it, then they turn it down really quiet for your attempt. That breaks concentration worse than just about anything.

Except maybe Justin Bieber.

90

If you break parallel, you break parallel . When I judged I called it that way . You don’t get extra lbs by going excessively deep. I’ve seen squats get turned down by some that were legitimate .

Btw , when I took the practical test for the uspf national referees I was judged seperately by an ipf international judge . I passed with a 94/100 according to him. I sat with him and told him what I thought the lift was . If it was a foul I had to explain why . I passed lifts that were turned down and vice versa. Mostly he agreed with me . Some were legit squats called on depth . Giving a guy a red light for a good lift is as bad as passing a flawed lift .

I’d prefer raw, but the equipment vendors keep the sport going . The differences are so minimal now that I don’t see a difference between single and multi ply . Raw should be a seperate division .

91

[quote]tom63 wrote:
If you break parallel, you break parallel . When I judged I called it that way . You don’t get extra lbs by going excessively deep. I’ve seen squats get turned down by some that were legitimate .

Btw , when I took the practical test for the uspf national referees I was judged seperately by an ipf international judge . I passed with a 94/100 according to him. I sat with him and told him what I thought the lift was . If it was a foul I had to explain why . I passed lifts that were turned down and vice versa. Mostly he agreed with me . Some were legit squats called on depth . Giving a guy a red light for a good lift is as bad as passing a flawed lift .

I’d prefer raw, but the equipment vendors keep the sport going . The differences are so minimal now that I don’t see a difference between single and multi ply . Raw should be a seperate division .[/quote]
I’m of the opinion that the IPF (and hence the USAPL) doesn’t make lifters go excessively deep. Some other feds simply allow high squats.

92

That’s your opinion . I’ve seen bad calls in other Feds . And yes , a red light is a bad call if depth was good .

I saw Angelo Berdanelli, sp , squat at a big ipa meet . A friend taped it from the front and showed me. He was laughing at what a joke of a call it was . However , I was watching from the side kneeling eye level at his hips from about fifteen feet away .

It was a good squat , but it looked high by about four inches . This is why the ipa doesn’t call depth from the front . Wide stance squats with double ply gear often gives the illusion of being high .
And this is the big rub with the ipf and the other Feds . You allow multi ply gear and monolifts and this happens . As for monolifts , they can be a huge safety factor . I’ve heard the argument against and find it silly .

You can get a handoff on the bench but have to walk a squat out .

93

Here’s another fun federation tidbit . About 5-7 years ago some top wpo guys were approached by a high level usapl official about jumping Feds . Some of these guys expressed concern about drug testing and were told it was no worry , there were ways around it .

I personally talked to these guys and some of their friends at the Arnold classic when I volunteered there .

This bs is in every fed. It’s best to just enter a local meet and do your best and go by those rules . It really comes down to you lifting more according to the rules .

94

[quote]tom63 wrote:
That’s your opinion . I’ve seen bad calls in other Feds . And yes , a red light is a bad call if depth was good .

I saw Angelo Berdanelli, sp , squat at a big ipa meet . A friend taped it from the front and showed me. He was laughing at what a joke of a call it was . However , I was watching from the side kneeling eye level at his hips from about fifteen feet away .

It was a good squat , but it looked high by about four inches . This is why the ipa doesn’t call depth from the front . Wide stance squats with double ply gear often gives the illusion of being high .
And this is the big rub with the ipf and the other Feds . You allow multi ply gear and monolifts and this happens . As for monolifts , they can be a huge safety factor . I’ve heard the argument against and find it silly .

You can get a handoff on the bench but have to walk a squat out . [/quote]

We’re getting way off topic here but while I agree squat standards should be the same no matter where you lift (I am sure if you lined up all the various fed’s rulebooks the definitions of acceptable depth would be the same) but struggle with the monolift.

Here’s why. If you watch the best squatters, and those from Russia and Ukraine come to mind, their set-up is extremely technical and involves as little movement as possible.

I have had several older coaches tell me that the Russians basically have a formula for how much weight is lost from a litmit attempt with every step and adjustments made in set-up. In fact, I remember Mikesell making a similar comment back in his day and he had a similar philosophy about the difference in what he could squat walked out vs. in a mono.

So while I understand the safety aspects, in particular to the spotters, I don’t think you can come into a fed, suddenly allow a monolift, and allow lifters to exceed current records on the books because they are at a significant advantage, IMO.

It’s like eliminating the hand-off in bench (which is dumb and is just another IPF attempt to assert controls over the shirts). This will result in lowered poundages and now makes it more difficult for a lifter to exceed current records which is BS and based on flawed reasoning.

Anyway, that’s my little rant.

95

You’re exactly right, but I think a little off base . With how restrictive the gear is there is no comparison currently with a mike bridges squat in 181 in 1982 and now . I lifted then and the whole shebang gave you maybe 50 lbs altogether .

Now it might be 150+ lbs . So since we can’t make actual comparisons , just do it already . Other sports such as track and field have superior equipment now which has increased records . The pole in the pole vault got example .

Keep the old records . If you want to best one walk it out and have it noted . It’s easy to keep track of this .

I agree with you about the setup thing . And the ipf exerting control . But i’d rather have a monolift if a lifter uses a squat with some safety straps or chains . I don’t know if you remember lee moran’s 1003 lb attempt where the collars popped off? Springy bar , ( old rule adapted from oly lifting, same bar each lift ). Plates were flying , which isn’t a good idea for the lifter or spotters .

Btw , moran drilled it on the next attempt .

96

Oh yeah, I remember Moran. Talk about mental toughness. What’s amazing, as I am sure you know, is that the weight dump occured on his 2nd attempt after he basically passed out and dumped it over his head on his opener. It’s crazy, crazy shit.

Well, one thing I know is I have had big attempts dumped when I was side spotting at meets and it’s always a miracle nobody lost a foot or got otherwise mangled so I like the safety aspect.

We are similar in that my first meet was ADFPA and I wore Superwrap 10’s (remember those) and z-suit. We used to always say you could bench paused in blast shirt what you could triple RAW. It was just kind of a target becuase those fuggin’ shirts hurt so bad and were such a PITA to put on, nobody wanted to unless absolutely necessary and they didn’t change the dynamic of the lift like the shirts do now.

Maybe I was lucky but I got a fair amount out of a z-suit and wraps. Upwards of a hundred pounds. In fact, I get probably 80 out of a pair of THP’s. Part of that is I am a squat headcase and am much more aggressive when I have a little rebound.

I get your logic, just would honestly hate to see IPF remove the walk-out. Maybe it’s more rooted in personal feelings more than logic but I just can’t see eliminating it.

[quote]tom63 wrote:
You’re exactly right, but I think a little off base . With how restrictive the gear is there is no comparison currently with a mike bridges squat in 181 in 1982 and now . I lifted then and the whole shebang gave you maybe 50 lbs altogether .

Now it might be 150+ lbs . So since we can’t make actual comparisons , just do it already . Other sports such as track and field have superior equipment now which has increased records . The pole in the pole vault got example .

Keep the old records . If you want to best one walk it out and have it noted . It’s easy to keep track of this .

I agree with you about the setup thing . And the ipf exerting control . But i’d rather have a monolift if a lifter uses a squat with some safety straps or chains . I don’t know if you remember lee moran’s 1003 lb attempt where the collars popped off? Springy bar , ( old rule adapted from oly lifting, same bar each lift ). Plates were flying , which isn’t a good idea for the lifter or spotters .

Btw , moran drilled it on the next attempt .[/quote]

97

[quote]tom63 wrote:
That’s your opinion . I’ve seen bad calls in other Feds . And yes , a red light is a bad call if depth was good .

I saw Angelo Berdanelli, sp , squat at a big ipa meet . A friend taped it from the front and showed me. He was laughing at what a joke of a call it was . However , I was watching from the side kneeling eye level at his hips from about fifteen feet away .

It was a good squat , but it looked high by about four inches . This is why the ipa doesn’t call depth from the front . Wide stance squats with double ply gear often gives the illusion of being high .
And this is the big rub with the ipf and the other Feds . You allow multi ply gear and monolifts and this happens . As for monolifts , they can be a huge safety factor . I’ve heard the argument against and find it silly .
[/quote]
We’ll agree to disagree. I will say that judges do make mistakes in all feds. That should be obvious since they are human. However, I’d much rather that they be too strick than to lenient.

[quote]
You can get a handoff on the bench but have to walk a squat out . [/quote]
So what?

98

[quote]tom63 wrote:
With how restrictive the gear is there is no comparison currently with a mike bridges squat in 181 in 1982 and now . [/quote]

I was thinking about this while I was training today.

I was lucky enough to be at USAPL Master’s in 2009 while Bridges was there. I had a lifter in his flight so got to observe him in the warm-up room.

He basically put his gear on right away (suits and shirts) and was in full control of it and able to acheive depth/touch with his warm-up weights. His knee wraps were as some would say, knee ornaments.

That day he went 345, 241, 272.5 just missing 325.5 and I think his back was bothering him that day. All this at the tender age of 52 and at a BW of 95.

The point I am making is the guy is damn near incomparable and on the same level as Gillingham and Ricks in terms of durability and longevity which IMHO is saying a lot.

In years and years of watching him lift I can count on one hand how many times I have seen him miss. It doesn’t happen often and when he missed his third pull that day it was a rare occasion. I was stunned to say the least as all his lifts to that point looked like openers.

99

Mike was/is the best apwsearch.

I came my conclusions about all this stuff over the years heating different federation arguments . I’ve see abuses in judging padding crappy lifts . I’ve seen ipf shadiness, wpo nonsense of Kidder not paying guys etc.

And I believe it’s lifting heavy stuff with clear rules on how to do it. When Feds would argue about a monolift or not, i thought about my training. Makes using bands and chains a lot easier and it is safer if I can’t complete the lift . When people would argue the walking in and out I always thought about the bench and a hand off. One lift has help, the other doesn’t ,

So how is one wrong. Tradition . Traditionally everyone got a handoff .

As for depth, that’s an easy solution. Judges need to tighten up. You are right about the monolift making it easier , ( and the second attempt by moran). But the new gear makes things a lot easier . You can’t realistically compare lifts made in 1983 and now. It still bugs me that someone bested lifter x’s world best unless it’s the same conditions, like two hour weigh ins vs 24 hours .

I think the main difference is in the US we have many lifters with an aversion to being told what to do. In Europe they desperately want the olympics . Which I don’t care about one bit. You’ve been around enough to know how weightlifting rules were adapted to powerlifting . So I think we’ll always have these camps. Now the ipf is talking about changing weight classes .

Just another ass kiss job to the IOC IMO . Remember when Olympic lifting did this?

100

IPF already changed weight classes, it sucks. My weight class went from 165-181 (least I’ve weighed since 8th grade is 160) to 158-184. So I’ll probably never make it to 158 and be worth anything, and above 184 is SHW. So now I have all the 198 and lower women, and all the women who had trouble cutting to 148, lumped into my new huge class. Oh well.