Just saw the IPF World Champs on UK TV. First time I’ve ever seen a powerlifting competition before and I was totally blown away!!
The most amazing lift was the Polish guy who weighed 110lb who squatted 663lbs!! for a new 115lb class WR.
6 TIMES HIS BODYWEIGHT!!!
Then he went on to bench 402lbs for a WR only 3.6 times BW!
Brian Siders totally dominated with a total of 2387lb in the superheavies.
Clive Henry’s squatted 926lb in the 275lb class.
One thing that really stood out was how strict the referees were. Guys were scrapping parallel but having lifts disallowed and benches that went up slightly uneven missed too.
The variation in squat technique suprised me. The guy in the pic is squatting 825lb with a close stance almost going ass to the grass!!
Now I am absolutely convinced that Powerlifting should be in the Olympics!
U.S. lifters don’t like the IPF for the very reasons you mention. I’m all for it. The photo of the the guy squatting is the minimum I would allow in comp.
Brian Siders is a stud…i think the ipf and usapl have some good qualities…but i just think the orginization is boring…i have competed in usapl meets and there very non-intense…if you go to a wpo, apf, or ipa meet it is so intense and so amazing…every one is going to have there favorite personal squat depth rules and belifs…personally i think that is insane deep…if powerlifting is a sport and you want to be perfect at your sport and the rules are parrellel learn to squat to exactly at parrellell so you never get ligthed and can squat the most weight you can for a chance to win…wich is what sports are all about…bm
I noticed a quite a few guys from the baltic states and russia who seemed to be ex-oly lifters.
One Ukranian Heavyweight Vitaly Papazov used a hook grip for his deadlift to set a World Junior Record of 370kg (815lbs). The US heavy Tony Cardella also pulled 345kg with a hook grip but don’t think he has background in olys.
Yep the 50kg/110lb guy was a midget which helped him leverage wise in the bench and squat to produce those amazing lifts but his short arms meant his deadlift was ‘only’ 145kg (less than half his squat!) so he came second in the 52kg class.
Vitaly Papazov is amazing he will probally end up one of the top 3 lifters in history…being so young it is amazing what he does…most people i have talked to about the ipf say that most if not close to all foreign lifters come from a very strict olympic lifting back groud…and a lot of the judges are ex-oly lifters…in my opinion this is not good thing because there 2 ttoaly diffirent sports with diffirent rules…bm
I know I am in the minority, but I am a fan of the “convincingly deep” standard. I know it when I see it, and if I am unsure, I almost always give it to the lifter.
All I am looking for is that the crease clearly dropped below the top of the knee. It probably comes down to an inch range of motion making a lift good or bad. I have spoken to lots of IPF Cat 1 and 2 refs, and almost all feel the same way.
Keep in mind that when judging under this standard, black or navy squat suits are really not your friend. I think this contributes to more close calls getting lighted than anything.
I agree that having to perform a full range of motion squat to get it passed is bullshit, and honestly haven’t seen that in a while, and would flip out if I showed up at a meet and this was going on.
what do you guys think of the sorts of training programs Vitaly and other eastern european/russian powerlifters are using: high volume and lots of reps with the three lifts etc. It seems very different from westside style.
