Is this something that only happens in the IPF and affiliated feds:
2 hour weigh in, meet over in 3.5 hours from first flight openers to last flight deadlifts, and NO IDEA OF THE LIFTING ORDER UNTIL 10 MINUTES BEFORE THE FIRST FLIGHT! I didn’t know if I should relax or get going, I spoke to a guy who was judging earlier in the day and still around, he said that some guys in my weight class would be in the first flight and some in the second. I took my last warm up set (they were rush as it is) about 5 minutes before my opener. My 2nd attempt felt easier than my opener. If I was 120kg+ I probably would have had a heart attack.
I understand the idea of “upholding the standard” and whatever, but it seems to me that they do this at the expense of the lifters. I also heard about a well known judge who puts his initials (permanent marker) or every piece of gear at equipment check, apparently he has been confronted for this and said “hey, there’s nothing in the (IPF) rule book about this”. There’s also nothing prohibiting certain acts against IPF officials outside of competition, if you catch what I’m saying…
IPF wants to get into the Olympics, some people claim that they are the only legit drug free fed (I’m not here to argue about that part, that’s another story) but they need to uphold standards for judges and other officials --not just the lifters.
PS: If anyone reads this and knows which meet and who I am talking about, I just want to say that I do not blame the meet directors. I am aware that some of the judges did not show up. There just needs to be some kind of protocols in place to deal with these sort of situations.
3.5 hours! I just did a meet that took 7.5 hours, not IPF though… (was a federation free meet)
Having some time between lifts to eat and drink and toilet is useful. It’s a long day for spectators and staff but better for the lifter…
Something in between would probably be better like 5-6 hours.
Initialling peoples gear is disrespectful. Some of this equipment is fucking expensive (think SBD belts) and would not want to deface it.
Being drug-tested is their trump card and the level of international competition as well. But on many other levels including “FUN factor” I don’t know if I’ll signup to IPF yet…
Well, there’s other feds that have tested divisions too. Half of the problem is that certain rules (squat depth for example) are not applied evenly across the board. According to some people, in cetain feds you could easily total 100+ (kg or lbs, your pick) more than in an IPF sanctioned meet. I would give 30 to the asshole factor and the rest to different equipment and leniency.
I think 23 or 24 showed up, two flights. Blaine Sumner mentioned recently how his last meet (can’t remember which one right now) was moving a marathon pace. IPF is kind of retarded in some ways.
Compared to my last meet: squat-40lbs. pr, bench-5lbs, pr (not blaming anyone), deadlift-10lbs. pr - and it looked to me like deadlift increased the most in training.
I could imagine showing up at the next meet and them telling me I cant wear that because of the marks on it. They have some anti-doping course you have to take (online), apparently at provincials they had a list of people who had completed it - but the list was INCOMPLETE. Some people had to look up their certificates on their smartphones. I don’t have a phone, smart or otherwise only land line. This is not an official rule. They say that power corrupts…
No information on flights/lifting order beforehand, signing up on gear in permanent marker and requiring people to take some online course and then not knowing who took it sounds absolutely terrible. I’ve never seen anything like that at the IPF-affiliated meets where I competed or loaded. On the other hand, 3,5 hours doesn’t sound too bad for such a small meet.
There were over 80 lifters, split into different sessions over two days.
I don’t blame the meet director or whoever else was running it, part of the problem is that some people who were supposed to be judging on Sunday never showed up. They were just following the rules and doing the best they could in a bad situation. The IPF needs some kind of backup plan. If there were guys squatting 700+ in the first flight there would be a good chance they would get injured because there was barely enough time for me to work up to my opener at 430lbs. The hardest part of the meet was up to my opening squat.
so don’t lift in IPF? this seems like an easy solution, lol. There’s nothing special about IPF to any lifters outside of those who compete in IPF. They’re not the gold standard they claim to be. I personally wouldn’t deal with their BS. I don’t see why anyone does. The IPF is like the girl who’s a 7 but thinks she’s a 10, and makes sure she tells everyone she knows how great she is. And she’s still pretty attractive. 7 ain’t bad. But she’s no 10, not even close, that’s just ego talking. Make sense?
I agree, but the thing is that there are very few other options where I live. Until this year, all the meets in town were IPF-affiliated, there was an RPS meet a few months back that I only heard about after it was done. I have two kids and PL doesn’t pay the bills so travelling out of town is easier said than done.
I’m OK with the standard IPF stuff, but when things go wrong (which sounds like it happens quite often) it makes the whole experience much less enjoyable.
Simple Solution - don’t enter meets run by fucked up, self righteous assholes. The ADFPA was like that even before they joined the IPF.
The USAPL has now mandated that ANYONE in the warmup room needs to be a USAPL member, not only your coach/handler.
At one meet in Jersey a long time ago the head judge (Joe Pyra) stopped me while I walking up to the bar for my opener deadlift to ask me if my socks were support hose.
I think it’s all IPF affiliates actually, that’s the rule here in Canada since last year. They have “affiliate memberships” for coaches and handlers, as opposed to lifter memberships which cost a bit more. The only imaginable reason is another excuse to charge money.
At IPF worlds the other day there was an Iranian guy (SHW class if I remember correctly) who wasn’t allowed on the platform because there was supposedly something unacceptable about his t-shirt. He missed his first squat attempt but fortunately the jury gave him another attempt.
IPF is kind of fucked up, but in some places there aren’t many other options. There are worse feds too. A guy at the meet was telling me about another fed that does a few meets now and then around Canada (I think it was IPL but I’m not 100% sure) sets the rack at one height for squat and one for bench, no adjustments for anyone. That sounds like an injury waiting to happen. I might complain about the IPF, but I wouldn’t even consider competing in a meet like that.
