At this point the IPF is basically the way for europeans to control the sport selling the pipe dream that PL has a shot at making it to the olympics. No chance of PL in the olympics IMO. The OL nutlickers would never allow it.
As for the IPF:
Fucked up judging - inconsistent and requiring OL depth for squats (can’t be done lo bar)
Stupid rules
Money grubbing
Poor spotting by kids - literally
Cant choose your own hand off man
Long time to give start command.
Banning a lifter from ATTENDING an Ed Coan seminar - WTF! I’m sure all the russian and chinese lifters are clean - PULEAZE
Seeing as weightlifting might be getting thrown out of the Olympics, powerlifting isn’t going to be in there anytime soon.
As for depth, there certainly are some bad calls and some judges who expect your ass to touch the floor, but it’s not all so unreasonable. I watched quite a bit of Worlds and I didn’t see anyone get reds for a good squat. I squatted low bar in an IPF-affiliated meet a few weeks ago and my lifts passed, it’s just the ultra wide stance squats that will be a problem. If you ask me, it should be an objective measurement via video replay as opposed to some guy sitting in a chair 20 feet away who might need better glasses and isn’t at a good angle.
Stupid rules and money grabbing are part of the same equation. I don’t have any issues with the actual performance of the lifts personally, although I see guys getting red light on bench because one edge of their shoes is off the floor which is pretty stupid. You basically need to bench in weightlifting shoes (which is what I do) or use zero leg drive. But the approved list they have had for the last few years is pretty stupid and nothing more than a way to extort money from equipment manufacturers. And the price gets passes onto the lifters, including those who compete in another fed with no such requirements if they choose to use brands that are IPF approved. That’s why Metal single ply gear is no longer allowed (or soon to be?), Metal refused to pay the ridiculous fees.
The bad spotting was the meet director’s fault at Worlds in Texas last year. This year there was no such problem. I never saw anything like that at any of the local meets I have been to.
What do you think is a good fed? WRPF and GPC seem pretty good. I hear both good and bad things abut RPS, like they pass high squats at one meet and then at the next one they are worse than the IPF.
After a 10 year absence I’m returning as a master lifter (55-59). My returning meet is a USPA meet in August. Picked it for convenience. I’ll let everyone know how they are after the meet.
FWIW the USAPL meets i’ve competed in and been to with friends lifting have been great, no issues with non members being allowed in warm up areas. Do they only do this for national events?
All meets have run smoothly with solid judging and spotting, i think the issue is more the quality of meet can vary so much depending on individual meet directors and judges rather than Fed specific.
It sounds like the guy running IPF worlds 2016 in Texas was a bit of a problem. Other than having incompetent and weak spotters, he also pulled some shit with the official hotel of the meet. Apparently there is an IPF rule that if you refuse to stay at the official hotel you get fined 500 euros or something like that per night. What this guy did is book all the rooms and sell them at double the price. If you go to some out of town IPF-affiliated meets in Canada you actually get a discount at the official hotel, this guy was trying to rob people.
Definitely true here in Australia. Local level can have a little inconsistent judging but I’ve never found myself disadvantaged. Biggest issue I’ve come across is bench pauses being on the long side, although since I train paused it never worried me.
It definitely doesn’t give me the ambition to compete at an international level one day. All time records are all time records, right? They have calibrated plates and often IPF international level judges at local meets here, if you set provincial/state or national record exceeds that the official IPF world record (which can only be set at an international meet) under the same standards of performance then what the fuck is the world record good for?
Other sports get sponsors and fans to fund them. The IPF seems to think it’s OK to make the athletes pay for everything instead. Seems pretty fucked up if you ask me.
Last year I had to hold the bar for 4 seconds before I got the start command on my third attempt. I have it on video. No apparent reason, my elbows were locked and didn’t change position at all. I see why Fred Hatfield liked 5 sec. holds with 120%.
That’s pretty bad. Worst I’ve ever had is maybe one second at the start and on the chest. The only people who whinge about pauses in GPC I’ve found are the ones who never or rarely pause in training and who view paused bench as anything not tng. There have been a few borderline calls based on sinking, but only at local meets that I know of and not too many at that.
“As a guy who doesn’t compete USAPL/IPF, those federations currently are the premier location for true competition in Powerlifting currently and overall. If you think otherwise, you’re most likely biased”
