Iowa Powerlifting and Meets

Hi guys,

Janis and I were talking about this today, and we figured this would be a good time to start a conversation up on the forum about the meets our powerlifting team does.

As you all know, we've been affiliated with NASA from the beginning, and a lot of that, I think, was my doing. At the time, NASA was relatively inexpensive and the best nearby option. They were also great for newer competitors, and we had a few people who lived in Des Moines.

Now, I get the sense that the team might end up being more split up (from a competition standpoint) in the future. I'm testing the waters at UPA in July, and I know Grant's competing there too. We've still got a lot of people who like NASA (and for the record, I do too, and I'm planning on going back in October). With USAPL coming in, I know a few people would prefer competing in that federation. And we might end up having lifters who prefer just to compete at our future intramural meets.

So, my opinion is that this is both a good and a bad development. The bad, of course, is that we might not have as many big meets as a team. But I think it's good that people have developed preferences and can explore them. We have a big enough team now that we can do multiple meets per year and still have a few lifters at each of them. This also makes it a lot easier to find people who might help out; I've been saying for a while now that I'd like to be able to go to a meet and just handle lifters rather than compete.

This probably isn't going to end up being my decision, as I'm going to strongly encourage the election of another President this fall, but I figured it was worth bringing up as a topic of conversation. There are a lot of directions this club could go in:

1.) It could continue to be affiliated with one federation and compete there exclusively.

2.) It could allow its members to dictate where they want to compete and let everybody do their own thing, so to speak.

3.) It could try to become an "official" collegiate program via the USAPL.

They all have their benefits and drawbacks, I suppose. But I'd like to hear what you all think.

I'm pretty in favor of #2. Isn't Collegiate Nats multi-ply? No thanks, Jeff.

Nathan Poage wrote:

I'm pretty in favor of #2. Isn't Collegiate Nats multi-ply? No thanks, Jeff.

What, USAPL collegiate nationals? USAPL is only raw and single-ply. The big multi-ply players in the U.S. after the death of the WPO consist of APF, XPC, UPA, and SPF. Single-ply is mostly USAPL territory now.

/gear history.

...says the dude who is watching an SPF geared video AS I TYPE. That said, he's making fun of the whole thing.

I may decide to go to the UPA meet to see how it's ran and make a decision from there. Being that I am a poor college student about to become poorer, I'm likely to do whatever is the most economical (NASA).

That being said, USAPL doesn't allow knee wraps in raw competition, and I don't plan on switching to single-ply for about a year or two, so USAPL is out.

i am in favor of option #2. even though we will not have as many people at one meet, spreading out and competing in different federations could put our name out there.

i am not too familiar with USAPL but from what i have gathered, it is like the big honcho or the big man on campus of the powerlifting world. am i right?

Broceidon wrote:

i am in favor of option #2. even though we will not have as many people at one meet, spreading out and competing in different federations could put our name out there.

i am not too familiar with USAPL but from what i have gathered, it is like the big honcho or the big man on campus of the powerlifting world. am i right?

Not necessarily--powerlifting is very fragmented. USAPL is more like the gold standard for purists of the sport: strict judging, drug testing, difficult meet conditions, and limited allowable equipment. It's the only real venue for collegiate powerlifting (at least in an official capacity), and it has ties to the IPF, which is the biggest global powerlifting federation. It's also one of the few federations to still have legitimate, competitive national meets; but in powerlifting, there's never one "top" federation. The USAPL is one of the biggest, but there are a million federations and lifters are all over the place.

Did this issue get resolved in any sort of official capacity?

I'm trying to get a sense of what meets I will compete in over the course of the next year. I know for sure I am doing an SPF meet next February, and (if it happens) potentially one late fall of this year. I'd love to go and compete with the team, but want to avoid being spread out competing in too many federations.

Random question about NASA rulebook
1) What does this mean?

7. The spacing of the hands shall not exceed 81 cm measured between the forefingers.
The Index finger MUST completely cover the 81-cm ring.

The first part I get but the second part makes it sound like they tell you exactly where your hand placement has to be? That seems odd. I only ask cause that is much wider than I bench. My pinky doesn’t even end up on the 81-cm ring.

To David, I think we are leaning towards option #2 and everyone is testing waters in other federations at this point. This is more or less how I convinced Kyle to try UPA. I was just curious how things are different and wanted to know and see.

I am assuming that you are talking about bench press? If that is the case, just bench how you would normally bench.

Allprocro wrote:

Random question about NASA rulebook
1) What does this mean?

7. The spacing of the hands shall not exceed 81 cm measured between the forefingers.
The Index finger MUST completely cover the 81-cm ring.

The first part I get but the second part makes it sound like they tell you exactly where your hand placement has to be? That seems odd. I only ask cause that is much wider than I bench. My pinky doesn’t even end up on the 81-cm ring.

It means that if you have your hands out to the ring, your finger must cover the ring- it can't be halfway on it. The ring is the 81cm point.

Chris Anderson wrote:

Allprocro wrote:

Random question about NASA rulebook
1) What does this mean?

7. The spacing of the hands shall not exceed 81 cm measured between the forefingers.
The Index finger MUST completely cover the 81-cm ring.

The first part I get but the second part makes it sound like they tell you exactly where your hand placement has to be? That seems odd. I only ask cause that is much wider than I bench. My pinky doesn’t even end up on the 81-cm ring.

It means that if you have your hands out to the ring, your finger must cover the ring- it can't be halfway on it. The ring is the 81cm point.

 O man, do I feel dumb after that. Haha, Thanks!

As I'm trying to consider my options for meets in the fall I have a few questions about USAPL:

Do they use the new IPF weight classes at the Iowa meets?
Any idea on location of the October 12 meet?
Is there a qualifying total to do raw nationals, or do you simply have to put in a total at a USAPL meet within the last year?

Seth wrote:

As I'm trying to consider my options for meets in the fall I have a few questions about USAPL:

Do they use the new IPF weight classes at the Iowa meets?
Any idea on location of the October 12 meet?
Is there a qualifying total to do raw nationals, or do you simply have to put in a total at a USAPL meet within the last year?

1.) No, only national-level meets use those weight classes.
2.) Not sure, but I'm guessing it might be the same location as the spring one, which (I think) was in Sioux City, right?
3.) There might be qualifying totals, but if there are, they are pretty reasonable. I know a 198 who competed there with a 1200ish total.

I really hope it's someplace more central than SC. For raw nats you just need a total unless they decide to change it next year.

Yeah that's a 5 hour drive from Iowa City. It looks like their last Iowa meet was pretty small too.

So just in case you don't look at my training log, or it got lost in the giant entries I have. I thought I would post this here as well... One of the guys I train with brought up the idea of doing the UPA Power Weekend in Dubuque (same venue/federation Kyle just got done with) November 16-17th. 

I just thought I'd throw that out there..About 15 weeks out, and (details pending) it is going to be a meet I plan on attending. 

Also...Sticky request. If people are splitting up a bit it would be nice to have a central thread to talk about who is doing what and when.