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YOUR FIRST MEET
Weigh-ins
At the weigh-in you will register for the competition if you haven’t pre-entered.
You will also be able to purchase a membership card at that time, if you are not already a member of the APA.
Once you are registered you will be weighed. Lifters must weigh-in nude or in their underwear. You
will also be asked at the weigh-in to submit your opening attempts for each lift. A good general rule of
thumb for a novice lifter is to open with something that you can do a very strict triple with. Your attempts
cannot be changed once the competition starts, so it is always better to start too light than to start too heavy
and possibly not get a good lift in. If you miss a lift you can retake that same weight but you cannot lighten
the weight. Make your opening attempt light. You have 2 other attempts to move up in weight.
Equipment Check
What you wear on the platform must be checked. All of it must meet the specs
laid down in the rules.
Warm-ups
Beginners often start to warm-up either too early or too late. While
everyone is different, what works best is to rehearse it in the gym. Set a time, say in half an hour, of
when your first lift would be. Start getting ready when you think you should and see if it comes out right.
What if you are in the second flight? How do you know when to start? A good rule of thumb is to take
the number of lifters in the first group and multiply by 4. So 10 lifters in the first flight would mean
that the second flight would start about 40 min. later. Remember, many people will be warming-up on the same
equipment you are. Be prepared to share.
What are “Flights”?
The rules state that when the number of lifters exceeds 14, it must be broken into
groups. This is to prevent an excessive amount of time between attempts, resulting in possible injury.
If the contest turns out to have 22 lifters, it will be broken into two groups. The first group, or First
Flight, as it is usually called, will do their benches first. This means that those 11 or so lifters all
do their first attempts, then they do their second attempt, followed by their thirds. Then the Second Flight
does the same. The deadlift meet is run the same way.
When is it my turn to lift?
Powerlifting uses the round system. This means that each lifter will do his
first attempt, with the person who submitted the lightest opener going first, progressing to the heaviest.
At some point before the contest, the order of the lifters for the first round will be posted. As well, the
announcer will be continually announcing who is coming next. “Load the bar to 100 lbs. for Joe Green, Bob
Brown is on deck, Jim Black is in the hole”. Once all lifters in the flight have done their first lift, the
order is repeated for the second and then third lifts. BUT, remember that the order is always lightest lift
to heaviest. If you make a small jump and someone else makes a big jump, this order may have to be shuffled
a bit. Don’t think that just because you followed Bob Brown the first time that you will again. Listen
for your name!
Time!
“Someone called Time and I was told I could not do the lift. Why?”. The
rules state that the lifter has one minute to start the lift. The start of the one minute is from when the
announcer calls out “the bar is loaded”. It ends when you unrack the bar in the bench press or when you pull
on the bar in the deadlift. If you are not ready by the time the “Time” signal is called, the end of the
one minute, then you forfeit the lift.
This means that you have to have all your equipment on before the “bar is loaded” signal is given. Be prepared.
“Too Late!”
“I tried to turn in my next attempt but they told me I was “too late”. What
does this mean?”. At the completion of each lift, the lifter has one minute to inform the scorer of what
their next lift will be. This does not mean you can run to your coach, rifle through your gym bag to find
your notebook, go to the restroom, get a drink or see how your buddy does on his lift. One minute, period.
Know your numbers before!
So what happens if you do not turn in your attempt inside the one minute? You forfeit that next lift. But, if it is the second attempt you forgot, you then have another one minute to turn in the third attempt. So, if you do an opener and then wander off for 5 minutes, you get no more attempts at that lift. What if you had missed it? You’re out! I saw this happen at a world championships. A lifter was still in the warmup room when he was called to the bar. His minute went by and time was called. At the desk they waited a minute for his second, then another minute for his third. No sign of him. A couple of minutes later he comes out only to find that he is disqualified from the entire contest.
Beating the Signals
Each lift has signals for the lifter to pay attention to. In the bench press
you must hold the bar on your chest until the judge says “Press”. Once you lockout the weight you must maintain
that position until the judge says “Rack”. You can then place the bar back in the uprights. In the
deadlift, once you stand with the weight you must wait until the head judge says “Down” before you lower the weight.
The Lifts
Look at the rules for each lift and make sure you understand them. There will
be a “Rules Briefing” before the meet. If you have questions, ask.
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