Great Britain's Take On IPF Agenda Proposals

To get some perspective on how other countries have received the proposals in the agenda (pdf) for the upcoming IPF Congress, check out the PowerliftingUK forum.

As for the shirt matter, they keep trying to do that and it never gets passed. Mind you, it seems a bit stronger than usual this time. Let's wait and see. Getting rid of the uneven extension rule in the bench is a good idea, as is the sliding feet thing.

The change in bodyweight classes is also interesting:

Men -- 9 classes 58/64/70/77/85/94/105/120/120+
or 8 classes 58/64/71/79/88/100/115/115+
Women -- 8 classes 46/50/55/60/66/74/86/86+
or 7 classes 48/53/58/64/72/84/84+;

I can't see that getting passed!

I like the idea of changing the weight classes but can't see it getting passed either. It gets brought up almost every year and it's normally a Nordic country that suggests it but always gets rejected.

As for bench shirts, I reckon that this will get some serious debate this time as the number of lifters who took attempts that they couldn't get to touch (or couldn't press) at the Worlds resulted in a very large number of bomb-outs. I suspect this was also the case at the Europeans looking at the results. Personally, my feeling is that shirts are ruining the sport and I like the rational behind Australia's proposal. It's also encouraging that Germany have also proposed getting rid of the shirt.

Regarding the uneven extension rule - if this gets passed I still think a lot of lifters will be red lighted with the subsequent blue card reason cos a lot of cat 2's and cat 1's are very slow on the uptake when it comes to rule interpretation.

I'd love to see them do away with bench shirts rather than any of the compromises suggested. I can only see companies finding loopholes in the regulations and the IPF having to introduce more amendments to account for this in future.

I like the idea of allowing shirts that stretch 40% at 200N force. At least that way there's a limit to shirts.
Some of the stuff doesn't sound well thought through, such as saying that people get into the tightest and newest shirt available; and making it sound as if you don't need practice in the shirts.

I like the suggestions re getting rid of the shirts, but that may be because my carryover is shit. Also I think the reduction of weight categories has to happen at some point, so why not now?

I see the World Masters Bench has moved back to April wef 2008. New Zealand sounds good in 2009!

I think they should just leave the shirts and weight classes as they are. If the IPF want to push more shirtless benching then they should put more focus into unequipped lifting. I think that removing bench shirts all together will force lifters into feds that allow them. Why single out bench shirts? If you want to ban equipment then ban the lot.

Also, by changingthe weight classes, what's going to happen to all the records that have been set over the years - they'll all be wiped out - plus I'll have Clive Henry and Dean Bowring in my weight class!!!!!!!

dont think the IPF will be around in 10/20 years time if that continues. the equipment companies invest and sponsor the IPF as stated @ the start of the handbook. surely metal,titan,inzer will boycot them if they regard their products as "destroying the lift".

with the "no holds barred" approach to equipment within some Feds, im sure the companies will focus more to these Feds.

sounds to me like there are too many "out of date" ex-lifters running the IPF.

Hopefully they'll either keep shirts or get rid of them totally. The last thing we need is a whole load more new shirts.

I genuinely do feel that their reason for getting rid of shirts is because too many people are bombing. That's no ones fault but the lifter's. And to say the shirts cant be mastered is a ridiculous comment when you see what guys in other feds are doing.

Kobra, i'm sorry, i think it's raw or equipped. How can you favour one over the other? especially when squat suits add more to MOST lifters totals than bench shirts do?

Hit the nail on the head...if they're getting rid of one type of support i.e. the bench shirt then get rid of all other supportive gear also i.e. squat suit, deadlift suit and knee wraps. or they can just STFU and let equipment remain!

Either way you can't have double standards! also as was pointed out as their reason for binning shirts..that people bomb and cant touch in them...just is valid a point is binning supersuits because people bomb on depth in the squat!!

I'm in favour of either fully raw or fully equipped, and I also agree with another comment made that all this pissing around with rules.."shall we shall not remove/include this mentality" is driving people to other feds as people are getting fed up with the dinosaurs behind the scenes! not to mention inconsistant refereeing which is another discussion entirley best left to another thread.

Another point is the introduction of the bench safety racks at all international comps - with the old shirts this was never an issue, but since the introduction of Titan shirts onto the market there has been a huge increase in some potentially bloody scary accidents on the platform.

While shirts are around I'll use them, but I think the sport would be taken way more seriously by funding bodies, media and the public if we got rid of the bench shirt.

I know my opinion is the minority one here but given the number of bomb-outs at this years World and European Bench, I think it's something that needs addressing and I'd love to have access to the congress to see how it gets debated!

either 100% or nothing binned, you cant get rid of 1/3 supportive apparal and keep 2/3, you would like to be taken seriously either completley raw or completley equipped, as I think it weird to only get rid of one item....I mean what's the point, here all of it supports the lifter so it's not logical to argue that "bin the bench shirt only" does'nt make sense unless you follow through and standardise and bin the rest too!

personally i would love to see LESS weight categories because i honestly think there are way too many at the moment.

regarding the bench shirt, i think it is just mental to single out one piece of equipment, if you are gonna get rid of some of the equipment just get rid of it all and only allow lifters to use wraps and a belt.

Yes less weight classes, and therefore deeper classes with more competition is a good idea. However the problem about wiping out old records would still exist, however i don't think this reason should stop the change going ahead if it is passed.

I personally would just ban bench shirts but keep the super suit and wraps - the reason being that I feel bench shirts make the lift more dangerous / injury prone whereas supersuits etc do provide some protection / safety. Also, I look like a dick in my bench shirt and my training partners make fun of me ...

The only realistic way of moving forward on this is for the IPF to encourage unequipped lifting, through separate world championships, and have it on a level footing with equipped lifting.

I think if it aint broke, dont fix it. No lifters i know wish there were less weight cats. No lifters i know (i accept there are some valid opinions from great lifters on here though) want shirts banned. ~5% of people bombing cos of not touching seems very very low to me actually. Certainly no argument for banning shirts.

At internationals the % of bombs due to the shirt increases from ~5% to ~25%.

Reasons for keeping the squat suit:
1. The suit has been part of powerlifting from (or very soon after) the inception of powerlifting as an internaitonal sport in 1967. Bench shirts were introduced mid-late 80's and caught on in this country in the early 90's;
2. Side-safety stands have not needed to be introduced to the squat even though the material is the same as the shirts. The number of spotters for both the bench and the squat is the same (2-5) yet the safety of the bench press has obviously been compromised (otherwise no need for the side stands)

Finally - when a new material has been introduced the marketing has ALWAYS been focused on the bench shirt. The suits are made from the same material yet the adverts are very bench shirt orientated. Surely thats an example of the equipment manufacturers dictating the direction of the sport?

Sorry but either standardise it 100% raw or 100% equipped, you're missing the point! just beacuse bench shirts were introduced later means f**k all anyway! what matters is the support they offer relative to other supportive apparal i.e squat and deadlift suits as these are also supportive gear, and by the way they too have improved over the years as have knee wraps, and by the way I have 4 titan suits and they're all NXG+

bench shirts nxg+ = squat/deadlift suits nxg+ = more supportive apparal period!!!

I get 40kg out of my deadlift suit compared to my raw deadlift

like one or more of the others on this thread were saying, surely it is not up to the IPF to decide what we wear as long as it's not taking the piss, it is really up to all the lifters who pay their fees each year to the ipf who dont dip their hands in their pockets to fund us to buy our equipment.

It's funny I thought this sport was supposed to about the competitors....the lifters, it seems though that in the IPF they are borderline control freaks, I for one am losing interest quickly with their chopping and changing of the rules which really does nothing more than penalise/discriminate the lifter, these people who make the rules are not the ones who have trained lie a dog and they are not the ones who have to get up there and do it all on competition day. basically they want to handicap us as much as they see fit and to hell with what we think, its extremely discouraging and to be honest I've looked at other feds like gpc/bpc etc which seems more interested in the lifters as that seems to be what they'r about, too many dinosaurs running the show who need to be extinct, bring in some new blood and make more of them actual lifters too.

A lot needs to be done in the IPF a dramatic overhall of themselves would'nt go amiss here!

a cold economic view of the situation (which because I dont know the financial details of the ipf may be incorrect) is that no organisation can operate with out money, all the good will and love for the sport will not allow anyone to run a sport with out money and the drive of most orgaisations eventually (or sometimes always) is for financial gain of someone type or other. As said earlier the marketing of materials are focused towards the bench press market which in my opinion is the correct focus because this is the biggest and most profitable portion of the market because it not only empcompanses powerlifters but also other gym users who all do bench press and so the target market base is the largest for these shirts.
In order to be maximise your financial standing a basic fundamental principle os to maximise all of you income streams and to one of the best income streams is from sources where you have very little expense or work to generate the income (hence the success of franchise and license providers if not nessecarily the success of the franchisees themselves.Now the problem for the ipf or any other orgaisation is that the residual income from the bench press producers in terms of licence fees, sponsorship etc is probably so large a percentage of the total income of the orgaisation that closing this stream of income would have a significant negative effect on the total finances of the ipf.
In other words the likly income loss to the ipf from banning shirts is probably so much as to prevent them from banning them. There would also be huge legal implications in commercial law I would think from eliminating a large firms product line especially after putting in place rules which would have indicated the continual use of the bench shirts in competition.

Anyway i think these proposals are submitted every year as a matter of cuse to congress and always get rejected ( you cant teach an old dog new tricks)