American Challenge Type Meets

Tue, 03/16/2010 - 08:40 -- Staff
Good - Innovatative & Expands Participation
71% (206 votes)
Bad - Discourages Key Elements of Competition
24% (69 votes)
Other
6% (17 votes)
Total votes: 292

Comments

Submitted by phreak on
If it means getting lifters out of their own back yard and into cross-fed competition, then I'm all for it.

Submitted by Staff on
The American Challenge is explained here. It is not a cross-fed competition and allows lifters to compete locally against lifters from around the U.S.

Submitted by phreak on
If the IT is properly done, this could be great. No more excuses not to show up -- valid or otherwise. As for eliminating part of PL competition: as long as the scoreboard is maintained in real time there is no meaningful difference.

Submitted by AbeHarrod on
Good except the squat has been replaced with a curl. That's the worst thing I've ever heard. I'd be embarrassed to tell someone I did that event. If there is every more money in the sport these virtual meets should be done away with, but for now it's not a bad idea. Abe Harrod

Submitted by Thomas242 (not verified) on
Bad idea everyone will not have the same judges. So in reality everyone will not be lifting by the same standard.

Submitted by robert mullener (not verified) on
[quote=Thomas242]Bad idea everyone will not have the same judges. So in reality everyone will not be lifting by the same standard.[/quote] x2. My thoughts exactly. Gonna have all sorts of arguments about squat depth from different locations after the fact. Great idea, and logistically could work. But the human element is gonna work against them. The judging in powerlifting is subjective, not like a track meet where the stopwatch or tape measure definitively declares a winner.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
[quote=robert mullener][quote=Thomas242]Bad idea everyone will not have the same judges. So in reality everyone will not be lifting by the same standard.[/quote] x2. My thoughts exactly. Gonna have all sorts of arguments about squat depth from different locations after the fact. Great idea, and logistically could work. But the human element is gonna work against them. The judging in powerlifting is subjective, not like a track meet where the stopwatch or tape measure definitively declares a winner.[/quote] Disregard my last comment. Just reread the story and realized they are not squatting. DOH!

Submitted by 6 Pack Lapadat on
I think in terms of powerlifting meets, they will never go away. The american challenge will never replace powerlifting meets, and is not designed to. The American challenge is a lot like the powerliftingwatch.com rankings in a way. Guys lifting to up their ranking in a variety of meets around the Nation. In a sport where you can rarely find a meet to lift against other lifters, you can do things like the American challenge, and/or lift to up your ranking on powerliftingwatch.com etc. Sure the judges will be different, but judging can differ within the same meet as we seen at the Arnolds. I like the idea.

Submitted by sqbpdl on
[quote=6 Pack Lapadat]I think in terms of powerlifting meets, they will never go away. The american challenge will never replace powerlifting meets, and is not designed to. The American challenge is a lot like the powerliftingwatch.com rankings in a way. Guys lifting to up their ranking in a variety of meets around the Nation. In a sport where you can rarely find a meet to lift against other lifters, you can do things like the American challenge, and/or lift to up your ranking on powerliftingwatch.com etc. Sure the judges will be different, but judging can differ within the same meet as we seen at the Arnolds. I like the idea. [/quote] There are plenty of meets where there is competition. However, lifters need less feds and more meet promoters holding more open meets and not trophy hunting meets. I don't think the judging was different at the Arnold. There was 4 different meets and plenty of different judges ,but if you were lifting against another lifter in your weight class they had the same judges as you even if you think those judges were too harsh or lenient. I think the Challenge concept is unique but the different judging aspect makes it not as appealing.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
Interesting idea except for the curl. The curl is not a power movement. To have the squat replaced by a gym show off lift is pathetic.

Submitted by Jeff Hackett 1 on
[quote=Anonymous]Interesting idea except for the curl. The curl is not a power movement. To have the squat replaced by a gym show off lift is pathetic.[/quote] Should be weighted chins instead. J Hack.

Submitted by Ken Ufford on
Cool idea I would be interested in the concept minus the curl it is not one of the power lifts. I am not against people that do it for power sport meets it is just not power lifting. Ken Ufford

Submitted by BillDuncan on
This is not really a new idea...Back in the day, these were called "postal" meets, because we didn't have the internet. I cooperated with a bunch of masters powerlifters in Ohio including Howard Prechtel and pitted the US against Chinese lifters when I was there. It was published in an issue of PLUSA in 1990. With the recent developments of realtime updates of results (thanks to the Marksteiners) and streaming video, this could be a true multimedia event.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
the meets i have been to has used differant judges durring the meet so whats it matter... good idea.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
no thanks. why would i want to pay to compete against someone states away - who has different judges and conditions? it's the same lame idea as phone meets to try to "get more women into the same meet". it also destroys the comraderie of lifting, the whole way people enjoy being around each other at events. might as well lift in gyms and post it here, then compare and forget paying a meet director!

Submitted by Larry Pollock (not verified) on
This is a lame excuse for lazy lifters not to commit to the time and expense of traveling to a national meet. Not only will the judging be different but the meet conditions will be totally different for each event, i.e. different weights, bars, platform, weather, timing between flights, etc. If I compete and get beat I want it to be on an even playing field and I want to see my competitor beat me live and in person. Someone could just sit at home and create a virtual meet on their computer and submit it. The fact that they replaced the squat with the curl shows this is not something anyone can take seriously. What would be the judging criteria for the curl? This is just another marketing gimmick. Totally lame!

Submitted by KHansen (not verified) on
[quote=Larry Pollock]The fact that they replaced the squat with the curl shows this is not something anyone can take seriously. What would be the judging criteria for the curl? This is just another marketing gimmick. Totally lame![/quote] I'm sure the reason they replaced the squat with the curl because of what they have read and learned from every arm chair judge out there pissing and moaning about every squat video ever posted on this site. There is just way to much wiggle room to call foul or good when you see a streamed video of a squat on whether depth was met or not. They are just trying to eliminate the "negative" lift and replace it with something else. In my opinion, if they are trying to avoid the squat, they should just drop it and do ironman. BTW, judging criteria for curl is shoulder and butt against the wall, flat feet, no rocking motion or separation from the wall. I don't compete in this, but thought those out there would like to know the top level rules... Kim

Submitted by Justin Tripodi (not verified) on
As an individual who has competed in RAW competitions up and down the east coast for 2 years, I am very much looking forward to the American Challenge. Competing mainly against the same individuals, it is difficult to gauge how good you actually are nationally. Yes, in a perfect world I would love to attend competitions in the midwest or west cost and compete in person against some of the best lifters in the world. But as an amateur I unfortunatley don't have the time nor money to do so.... thus the American Challenge allows me to at least compete outside of my financial means. Yes there will be different judges. And yes each location will have different conditions. But as a powerlifter, I know what numbers I should be hitting, what my goals are, and all I want to do is see how that matches up against a true national field. Why would an event that allows me to do this be so bad? ~JT

Submitted by AbeHarrod on
[quote=Justin Tripodi]As an individual who has competed in RAW competitions up and down the east coast for 2 years, I am very much looking forward to the American Challenge. Competing mainly against the same individuals, it is difficult to gauge how good you actually are nationally. Yes, in a perfect world I would love to attend competitions in the midwest or west cost and compete in person against some of the best lifters in the world. But as an amateur I unfortunatley don't have the time nor money to do so.... thus the American Challenge allows me to at least compete outside of my financial means. Yes there will be different judges. And yes each location will have different conditions. But as a powerlifter, I know what numbers I should be hitting, what my goals are, and all I want to do is see how that matches up against a true national field. Why would an event that allows me to do this be so bad? ~JT[/quote] Because your doing curls instead of squats!!!

Submitted by Tom Skiba (not verified) on
Actually I believe the people that are judges try to do a good and honest job. They just aren't educated on the current trend in the discrption and meaning of the rules. The meet director's are happy and the lifters are happy. The internet folks do not matter. Of course in the APF that is a differant story.

Submitted by hornedn on
I normally don't do meets that don't have squats but this sounds like fun. I'm sure that inconsistencies in judging of squats is the reason that they left it out because it would be the most affected by having different judges. Since it is a SINGLE lift meet you can do one or as many of the events as you would like so no curls for me thanks and if enough people feel the same way I'm sure it would be dropped next time.

Submitted by 6 Pack Lapadat on
Remember, its a single lift meet fellas. You don't have to do curls!!! Also, in a single lift meet, different judges aren't gonna change deadlift results much at all. Same fed every time in the challenge so type of bar used. I don't see too much inconsistency that can happen in the deadlift event. The bench you could get inconsistant pausing, but that can happen in teh same meet anyways. I still think it would be fun. But again, its not gonna replace real meets. Just another fun thing to do to compare nubmers with people from all over. Not much unlike any ranking system.

Submitted by SergeantQ on
I can see both side of the argument with regards to squats. However, why not just make it a push/pull comp next time as stated earlier and then try to make some attempt at consistency later with regards to squats. Look forward to seeing the results. Good luck on the organization of this event. Dayvon "Sgt. Mac" McCarrell

Submitted by Steve Denning (not verified) on
Ditto on canning the curl. Otherwise this is an innovative idea. Just keep this a straight-up powerlifting brawl. Tricep Kickbacks though, that's a challenging movement...

Submitted by 6 Pack Lapadat on
Okay, I don't think some of you guys are reading this. ITS SINGLE EVENTS! Not a powerlifting meet or push pull. YOU DON'T ADD UP THE TOTAL OF THE BENCH CURL AND DEADS You could just do your single bench or dead, and not the curl. no skin off any one's knows. Most feds don't offer dead only as a single event. Mostly just bench press. SO offering a dead only and curl only is fine. Only lift what events you want. I too would like to see squats only, we'll see in the future.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
All federations offer deadlift only and have for years.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
I think if a company made a curl shirt that would add 40% to your curl more PL people would be on the curl competition.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
[quote=Anonymous]I think if a company made a curl shirt that would add 40% to your curl more PL people would be on the curl competition. [/quote] If it happened, someone would make a shirt that was so strong that the bar would fly up and knock your teeth out. That would be funny shit.

Submitted by phreak on
[quote=Anonymous]If it happened, someone would make a shirt that was so strong that the bar would fly up and knock your teeth out. That would be funny shit. [/quote]Yes, but lost teeth is not too bad. Think of all the serious career-threatening bicep tears the shirt prevents! And also it let's people stay competitive in curling for much longer!

Submitted by Eric Armstrong (not verified) on
I saw curling in the Winter Olympics. Not sure how it fits in with powerlifting, but if it gets more women involved I'm all for it.

Submitted by 6 Pack Lapadat on
[quote=Eric Armstrong]I saw curling in the Winter Olympics. Not sure how it fits in with powerlifting, but if it gets more women involved I'm all for it. [/quote] Hahaha True enough. Its all about demographics. Hey Curling is actually on TV and in the Olympics! May be we could blend the two sports some how lol

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
1. the meets won't be held in all 50 states, so to participate most lifters will still have to travel. 2. really dislike the entire "everybody lift in separate locations and we'll tell you who won later". 3. judging - it's better for everybody to get the same judges in the same weight class. this prevents more bsing about the judging, if everybody gets the same ref. 4. expense. how weird is it to say you're "running a national meet - but there's 5 meet directors in other places". how on earth does that go with the sponsors?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on
I would like the single event format because I have two surgically repaired knees so heavy squatting is rather tough.