[Suggestions, comments and ideas are warmly welcome up until November 1st after which the schedule will be finalized.]

It's that time of the year again. Below you will find my proposal for the 2009 Virtualmeet.net meet schedule. Suggestions, comments and ideas are warmly welcome up until November 1st after which the schedule will be finalized.

The schedule has been created with the idea that Virtualmeet caters for three main disciplines: weightlifting, powerlifting and bench pressing. The early signals from the weightlifting community on our first weightlifting meet in October are very positive and it seems like there is interest in virtual weightlifting. Therefore, weightlifting has been brought up to par with the other disciplines for 2009.

The total number of proposed meets are as follows:
 - 4 weightlifting meets
 - 3 powerlifting meets + 1 push-pull meet (bench press and deadlift)
 - 3 bench press meets + 2 military bench press meets

I have also come to like the idea of arranging a few events a year that are quite different from the ordinary fare. These meets would not necessarily have to be folded into the rule book or added to the rankings; the idea is to arrange fun-oriented meets with a program that is quite different from the ordinary fare to give everyone an opportunity to try out something new. In this spirit, I propose arranging a strict curl competition in May and something I preliminary call a Challenge meet in September.

The strict curl, a staple in powersports as arranged by Natural Strength Association (NASA), is a strict standing biceps curl max. This is from Kevin Boone's wish list and well worth a shot.

What the challenge meet would consist of is still very much open, but it could be a happy mix of anything such as rep challenges, old-school lifts or kettlebells. Figuring this out would be a community effort.

This means 15 proposed meets altogether. I think the schedule is realistic given that we will, at a minimum, at least sustain the moderate but steady growth we have seen thus far (for reference, in 2007 we arranged three meets and this year nine meets). Finding judges is likely to remain the main bottleneck, but I continue to remain optimistic that there will be enough people who can and are willing to chip in. The site should also continue to improve further lessening the overhead of arranging meets.

As a final note, the weekend of July 11-12th is the proposed date for the first Virtualmeet.net gathering in Finland. As of now, it is still very much out in the open whether there is interest in making this happen. If so, this weekend may see the addition of some further on-location meets.

There you have it. Thoughts?

2009 VIRTUALMEET.NET MEET SCHEDULE PROPOSAL

JANUARY 23-25th: Push-pull (bench press and deadlift)

FEBRUARY 6-8th: Weightlifting

FEBRUARY 20-22nd: Military bench

MARCH 13-15nd: Powerlifting

APRIL 10-12th: Weightlifting

APRIL 24-26th: Bench press

MAY 15-17th: Strict curl

JUNE 26-28th: Powerlifting

JULY 10-12th: Weightlifting

AUGUST 14-16th: Military Bench / Bench press

SEPTEMBER 18-20th: Challenge meet

OCTOBER  23-25th: Powerlifting

NOVEMBER 13-15th: Weightlifting

DECEMBER 4-6th: Bench press

I saw one cool thing on youtube which was named "sotilaspenkki". Kris explained that this was basically the military bench press meet, and this is the name in Finland. But, there are two "flavors" of this kind of meet : The first is the one we have here, wich is a one rep max. The second which I'm referring to in this post is the most rep you can get with your weight.

Ex : For me, it would be the most reps I can get on the bench with 80kg.

Here's the video

link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVLILI4Ew2A

I think it would be a fun event to do, tell me guys what you think !

The idea is good. Depending on training phase it is "easier" to either perform a max or more reps.

Will there be no Deadlift only meets?

[Four days left, then the meet schedule will be finalized.]

Will there be no Deadlift only meets?

According to this proposal, not in 2009 no. Last year we didn't have a push-pull meet and I figured that meet would be a good option for those who want to hit a big pull without squat pre-exhaust. But this is a proposal, so I would be more than happy to change it to match the interests out there. Anyone else also interested in a deadlift only meet?

The only crux is that any added meet should replace an existing meet. Fifteen meets in 2009 is already a lot given the current number of lifters (this proposal counts on some further growth) and the current problem in finding judges. The way I see it, powerlifting, weightlifting and the bench press are our staple events that should be represented throughout the year, anything else is extra (and there should be extras too!).

For the military bench press, a logical option would be to replace one of the military bench meets with the rep equivalent (August?). But if we add a deadlift only meet, where should we put it? Also, how much interest is there in the challenge meet idea?

Four days left, then the meet schedule will be finalized. So folks, let's hear your ideas.

I'd enjoy another deadlift-only meet. Seems heavy on the bench meets - maybe one of those could be switched?

I'd enjoy another deadlift-only meet. Seems heavy on the bench meets - maybe one of those could be switched?

That could be an option. As of yet, we don't have any dedicated benchers around, but the thought behind organizing a steady number of bench meets is precisely to also cater for their needs. I will see if I can squeeze it in somewhere without compromising too much. If I cut out a bench meet, I will probably need to re-organize the other meets a bit as well to get the bench meets evenly spread out over the year.

We'll see. Another option is ditching the challenge meet idea, haven't gotten any response on that. Personally, I think it would be very cool with a totally odd meet though.

I will post the updated meet schedule by the end of this week. I've done a bit of twisting and turning, but the schedule still needs a bit of rethinking to accomodate both a deadlift only and a military bench for reps meet.

Stay tuned.

I will post the updated meet schedule by the end of this week. I've done a bit of twisting and turning, but the schedule still needs a bit of rethinking to accomodate both a deadlift only and a military bench for reps meet.

Stay tuned.

I would put the Deadlift only meet here --> AUGUST 14-16th: Military Bench / Bench press

Since there is already a military bench meet in Feb. and a regular bench meet in Dec.

And then here -->APRIL 24-26th: Bench press  you could put a mililitary bench/bench press for reps meet


Just a thought, not sure if that'll work.

Thanks Matt, good suggestions. The August bench bash weekend could indeed make a good candidate for being replaced with a deadlift meet. But I'm leaning towards putting the military bench for reps meet on it's own weekend as I'm starting to think that arranging two similar meets on the same weekend may not be such a good idea in terms of lifter interest and judging capacity. Ditching the strict curl event is also a possibility since three new events for one year is (more than) plenty.

Also, since Christian is so far the only one who seems likely to come over for the Virtualmeet gathering in July, I also suggest putting a powerlifting meet instead of a weightlifting meet on that weekend.

All ideas still welcome. 

I will post the updated meet schedule by the end of this week.

Here is my updated proposal. I removed the strict curl event in favor of the seemingly much more popular deadlift meet, switched the June/July weightlifting and powerlifting meets around so that there is a powerlifting meet scheduled for the Virtualmeet gathering, replaced the bench bash weekend in August with the military bench for reps meet and switched the October/November weightlifting and powerlifting meets around to balance things out a bit.

Feedback is welcome up until Friday 21st as we need to have this finalized by the end of the week. 

2009 VIRTUALMEET.NET MEET SCHEDULE PROPOSAL (draft 2)

JANUARY 23-25th: Push-pull (bench press and deadlift)

FEBRUARY 6-8th: Weightlifting

FEBRUARY 20-22nd: Military bench

MARCH 13-15nd: Powerlifting

APRIL 10-12th: Weightlifting

APRIL 24-26th: Bench press

MAY 15-17th: Deadlift  Strict curl

JUNE 26-28th: Weightlifting Powerlifting

JULY 10-12th: Powerlifting Weightlifting

AUGUST 14-16th: Military Bench for reps Military Bench / Bench press

SEPTEMBER 18-20th: Challenge meet

OCTOBER  23-25th: Weightlifting  Powerlifting

NOVEMBER 13-15th: Powerlifting  Weightlifting

DECEMBER 4-6th: Bench press

Feedback is welcome up until Friday 21st as we need to have this finalized by the end of the week. 

The meet schedule is now final and has been posted on the meets page. A printable schedule will appear in the near future.

Thanks to everyone who commented on the draft. Hopefully you've now got what you asked for.