1. If we don't have a newspaper or anything could we have footage of a website with the date and time or our cellphone with the gps time on it or something?

2. How long a pause for bench?

Thanks can't wait to compete!

Hey Trevor, welcome aboard! Thanks for the good questions. It's always a pleasure to see first-time virtualmeeters who take the time to really find out how these meets work before actually doing them. 

1. If we don't have a newspaper or anything could we have footage of a website with the date and time or our cellphone with the gps time on it or something?

This gets what I call my slippery slope answer: if I allow an exception to what it says in the rules, then everyone should really be allowed the same exception. A rule which is not enforced is simply not a rule anymore.

That said, if you have a very strong reason for being unable to get hold of a newspaper, then don't hesitate to get in touch before the meet and we can discuss it further. Exceptions to rules not affecting the actual lift are not totally unheard of, but the reason must be a good one (examples would include longer upload times for large group sizes, waiving the newspaper for someone living in the outback where there are no newspapers available and so on). The rules are not designed to make life difficult, but at the same time a rule is of little worth if it is not enforced.

2. How long a pause for bench?

Technically, a pause means stopping the bar COMPLETELY on the chest before pressing back up. Experienced lifters are often able to very quickly bring the bar to a total halt resulting in a very short yet totally clear pause. Lifters who have not trained their pause usually need more time to totally stop the bar, including making sure that the bar ends are still. A good pause is really a state rather than a certain time interval. The trick is just to make sure you maintain this state for long enough so that the judges have time to see it too...

As I see it, there are two main approaches to the pause: 1) try to find the absolute minimum pause you can get away with and 2) take no prisoners, hold the bar for long enough that no judge in their right mind can doubt your pause.

The first option is always very risky, because borderline cases will usually split the judge opinion in the same way that asking a group of people whether a certain turquoise is more green or blue. It also leaves you with no margin of safety to account for the usual tendency to cut the pauses shorter as the weights start hovering around PR weights. To get away with a minimum pause consistently takes both a lot of pause practice and a good understanding of what a good pause looks like. Statistically speaking, most novice competitors do not have oodles of either leading to those attempting a minimal pause to bomb out (and to hopefully come back for the next meet with a solid pause, lesson learned).

Personally, I think the take no prisoners attitude has a lot going for it. It pretty much guarantees that the only reason you would fail a lift is because it was too heavy. If you start to do solid pauses for every bench rep (no matter what the weight), they will quickly become second nature. Initially, your weights will take a hit, but really they will do that regardless if you go from no pause to pause. Once you have a solid pause, it will not matter much if you hold it for a one or a two-count.

Take it for what it's worth, but my advice is to come into your first meet with a pause equivalent to a full stop PLUS a one-two count. Don't walk the line, get your lifts in and establish your baseline. Once you get accustomed to competing, your pause will likely evolve to become stronger and shorter. Take no prisoners and save the judges the trouble of replaying your clips to take a second look at that pause.

It also pays off to take a peek at previous bench press meets. Looking especially at the pauses that failed will give you a good idea of what is the thing not to do (if you hover over the lifts in the results table, you will see the reason why the judges turned them down). It's also a good idea to tape your lifts so you can take a critical look yourself before the meet.

Hope this answered your questions. If you have any more, don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks can't wait to compete!

Looking forward to that. You posted some pretty solid numbers on your profile, keep it up!

Thanks I will get the paper then. One more question: Right before the bench meet I will be going backpacking for a week (16th-23rd), and I am curious do you think I would lose strength on my bench? I will probably do some pushups and stuff while I am out backpacking but I was just wondering if a week will affect my strength.

by the way, if anyone reading this wants to see my lifting videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/shootingman99

I also put my youtube channel under my profile

Cool! Took a quick look at your videos, strong stuff. As a minor comment, I'd suggest pushing out the hips and pulling the shoulders back a bit more on the deadlift to make for a really clear lockout if you step on stage. But the weights? Putty. If you want any opinions on your bench pause pre-meet, note that you can embed YouTube videos on the forum (there's a YouTube button if you're in the full reply view).

There's probably others here who can offer better feedback on the backpacking, but I'd say that it heavily depends on how strenuous your backpacking is going to be and how well you make sure to stay well-hydrated and replenished. If you come back from a heavy trek dehydrated and worn out you're sure to notice the effects of it (in case of which you need to turn that music up a few notches and just grunt it...  ). On the other hand, you do have time to heal up for a couple of days, especially if you do the meet on Sunday so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Most people do their last heavy training about a week out from a meet anyway and then either do not train at all or do light work (my preference for greasing the groove)... unless you're doing one of those crazy Russian peaking routines (but that's a different story). In that sense, I think you couldn't do much better than to get your mind off the lifting for a bit and get out to enjoy the nature. After all that heavy lifting, you've deserved it. When you come back, you're hopefully re-energized and ready to hit the meet with a vengeance.

Just thought I'd get opinions, I just did this today. Is this long enough of a pause?


CGBP 245x1

I tried to embed it (copy and pasted the embed code and put it in the youtube button headers here) but it didn't work? Here is the link to 245x1 cgbp, would appreciate critiques, especially about the pause.



[ MODERATOR'S NOTE: embedded the video ]

So know that I re-read the rules, would my lifts be disqualified because my feet had contact with the bench supports?

Trevor, it doesn't say anywhere so it's really easy to miss, but to embed just add the YouTube video code found in the embed link.

First comment: you need to ditch that bench as having your knees supported against the roller will automatically disqualify the lift (that would pretty much be equivalent to someone standing there pushing your knees down for support, no matter if it actually helps or not). Based on the mirror, it seems like there other benches you could drag over. If not, just flip the bench the other way to put the rollers behind you. If you are accustomed to having the feet somewhat elevated, you can do that with plates (see the rules for details).

About the lifts:

 - 225: excellent pause, textbook stuff. The lockout is very borderline though, make sure to give the bar a clear pause both before you go down and before racking at lockout. This rule of course exists to allow the judges some time to make sure the start (the hands of a potential spotter are off the bar etc.) and lockout (elbows fully and evenly extended) is proper. If you have someone with you on meet day, you could consider having them yell out pause reminders for you; especially under the heavier weights it is all to easy to go straight for the rack if that's what you usually do.

 - 245: the pause is not as solid. The bar is swaying and sinks in a bit before the press. Personally, I would red light it. The challenge with the pause (as with depth on the squat) is to stick with it even as the weights keep getting heavier. Same notes about the start/lockout pause here.

 - the video angle is great on the first two. The sideview on the 255 would put you at a very real risk of receiving the "no judge" call as the plates totally obstruct the bar hitting the chest. So stick with the first angle.

 - clothing: all good. We don't have an explicit rule against watches/jewelery, but you would have to take it off for most regular meets.

Hope this helps. Thanks a lot for submitting your lifts for review, if more virtualmeet first timers would have done this we would definitively have had fewer bomb-outs due to easy to fix problems with video angles, the equipment and so on.

So know that I re-read the rules, would my lifts be disqualified because my feet had contact with the bench supports?

Regular competition benches don't have thick supports going out sideways so this rule mainly applies to supporting against the upright beam underneath the bench or bracing against the bench in some other way. For benches like this, you should definitively be allowed to put your feet on the floor supports, like you do, as you are allowed to raise your feet with plates or blocks anyway. Obviously, it would be pretty hard to use plates in this case too because of the floor supports being in the way.

So as long as you don't touch the rollers in any way (I would make sure to maintain safe distance or, better, change the bench) you're golden.

This rule obviously needs to be clarified a bit. I just added that to the list of changes to make for the next draft, thanks for bringing it up!