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!