In over 30 Years of Competitive Weightlifting I have done a few hundred meets on several different continents, and yet I still have probably only accumulated under three hours of time on the Competition Platform. With less than a minute on the platform, and only 6 lifts in a meet, it takes a serious number of competitions in order for an athlete to get any real experience on the Competitive Stage.
Now that most of the Covid restriction have been lifted, and athletes can get back into competing, I have been raking my head over how to get athletes back into meets and get some experience on a competition stage.
Let’s be honest here, unless you are into Weightlifting, a Lifting Meet can be kind of boring and hard to follow. Without music or any real entertainment, a regular Weightlifting meet is not exactly a draw for spectators.
That’s where I came up with the idea for a Duel Rising Bar Meet.
A meet, I feel will be fun for both the competitors, as well as the spectators.
The meet will be run as follows;
There Will be Music
Spectators are encouraged to interact and encourage athletes while they lift
There will be two platforms running simultaneously, ONE for Ladies, and One for Men.
Athletes DO NOT need to be USAW Registered
Athletes DO NOT need to wear a Singlet on the Platform. Although it is encouraged
The format will be the following;
· Athletes weigh in 2 hours before the Start of the Meet
· At the Weigh in, athletes will give their JUMP IN WEIGHT (Starting Weight)
· The Bar Starts at 15kg for the Ladies, and 20kg for the Men
· The Bar will rise by 1KG increments after every round of lifting
· After an Athlete JUMPS IN, they must take every subsequent 1 kg Weight increase thereafter
· After a SUCCESSFUL first attempt, Athletes will have 2 JUMPS, where they can call to Jump to a Higher Weight
· After Each JUMP, an athlete must continue to follow the rising Bar, and attempt every subsequent weight
· After the 2nd, and last JUMP, an athlete must continue to follow the rising bar
· Athletes are allowed 3 ATTEMPTS PER WEIGHT, NOT just 3 attempts total.
So, an Example of a Lifter at the meet would look as follows:
JUMP-IN (Starting Weight Declared at Weigh-In 50kg)
RISING BAR from 15/20kg
50 kg Good lift
51 kg Good lift
52 kg Good lift
JUMP 1 – Athlete declares 60kg
RISING BAR
60 kg Good lift
61 kg Good lift
JUMP 2 – Athlete declares 70kg
70 kg No lift
70 kg No lift
70 kg Good lift
71 kg Good lift
72 kg No lift
72 kg Good lift
73 kg No lift
73 kg Good lift
74 kg Good lift
75 kg No lift
75 kg No lift
75 kg Good Lift
76 kg No lift (1st failure per Weight)
76 kg No lift (2nd failure per Weight)
76 kg No lift (3rd failure per Weight)
ATHLETE IS RETIRED FROM THE COMPETITION
So, based on the above, you can see that a lifter can get over 20 attempts on the competition platform just in the Snatch Alone. Combined with the Clean & Jerk, athletes will get more platform time than having competed in every official Meet for a year.
I think the combination of the Rising Bar, Ladies and Men Competing at the same time, added interactions of the audience along with some Music will lead to a very entertaining and engaging day for both the athletes, and the Audience. Not to mention the Social evening to follow after the meet. (PS- There will be Beer & Pizza)
Either or, we are going to be Starting with the Inaugural Duel Rising Bar Meet at Hoboken Barbell come July. Once the meet is complete, we can re-evaluate the format and tweak it for the following years to come.
I hope those that are interest will turn out and join us for a fun filled day of Lifting, Socializing and having a Good Old Time.
Coach Ryan
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