Should we have a competition?

[Pseudonym]

A few more questions...

For powerlifters - What should the definition of Novice/Open be?

For crossfitters - What exercises should your challenge include?

[majorflavazz]

cool i could be keen to get involved in this, only been back in the gym for 7 weeks after 2 years off and first time ever learning the 3 powerlifting exercises.

Is Novice someone thats never competed before?

 

[Phedder]

A few more questions...

For powerlifters - What should the definition of Novice/Open be?

For crossfitters - What exercises should your challenge include?

Open should be someone who is currently or has been in the past a registered lifter in either the NZPF or CAPO. Anyone else can fall into Novice.

Though a note on the timing, the Commonwealth/Oceania Championships are being held in Auckland from the 4th-8th of Dec, so ending it on the 1st of December is a little inconvenient there...

There's also the issue of raw vs equipped lifting, which would just split the classes even further. Another idea for the Novice/Open could potentially be Novice as raw lifters and open as equipped lifters, as most who lift in equipment are likely to have more experience behind them than your typical raw lifter. Though Drizzt is really the only prominent equipped lifter here, I'm sure a competition with some prizes could lure some of the guys over from The Powerhouse Forums. 

[AZIDE]

IMO should just make lower value prize for novice and higher value for open. no idea about what would define a 'novice' as many ppl on this forum who havent/hadnt competed seriously in PL are probably stronger than most who have.

 

having equipped lifting is gay. just excludes people who dont own the stuff

[reddog]

sounds sweet, keen for pling,crossfitting and board shorts, yeahh wouldnt worry about any gear lifitng for pling, keep it simple like the comp soundsgood set up, just maybe belts and wraps 3-5rep maxs would be mint!

[CHEEKA4]

*drinks*

[Leeroid]

I'd say let the person decide whether they're novice or open but make the novice section winner get a smaller prize like Azide said. So anyone that thinks they can take out the top prize will enter open and people not so confident can enter novice. And Im keen for something like last year, 5RM with just knee wraps

[Pseudonym]

 

Open should be someone who is currently or has been in the past a registered lifter in either the NZPF or CAPO. Anyone else can fall into Novice.

I like that. It's relatively easy to enforce.

 

Though a note on the timing, the Commonwealth/Oceania Championships are being held in Auckland from the 4th-8th of Dec, so ending it on the 1st of December is a little inconvenient there...

That's a nuisance. Maybe if we ask them nicely to change it...

I don't really want to push it back any later, since then you get into the Christmas rush, and I think we'll get a lot more people dropping out. And any earlier doesn't give people much time to make improvements.

But what we could do is have a window of, say, a week to post your finals pics/vids. Would it be better for powerlifters to be 25 Nov - 1 Dec, or 1 Dec - 7 Dec?

 

having equipped lifting is gay. just excludes people who dont own the stuff

Concise, but compelling argument! Raw it is, then!

 

I'd say let the person decide whether they're novice or open but make the novice section winner get a smaller prize like Azide said. So anyone that thinks they can take out the top prize will enter open and people not so confident can enter novice.

I think I've already sorted out the main prizes. It looks like all the winners from all 8 classes will each get the same prize, and it only comes in one size - enormous. It's a terrible problem to have, I know.

The downside of an enormous prize is that I suspect there will be a lot of competition for this. We will need to make sure the rules are as watertight as they can possibly be.

 

[HarryB]

So have you worked out what the actual competition will be?

[Pseudonym]

Not sure quite what you mean, Harry. Are you talking about how the powerlifting competition will work? Or something else?

Powerlifting - contestants post videos of their raw squat, deadlift and bench. Winner is calculated using Wilks. Two categories - Novice (those who have never competed in NZPF or CAPO) and Open (those who have).

The biggest question left to answer is what the Crossfit challenge will look like. Do any of our crossfitters want to make a suggestion here?

[AZIDE]

Not sure quite what you mean, Harry. Are you talking about how the powerlifting competition will work? Or something else?

Powerlifting - contestants post videos of their raw squat, deadlift and bench. Winner is calculated using Wilks. Two categories - Novice (those who have never competed in NZPF or CAPO) and Open (those who have).

The biggest question left to answer is what the Crossfit challenge will look like. Do any of our crossfitters want to make a suggestion here?

so is it a 1RM or multiple reps..like does wilks give you a calculated 1RM from say a 5RM?

[Leeroid]

I'd say 5RM. At least a 3RM. And yeah u just use the weight u hit for reps in the Wilks calculator no need to calculate a 1RM

[Phedder]

Or, because it's powerlifting, you actually do a 1RM lift. Would the bodybuilders be happy if someone just calculated their bf% and lean mass and said 'Yeah, I'd look like this if I dieted down.'

Just a lift a heavy weight, if it felt easy, go heavier...

[Pseudonym]

Ah yes, forgot that little detail! 5RM sounds good to me, and maybe a bit more appealing to powerlifting newbies as well.

EDIT: Having just seen Phedder's post (I started typing this before he posted) I'm happy to go with 1RM if that's what real powerlifters feel is best?

 

I'm just working on the Crossfit Challenge now. It needs to be easy to judge, and easy enough for novices to attempt, but scalable for the more advanced crossfitters. Here's what I'm thinking currently:

10 Chins
20 Pushups
10 Toes to bar

20 Dumbbell Thrusters (sets x Wilks)

As many rounds as possible in 5 mins.

I'm just trying to work out a way of scoring this that incorporates the weight used for Thrusters. Possibly the number of sets multiplied by Wilks? Dunno. I'll need to do some test calculations.

[Phedder]

Ah yes, forgot that little detail! 5RM sounds good to me, and maybe a bit more appealing to powerlifting newbies as well.

EDIT: Having just seen Phedder's post (I started typing this before he posted) I'm happy to go with 1RM if that's what real powerlifters feel is best?

 

I'm not that bothered either way, whatever's going to get the most people involved should go ahead. Just seems odd to call it a powerlifting comp and not lift 1RMs. We could make it 5 reps or less, and put whatever numbers through a calculator? It's just less accurate, as calculators always over estimate my bench, and massively under estimate my deadlift haha.

Another request would be squat and deadlift vids to be side on, to ensure depth on squats and lockout on deadlifts. 

[AZIDE]

Definitely reckon it should be a set rep number for all, rather than using a calculator. Ill give it a go, don't care if its a 1rm or a 10rm, just speculate that there'd be more interest in a 5rm. Guess you could even make that the classes rather than based on whether youre registered as a pl..5rm comp and 1rm comp.

[nate225]

1RM is cleaner to judge - i.e the squat was deep enough or bench touched chest (otherwise could get 3 good squats and 2 boarderline ones, 1 full bench and two boarderlines etc) then Peso's on the spot! *biggrin*

[HarryB]

2rm

[Pseudonym]

Guess you could even make that the classes rather than based on whether youre registered as a pl..5rm comp and 1rm comp.

Good thought. But I think we should keep the registration criteria as well - I want to keep the newbies' class as distinct as possible.  So...

Novice - never competed in powerlifting before, 5RM.

Open - competed in powerlifting previously, 1RM.

Nate, you raise a good point too. I think it's still worthwhile having a 5RM class, but I guess we should probably organise a few impartial judges we can turn to in case of debate. Any nominations?

 

Now... bodybuilding and aesthetics.

Both will have a Best Overall category (which requires one set of photos to be posted at any time during the comp) and a Most Improved category (which requires at least two sets, Before and After, which can also be posted at any time).

Bodybuilding contestants post 4 full-body photos, Front Double Bicep, Back Double Bicep, plus two more of your choice. Shorts must be rolled up to show quads and hammies.

Aesthetics contestants post 3 full-body photos in poses of their choice. Shorts may be worn to knee length.

If competing in Most Improved, the same poses must be used for Before and After photos.

 

Howzat?

[majorflavazz]

what if you havent done a p.l comp before but want to do the open, or can you do both the open and the novice aswell?

[Kalidane]

Sounds good Pseudo

[Leeroid]

Everything looks good Pseudo, i might be gunning for that most aesthetic prize LOL. I reckon novices should be able to do open but not vice versa. I know major flavaz will have some good lifts.

[Pseudonym]

Everything looks good Pseudo, i might be gunning for that most aesthetic prize LOL.

But you'd want to show your legs, wouldn't you? Or do you figure that with everyone else hiding under their shorts, being able to show your legs will gain you extra votes? You might be right!

 

I reckon novices should be able to do open but not vice versa.

Agreed. But you can only win one. And winners aren't eligible for runner-up prizes in the other classes, either.

If anyone does win more than one class, they'll take the prize for whichever they won with the biggest margin.

[reddog]

sounds awesome, iv done heaps of powerlifting, but find the thrill and guts of rep much more exciting so would be keen for both if poss, not worried about been eligible for prizes just enjoy the challege, also for raw are we aloud knee wraps for squats? as in our fed that is classed as raw but in others its not? so many questions sorry

[Pseudonym]

I think we'll allow belts and knee wraps. Anyone who's considering powerlifting probably has these already, or can get them easily enough. But bench shirts, etc, require another level of investment and that would probably put off a few people, so let's not go that far.

 

I've settled on a plan for the Crossfit challenge - and rather than Novice/Open, I think we might divide this one into Men/Women...

Men
20x Chins
20x Pushups
20x Toes to bar
20x Dumbbell Thrusters

Women
15x Chins
15x Pushups
15x Toes to bar
15x Dumbbell Thrusters

You'll do 3 rounds each for time. You convert the weight used for Dumbell Thrusters into Wilks points using the Wilks Calculator here. Your score is then calculated by this formula, and the person with the lowest score wins...

YOUR SCORE = Time in seconds  -  (10 x Wilks points)

This means that if you select a heavier set of dumbells, you'll be slower, but you'll have more points subtracted. Or, if you go for a lighter set, you might be faster, but you won't drop those points. Which will it be? Oooh, strategy!