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French
benchers are getting fed up with the lack of respect they experience
within the french powerlifting-weightlifting federation, and remind everyone
that they are those who contribute the most to the number of registered athletes.
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IPF proposals
to get rid of the bench shirt |
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| Technical Rules TR 1-1: Personal Equipment -- T-Shirt/Supportive Shirt (Australia) 1. Delete all references to "supportive shirt" i.e. eliminate the bench shirt. Reasons (i) Credibility -- the bench shirt has destroyed the credibility of this lift in IPF competition & has thereby has harmed our organization & our sport. The shirt creates an uplift estimated at over 20% of performance, produces grotesque efforts in which the lifter cannot get the bar to their chest & results in competitions with many or most competitors bombing. To spectators, politicians & bureaucrats observing our sport for the first time the impact is to present us as an insubstantial activity & the acceptability & growth of our sport will be severely retarded by this poor presentation (ii) Artificiality -- with the advent of the bench shirt the near universal mentality amongst lifters has become one of who can get the newest shirt or who can wear the tightest possible shirt. Sport is intended as a test of natural physical ability, intellect in devising one's training & character in applying oneself in practice & competition, but with the bench shirt all thought & practice is directed toward an artificial technology rather than self-development (iii) Safety -- the anecdotal & observational evidence is overwhelming as to the dangerousness of the shirts. The tightness & springiness of the shirts creates unpredictability to a degree which cannot be overcome by practice. From World Championships down there have been many instances of near-miss serious injury or death episodes & it is inevitable that such events will occur. The legal implications for the IPF are enormous & could result in the end of our organization; legal risks for the IPF remain, as the risks of the shirt are obvious & we have failed to act decisively on this issue. The safety rack rule only partially addresses this problem as rack height for the safety racks is difficult to set accurately & safety racks are not often applied in training (iv) Clarity -- the proposed 2009+ shirts which stretch 40% at 200 Newton’s force barely change the above problems. The only demonstration thus far of these shirts, in Denmark May 2007, revealed that the lifter could not lower the bar until near his best-ever weight, had his head pulled up to get the bar down & looked no different from the arms up lifter of today. Also manufacturers will remain free to alter other parameters of the shirt . Thus the proposed 2009+ shirts will only continue the profound problems which the shirt has brought our sport & it will be inevitable that manufacturers will find ways to continue to increase the springiness of shirts, by changing such parameters as collar & seam positioning, etc. Thus the only way to solve the shirt problem is to eliminate it now, or we will be left grappling with this problem for years to come (v) Probity -- accurately or not, the advent of shirts & the huge market for them has produced a perception that manufacturers have undue influence on the processes of the IPF & that phenomena such as equipment agents voting in Congress as national delegates has occurred. Decisions in our sport must be made firstly by the criteria of what is right for the sport itself & commercial interests follow in the wake of that. Removal of the shirt now is clearly the correct move for the long term growth of the sport & this must be demonstrated by an arms-length debate & a stand taken on this issue now. 2. After "one ply stretchable material" add ";'stretch ability' is as defined by IOS13934 Part 2 or its successor documents" i.e. allow shirts that stretch at least 40% horizontally & vertically under 200 Newton’s of strain. Reason (i) This is a compromise, allowing shirts of lesser stretch ability, to satisfy the demands of lifters for springy shirts but hopefully limiting that springiness & the problems which come from that. 3. Add to any reference to "support shirts" the phrase "support shirts are permitted only in BP-only competitions & not in 3-lift Powerlifting competitions" i.e. allow BP shirts in BP-only contests but not full Powerlifting competitions. Reason (i) This is another compromise, allowing BP specialists & others to have a forum, all the way up to World Championships, to express their desire & willingness to shirt bench press. The mentality of such lifters is so strongly pro-shirt that only this compromise can satisfy this group, yet allow the sport as a whole to progress, with full Powerlifting competitions being presented primarily to observers such as IOC etc. but with BP-only events maintaining their own position. WR’s would revert to two distinct BP records (shirt & no shirt) & also the IPF should obtain legal advice as to a waiver for lifters to sign before they engage in such shirt-BP competitions. 4. Add after "t-shirts" the phrase "if on the IPF Approved List" i.e. require lifters to purchase only approved brand t-shirts, if bench shirts are outlawed. Reason (i) This is proposed partly as an economic compensation to manufacturers if bench shirts are outlawed. Also it allows scope to go back to the drawing board & devise a shirt which is still close to a t-shirt but looks presentable & does not create the problems of extremely springy shirts i.e. if "supportive shirts" are outlawed & this proposal passed manufacturers can still come back with a new, reasonable proposal. General Proposal 1. Render historical existing World Records for Bench Press, Total &/or Bench Press-only, according to any changes in shirt rules made as per above; Reason (i) Elimination or major change to the shirt will mean that lifters from that point on will have little chance of attaining records set with the artificial aid of the shirt. Accordingly it is only fair to reset the affected Records, by setting reasonable Standards as the new "records" & leaving on file as "historical" the currently listed records. Australia has obtained legal opinion on this in changing its own records & if a change is duly passed by the appropriate processes of the organization (in this case the Congress) then it is valid to do so & is unlikely to be successfully challenged General Rules of Powerlifting -- Rules 4 & 5 1. Change Bodyweight Classes -- it is assumed that if BP shirt rules change there will be a Congress vote to change existing World Records for at least BP & Total, back to a new Standard. If so now is the time to resolve another issue impacting our credibility i.e. multiple bodyweight classes, unevenly distributed across the world population of lifters & resulting in some classes at Championships & Games which there are few competitors. Powerlifting has more classes than any other bodyweight sport & this will not be acceptable if we seek to enter major Games, present our Champions to governments, the public, etc. Debate on this subject has been short-sighted & uninformed & the only hard data on this subject has been the study of the world's lifter population carried out at the time of formulation of the Wilks formula. Full data will not be presented here but the case can be well made for the following options- Men -- 9 classes 58/64/70/77/85/94/105/120/120+ 8 classes 58/64/71/79/88/100/115/115+ Women -- 8 classes 46/50/55/60/66/74/86/86+ or 7 classes 48/53/58/64/72/84/84+; any combination can be chosen e.g.9+7, 8+ 7, etc. 2. Change Team Sizes Reason (i) If bodyweight classes are changed, team sizes should be adjusted accordingly e.g. if 9 men's classes team size is 9, if 7 women's classes team size is 7 & so on. " TR 1-2: Forbiddance of the Bench Shirts beginning 1st of January 2009 (Germany) Reasons: • High risks of injury • No unequivocal regulation and examination of the material possible • Possibilities of the manipulation are given by special fabrication like material / seams / logos / styling / pattern and more • No controlling possibilities of the referees on site more possible • Equipment check are irrelevant • to high failure of athletes by invalid attempts • Respect in the general public sinks, because no more understandably by many invalid attempts • Very high injury danger for the athletes and late results by the disproportionate charges of the joints, ligaments and tendons • Achievements do not correspond any more to the reality • Abolishing the shirts was unambiguously recommended by surveys in Germany in 2006 • Abolition of the commerce from the distribution originates TR 1-3: Bench Shirt (IPF-EC/TC) As from the 1st January 2009 only support ( bench ) shirts that meet the following criteria i.e. a minimum of 40% elasticity and 40% distension under 250 Newton Metres of force. (S I Unit) - International System will be legal in IPF Competition. Reason: The safety of the lifter, which is of paramount importance, has been compromised because many of the shirts currently on the market have little elasticity and apparently have been the cause of many accidents to lifters. Add new: IPF Technical Rules - Page 11 T. Shirt / Supportive Shirt insert third paragraph. As from the 1st January 2009 only support (bench) shirts that meet the required criteria i.e. a minimum of 40% elasticity and 40% distension under 250 Newton Metres of force. (S I Unit) - International System - will be legal in IPF Competition. TR 1-4: Page 11 / item T Shirt / Supportive Shirt (Nordic Powerlifting Federation/Sweden) Add new: The supportive shirt for bench press must have a minimum of 40 % stretch ability in all directions by 250 N. Reason: Nordic Powerlifting federation (Finland has not voted about it) wants the Congress to vote about what tolerance level the stretch material will be in the bench shirt, and the future of the bench shirt. We recommend 250 NM through 40 % stretch in all directions. We think this is a very serious question that we have to vote about it. (Nordic Powerlifting Federation, Alexander Grenehed, Sweden). TR 1-5: Bench Shirt (USA) No changes are to be made in the technical rules or rules of performance governing the bench shirt or its use or materials from those that are approved currently and which are currently in use. Rationale: Continuous changes in the powerlifting rules and equipment deny athletes the stability necessary to train and adapt to competition standards. Such changes deny the possibility of continuity of records, totals and performance in the eyes of the public and undermine the stability of the economy of powerlifting and our sponsors. Such changes are not in keeping with the desires of the athletes who are satisfied with competition conditions as they currently exist. Changes proposed by the Technical Committee and Executive Committee will result in powerlifting losing significant credibility in the eyes of the athletes and increase the possibility that the IPF and its affiliates will lose many of the gains made in membership over the past several years. |
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Claude
Sitruk: My Blow of Mouth ! (25 Sept 2007)
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Most of you have
known me for quite a long time now! If you happen to hear me loud-mouthed these days, shouting away,
it is solely for the purpose of trying to save our discipline, namely
Single
Lift Bench Press. I am not doing this on account of my personal interest,
for you well know that there is nothing to be won here, nor to be lost,
without mentioning anything to be proven.
Yet, our representatives seem to be aiming at getting
rid of Benchpress as a single-lift discipline to the benefit of powerlifting
as a three-lift discipline only, pretty much as weightlighters wanted
to get rid of powerlifting to save their own sport, some thirty five
years ago. Yet, the latter never succeeded, mainly thanks to the action
carried out by devoted powerlifters such as Lucien DEFARIA, Albert BUTTIGIEG,
Georges GERARD, who created their own federation, or thanks to Joseph
PONNIER, Daniel VACHAT, to mention but a few among a rumble of others. Dear fellow benchers, should we not react quickly, the
future of our discipline would find itself compromised. Let's not let
ourselves bullied this way ! Claude SITRUK |
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Joseph
Ponnier : Mail to Claude
Sitruk (26 Sept 2007) |
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Claude
I've just read your blow of mouth. I am at a hundred percent with you ! As far as I am concerned, I send you this mail to support you. I know some will say "it was bound to be, this man is selling benchpress shirts, so he could not do anything else than supporting Claude". I would answer these simply and without being controversial: "I agree to get rid of benchpress shirts (for more than thirty years I have gone to meets without these, and I reached 195 in -60kg category and 201kg in -67,5 without them), but let us then get rid of Squat shirts and straps". As the french moto has it: Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood. As for athletics, there are many disciplines; we can find decathlon, triathlon, heptatlon. Do you imagine that athletes from these combined disciplines criticise or try to get rid of pole vaulting as single sports, telling them they should get back to bamboo sticks as before ? Do you think athletes doing heptathlon criticise 100m dash athletes telling them "we are going to get rid of your claw-shoes and you'll run on beaten land again, as in the bygone good old days" ? All this so as to save combined disciplines !!!! We are involved in a powerlifting and Weightlifting federation, so let us respect one another, as they do in athletics. There, they do not care about knowning whether there are more athletes going for the 100m dash, pole vaulting, high jump or anything else. They respect one another and do not try to destroy some discipline to save others. What matters to them is the number of registered members. The more they get registrations, the more they will be able to help combined disciplines with less people involved than others, while patting and respecting the one with the greatest number of athletes, their goose that lays the golden eggs. Joseph Ponnier. |
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Joseph Ponnier : Let's Rail
Benchpress Disparagers ! (30/09/2007) |
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Benchpress as Single Lift finds
itself more and more criticised, even from within our own federation,
and should we not react swiftly we could as well disappear.
Is it really of any use to disparage an ever growing discipline, which gets wider still in our weightlifting-powerlifting federation, to the sole purpose of saving another ? More than thirty years ago, Powerlifting used to be criticised to the sole purpose of saving Weightlifting. Today, Benchpress is criticised in an attempt to save 3-Lifts Powerlifting. The difference is that those who used to criticise Powerlifting at the time were involved in quite another sport: Weightlifting. Whereas those who do the same to Benchpress today are to be found within Powerlifting, and even among our own representatives. There use to be a time when disparagers talking about powerlifting would refer to us as "mummies" or "zombies". Representatives would defend this discipline, finding arguments to defend the use of shirts and straps. Today, these very same representatives criticise the use of shirts for benchpress using the same vocabulary as before. It is thus obvious that Benchpress is a nuisance to them ? How come ? At the time, and contrary to what some of our founding fathers may think, Benchpress as considered both as a means of getting more people involved in powerlifting and getting more registrations. If registratinos indeed increased tremendously, we can but admit that there is a growing loss of athletes in 3-Lift Powerlifting, which is no good news to some of us. Benchpress as Single Lift is even more dangerous in so far as it could also get some weightlifters leave their sport for this one as well. Judging from their recent shift in attitude, we can wonder whether our represenatives have not been taken as hostages by our weightlifting federation for the sole purpose of "killing" Single Lift Benchpress. Our discipline which can be practiced either as itself or as part of a wider sport is not a case seldom found. Pole-Vaulters, Sprinters, and the like, can also practice decathlon, and still be respected for their sports of origin. Why should we feel guilty and thus help our disparagers ? What matters for any sports federation is the number of registrations. And, curiously or not, Benchpress as Single Lift is never criticised on that point... Joseph Ponnier. |
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