USIAA Powerlifting Rules:
Men's Weight Classes:
|
Women's Weight Classes:
|
Roster & Scholarship Rules:
- All programs can only have a max of 28 (14 men & 14 women) athletes during the regular season; this limit is lifted to 128 players for preseason tryouts only.
- All programs can only have a max of 16 (8 men & 8 women) athletes on the active roster for invitationals during the regular season, while all dual meets will have all 28 (14 men & 14 women) athletes on both teams
- All programs are required to give all 8 (4 men & 4 women) inactive players free season tickets in the designated student sections for all home games.
- Meet/Invitational Structure:
a) Powerlifting meets/invitationals are generally all-day events, lasting around 7-9 hours. They start around 6AM local time for athlete weigh-ins with lifting starting 2 hours after that. The meets will usually end late afternoon (3PM).
b) All teams must arrive no later than 30 minutes before the weigh-in.
c) Powerlifting meets/invitationals use the metric system (i.e., kilos) instead of the imperial system (i.e., pounds).
d) At the same time as the weigh-in is happening, there will be other referees who run what's called the “equipment check”. Athletes will basically stand in a line and wait until a referee checks all of the equipment that they will be wearing on the competition platform. This is everything from their underwear, singlet, and any supportive equipment they choose to wear (wrist wraps, belt, sleeves, etc.).
e) A powerlifting competition runs in the following order: squat, bench press, and deadlft. Example match with two flights (Flight A and Flight B) = Flight A will complete all three squat attempts, then Flight B will complete all three squat attempts, before Flight A moves onto their bench press attempts. - Flights:
a) A flight is a grouping of either 8 (invitationals) or 14 (dual meets) lifters that compete together.
b) Flights are usually referred to by alphabetical groupings (“Flight A”, “Flight B”, “Flight C”).
c) Each flight completes one individual lift before moving onto the next.
d) Flights must be gender specific.
e) The order of the competition will be determined by the weight on the barbell. So everyone will do their openers in the order of the lightest to heaviest attempts. Once the openers are completed, athletes will begin to hand in their loads for the next attempt, which will automatically determine the order for the second attempts. - The Events:
a) Squat:
i) Athletes need to bend their knees and lower the body until the top surface of the leg (upper quad at the hip joint) is lower than the top of the knee (explained in more detail below)
ii) Athletes need to have their knees locked at both the beginning and end of the movement.
iii) Athletes can't step forward or backward, or move their feet laterally while squatting — they can't lose your balance.
iv) Athletes must listen to the referees signals (explained in more detail below)
v) Athletes can't touch your elbows or arms with your legs which deliberately supports the movement.
vi) Athletes can't ‘double bounce' at the bottom (go up, down, then up again), or have any downward movement of the bar.
b) Bench Press:
i) Athletes must keep their head, shoulders, and buttocks in contact with the bench.
ii) Their feet must stay flat on the floor.
iii) Athletes must pause the weight on your chest before pressing and have a constant forward motion of the barbell.
iv) If an athlete have long hair, they are required to tie it up
v) Athletes must wrap your thumb around the bar
vi) An Athlete's hands must not exceed 81cm, which means the index must cover the hashmark on the barbell.
vii) The barbell cannot touch an athlete's belt
viii) The whole of the bar must travel upward after the ‘press command'.
c) Deadlift:
i)The bar cannot travel downward before reaching the final position
ii) Athletes must stand erect with the shoulders back
iii) Athletes must stand with your knees straight at the completion of the lift
iv) Athletes cannot have the bar rest on the thighs during the lift
v) Athletes cannot step forward or back or move the feet laterally during the ‘up phase'
vi) Athletes must return the bar to the floor while maintaining control with both hands
d) All teams must begin no later than 45 minutes prior to the start of the event
e) After each lift, you will receive either a white or red light from the referees. White lights indicate that you followed the movement standards. Red lights mean that you broke one of the technical rules or you out-right failed the lift. athletes will only need two white lights out of three from the referees in order for the lift to be considered successful.
f) Athletes will only have 3 attempts for each of the lifts.
g)Athletes can only select attempts in 2.5kg increments.
h) Once an athlete has finished a lift on the competition platform, they will have 60-seconds from when they receive your lights, to submit your next attempt. Once they submit an attempt, it's final.
g) The USIAA will use the same rules at the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) for lifting techniques. - Scoring System for individuals:
a) The Best Overall Award is given to one male and female athlete. This award is also known as the “Champion of Champion” award. It's an award that measures “relative strength” based on bodyweight. It's calculated by taking your powerlifting total and body-weight and multiplying it by a coefficient to give the athlete their Points score (i.e. the Dots score).
b) Dots Score = (Lifted weight x (body weight / 100)) / World record for weight class.
c) The scores from each lift are added together to give the lifter a total. The total is ranked within a gender, weight, and age class to determine the winner of that specific category. For example, if a lifter squatted 180kg, bench pressed 120kg, and deadlift 200kg their total would be 500kg.
- Dual Meets (i.e. no more than 2 teams):
a) 4 points for a win.
b) 2 points for a draw.
c) 0 points for a loss.
d) 1 "bonus" point for losing by 7 points or less. - Invitationals (at least 3 but no more than 8 teams):
a) 5 points for 1st place.
b) 4 points for 2nd place.
c) 3 points for 3rd place.
d) 2 points for 4th place.
e) 1 point for 5th place.
f) 0 points for 6th place or worse.
- All programs play a 6-invitational & 3 dual meet season (may only host 1 of each) beginning on the first Saturday of October and ending on third Saturday of March, with no more than 2 events per month.
- Scores are determined by summing the top 8 individual finishing places (4 men & 4 women) on each team.
- The USIAA Championship is a individual championship beginning on the second week after the regular season ends; the top 8 athletes (4 men & 4 women) from the top 8 teams in each region will compete in the regionals.