competition standards?

[veganlifter]

I was looking at the B.D.F.P.A website and was looking at the qualification lifts and was surprised how low some of the qualification lifts are for the unequipped dead lift. If I lost a bit of weight and went down to 90kg it would mean I would only need a qualification lift of 205kg. At the moment I am not a million miles away from this, however I wondered when most people realistically start competing? There is no point in making the qualification lift to find that every competitor is going to destroy you by a substantial margin. I see on the vegan strength table this is well within reach of 40% or more of people 90kg and over, so you guys who compete what sort of bench marks did you set yourself past the qualification weights? I would like to compete one day but don't envisage this will be for at least 5 years.

[JP]

BDFPA does have low qualification standards.

But thats largely due to the lack of lifters. This is meant to encourage people to join in and lift.

Powerlifting is not all that competetive, and there is plenty of silverware to go around (bench press north west champion here, lol!!!). It only starts getting competetive when you reach national or sometimes international level.

I wouldnt worry about what others lift, just enter a local competition and enjoy the experience. Its not like runners dont enter comps unless they can get to olympics

[Talyn]

Part of the reason is that BDFPA is a much smaller federation than GBPF, so the pool of lifters is smaller which will mean qualifying totals will be lower to encourage people.

There is no point in making the qualification lift to find that every competitor is going to destroy you by a substantial margin.

Sorry mate but that is rubbish. If you like powerlifting and are keen to compete, you should compete regardless of whether or not you can place well, or even qualify. Get out there and do it!

I see on the vegan strength table this is well within reach of 40% or more of people 90kg and over, so you guys who compete what sort of bench marks did you set yourself past the qualification weights? I would like to compete one day but don't envisage this will be for at least 5 years.

My bench mark is to beat my own total. I've dropped a lot of weight recently in an attempt to be more competitive, but even still my total is around 60kg off British qualification. I don't care.

[baldy]

There is always a bigger dog, but as everyone said if you want to do a comp just do it. People are very supportive of new comers, so no matter how much you lift you will get respect for just stepping onto the platform and giving it your all. Normally you also get a cool tshirt.

Firstly get your numbers on the vegan strength table! Also don't underestimate how much work is required "within reach" and "not a million miles" can take months or years to improve specially if you are cutting weight.