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Weightlifting: What to Expect at a Meet

Bare essentials of need to knows.

This Saturday, February 1st, we are having an in-house weightlifting meet. Although all of you are familiar with the movements, for a majority of you participating, this will be your very first time participating in a meet and adhering to the corresponding rules and standards. 

Here are some of the basics: each lifter will have 3 attempts at the snatch and 3 attempts at the clean and jerk. Any style of either lift is permitted including a power snatch, power clean, push jerk and split jerk. 

Women will start the event at approximately 9:30am. The order in which athletes take the platform is based on the weight on the bar for each attempt, from lowest to heaviest, regardless of the athlete’s weight class. Regardless of the order of lifting, athletes will be competing against athletes in their respective weight class only. 

There will be 3 judges out on the platform: one on the left, the right and in the center. These judges will give each athlete’s attempt a white card for a successful lift or a red card for a no lift. In order to be deemed a good lift, the athlete needs at least 2 white cards. On the snatch, the judge will be looking for the lifter to catch the bar with arms locked out and stand to full extension to complete the lift. A press out during the catch will result in a red card. For the clean and jerk, the judges are looking for the athlete to clean the bar to shoulders, without elbows touching anywhere on the body, and stand to full extension. Then, the lifter will either push jerk or split jerk the bar overhead. The lifter must catch the bar with arms locked out, recover the feet back under the hips and stand to full extension. A press out will result in a red card and the lift will not count.

Another small but crucial part of being on the platform is listening and waiting for a down signal. After the lifter stands to full extension, the center judge will call out, “down”, and the lifter will then be able to drop the barbell. Lifters who prematurely drop the bar before the down signal will automatically receive a no lift regardless of the quality of the lift. 

Medals will be awarded to all first place finishers for each weight class for males and females. Also, a trophy will be awarded to the best overall lifter throughout all weight classes. This is determined using the “Robi Points” formula, which is calculated based on the actual World Records in the category and the point value of a result equal to a World Record is the same in all bodyweight categories. 

Recap

White Cards=Good LiftsRed Cards=Bad Lifts
Executing the full liftFailure to initiate the lift within the 1min time limit
Waiting for the down signalNot waiting for down signal
Catching locked outPress outs
⅔ White Cards<⅔ White Cards

Elbows touching the knees

Any part of the body touching the floor other then the feet

Come out and support your fellow Ninjas this Saturday! Ladies will be up first starting at approximately 9:30a and men will start approximately at 11:45am! 

Good Luck to all athletes! Stay strong, stay tight, and crush it!