2023 New England's Strongest Grip - Arm Lifting Super Series Stage 1 - Vin's report

[Vinnie]

I've been feeling a little left out of Arm Lifting since they moved from doing the old familiar Iron Mind silver bullet, rolling thunder, axle, and Sorinex saxon bar events to all these new Country Crush and Grip Genie implements that I had never tried.  I mean, in Grip Sports I can still find grippers in half the comps, and here Arm Lifting just abandons its only gripper event!  Anyone who knows me knows that grippers were my gateway drug to begin with and remain my best event, so I prefer comps that feature them.  I actually got invited to the Arnold and didn't go because after I accepted the invite, they removed silver bullet from the program.  Huh?  No, not going to go when they dropped the event that was probably the main reason I qualified in the first place and the only one I'd train well for and do really well in, no.

But I wanted to give the new-fangled stuff a try, and also I don't have a place to train anything but grippers anymore so I am not improving on my old faves anyway, and I may as well get introduced to some new implements.  I resolved to try Stage 1 of the Arm Lifting Super Series and then if I feel like it I will also do Stage 2.  The super series info is here if anyone wants it: https://armliftingusa.com/world-super-series-info -- I know there are disagreements between the talented athletes who run both arm lifting and grip sports, but bottom line is that whatever you call the two organizations, the same small core of competitors is suited for and interested in both of their comps.

I signed up for WIll Fateiger's comp in Leominster, MA primarily because it was the closest one to my Long Island residence (a little under 200 miles), and also partly because I got one of my old college buddies who lives near there to agree to do the comp just on a lark.  He's 300 pounds and not wimpy or anything, but not into lifting anything let alone grip, so he really was just coming along for the heckuvit.  Will had about 15 participants (I'm estimating but it was well over 10 and definitely not 20).  Special Kudos to Will, who included a free tee shirt with each registration, and who had the great idea of putting everyone's last name on the back of his shirt.  That was such a simple idea but I had not seen it done before at a grip or arm lifting comp (not saying it hasn't been, but I hadn't seen it).  Loved it.

I think the only registrant who did not show up was Matt Leblanc (who I'm going to assume was the actor who played Joey from Friends, because: 1-he was signed up in my weight class, and the actor's wiki page reports his weight as being in my weight class; 2-the comp is near Boston, and wiki shows that the actor grew up near Boston; and 3-the comp cost like $70 to register for, and the actor can afford to just register for stuff for $70 and not bother to go).  So I was remotely disappointed that Joey didn't show, as it would have been a real pleasure to kick his friendly butt (grip board won't allow the appropriate word).  But the show (the arm lifting show, anyway, since Friends is cancelled) had to go on.

I think there were 3 dudes in my weight class (80kg or less) not including No-Show-Joe; I think there might have been one guy in the 70kg as well, or maybe he was a late addition to the 80kg and there were 4 of us -- I guess we will see when results come out.  I barely made weight, as I had to remove a couple of items to hit 79.9, so I was the "biggest" by a pound or so of the 80kg class; while they had the advantage of youth (one had to be in his 20s, none more than in their 30s, so basically 20-30 years younger than me).  But given that the Masters (over 50) class is not separated into weight subdivisions, I'd much rather compete against my weight class than my age (e.g., Jason Dingey; WIll Fateiger; Odd Haugen).

*Event 1: Blue Fat Grips Deadlift*

I had never done this event before, but at least it seemed similar to the axle.  My axle PR (which is about the same as my oly bar deadlift PR) is 308, but I knew I wouldn't be able to pull that amount of weight with any grip since I haven't been training anything but grippers and a little sledge since I lost my workout location (that's not a good excuse because I could still train strength at a local gym, but it is my excuse).  Since it was the first event, we had a chance to play with it before the comp started, and I failed at 275.  This made sense to me because at my very first attempt at axle about 5 years ago, I got 270-something and failed 280-something, and my very first deadlift attempts in training with friends were also failing around 280-290.  So, without training legs/core/whatever you call it, and with five years of age on me, I could not expect to hit 308.  I figured I'd make 275 my goal, and I would open low and fine tune my approach as it went up.  So basically, what I expected was to find out what my no-training deadlift max is right now.

Fortunately, Will ran this comp as a "last-man-standing" with unlimited attempts, where you are out once you miss.  So I just started really low in order to assess the feel.  I opened at 185, along with the other lightweights, and of course we all got that.  My college classmate did, too; he had gotten 235 in warm-up and failed 275, like me.  I thought the 185 was easy, so I skipped a few jumps and came back in at 215; also no prob.  I wanted to keep assessing the feel so I did 235, which felt fine, too, although it knocked out my college buddy who had gotten it before.  He had absolutely no trouble with the weight, but he couldn't hold onto it DOH; the grip was going.  I jumped to 255, which started to feel heavy, and I watched the young guys in my weight class do it gingerly.  Ruh Roh, I thought; I am getting close to my limit and they are having no trouble with this!  I needn't have feared.  As always, these heavy events are hard for me because of the weight, not the grip, and the young guys (who were not experienced grip dudes) had the opposite problem; 255 went up like lightning, but then 265 knocked them out because they dropped it.  I am sure I looked awful - red-faced and bad form - but I didn't drop it.  And I got 275, too.  And 285.  And I got air on 295, but just.  Could.  Not.  Stand.  Up.  I didn't drop that, either.  This was no surprise; it is the weight that I hadn't trained.  My grip is fine.  If you had helped me lift it, I could have stood for 10 seconds with 295.  No one helped though, and since it wouldn't have counted, I didn't ask.  I just put it back down.  Gingerly.  "Too heavy!"  I'll take 285.

*Event 2: Country Crush Saxon Block*

I had never done this event before, either.  It looks like a pinch block, but it is on a rolling handle and you have to lift it while holding it sideways, which makes the challenge more like a wrist wrench than a pinch lift, although there is still some pinch strength going on.  The block is slick, so trying to do a straight pinch lift wouldn't likely help anyway, and the parallel lift is very challenging.  I watched Riccardo do it once on Youtube, and I watched Will's instructions, and I watched Will's calls on the other competitors.  Since I had never trained it, and was unsure of some of the nuances of what is and is not permitted (i.e., how close to parallel must it remain, how much body contact at what point is de minimis, etc.), I was a bit uncertain how to approach it.  I would not want to be the judge on this event.  I just tried to make my lifts look as good as the other competitors who were getting down calls, started low, and kept going in the smallest increments until failure.  I felt like it was very hard from around 50-55 pounds on, but I kept tweaking my approach and somehow got to the mid-80s.  I felt like this was very high, because I can't do that on a wrist wrench, so maybe we were missing something - but it was right in the middle of the pack, with many pulling much more.  One of the guys in my weight class made it into the 90s.  Since it is a new implement, if we were doing something wrong, hopefully the vids will show it and we can learn from that for future comps.  I did not love this implement, but I confess that I got good soreness the next day that seemed very likely to have been from this implement, and that probably means it trained something that needed training.  I'll try it again.  I don't think I would buy it unless one a little narrower is made, because the 3-inch width was a bit much for my not-so-big hands.

*Event 3: Rogue Grandfather Clock*

I had never tried this event before, either.  It looks like a Grip Genie Hilt, a 2-inch V-bar, or a narrow Jug.  So, I figured I would end up pushing 200, as I have done low 200s on a V-bar and 190-ish on a jug.  I started low and worked my way up, and I got a difficult but solid pull on 196, failing on 206 when I got plenty of air but could not lock out.  I think this was the weight and not the hold that stopped me, which would be consistent with my general lopsidedness.  I definitely won my weight class on this one, but several of the larger guys got well into the mid-200s.  No one got near 300; I know @dubyagrip is regularly pulling over 300 in training, but of course that is world record territory.  Looking forward to seeing his comp number on that.

In the end, I took home the 80kg win, crushing the youth who dared oppose me lol.  But there were a lot of stronger folk up there in the heavy weights, props to them!  Thanks to Will for running a great comp, and again, especially for those shirts, which I think other promoters should think about doing as well.

And tell Joey I'm coming for him.  Scaredy cat.

 

[Blacksmith513]

You know @Vinnie I had no idea about this. Leominster isn't TOO far from me. Like an hour. I wish I could have met up with you if you had the time. LMK if your ever in the Boston area.  You can show me a thing or two and i'll buy you a couple cold "fancy beers"...  

Who cares about Joey?  Rachel and Monica are where its at.... I never was a fan of the show but as I teenage i watched it plenty because of them. 

[Vinnie]

5 minutes ago, Blacksmith513 said:

Rachel and Monica are where its at

Well, yes, I'd rather meet Rachel and Monica, and do various other things with them, but it wouldn't be as satisfying to outlift them.

[Vinnie]

6 minutes ago, Blacksmith513 said:

LMK if your ever in the Boston area.  You can show me a thing or two and i'll buy you a couple cold "fancy beers".

The only thing I might be qualified to show anyone is a little about grippers lol, everything else I wing it.  But happy to share beers as long as it is after I already made weight.

[dubyagrip]

@Vinnie great write up, man.  So, I'll tell you that the grandfather clock & hilt are a little harder than a fixed vbar.  I pulled 318lbs at my last comp, but that was the standard 2" vbar lift...

I am not intending to talk mess on armlifting usa, but requiring lockout on these carabiner lifts is silly.  I could have pulled mid to high 200s on this as well, but to ensure full lockout, I went way less and ended up with 225lbs.  I'm curious to see how many lifts that were judged as good at the comps actually get judged as no-lift after being reviewed.  Locking out these assymetrical carabiner lifts doesn't really prove anything about your arm strength or grip strength...I felt the same way about my crushed to dust certification with ironmind... I will acknowledge that I did not even train these stage one lifts, so I can't complain that much.  I ended up with 366lb blue fat gripz deadlift, 70.2lb country block, and 225lb hilt lift...again hyper focused on form and lockout.

Edited June 27, 2023 by dubyagrip

[Blacksmith513]

32 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

The only thing I might be qualified to show anyone is a little about grippers lol, everything else I wing it.  But happy to share beers as long as it is after I already made weight.

Offer is always there and your pretty strong for someone who just “wings it”

[Jedd Johnson]

29 minutes ago, dubyagrip said:

@Vinnie great write up, man.  So, I'll tell you that the grandfather clock & hilt are a little harder than a fixed vbar.  I pulled 318lbs at my last comp, but that was the standard 2" vbar lift...

I am not intending to talk mess on armlifting usa, but requiring lockout on these carabiner lifts is silly.  I could have pulled mid to high 200s on this as well, but to ensure full lockout, I went way less and ended up with 225lbs.  I'm curious to see how many lifts that were judged as good at the comp actually get judged as no-lift after being reviewed.  Locking out these assymetrical carabiner lifts doesn't really prove anything about your arm strength or grip strength...I felt the same way about my crushed to dust certification with ironmind... I will acknowledge that I did not even train these stage one lifts, so I can't complain that much.  I ended up with 366lb blue fat gripz deadlift, 70.2lb country block, and 225lb hilt lift...again hyper focused on form and lockout.

You said a mouthful here.  Lockout on maximal and even near maximal lifts is nearly impossible to attain, and extremely inconsistent in judging.  

[Vinnie]

52 minutes ago, dubyagrip said:

@Vinnie great write up, man.  So, I'll tell you that the grandfather clock & hilt are a little harder than a fixed vbar.  I pulled 318lbs at my last comp, but that was the standard 2" vbar lift...

I am not intending to talk mess on armlifting usa, but requiring lockout on these carabiner lifts is silly.  I could have pulled mid to high 200s on this as well, but to ensure full lockout, I went way less and ended up with 225lbs.  I'm curious to see how many lifts that were judged as good at the comps actually get judged as no-lift after being reviewed.  Locking out these assymetrical carabiner lifts doesn't really prove anything about your arm strength or grip strength...I felt the same way about my crushed to dust certification with ironmind... I will acknowledge that I did not even train these stage one lifts, so I can't complain that much.  I ended up with 366lb blue fat gripz deadlift, 70.2lb country block, and 225lb hilt lift...again hyper focused on form and lockout.

I am not as intense a competitor as you and Jedd.  I know there is debate about lockout vs. crossbar that matters more to the intense competitors than it does to me.  Also, since I am short, the crossbar is often higher than my lockout, so I have to lift from a deficit or shrug up past lockout, and that means lockout is soetimes easier for me than crossbar.  I appreciate that you guys at the top of the sport hash out these details; I just show up to comps and do the events often without training them because I enjoy the events and the people, whether lockout or crossbar.  The only event I actually invest much time training is grippers, which involves neither of those things!  I mean no disrespect for those who take it more seriously.  I respect the training and the effort, and that the lockout/crossbar distinction can matter to folks.  I'll show up whichever it is, and if it's crossbar and I need to stand on blocks, so be it, whatever.

[dubyagrip]

10 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

I am not as intense a competitor as you and Jedd.  I know there is debate about lockout vs. crossbar that matters more to the intense competitors than it does to me.  Also, since I am short, the crossbar is often higher than my lockout, so I have to lift from a deficit or shrug up past lockout, and that means lockout is soetimes easier for me than crossbar.  I appreciate that you guys at the top of the sport hash out these details; I just show up to comps and do the events often without training them because I enjoy the events and the people, whether lockout or crossbar.  The only event I actually invest much time training is grippers, which involves neither of those things!  I mean no disrespect for those who take it more seriously.  I respect the training and the effort, and that the lockout/crossbar distinction can matter to folks.  I'll show up whichever it is, and if it's crossbar and I need to stand on blocks, so be it, whatever.

Absolutely! It's about being active and having fun. I did the lifts, and I felt good afterward...no matter how I felt about the format.

[Vinnie]

43 minutes ago, Jedd Johnson said:

extremely inconsistent in judging

Yeah, and that's not to throw shade on the person judging, just that it is harder to judge than crossbar.  With everyone of different height, proportion, shape, etc., and form variations, and "selling" their lifts, there is a lot of room for interpretation that a crossbar eliminates.  You can't sell that the weight hit the bar.  It did or it didn't.  Anyway, I'll take whatever rulings I got, I had a good time, that's all I was there for.  Well, and to crush youth.

[Jedd Johnson]

7 hours ago, Vinnie said:

Yeah, and that's not to throw shade on the person judging, just that it is harder to judge than crossbar.  With everyone of different height, proportion, shape, etc., and form variations, and "selling" their lifts, there is a lot of room for interpretation that a crossbar eliminates.  You can't sell that the weight hit the bar.  It did or it didn't.  Anyway, I'll take whatever rulings I got, I had a good time, that's all I was there for.  Well, and to crush youth.

I understand there's hum error involved, and that's tough enough.  But the worst is when judges pretend to not notice a saxon bar or axle that slips out of the lifters hands near lockout, and the lifter catches it against their thighs and holds it there.  That, or they're not experienced enough to look for stuff like that.

I'm beating a dead horse.  Cross bars take all the guess work out of it.

On a separate note, you should never have to shrug the implement to get it to hit the cross bar.  The promoter should be providing blocks to stand on.

[climber511]

I keep thinking I'd like to do one more "Grip" contest - maybe over the winter - main thing for me it's going to have to be close - no matter which Organization it is.  Second is the events - I don't really have any interest in any of what I consider "gimmick lifts" or lifts that would require me to buy any new equipment - which seem to have become popular lately.  I know opinions vary but hey I have mine.  So I may or may not find what I'm looking for hehe!  Mentally I can't just show up and go for it - I need to have trained the events - Or close enough to them) that I feel I have somewhat of a chance to do well.

[Vinnie]

@climber511 How close is close?  I personally think that if there is anyone near enough to you who is capable of promoting a comp / hosting a venue, he should just get your preferred list of events and run them.  I'd drive to Ohio for that comp no matter what the events are (and I know it wouldn't be grippers lol).

Edited June 28, 2023 by Vinnie

[climber511]

1 hour ago, Vinnie said:

@climber511 How close is close?  I personally think that if there is anyone near enough to you who is capable of promoting a comp / hosting a venue, he should just get your preferred list of events and run them.  I'd drive to Ohio for that comp no matter what the events are (and I know it wouldn't be grippers lol).

Ha Ha!  Let me get my climbing trips in and we'll see!  This my 75th birthday - 40 year of climbing and 50th year of marriage this year.  So a big deal to us!

 

[Blacksmith513]

6 hours ago, climber511 said:

Ha Ha!  Let me get my climbing trips in and we'll see!  This my 75th birthday - 40 year of climbing and 50th year of marriage this year.  So a big deal to us!

 

Congrats on all accounts!

[Hubgeezer]

On 6/27/2023 at 7:23 PM, climber511 said:

Ha Ha!  Let me get my climbing trips in and we'll see!  This my 75th birthday - 40 year of climbing and 50th year of marriage this year.  So a big deal to us!

 

Wow! Three Super Marathons in the same year!

Triple Congratulations

[Hubgeezer]

On 6/27/2023 at 3:27 PM, climber511 said:

ISecond is the events - I don't really have any interest in any of what I consider "gimmick lifts" or lifts that would require me to buy any new equipment - which seem to have become popular lately.  I know opinions vary but hey I have mine.  So I may or may not find what I'm looking for hehe!  Mentally I can't just show up and go for it - I need to have trained the events - Or close enough to them) that I feel I have somewhat of a chance to do well.

I know what you mean. If you have been doing things for decades, do you really want to put in dozens/scores/hundreds of hours to help some new business launch new products?
I remember, at the 2009 US Nationals, the Reverse Weaver stick was contested. Here you had an event that was kicking around as a feat of strength from the 1930s (at least): Great! That was cool! Some had no doubt never touched one, but nobody cared!

Sure, some of your comments, and mine, have a Geezerly vibe to them, but the beauty of the “sport” is that it was relatively inexpensive. I can’t imagine a young married couple trying to make ends meet and being okay with investing significant money for new gizmos and major time “to do well” in a “contest”. 

[climber511]

Its not a real big deal (even to me) to compete one more time.  But I am curious where I stand now at 75 compared to my younger competition days.  I know I’ve lost a lot but In order to truly know I’ll need the same lifts in the competition as I have done in the past. 

Grippers (as much as I hate them they were a mainstay event when I competed.)  MMS or block set.  There will be zero training involved beforehand LOL.

Euro Pinch – all widths contested

IM Apollon Axle Dead Lift (or other close to 2” Axle – 1.9”) (bare steel – no coating)

Big Medley – 20 or so items of all kinds (announced in advance?).  Blobs – Blocks – Anvils – Hammers – Baby Inch – Thin Pinches – Plate Pinches – a couple easy bends - odd objects – and on and on.

One other event (not a deal breaker) – perhaps levering of some kind?  One of the most popular events ever held at Gripmas was the “2 hand supported Sledge Hammer event – either for max weight or reps”.  I suppose I’d have to host in order to have this one.  Would also be OK to hold Weaver Stick again – that was a fun (if painful) one.

Contest would have to be within a 4 hour max drive.   I guess I might be conned into having Gripmas “75” at my place LOL.  Reading this over it appears I'm being really selfish - so I suppose I'm going to have to host one last time.  

 

 

[Vinnie]

6 minutes ago, climber511 said:

I guess I might be conned into having Gripmas “75” at my place LOL.  Reading this over it appears I'm being really selfish - so I suppose I'm going to have to host one last time.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would be in, and I'd offer to chauffeur Tim Butler and the NY area guys; I bet we could get four of us to show up.  I think you'd have a great turnout.

If there is anything I can do to help, let me know, I'll try.

[climber511]

49 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would be in, and I'd offer to chauffeur Tim Butler and the NY area guys; I bet we could get four of us to show up.  I think you'd have a great turnout.

If there is anything I can do to help, let me know, I'll try.

Thanks Vinnie - when i get back home from climbing I'll start putting things together.  

[Vinnie]

No one reached out to me with any sort of explanation, so I only found this out when looking online at the results:  It looks like everyone at the New England World Series Stage 1 got zero for the Saxon Block averaged into our comp results, so we all placed really low in the Stage 1 standings.  I assume that the reason we were given zeros is that the event was incorrectly judged so that our reported lifts were impossibly high, and I certainly agree that it would not be fair to the competitors at OTHER venues to count those inflated lifts.  But the lack of communication and video left us with zeros instead of credit for the lower lifts that we actually did, in many cases probably correctly.  Out of about 24 in my weight class, I placed 17th, where I would have been around 6th or 7th if I had been credited with even a basic, easy lift on the block, and as high as 4th if I had a decent lift for my weight class.  That's disappointing, but maybe less so for me than for someone who might have been in contention for prize money.  It wasn't malicious of course, and there was no really good way to handle it after it happened, but it really shouldn't go down this way.  I hope the promoters make some effort to coordinate Stage 2 and future events (maybe a general meeting between overall promoter and all the venue promoters), so as not to do this to athletes again.

Edited July 5, 2023 by Vinnie

[Vinnie]

Just now, Vinnie said:

No one reached out to me with any sort of explanation, so I only found this out when looking online at the results:  It looks like everyone at the New England World Series Stage 1 got zero for the Saxon Block averaged into our comp results, so we all placed really low in the Stage 1 standings.  I assume that the reason we were given zeros is that the event was incorrectly judged so that our reported lifts were impossibly high, and I certainly agree that it would not be fair to the OTHER contenders to count those inflated lifts.  But the lack of communication and video left us with zeros instead of credit for the lower lifts that we actually did, in many cases probably correctly.  Out of about 24 in my weight class, I placed 17th, where I would have been around 6th or 7th if I had been credited with even a basic, easy lift on the block, and as high as 4th if I had a decent lift for my weight class.  That's disappointing, but maybe less so for me than for someone who might have been in contention for prize money.  It wasn't malicious of course, and there was no really good way to handle it after it happened, but it really shouldn't go down this way.  I hope the promoters make some effort to coordinate Stage 2 and future events (maybe a general meeting between overall promoter and all the venue promoters), so as not to do this to athletes again.

It might make sense for promoters to require that all comps be videoed in full.  That wouldn't eliminate the possibility of communication and judging problems, but it might help reduce the effect of them.  Anyway, not the hugest deal, glad it happened in a comp I wasn't super-invested in, and probably had little effect on me, and hopefully it didn't mess anyone else up, either.  These multi-venue comps have a lot of appeal once these kinds of kinks are worked out.

[Nuttgens]

3 minutes ago, Vinnie said:

No one reached out to me with any sort of explanation, so I only found this out when looking online at the results:  It looks like everyone at the New England World Series Stage 1 got zero for the Saxon Block averaged into our comp results, so we all placed really low in the Stage 1 standings.  I assume that the reason we were given zeros is that the event was incorrectly judged so that our reported lifts were impossibly high, and I certainly agree that it would not be fair to the OTHER contenders to count those inflated lifts.  But the lack of communication and video left us with zeros instead of credit for the lower lifts that we actually did, in many cases probably correctly.  Out of about 24 in my weight class, I placed 17th, where I would have been around 6th or 7th if I had been credited with even a basic, easy lift on the block, and as high as 4th if I had a decent lift for my weight class.  That's disappointing, but maybe less so for me than for someone who might have been in contention for prize money.  It wasn't malicious of course, and there was no really good way to handle it after it happened, but it really shouldn't go down this way.  I hope the promoters make some effort to coordinate Stage 2 and future events (maybe a general meeting between overall promoter and all the venue promoters), so as not to do this to athletes again.

Sorry to hear that man that sucks especially for people who could have been in a position for prize money. 

I think that block is a bad handle to use for competition it’s hard to judge if your lifting  horizontal if you do go past horizontal the lift gets way way easier. There must be a better handle to use for judging that doesn’t give you the ability to over rotate. Just a regular pinch block in my opinion would be a much better lift. Plus I haven’t talked to a single person who likes lifting that block either. 

[Vinnie]

1 minute ago, Nuttgens said:

Sorry to hear that man that sucks especially for people who could have been in a position for prize money. 

I think that block is a bad handle to use for competition it’s hard to judge if your lifting  horizontal if you do go past horizontal the lift gets way way easier. There must be a better handle to use for judging that doesn’t give you the ability to over rotate. Just a regular pinch block in my opinion would be a much better lift. Plus I haven’t talked to a single person who likes lifting that block either. 

I think the block works some different muscles than I am used to, and probably has training benefit, but it is certainly hard to judge it even at one venue let alone across many.  I don't know if there was a good solution to this one, so I am just putting it out there mostly to suggest the few changes I mentioned so that this doesn't happen again.  Not that big a deal of course.

[stranger]

3 hours ago, Vinnie said:

No one reached out to me with any sort of explanation, so I only found this out when looking online at the results:  It looks like everyone at the New England World Series Stage 1 got zero for the Saxon Block averaged into our comp results, so we all placed really low in the Stage 1 standings.  I assume that the reason we were given zeros is that the event was incorrectly judged so that our reported lifts were impossibly high, and I certainly agree that it would not be fair to the competitors at OTHER venues to count those inflated lifts.  But the lack of communication and video left us with zeros instead of credit for the lower lifts that we actually did, in many cases probably correctly.  Out of about 24 in my weight class, I placed 17th, where I would have been around 6th or 7th if I had been credited with even a basic, easy lift on the block, and as high as 4th if I had a decent lift for my weight class.  That's disappointing, but maybe less so for me than for someone who might have been in contention for prize money.  It wasn't malicious of course, and there was no really good way to handle it after it happened, but it really shouldn't go down this way.  I hope the promoters make some effort to coordinate Stage 2 and future events (maybe a general meeting between overall promoter and all the venue promoters), so as not to do this to athletes again.

They didn't say why? Just zeroed all you guys? Do you have any videos?