If you go to Open Powerlifting (openpowerlifting.com) you'll quickly learn there's over 40 active powerlifting federations in the United States. Crazy, right?! So how on earth does a powerlifter decide on which federation is best for them. It comes down to a whole lot of personal decisions but I'm going to try to dive into more of the finer details to help you with who you should be searching to compete with. Credibility leads the way for deciding on a federation as I think credibility can help define more objective measures for a logical reason as to where you should choose to compete.
What makes anything credible can be broken into a few parts - depth, objectivity, currency, authority, and purpose.
Depth of a powerlifting organization meaning the quantity of athletes currently active, quality of athletes comparable to you and your own goals, how much competition you would have at each level of competition, and the fed's own history.
Objectivity in the case of federations could be considered how in-meet judging/rules is and are handled.
Currency could be defined as worth of being part of a federation and include factors like what you feel the federation as a whole is worth.
Authority would be the board of directors, meet directors, etc. who contribute to growing the federation and building upon these elements of credibility.
Purpose could be the entire reason why you're aiming to compete, paying the federation dues, and becoming an advocate for the federation.
Depth
Imagine playing any game with someone far below your own abilities, this would make for a very boring game. Likewise, if you only played games with people who are lightyears beyond your own abilities you wouldn't have any fun. Depth plays an important role in creating excitement in any sport - and as such, the most competitive competitions are the most fun to watch and be a part of. That being said, very often there are outliers but one outlier doesn't define an entire federation. A large piece of this is overall history. Imagine a federation where less than a handful of competitors have actually lifted and no records have been set largely across each state and nationally. In this case, there is very little depth. There would be a lacking number of participants for comparative ability (competition) and competing ends up being a participation record for an entire federation rather than a hard earned true reward, aside from the celebration of strength that a competition provides which is rewarding in itself. Compare this to a large governing body like a national soccer team competing versus a 3rd division soccer team. In powerlifting, defining this depth is a valuable piece to selecting a federation. However, at the local level depth should also consider the available meets in your area. For example, it may be not worthwhile to compete 10 hours away to be in a larger federation when a smaller federation might have a meet available within 20 minutes away once every other month. Most of these general parameters of quantity and quality of athletes can easily be discoverable with a google search and you can define quantity and quality of competition by considering state records, the type of athletes that are going to show up at local regional and national events, etc.
Objectivity
This category might be one of the more difficult to classify because of personal needs like squat depth ability, bar use, commands, etc. As an objective measure of "was the lift completed and fitting to the rules of the book" some federations tend to smudge things in either direction (good lift or no lift). An obvious or apparent ruling call of depth would mean no questions or doubts about it, they hit depth is how I would define a true measure of did someone squat to depth or not. If they *maybe* depth or it was *close* then I would say it wasn't to depth, because close could be anything but achieved depth. That being said, is this the defining feature as to why someone should choose a federation? No, not necessarily because there's more to credibility... but consistent support of a federations rules of a lift are a daggum great reason to call into question credibility. Consistency is a huge objective piece that should never change. Referees aren't robots but to call two squats differently that were the same should never happen. I think every federation would agree with this statement but this is absolutely not what occurs with some that I will not mention in this article. Consistency of rules is the main part of objective measures that I'm looking for when guiding athletes to their first competition. But there are others including how on-time meets are being ran, how efficient weigh ins are conducted, 24 hour weigh ins vs. 2 hour weigh ins, equipment acceptable in competition, etc.
Currency
Comparison is typically not the greatest measure but in sports without it there would be no drive to excel, whether comparing yourself then vs. now or in actual competition when trying to beat your previous best or achieve placement at a specific meet. Establishing the worth of one federation over another means considering your own hopes and goals across the long term. Imagine at your first competition you'd be the strongest 200lb lifter in the nation... but if you competed in any other federation you'd be ranked 500th at best. For one person being able to say you're the strongest or have a world record in small federation may be your whole reason why you want to compete and that's okay but to be ranked 10th in the nation in a hotly competitive weight class in a stringently drug tested federation definitely drives a higher element of credibility on a personal level and recognition across powerlifting. Nobody really cares at the end of the day and many people compete in many different federations so ensuring that you do what's going to give you the most personally is the most valuable choice. No one else's thoughts or opinions matter at the end of the day except your own regarding your own training. But, would it be better to compete in a meet where you could win $2,000 at a tiny meet/fed vs. no money incentive in a massive international meet? Tough to say! Plenty choose either/or. I'd sure like to win a barbell if I'm competing as I'm sure most would as well! Defining the worth you assign to competition is the main key to this. And really comes down to establishing your "why"
Authority
In these wild federation times, everyone is constantly saying that everyone and their mother is starting up their federations. When considering your choice of federation, look at the board of directors 100%. Are they keeping their participating athletes safe? Is there transparency and strong communication via email, social media, and general press release info? Do individuals speak highly of the board members? Is there consistency year to year in how higher level meets are being ran? Do you like the decision making and the rulebook? There's many points within defining whether you deem a federation's authority credible or not. In Olympic Weightlifting for example, there's really only one federation in the United States. In USAW, the members cast votes to build and rebuild various state and national boards through small elections. Are there changes I'd recommend powerlifting federations make? 100%. Is any federation or board of directors perfect? No. But the cream rises to the top. Within examining authority, I would suggest reviewing how the federation has grown over the past year and past while. How did they come about? Who were the founders? Although the participating members make up what a federation becomes, the leaders at the top lay the foundation for what the future holds.
Purpose
What is your why? Is it for meet day experience? Are you competing to set state records? Are you trying to increase your DOTs score officially? Do you just feel like competing for the heck of it? Everyone has their own reasons for choosing to compete and those reasons are the driving force to their own individual why. This is why should very smoothly connect with and fit just right with the federation you choose. For example, if you were trying to compete in the strict press then you would need to select a federation that offers that instead of the bench press like Strengthlifting. Or if you were wanting to deadlift with a deadlift bar but squat and bench press with a power bar then you might pick USPA. Or if you wanted to compete on only the power bar for SBD you might narrow it down to Powerlifting America and USAPL. What purpose does the federation itself provide? Are they just blanketly saying they're challenging the status quo or are they actually doing something different that appeals to you?
My best piece of advice I could give you with competition is to sign up now. Everyone wants to wait until they're "ready" but the truth is you're ready now. Every meet you do will have awesome takeaways and the only way to improve is by experience. It might seem scary in your mind but I promise out of the 500,000+ powerlifters competing across the world over the past decade, you can do it too! And, I'll tell you what, doing something you've never done before is going to bring you so much happiness and good memories to look back on. Happy lifting!
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