Competition Day Handling - a guide

Over the years I have seen a number of coaches who don't quite know how a competition works. Granted, sometimes a lifter will have their partner or a friend handle them, and that's fine, but a good handler can make or break a competition. 
So, if you're handling someone soon, or even if you're lifting soon and need to guide your handler, this post is for you. 

Reading Time - 8 Minutes.

TLDR - Handlers are important, the skills and things to know about are discussed below. 

A lot of this post will be an excerpt from the Competition Prep and Competition Day Handling section of our Coaching Mentorship. 

​But first - 

What is a Handler?

A handler is, quite simply, someone who handles a lifter on the competition day. Quite often it is the lifter's coach, but sometimes it can be another lifter they know, or another coach they've hired for the day. 

You might be thinking - 'Why would you need a specific person to help you? Surely, all you have to do is lift?'

But there is far, far more to it than that.

On a competition day, a lifter, who is already nervous will have to think about - 

• Weighing in. 
• Putting in their openers.
• Getting their rack height.
• Finding a warm up space. 
• Eating. 
• Knowing when they're lifting.
• Knowing what weight to select next. 
• Being aware of other lifters' performances if they're looking at placing. 
• Being aware of Qualification Totals.
• Being aware of records.
• How a competition runs - ie, why are they lifting before/after me on this round but not on the previous round. 
• When attempts can be changed.
• Etc.

A good handler will basically be able to solve all of this for a lifter and then be able to answer any questions and deal with any concerns the lifter may have - which then frees up the lifter to just focus on lifting. 

Now, imagine you have someone doing all of the above for you. How much better do you think your day will go?

Then, imagine you have someone doing all of the above, but either doing it badly or just not knowing? 

The below, is all here so that you, or your handler can help you to the best of their ability on competition day and so that you're not left frustrated or confused on the platform on the day.

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This section is the excerpt from the Mentorship handbook. If you like what you read, or want more, please check out the link at the end of this post.


Competition Day Handling. 

You could have the best programme written for a lifter but if they fall apart on the day of the competition then they will never truly actualise their potential. Now, on the day it is the lifter’s responsibility to do things well, but you can definitely guide them towards their goal on the day too - particularly if they’re new, particularly anxious or just a bit dozy. 

Knowing how a competition runs will give you a huge advantage on the day, for a number of reasons. These include - 

• - It will help you keep your own lifter calm. You being in control will take some pressure off of the lifter. 
• - Most lifters and coaches aren’t as aware of the rules as they could be. This means that you can play things to your advantage, in some cases. 
• - You won’t be caught out by anything unexpected. 
  

A Quick Reminder of How a Competition Runs. 
In IPF - 

There can be one or more sessions. In this example we’ll use two. 

Morning Session - 

• Weigh in - 8am. 
• Lift off - 10am. 
• Awards - 3.30pm. 
• Afternoon Session.
• Weigh in - 2pm. 
• Lift Off - 4pm. 
• Awards - 7.45pm 

The things to remember - 

• - Weigh in always starts 2 hours before lift off. 
• - Weigh in always last 90 minutes (not the full two hours!) 
• - Opening attempts for each lift will be given in on weigh in. 
• - Opening attempts can be changed up to 3 minutes before the start of the lifter’s flight. (Not 3 minutes before that lifter’s lift!) 
• - Once an attempt has been given in it cannot be changed. Except for the third attempt deadlift, which can be changed twice. (In a bench only competition, this rule applies to the third attempt bench press too). 
• - Lot numbers are assigned randomly, and if two lifters have the same bodyweight and attempts than the one with the lower lot number will go first. 
• - Flight A will lift off at the time stated, they will do all 3 lifts and then Flight B will start immediately. 
• - Bench will start after a 10 minute break after the last Flight has finished squatting. (If there is only one flight then you might see a 20 minute break instead). 
• - Deadlift will start after a 10 minute break after the last Flight has finished bench pressing. (Same as brackets above). 

Tactics. 

The rule regarding changing the final third attempt is particularly useful for playing things tactically. If your lifter and another are battling it out for 1st place then you can put your lifter’s final deadlift in as a ‘place holder.’ You can then wait to see how their opponent does and then alter your lift to whatever you need to win. 

The most important thing to note here is that the weight on the bar cannot go down. So, if you were to ask for a lighter weight than what is currently on the bar, it cannot be done. It must be the same, or more than what is currently loaded. 

For example - 

Opponent Lifter fails a deadlift of 180kg. 
Your lifter has a place holder in of 200kg. You can then change your lifter’s weight to 180kg+. It cannot go below 180kg. This applies if there are lifters in between the Opponent Lifter and yours too - meaning if multiple lifters pull 190kg after the Opponent, you will need to get your change in immediately.

You can see here how you can encourage another lifter into making bigger jumps than they are comfortable with, while also dropping back down to a range you’re comfortable with too. This is the kind of thing that isn’t massively important to beginners, but when it comes to winning competitions or qualifying etc, it can be very good to know. 

The Scoresheet. 

This will be ordered in terms of lightest weight lifted to highest, and it will adjust to suit that as each attempt is put in. Meaning that the order will change depending on the jumps people make in between attempts. 

The scoresheet will show all of the lifters’ - 

- Names. 

- Body weights. 

- Weight Classes. 

- Age Classes.

- Lot Numbers. 

- Attempts (as well as their success or failure). 

- Sub-total. 

- Total. 

- GL Points. 

- ATTNL (Approximate Time To Next Lift). 
This way you can keep an eye on where your lifter is, and how close others could possibly be to gaining on them. 

Lot Numbers. 

Lot numbers are randomly assigned. If two lifters choose the same weight, then the lower lot number goes first. 

Body Weight.

The exact weight of the lifter on the day, this is used to inform GL Points (more on that below). 

Weight Classes. 

Weight classes are the categories that lifters are in, in most competitions. Different federations have different ones, but if you're in the 93kg class, for example, you'll be in direct competition with other 93kg lifters. 

Age Classes. 

The vast majority of competitions are Open (all ages), but you will get Sub/Junior or Masters lifters too. At most regional competitions they will be competing as open but will be able to qualify or take records in their age classes too. 

Attempts. 

You will be able to keep track of what attempts your lifter, as well as others, have put in for their opening and next attempts. 

Sub-Total. 

The screen will tell you what total the lifter will currently have depending on their current attempts. 

Total. 

The accumulation of the highest of each successful lift - i.e the lifter's best squat, best bench press and best deadlift added together. 

GL Points. 

Good Lift Points - this is essentially a formula used to find the strongest lifter based on strength:bodyweight. In the past federations have used Wilks, DOTS, IPF Points too - all for the same idea.

A note on ATTNL - this is something that was made in NWPL and it is super helpful. The number denotes the amount of minutes left until that lifter’s next lift, which makes handling super easy. Some other regions in British Powerlifting borrow this from the NWPL but not many - so while it is super helpful, it is not available at every competition. But, as each lifter gets about 60 seconds to do their lift, plus time to change and load the plates you could figure out the time in between by counting roughly 1-1.5 minutes per lifter in between. So, if there are 12 lifters between your lifter and their next attempt, you’re looking at 12-18 minutes rest. 

The Warm Up Room. 

It is incredibly unlikely that your lifter will get a rack to themselves in a warm up room. Fully expect for them to have to share with 1-4 other lifters on their station. Most warm up areas will have other combo racks, which are pretty easy to adjust. This means that it doesn’t matter too much if there is a disparity in heights for each lifter but, in general, you will probably share a rack with someone of a similar height. 

Ensure that your lifter is aware of the space around them - in terms of not being in the way and not leaving stuff in the way for other lifters to trip over. 

Generally, yourself and other coaches will deal with the loading and setting up of the racks and bars. This is so that the lifters don't expend any energy, or injure themselves in a silly way, pre competition.

The Competition. 

During the flights it is important for you to know where your lifter is - both in terms of where they are in the flight, and where they are physically. The last thing you want is for your lifter to be chatting in the warm up area when they should be getting ready to go on to the platform. Normally, I will encourage the lifter to sit down and chill out a little for the majority of the round, I’ll only ask them to stand up and prepare about 2-3 minutes out so that they don’t get too ‘hyped up,’ or overly mentally aroused. 

Most lifters will have their own way of getting ready. Most beginners will revert to just getting angry or super hyped up - in my experience this works for a very small percentage of lifters, so I often encourage people to find what actually works for them and not just what they’ve seen on social media. 

Your job here is to allow them to get ready in a way that works for them, while guiding them to being where they need to be at the time they need to be there. 

During the actual lift, I recommend watching it properly. There isn’t often a need for you to record the lift due to how good most competition organisers are with livestreams and such now. Watching it with your own two eyes allows you to make a proper decision too - this helps as you only have 60 seconds from the end of the lifter’s lift to put in the next attempt. You should have worked out with your lifter beforehand about whether you’re going to ask for their feedback before the next lift or not, so you can either quickly confer or just put the next attempt in as soon as you’re ready. You will likely have a good idea of their next attempt due to the programming anyway. 

Remember that once the lift is in, other than the final third attempt, it can not be changed. So, if your lifter is insisting on a weight, but their previous attempt suggests it won’t happen you might need to make a stand. 

The attempts can only be in increments of 2.5kg, the only time they can be different than this is for a record. At regional level, it’ll have to be 0.5kg+ above the regional level, but at national or international level, these smaller plates can only be used to break their records (ie national or international). 

If your lifter gets a red light from a referee then they, or you, can ask the corresponding referee for the reasons why. Normally, if there’s a screen showing the referee lights, then the red light will show with another colour underneath - blue, red or yellow. If you know your referee handbook well enough you can figure out the reasons for failure from there. In the moment though, you’re probably best asking the referee for their reasoning - it can be difficult to remember the colours, and sometimes newer referees will just press red or white. 

In terms of etiquette, it’s always good to try to be polite and respectful. This obviously goes without saying, but bear in mind that people around you are also potential new lifters for you and you will see the volunteers, organisers and referees at future competitions.

Further Reading. 

I would highly suggest anything by Matt Garry. Including his e-book, and any podcasts he has been on (the Iron Culture ones he has done are great). Matt Garry is seen as the best ‘game day’ coach due to his handling of the USA National Teams over a number of years. 
Beyond that, your next best bet is just getting experience in competitions in general. Whether that be handling, coaching, volunteering or even competing.


https://www.supremesportspt.com/gameday-coaching-manual​ - Matt Garry's book.

The Mentorship.

What you've read here, is a small section of our Barbell Club Online Mentorship, if you're interested in the next intake (early 2025), then you can sign up to the mailing list here and get more information. 

Mailing list.

Coaching.

If you've read this, and thought 'hey, I really need a coach who can be really specific to powerlifting!' then check this out. 

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