Max weight events can result in some of the most exciting moments of a competition, but they can also tank an entire competition when mismanaged. We have experienced both, and as always, we want to help you avoid competition disaster. So let’s take a deep dive into exactly how max events work and how you can best coach for and promote them.
Structure: Rising Bar
In almost every case, strongman max weight events are contested using a rising bar (like olympic-style weightlifting), meaning the bar starts at the lightest weight and only increases. Lifters are eliminated as soon as they fail an attempt. Some lifters will finish all their attempts before other lifters even start.
This is different from powerlifting, which uses a “heat” or “flight” structure. With this method, lifters get 3 attempts even if they fail; and the bar goes up in weight through all lifters’ first attempts, then comes back down for the next round of attempts. It’s highly unlikely you’ll ever see the powerlifting style of weight jumps in a competitive strongman setting.
Coaching Notes
Remember that once the weight goes up it doesn’t come back down, and if you miss an attempt you’re done. Have a plan for an opening attempt and make sure your athlete is equipped to hit it confidently.
The middle range of available weights will get the largest number of attempts. This means longer wait times between attempts and a greater need to pay attention to what’s on the bar and who’s currently lifting. If your athlete is making attempts in this mid range, train longer rests in comp prep and make sure the athlete is tuned in to what’s happening on comp day.
If your athlete will be lifting on the heavier end of available weights, plan for 2 things: a long break between warmup and first attempts, and short rests once they actually start lifting. Again, train for this in comp prep and have a strategy in place to stay warm between warmups and first attempt on the floor. It’s often the case that athletes will not be able to lift actual weights after warmups are over, so use things like bands and dynamic bodyweight movements to stay loose.
Structure: Weight Jumps
In powerlifting and weightlifting, the athlete typically calls exactly what weight they want to attempt down to the kilo. In strongman, weight jumps are almost always pre-determined. Generally speaking, in overhead events, women make 10-lb jumps and men make 20-lb jumps. In deadlift events, women make 20-lb jumps and men make 50-lb jumps. It’s also common – especially in deadlift events – to see what we call “big plate jumps,” i.e. just using 45-lb and 25-lb plates (so jumps would be 225-275-315-365-405-etc).
Loading events can be a bit funky – especially stones at local competitions – because they’re not always uniform jumps. And the jumps will often be the same for men and women due to equipment availability.
It’s also somewhat common for jumps to change (usually getting smaller) at the very end of a max event. For example, if only 2 or 3 lifters remain, they might opt to make a smaller jump to attempt a record or prevent a tie. This can be done at the promoter’s discretion and should be communicated very clearly to remaining athletes.
Promoting Notes
Promoters should list the starting weight and the available jumps on the registration page for the competition. Sometimes starting weights are determined at the competition by gathering the competitors together and getting a consensus on start weight. This works okay if the group is small and relatively experienced. It does not work well for large groups or competitors who don’t have a good handle on their opening weights. If in doubt, set all weights ahead of time for clarity and operational ease.
Have a system in place where bar weight is frequently announced out loud back and forth between athletes, scorekeeper, and volunteers. This makes sure that competitors are clear on the weight they’re attempting and that it’s written down properly.
Coaching Notes
Because of all the variability in this process, it’s best to come into competition with a flexible plan for attempts and jumps because all kinds of things can change on comp day. Make sure your athlete is familiar with and confident in the plan. If they’re thrown off by things like a 5-lb or 10-lb difference in planned attempts, help them mentally prepare ahead of time because this will probably happen at some point.
Combining Classes & The Auction System
At most local level shows, weight classes/divisions will be mixed for max weight events. This means that athletes will be in a different order from all other events, and be mixed in with athletes from other classes based on how much weight they’re lifting rather than based on their weight class. So a lightweight might end up lifting with heavier lifters if they’re particularly strong in that lift.
At most competitions (with the exception of really large shows like Nationals), max events use the “auction system.” This means that the order of athletes will continually change, and someone will constantly be calling out the weight on the bar.
As each weight is called, the customary order is that first attempts go first, second attempts go second, third attempts go third, etc. In other words, if the bar is freshly set at 315, the first group of athletes to attempt it should be those using it as their opener. Once they all go, the second group to attempt it should be those using it as their second attempt.
This serves 3 functions:
- Gives athletes an appropriate rest period between their own attempts
- Keeps athletes making similar jumps together, which is helpful for logistical and competitive purposes
- Helps volunteers stay organized because they can start getting the next group of lifters lined up and ready to go as the current one is going
Someone will inevitably go in the wrong order, but it’s not a big deal. As long as everyone is clear on what weight is on the bar and who the lifter is, it’s fine.
Promoting Notes
Newer competitors (and volunteers) often get thrown off by mixing classes on one event and not others. Explain this process in the rules meeting and make sure it’s very clear for the judges/volunteers.
When making paper scoresheets, make sure they’re easy to read quickly and on as few pages as possible so it’s easy for the scribes to locate athlete names and keep track of attempts.
Coaching Notes
If event placement is relevant to your athlete’s goals, you’ll need to keep track of who’s in which class so you know what to shoot for and make smart attempts. This can be tough when everyone is mixed together.
Wessels Rules vs Last Man Standing
There are 2 standard formats for max weight events: Wessels Rules and Last Man Standing. Each has separate considerations for coaching and promoting.
Wessels Rules
Using Wessels Rules means the athlete gets a max of 3 attempts, and a missed lift results in elimination. So if you miss your first lift you get a zero for the event.
This format typically allows lifters to skip jumps. This means you can open wherever you’d like, don’t have to attempt every available weight, and your jumps can be as big or as small as you want (provided they match the available competition jumps).
Last Man Standing
This method signifies that athletes may make as many attempts as they’d like until they fail. In some cases, all athletes are required to start at the same weight. In others, athletes may jump in at whatever weight they choose. In most cases, once the athlete jumps in, they must take all the subsequent jumps (unlike Wessels where they can jump in and out).
Coaching Considerations
Account for rest periods. Generally speaking, there will be longer rests between lifts early in the event (when most athletes are still rotating in), and much shorter ones later (when most athletes have failed and are done). Make sure training rests reflect the likely rests in competition.
For Wessels rules, train similarly to powerlifting. The biggest things to account for are scoring (see below) and rest. If relevant to your athlete’s goals, pay attention to other lifters in the class so you can make strategic attempt choices.
For Last Man Standing, it’s important to make a smart decision about starting weight. Coming in too early can result in taking loads of attempts, which is very fatiguing and will likely decrease the potential for success at a max weight. Coming in too late and missing an opener will result in zeroing the event.
As a general rule, we recommend aiming for 3-4 attempts regardless of how many you are “allowed” to take. Beyond 4 attempts, the buildup of fatigue is generally too high to successfully lift a true max.
That being said, if all athletes must start at the opening weight (as is sometimes the case with lighter events like sandbag toss), this should be addressed in training. For example, if your athlete is planning to hit one of the heaviest available weights, that means they’ll take a lot of attempts, and they should practice volume in training to prepare for the fatigue.
Promoting Notes
It is much easier to manage a max event using Wessels Rules because it limits the number of attempts. Especially at a local competition (which will have some less experienced lifters and coaches), athletes will take a million attempts on Last Man Standing and drag the event out forever.
If the event is eligible for a state or national record, Last Man Standing (or some version of unlimited attempts) can be a good option because it allows more room for record attempts. Just know what you’re setting yourself up for from a timing perspective.
Scoring Max Events
Ties are scored using one of two methods. In both cases, the promoter should specify the method used prior to the competition. If they don’t, be sure to ask about it in the rules meeting because the scoring method will heavily impact the athlete’s strategy going into the event.
Method 1 – Attempts: This is the most common way that placement is determined in max weight events. There are 2 variations, one based on number of attempts and one based on opening weight.
- If final placement is based on the number of attempts, then the athlete who took the fewest number of attempts wins. Ex. if Athlete A deadlifted 315 on their 3rd attempt, and Athlete B deadlift 315 on their 2nd attempt, Athlete B wins (because they completed the lift in fewer attempts). This is the most common method.
- If final placement is based on opening weight, then the athlete who opened heaviest wins. Ex. if Athlete A deadlift 315 and opened at 275, and Athlete B deadlift 315 and opened at 225, then Athlete A wins (because they started at a heavier weight).
Method 2 – Tie: In this option, if 2 competitors successfully lift the same weight, they tie regardless of other circumstances or variables. This sometimes happens at local shows because it’s easy, clean, and requires minimal effort for scorekeepers. The downside is that it results in a lot of ties and split points. Thanks to advancements in scorekeeping systems, this method has become less common.
A Note on Bodyweight: If you’re coming to strongman from weightlifting or powerlifting, you might expect to see max events scored based on bodyweight (with tiebreak going to the lighter athlete). This is not a thing in strongman. In almost all cases, bodyweight in strongman is only used to put you in a class with others of the same size and not for any other purpose.
Coaching Notes
It’s important to know which method is being used because the athlete can strategically select opening attempts and jumps based on the method. For example, if Athlete A knows they’re going to end up at a similar weight to Athlete B, they can opt to start heavier to get the advantage. Or an athlete can opt to not take an unnecessary max attempt if they’ve already won the event based on the number of attempts.
It’s worth noting that for most newer lifters the focus should be on hitting successful lifts and not on placement or strategy. Save the strategy (and accompanying stress) for higher-stakes competitions.
Promoting Notes
Though it’s less complicated to let athletes tie, we recommend using one of the attempt-based methods of scoring because it results in fewer ties and split points. In the olden days of paper and spreadsheets, this was a huge pain in the ass, but with the advent of scoring software like Iron Podium, it’s much easier to score this way than it used to be.
Make sure your scribes/volunteers are all writing down attempts, successful lifts, and failed attempts the same way so they can be properly entered into the scoring software. Cover this thoroughly in your judges’ meeting.
Additional Notes for Promoters
The most important thing to know when promoting a competition with a max event is that it will take forever. No matter what. That being said, it’s easier to manage max events under the following conditions:
Put a time limit on individual attempts, and plan for a long event. Thirty seconds is a standard limit for each attempt, and athletes should strap in on their own time (i.e. after “3-2-1-Go”). When thinking about your schedule, plan for 60-75 seconds per athlete per attempt. This builds in time for changing weights and the inevitable slowness of the event. (You can read more about these kinds of logistics in our post about Choosing Competition Events.)
Keep the event floor as clear as possible. Once a lifter is eliminated they should leave the competition floor. This can be hard to enforce because athletes want to hang around to watch the big lifts. However, non-lifting athletes cluttering the floor presents a safety risk, makes it really hard to keep track of who is remaining, and blocks spectators and cameras from seeing the remaining lifters’ attempts. Be ruthless about getting people off the floor when they’re done lifting.
Make big jumps. Plate changes are the biggest time consumer, and bigger jumps means fewer plate changes and more athletes knocked out with each jump.
Opt for “non-plate” events, like stones and sandbags. This eliminates the need for plate changes at all and is an especially good approach for Last Man Standing formats.
Enlist the help of excellent wranglers/expediters. The importance of a loud, clear, organized expediter cannot be overstated. They should call the bar weights loudly and get athletes lined up so the next one is ready to go. Wasting time standing around waiting for athletes to put on their gear or search around for people totally destroys efficiency. It’s best to have one person getting athletes ready and another person recording scores.
Assign efficient loaders and give them loading charts. Put at least one person on each side of the implement to load plates, and prepare loading charts in advance so no one has to do any plate math on competition day. This will increase speed and decrease the chance of screwing up weights.
Create easy scoring sheets. Make sure sheets are easy to read quickly (so judges can find athletes’ names quickly) and have plenty of room to record attempts so the scorekeeper can read them later. Use a big font and wide lines with room for all the attempts.
Closing Thoughts
There are lots of factors to consider when coaching for and promoting max events. The biggest things to remember on both sides are Clarity and Preparation.
As a coach, make sure your athlete is clear on their attempts, the goals for the day, and how the event works. Prepare them with smart programming and mental training.
As a promoter, be super clear in your initial event descriptions about how the event will work. Make sure all volunteers, judges, coaches, and athletes are clear on the rules, structure, and scoring. Prepare ahead of time with loading sheets, an appropriate number of volunteers, practical scoresheets, warmup equipment, event order, and timing considerations.
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