For my own entertainment and knowledge, I wanted to know where I would rank if I posted my best lifts today. Using @openpowerlifting this is what I came up with. Their site is the most comprehensive today.
First, and I am sure this will piss people off, but I don’t care, it’s me ranking me for my own reasons that have nothing to do with my ego. If it was, this would break it. I like the old school ranking of all on one list. No need to have rankings for anything other than weight class and lift.
If I play around enough with divisions, I can find a way to rank myself as high as I want (i.e. my multiply squat for age would be 1st, my pull 2nd, bench 3rd, and total 1st). See how easy that is. In contrast, I want to see where I would rank against everyone in the weight class I did best in.
My best squat would rank in the top 20 for my class. My best bench today would put me 88th, my pull 56th, total 25th. This would be based on this year - so far.
I competed multiply, and many on my list who ranked ahead of me were single ply and raw. I would get pushed down further if everyone wore gear who ranked under me. I think my squat would stay in the top 50, my bench would fall way out of the top 100, and my pull wouldn’t drop much, as gear doesn’t help the pull. My total would fall around my squat rank. Sorry - fake rank.
When looking at all time - all years, my total would be around 224. Lower if everyone wore gear. This is out of 14,000 in the database. This is why I have always been so damn impressed with the ALL TIME top 20 lists.
There is another outlying factor. Not all past meets are in the database. I lifted in well over 70 meets in my life, and not one is on their site (I do not care BTW - just want to make a point). This means I would get pushed down even more.
The takeaway from my stupid self-serving study (kind of) is, the top lifters in the sport today are stronger than any decade I competed in.
It does feel good knowing my best would get smoked today.
This demonstrates that each generation learns and builds off each other.
This is why I love the sport so much. Lifters always passing down to help others become stronger.
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