Home › Leaderboard rules

Leaderboard rules

Every lift on the Lift Proven boards is filmed and judged to the IPF standard, the rules used at the world’s top powerlifting meets (IPF Technical Rules, 2026). The IPF has no overhead press, so the press uses our own strict standard.

How lifts are checked

• Your phone checks every rep against the standard as soon as you film it.
• Passed, or a close call: it goes straight on the board with 1 green flag.
• If the phone couldn’t see you clearly, that’s not a fail: send it to a person to check, or film it again.
• World-record-level lifts are checked by a person before they go on the board.
• Any lifter with a verified lift of their own can dispute a lift, giving a reason. It stays on the board, marked “under review”, while a reviewer watches it.
• If the dispute is upheld, the lift comes off. If not, it earns another green flag.
• A lift can be disputed twice, by two different reviewers. With 3 green flags it’s locked in.

If the phone can’t see a lift clearly (filmed from the front, or part of the body out of frame), that isn’t a failed lift: the lifter can film it again or send it to a person to check.

Squat

IPF Technical Rules 2026

The standard

1. Stand still and upright with your knees locked before the first rep
2. Squat down once until your hip joint is below the top of your knee
3. No bouncing at the bottom and no dip on the way up
4. Finish standing upright with your knees locked, and stand still before racking
5. Feet stay where they are (rocking heel to toe is fine)

Film it like this

• Phone at hip height, about 3 to 4 metres away
• Side-on to the camera, never from the front
• Your whole body and the bar in frame for the whole set
• Good light, and nobody walking between you and the phone

Checked by people, not the phone

• A spotter touching you or the bar
• Elbows resting on your legs

Bench press

IPF Technical Rules 2026

The standard

1. Start with your arms locked and the bar still
2. Lower the bar to your chest or belly
3. Pause: hold the bar still on your chest before pressing (touch-and-go doesn’t count)
4. The underside of your elbows goes level with or below the top of your shoulders
5. Press to locked arms with no dip on the way up
6. Head, shoulders and bum stay on the bench; feet stay flat on the floor

Film it like this

• Phone at bench height, side-on, about 2 to 3 metres away
• Your head, hips, bar and elbows in frame
• Good light, and nobody standing between you and the phone

Checked by people, not the phone

• Grip no wider than 81 cm, thumbs around the bar
• Feet touching the bench
• A spotter touching the bar

Deadlift

IPF Technical Rules 2026

The standard

1. Pull the bar to standing in one go: it never goes down on the way up (no hitching)
2. Finish standing tall with your knees locked and shoulders back behind the bar
3. Hold it still at the top for a moment (in place of the referee’s “Down”)
4. Lower it under control with both hands
5. Feet stay where they are (rocking heel to toe is fine)

Film it like this

• Phone at hip height, about 3 to 4 metres away
• Side-on to the camera, never from the front
• Your whole body and the bar in frame for the whole set
• Good light, and nobody walking between you and the phone

Checked by people, not the phone

• Resting the bar on your thighs on the way up
• Dropping the bar from the top

Overhead press

Lift Proven standard (the IPF has no press)

The standard

1. Start standing still with the bar at your shoulders
2. Knees stay locked the whole time: no dip and drive (push presses don’t count)
3. No big lean back
4. Press to locked arms with the bar over your head, not in front of it
5. No dip on the way up, and hold it still at the top for a moment

Film it like this

• Phone at chest height, about 3 metres away
• Side-on to the camera, never from the front
• Your whole body and the bar in frame for the whole set
• Good light, and nobody walking between you and the phone

Checked by people, not the phone

• A spotter touching the bar

Lift videos

Lifts on the boards can be watched by other lifters, so everyone can see they met the standard. Videos are checked automatically for nudity, graphic violence and self-harm when they're submitted, and anyone can report a video. Lifters can delete a lift and its video at any time. See our privacy policy.