Ditto. My judges didn't seem to care. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iyHD6HILIQ&t=20s
Agree, Ryan. I found the rules here, and the text and picture both indicate a thumbs over the bar grip is Just Fine.
This isn't the first time I've heard this, which is pretty surprising given that I'm Brazilian and therefore have nothing to do the USAPL. Next time a judge tells you that, you tell him he's full of shit and ask him to show you where in the rule book there's such a thing, simple enough. If he doesn't back down, make a huge fuss about it.
This happened last year at the Maryland state championships. Our lifters were warned about the thumb not being in contact with the bar. I had a discussion with one of the judges, we went to a bar in the warm-up area and resolved the matter. We used the same thumbless grip but just made sure the thumb wasn't sticking up in the air. The entire matter turned out to be much about nothing.
This happened to me in my first IPF meet, it was painful to the point that I checked the rules and there was no such rule regarding thumbs and squatting. There is a rule for thumbs on bench press and I figure that is the source of the confusion. Some people even resort to wrist wraps but that is just a painful/expensive band aid.
Also no mention of having to squat two inches below parallel, but in more than a few cases: http://articles.elitefts.com/trainin...fe-and-unfair/