Yup. It’s super goofy. “Beat the excel sheet”.
It’s bleeding over into strongman now too. People want standardized equipment so we can start tracking records.
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Is 1st place out of 2 really any better? It’s like congratulations, you actually beat someone today. Have an award.
Depends if it was a worthy competitor or not. But no. Lol
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I mean, yes, 1st out of 2 is better than 2nd out of 2. The margin is context-dependent though, of course.
Anyway, regarding the OP, personally I stopped comparing myself after my first national meet. Plus, with social media now, the prevalence of elite lifting can be a bit overwhelming for the Average Joe. I have my lifetime goals, and I find reinforcement in seeing the weekly/monthly improvements I am able to make as I work towards the Endgame. Whether I workout in a dinky commercial gym or a hardcore powerlifting gym, I’m aware of the other lifters but don’t find any added motivation from either setting. There are weaker people and there are stronger people. Where I rank will always be relative to my own standards.
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There’s a local comp coming up with an event “object press”. Hard to get less standardized than that.
I hope the sport doesn’t end up falling into that trap, the novelty is what makes it so interesting IMO.
I’ve probably hit “Yes, abandon” like 10 times writing out a reply to you, but it’s just not worth it to me. Again, it’s my opinion versus yours and they will always differ.
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I get what you are saying, in the larger scheme of things anything other than an ATWR means that someone out there is still better than you. But is beating the people who you are directly competing against not something to strive for? That’s what @T3hPwnisher is talking about, and while beating a bunch of nobodies in a single competition is hardly worth bragging about, it would be something to win on a higher level like national, state/provincial, and so on.
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Opinions can be invalid.
To say “No one cares ____” is an objectively wrong statement in this case.
Numbers and competition do matter for many people outside of the context of the elite.
This is the key point here. The so on. If it stops at the previous points, it becomes invalid and one is no better than the other. I agree they are big milestones, but it would be similar to bragging about leg press numbers to someone who squats. The regional, state, national etc. records have their place, yes, but to people who are truly competitive, this is far from an achievement but more of a step in the right direction.
My original post was meant to serve more as motivation for OP to be more confident in himself about his strength because ultimately the strength of those around him serves little purpose. In the grand scheme the only numbers you should worry about are your own until you’re able to break ATWR or at least be top 10. Most of what you do at the low level should be all internal, motivation wise.
True, but that doesn’t change it from being one’s opinion.
And they should matter, but not to the point to where they are making you get out of your head. I think what happened here is my post got taken out of context from the original post. My statement was meant to serve the OP’s motivational purposes. I was stating that no one cares about the lower level records to show that it should only matter what he, himself, does at this point. It only really matters what others do at that top point because there is something to prove there. If I were to compete and win a class out of 10 people or lose the whole thing, it wouldn’t really matter. Change that meet to KERN or Big Dogs, then it’s a different story. That was the sole purpose of my OG post.
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Not if you exercise solipsism.
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I watched a wabdl in my home town a few months ago and every lifter they were announcing a new world record. 200 lb guys benching 295. I felt
Like this epitomized participation trophy. And these guys were all about it.
I gotchya! I think that’s more than fair (and valid, of course 
)
If nobody else exists then what records are you breaking anyway?
I agree with that, if you had phrased things differently then there would have been no argument. When I see other people lifting more than me it just motivates me to get better. Just because you will probably never be the best in the world doesn’t mean that you should try to get better than you are now.
Every federation has to start somewhere. One thing that the IPF does that makes sense is they have minimum standards for world records for each class/division. If you look at their list of records there are some empty spots because nobody in that class has lifted enough for them to count it as a record, that doesn’t seem like a bad idea.
As for the lifters you are talking about, you can’t blame them for trying to break a low record if that is all they are capable of but if they go around bragging and talking like they are in fact some sort of world champions then they deserve a slap.
Personal.
Do you get a certificate and trophy for those?
If you give yourself one.
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And if you had phrased your response differently there would have been no counter. Crazy how things work out.
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Idk if they brag about holding “world records” but a few of them seemed like they were the type.
I agree there should be certain levels per weight class for a new record to be recorded.
Yeah, you’re right. I should have said something more like “You don’t even compete in powerlifting so you can’t claim to speak for competitive powerlifters”. Thanks for pointing that out.
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