[quote]brian.m wrote:
Nate Dogg, as far as your strength levels go, you seem to be right in range for having things properly prorportioned
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Thanks. Those have been my best lifts to date. However, I may be able to beat them soon. I’ve gotten leaner and have lost some weight, and my strength levels are not too far off from those lifts right now. So if I continue to work on my strength, I may be stronger (relative strength) in the near future. We’ll see how it goes. Trying to stay in great shape while being lean and strong is tough to do.
If you think of the human body as a lever, you will be see that with long levers, break the weight off the floor is easy. You just calculating what force is needed, fair enough. How that force is produced is what I am referring to. If I asked you to move a boulder, would you it be easier with a longer stick or a shorter stick.
Bolton explains it that way too the bigger he gets i.e. the heavier he become the easier it is. It is no coincidence that the best deadlifts are all very tall and heavy.
I have to agree that being shorter has its advantages in powerlifting. Also, it seems there are positives and negatives to having shorter limbs and a longer torso. This body type is usually able to bench and squat but has trouble with conventional dead lifting because one has to bend over further to grab the bar whereas a lifter with longer arms is able to generate better leverage because their hips can remain higher and still grasp the bar.
Through my personal experience, sumo is usually a better choice for the short-limbed lifter. I’m 5’6", 160 and squat 3.5x my body weight, bench 2.7 but deadlift 2.9. Relatively the deadlift should be in the same range as my squat. In fact at the beginning of the summer my bench was higher than my deadlift. A couple of guys I occasionally work out with (brothers, actually) have longer arms and legs and can deadlift a much higher percentage than their squat or bench.
Another reason we short lifters seem to be stronger is the Napoleon complex!
I’m 5’8" and around 225-230.My football team took a max based off of how many reps you could do with 185 pounds on bench press.I tied for the team high 22 reps.After someone commented "he wouldn’t be worth a shit without those short ass arms."Every time I accomplish something some tall guy wants to diminish it by taking that excuse.
Weight is weight and if you don’t work hard you’ll never move shit.The tallest guy on the team is 6’6" and benches 65 pounds more than I do so I don’t buy into it.While I will admit that a shorter guy has an easier time filling out his frame and appearing to be massive the only factors for overall strength are genetics,work ethic,and a good training program.
Agreed: there is no substitute for busting your ass in the gym.
When it comes right down to it, genetic predisposition is no match for hard work. The guy next to us may be a faster runner or someone else may bench more because some are just gifted athletes. Over time, these differences in performance can be equalized by hard work.
At the end of the day the ones left standing on the field of battle are the ones who work the hardest each time they set foot in the gym.
I’m a small guy compared to the vast majority in the world of powerlifting but I don’t use it as an excuse. Each time I enter the gym it’s just me VS. the weight. No one else matters and I’ll be damned if I’ll let the weights beat me.
[quote]shieldss wrote:
Agreed: there is no substitute for busting your ass in the gym.
When it comes right down to it, genetic predisposition is no match for hard work. The guy next to us may be a faster runner or someone else may bench more because some are just gifted athletes. Over time, these differences in performance can be equalized by hard work.
At the end of the day the ones left standing on the field of battle are the ones who work the hardest each time they set foot in the gym.
I’m a small guy compared to the vast majority in the world of powerlifting but I don’t use it as an excuse. Each time I enter the gym it’s just me VS. the weight. No one else matters and I’ll be damned if I’ll let the weights beat me.[/quote]
Thats not entirely true though, gifted athletes might train just as hard as average joe but they will be better because they are gifted. Same goes for intelligence, you can study all you want but a gifted individual may study just as much and will be far above you. This is not to say you can’t accomplish a lot but there are people who are more gifted then others.
