You’re very weak aren’t you?
[quote]Nominal Prospect wrote:
There is a whole contingent of people who believe, in effect, that “you can’t perform a heavy lift with bad form”.
If someone manages to lift a heavy weight, this is taken as de facto evidence that their form is “good” – otherwise, they wouldn’t be pulling or pushing that much weight.
There’s nothing wrong with that argument, except when it turns into pure, unadulterated hypocrisy. I.e. when a “skinny person” uses the exact same form to move a less-impressive weight, and is immediately descended upon by legions of haters.
There are obviously two very different definitions of “form” being used. The problem is that they are often used interchangably, with people switching their definitions whenever they find it convenient.
The conventional definition of form is, “performing the exercise in a way that stresses the intended aspects of the musculature or trains the intended movement patterns without a significant risk of acute injury”.
Heaving 600 pounds off the floor with a rounded back is an OBVIOUS violation of “proper form” (as defined above), but you would be hard pressed to get a single meathead to admit it. That is because of the double standard put into play when “big lifts” are involved.
As I mentioned earlier, the definition of “proper form” changes suddenly and arbitrarily under these circumstances.
No longer is it about safety – “proper form” is now only concerned with putting up big numbers. That is why every pro lifter who does something that, if replicated by an ordinary person with a proportional weight, could seriously injury them, becomes totally justified by the online iron crowd.
The meathead mantra has always been:
“Don’t you dare criticize someone who’s bigger than you”
At the same time, they preach that the biggest among us usually have genetics to thank the most for the size, and should therefore NOT be listened to. More hypocrisy? You betcha.
Fact is, contradictions abound in the iron game because meatheads just aren’t capable of thinking through arguments to their logical conclusion.
Duh.[/quote]