This is why reading the comments on lifting videos make me sad. No matter what people post, regardless of gender, there is always that guy who is eager to point out why it’s not actually impressive; why they should lower the weight and work on their form and how some nameless guy at their gym squats, benches or deadlifts more weight for more reps with better form.
I don’t follow any sports so I’m not sure if any others come under fire for similar things. For instance does anyone watching the Tour de France point out how the cyclists are only impressive if they’re riding old iron one-speed bikes? Those super light bikes are for cheaters.
The light bikes fall within the rules of the game without being too light but are heavier than an iron bike. Like benching with an arch conforming to rules of various feds.
It’s typically comments by people who have no real understanding of what they’re watching. I recently watched a video of a man deadlifting 800lbs. Someone advised him to drop the weight and work on his form… Another of a woman setting a world record squat and a comment advising her to work on her form as well. She, apparently had too narrow a stance to suit the person commenting.
If you actually go through the comments there is usually a whole bunch of people. It’s like half the people who watch PL videos only do so for something to criticize.
A friend of mine has just pulled an easy 800 at 205 lbs and right around 6’ tall. I think he has done one or two meets as a junior. Makes me feel pretty weak.
His 13 year old brother comes with him to the gym, and can pull 405 at around the same height as his brother, but at 130 lbs. Can bench 200 lbs with about 10" arms.
All this talk of packing shoulders being healthy and Paul Carter just released an article on here today saying it’s not, and doesn’t give stability. He’s made several comments about that recently on here, too. Not sure what to believe, and his tips have been pretty helpful to me thus far, but mostly it’s really tempting to get him in here and have him throwing clown dicks around this thread.
While I don’t disagree with what Paul said ( Kabuki has had a video out on this for a while ) I’d venture to say the retraction part is key to overall health long term as well.
The reason powerlifter junkies say it’s safer is that it’s safer than a flat back no retraction only protraction bench— probably.
Idk man, why not do both. Retract to shorten the motion for strength blocks, ensure you hit protraction for pec development.
When he first started saying that I went and asked Mike Israetel, he said he didn’t believe it was true and probably not safe to protract with maximal weights. Also he asked Jordan Feigenbaum who pretty much said the same thing, no evidence that keeping the scapula retracted is going to fuck your shoulders up.
For maximum pec development maybe Paul has a point, but I’m skeptical about benching like that. I just do some flys and pushups on top of benching and I’m fine.
I’ve always been under the impression that push ups allowing for protraction is a good thing as part of a balanced program. Perhaps the loses chain nature of the movement is safer for protraction
Yeah, with bench I believe the issue is that your shoulder blades are against the bench plus you are also handling a lot more weight which increases risk of injury.
I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on this subject, all I know is if I don’t retract my shoulder blades my bench doesn’t feel right and it’s hard on my shoulders.
That sounds like something that somebody who doesn’t even lift would say
And like I said, plenty of non-powerlifters bench with an arch. I benched with an arch 7 years before I even did my first meet. And if we’re not talking about a competitive sense, why should any variable matter as long as they get the weight up?
Hitching is allowed in strongman - would you tell one of those guys that he “has bad form?”
The important question is, if you clearly know jack shit about benching, in what works do you think it’s a good idea to start criticising other peoples form? That’s just a recipe for looking like a giant tool.
