I think you missed the point. They are, even though they are banned, and it’s a problem for WL as a whole if they want to stay in the olympics.
In the heavier weight classes that is true, I think partly because once you are 300lbs+ it’s hard to maintain the flexibility for a big arch. Kirill Sarychev had an unusually big arch for a guy his size.
Even Kirill Sarychev’s bench looks pretty normal.
It’s not an extreme arch by any means, but few guys who weigh over 350 can arch like him.
I could see this discussion being a bit different if, as a whole, there were big differences in lifts at the top depending on if a person does a bit arch or not. For example, if the top 3 benchers in a weight class all had super arches and were 50-100 lbs ahead of the rest of the “non-arching pack”, but that just isn’t the case. Kind of the same thing with sumo pulling, there are guys in the 220-242 class pulling 900+ both sumo and conventional, so obviously it isn’t as cheaty as everyone makes it out to be.
Maybe I’m just pissy because I have the hip mobility to touch the plates with my heels on a DL bar and still have a better conventional pull than sumo…
I didn’t think anyone seriously considered sumo cheating in the same way as people who have strong feelings about big bench arches. Thought the “hurr durr cheaty sumo” was more of a meme than anything.
I see what you mean, I guess from my perspective it seems to be the same argument because both issues are well within the written rules, so if anyone is actually arguing big arches as being legitimate cheating, they’re just advertising that they haven’t read and comprehended any of the major fed’s rulebooks.
In my mind, the “is it cheating or not” argument always seemed to be more based in “are they getting massive carryover from that technique” than a legitimate question of breaking the rules.
My impression is that sumo is a bit of a meme, but that people feel a little more strongly about bench arching.
Agree both are silly when taken literally. As someone said above, it’s never strong dudes with a 450lb bench who complain about bench arching but instead lads struggling to hit two plates.
It’s worth considering that there are FAR more people that bench than that deadlift, so there’s also just the chance of having more people in general with opinions on the matter, which can make the bench argument louder.
But also, more people who don’t compete in anything bench vs deadlift too. Pretty much any dude that goes to a gym benches/benched at some point, and a LOT of dudes define themselves purely by how much they bench. It has so much more significance vs the deadlift.
I have my own opinions on sumo, haha.
As a long-limbed dude with a 450lb deadlift and a barely-200lb bench, I find this fact perhaps the most depressing of the human condition.
It’s a dumb lift, haha. Always cared more for pressing overhead, especially if I wanted to showcase strength.
Start working on your arch
Which is really foolish IMO. If you’re looking for a single lift that is sort of short-hand for all-around strength and athleticism, there are several candidates much better than the bench: the squat of course, the power clean, the DL, to name just a few. Still don’t get the 225-for-max-reps thing that the NFL does at the Combine.
It’s hard to really say that any one lift is the best display of strength or athleticism for a number of reasons. With the squat, depth becomes an issue and there are some very strong people who don’t have the necessary mobility to squat to depth. I remember seeing some of Thor’s squats long before his one PL meet and they were all high as fuck, but he certainly wasn’t weak. Power clean and deadlift are both easier for people with long arms, the opposite of the bench press. Maybe clean and press would even things out a bit and you can’t blame arm length.
That really makes no sense, unless you max isn’t much over 300 then you are really testing muscular endurance more than strength. A lot of the common stuff done in training for football is backwards, like making them go for long runs. In a football game you will never run more than 100 yards, why train to run further than that? Sprint intervals would be better. I read an article by Louie Simmons where he was talking about this sort of stuff, and he is totally right.