Why Do Men 'Lift' More Than They Can Lift?

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81

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]CircaThursday wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:
well beans… this does not apply to you then…

if you deadlift in the low 500’s, and shrug in the mid 500’s, though i still do not think it is neccessary, that puts you in a far different category than the people I have seen who do not deadlift AT ALL, or maybe after doing leg presses then doing STDL with 185 or 225, THEN they pile up 500lbs and do shrugs. different animal all together. [/quote]

I don’t deadlift AT ALL and can shrug more than 500lbs. I usually do ten 45lbs plates for slow reps with a hold at the peak contraction…without straps.

Am I missing why this is a bad thing?

Oh and as far as the bench press, bringing it to my chest stresses that shoulder joint. You are one of the first to make it seem like my chest would be bigger if I trained differently.

Bottom line, not touching my chest got me a big chest. [/quote]
not touching your chest with the bar is so awkward. If you get used to benching like that you will not have the strength in the bottom of the movement which means if you accidentally do touch the bar to your chest you drop it and get stuck. How do you know each rep is the same depth? people often cheat themselves out of a good chest workout like that.
[/quote]

?

What the hell are you talking about? Not touching my chest doesn’t mean I am stopping a full foot above my chest. It means not bouncing the shit off your fucking chest. It means stopping just before it hits your chest…which doesn’t do shit but keep you from using your sternum as a bouncing plate and cheating the weight up…which means MORE stress is on your pectorals, not less.

Further, I am really laughing at people who have not built their chest up telling other people who have they are training wrong.

The way I just described does not make the movement easier. It makes it HARDER.

Why do newbs think they know ore than people who have been doing this way longer?[/quote]

They read too much.

82

well said, PMPM.

83

Its the worst when guys do dumb bell flat press with weights they can’t lift and the proceed to throw them on the floor after the set and it bouncing about 10mm away from your foot… I swear to god i nearly right hooked the guy!

84

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]CircaThursday wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:
well beans… this does not apply to you then…

if you deadlift in the low 500’s, and shrug in the mid 500’s, though i still do not think it is neccessary, that puts you in a far different category than the people I have seen who do not deadlift AT ALL, or maybe after doing leg presses then doing STDL with 185 or 225, THEN they pile up 500lbs and do shrugs. different animal all together. [/quote]

I don’t deadlift AT ALL and can shrug more than 500lbs. I usually do ten 45lbs plates for slow reps with a hold at the peak contraction…without straps.

Am I missing why this is a bad thing?

Oh and as far as the bench press, bringing it to my chest stresses that shoulder joint. You are one of the first to make it seem like my chest would be bigger if I trained differently.

Bottom line, not touching my chest got me a big chest. [/quote]
not touching your chest with the bar is so awkward. If you get used to benching like that you will not have the strength in the bottom of the movement which means if you accidentally do touch the bar to your chest you drop it and get stuck. How do you know each rep is the same depth? people often cheat themselves out of a good chest workout like that.
[/quote]

?

What the hell are you talking about? Not touching my chest doesn’t mean I am stopping a full foot above my chest. It means not bouncing the shit off your fucking chest. It means stopping just before it hits your chest…which doesn’t do shit but keep you from using your sternum as a bouncing plate and cheating the weight up…which means MORE stress is on your pectorals, not less.

Further, I am really laughing at people who have not built their chest up telling other people who have they are training wrong.

The way I just described does not make the movement easier. It makes it HARDER.

Why do newbs think they know ore than people who have been doing this way longer?[/quote]
What the hell I am talking about is what the OP brought up. guys do take the bar 1/2 way or 2/3 way down. that is stupid. nobody said anything about stopping an inch above your chest. do you agree?

85

[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:
Do not really go to the gym to watch other people

too

busy

training

novel idea[/quote]

More people should try this.

86

[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
This is funny. On one side, you have folks who say “touch your chest or you suck.” Then you have Prof X saying “Bouncing on sternum is chest touching, and that’s a bad idea, fuckers.” Perhaps it is possible to NOT touch your chest and at the same time, NOT do an invisible four board? That seems to be what X says he does. And at the same time, perhaps it is possible to touch your sternum, and at the same time, NOT bounce the bar up?

Nah. Unpossible.

Everyone will train differently depending on goals, injuries, etc. The people who are on this site are probably not the people who the OP refers to when asking why people “lift” more than they can lift. No reasaon to get butthurt, this thread should just concentrate on people who use body english and think it’s the strict/proper/right way, and don’t realize that they are using any english at all (because yes, I use english with some lifts, and it’s awesome, I’m fucking fluent).[/quote]

This is true, but speaking up the way I did is because you always see newbs simply repeating what they heard somewhere. Touching your chest is a POWERLIFTING technique. The goal in bodybuilding is to stress the muscle, not simply get the weight in the air. That means NOT using your chest as a REST POSITION makes the muscle work harder. That is what people are doing when they literally touch their chest and bounce it up and/or touch it and pause.

Either way, just like we often see elsewhere, little dudes will look at big dudes and claim they are training wrong…which is fucking stupid.

87

[quote]Ct. Rockula wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]CircaThursday wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]heavythrower wrote:
well beans… this does not apply to you then…

if you deadlift in the low 500’s, and shrug in the mid 500’s, though i still do not think it is neccessary, that puts you in a far different category than the people I have seen who do not deadlift AT ALL, or maybe after doing leg presses then doing STDL with 185 or 225, THEN they pile up 500lbs and do shrugs. different animal all together. [/quote]

I don’t deadlift AT ALL and can shrug more than 500lbs. I usually do ten 45lbs plates for slow reps with a hold at the peak contraction…without straps.

Am I missing why this is a bad thing?

Oh and as far as the bench press, bringing it to my chest stresses that shoulder joint. You are one of the first to make it seem like my chest would be bigger if I trained differently.

Bottom line, not touching my chest got me a big chest. [/quote]
not touching your chest with the bar is so awkward. If you get used to benching like that you will not have the strength in the bottom of the movement which means if you accidentally do touch the bar to your chest you drop it and get stuck. How do you know each rep is the same depth? people often cheat themselves out of a good chest workout like that.
[/quote]

?

What the hell are you talking about? Not touching my chest doesn’t mean I am stopping a full foot above my chest. It means not bouncing the shit off your fucking chest. It means stopping just before it hits your chest…which doesn’t do shit but keep you from using your sternum as a bouncing plate and cheating the weight up…which means MORE stress is on your pectorals, not less.

Further, I am really laughing at people who have not built their chest up telling other people who have they are training wrong.

The way I just described does not make the movement easier. It makes it HARDER.

Why do newbs think they know ore than people who have been doing this way longer?[/quote]

They read too much.

[/quote]

QFT

88

[quote]heavythrower wrote:
few of my pet peeves when it comes to the average commercial gym.

partial rep bench pressing, again, I understand not being able to do full rom in the bench press, I can barely do bench nowdays…but use the pins in the rack, or floor press, or use boards, much safer and more effective. Doing partial reps where you stop 1/2 2/3 the way down looks and probably is very dangerous. [/quote]
This is how most guys at the gym bench. I have tried it in the past and I get popping shoulders.

89

The other day this guy asked me for a spot while he was incline DB pressing. I said sure. He grabs the 90’s, gets himself in place, and he pushes for a second, then I realized that he couldn’t do it so I pushed the weights up for him. Then he lowers the weight, gets stuck again, and I just stood there and let him feel like an idiot.

Then he puts the weights down and says “You were supposed to spot me”. I said “sorry man, I’m not into pushing the weights up for people”. He says why not. I say, “because it’s not good for either of us”. I don’t remember what he said after that, but he definitely didn’t get it.

91

[quote]Powerpuff wrote:

[quote]Grneyes wrote:
And you have “celebrity” trainers like Gweneth Paltrow’s trainer who insists women should not use more than 3 lb DBs…[/quote]
Exactly. This is the Hollywood beauty ideal apparently. Anyone want to guess the size of her biceps? [/quote]
I find the Hollywood ideal ugly. It always freaks me out when I can see a girl’s ribs. Thin is fine, but a lot of girls seem to have this silly idea that getting skinnier is always better. I would rather have some muscle, or even fat, than some rib. It triggers that “ZOMBIES” response in me, that makes me want to instinctively beat her with the nearest available object until she stops moving. Thin is great, but most models and celebrities aren’t thin, they’re starved.

I know one girl who goes to the gym frequently. But she runs and does yoga and the like. A real pity too. if she spent even half the time she did on those activities weightlifting, she would be benching my house right now.

92

[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
This is funny. On one side, you have folks who say “touch your chest or you suck.” Then you have Prof X saying “Bouncing on sternum is chest touching, and that’s a bad idea, fuckers.” Perhaps it is possible to NOT touch your chest and at the same time, NOT do an invisible four board? That seems to be what X says he does. And at the same time, perhaps it is possible to touch your sternum, and at the same time, NOT bounce the bar up?

Nah. Unpossible.

Everyone will train differently depending on goals, injuries, etc. The people who are on this site are probably not the people who the OP refers to when asking why people “lift” more than they can lift. No reasaon to get butthurt, this thread should just concentrate on people who use body english and think it’s the strict/proper/right way, and don’t realize that they are using any english at all (because yes, I use english with some lifts, and it’s awesome, I’m fucking fluent).[/quote]

Well said!

93

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Either way, just like we often see elsewhere, little dudes will look at big dudes and claim they are training wrong…which is fucking stupid.[/quote]

I would never tell you you were training wrong. If I saw you in a gym near me, I’d ask you for tips and try to learn as much from you as possible. I don’t believe training comes with a “right” or “wrong” way. I’m not quite sure where in this thread or how you decided to take things in this direction. In my OP, I was referring to amateurs who don’t take their time seriously in the gym, and put themselves and their spotters at serious risk of injury because they are so uneducated and/or have too much pride.

94

[quote]Professor X wrote:

I don’t deadlift AT ALL and can shrug more than 500lbs. I usually do ten 45lbs plates for slow reps with a hold at the peak contraction…without straps.

Am I missing why this is a bad thing?

Oh and as far as the bench press, bringing it to my chest stresses that shoulder joint. You are one of the first to make it seem like my chest would be bigger if I trained differently.

Bottom line, not touching my chest got me a big chest. [/quote]

Are you using a mixed grip when shrugging without straps?