So the fight between him and Mike Tyson was legitimate too since it was in front of formal judges right? No one pulled any punches, right? Tyson gave it his all but the age caught up with him
Yes, exactly. It doesn’t matter to a powerlifter what they did in training. The platform is where it counts.
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But the IPF considered the USAPL to be illegitimate by suspending it. So now the USAPL’s lifting platform is in question because the entire organization is in question.
What’s the point of competing on a platform that’s in question?
I guess I can only speak for myself, but when someone asks me my best lifts I always give meet numbers.
Let’s say you kept training after that meet and improved your lifts tremendously, not just by a little bit, but enough to know that you would destroy your previous numbers in a meet. Then something tragic happened so you never got to demonstrate your new-found strength gains to everyone else.
Even though others wouldn’t know about that strength you gained, would you honestly walk around believing that the strongest you’ve ever been in your life is the numbers you pulled in that previous meet before you got a lot stronger?
That actually happens. I think Luke Edwards said in his last meet before his kidney transplant he felt like he could have pulled 900 but never got the chance.
To me, for myself, It only matters what I do or did on the platform. I don’t go around bragging about gym lifts because it doesn’t matter to me.
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So you would believe that the strongest you’ve ever been in your life is when you pulled 500 in the powerlifting meet and not the 700 you pulled later on all by yourself with nobody watching?
It is clearly the view of an idealist. I am a pragmatist through and through.
The elected leadership of the USA is corrupted to its core. They strive to be career politicians continuously enriching themselves. The prime effort is to get re-elected to continue the enrichment. Yes, it is corrupt. But as a pragmatist I am not looking for another country. I strive to make the best of a less than perfect situation.
Likewise, there is no perfect Powerlifting federation. They all have their warts. An idealist isolates themselves from their perceived corruption.
A pragmatic assessment is to make the best of a less than perfect situation.
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How is tolerating corruption a pragmatic strategy rather than a convenience?
If there’s no perfect powerlifting federation, then it would be self-refuting to use competition as the only standard for being a powerlifter.
No. I’m saying it wouldn’t matter to me. The meet numbers are the ones that matter.
A bunch of powerlifting gyms have these.
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That is absolutely correct.
Anyone can ask:
Was it a pause or touch and go?
Did you raise your hips off the bench?
Did one side go up before the other side?
Was it a full lockout?
Was it controlled at the top?
I only lifted raw, so I can ask if you were using support gear?
No one is doubting that meet numbers are not reality. I am saying that you pulling 700 when nobody was watching 200lbs over your previous meet pull, is also reality.
The 500 happened at the meet, the 700 happened in your garage. They both happened in reality. Because someone else here was saying they go by “reality” by only recognizing meet numbers.
Why do you need the approval of others as the only standard for being a powerlifter?
Isn’t it more fulfilling to do something for yourself than for others’ approval at the end of the day?
I just explained it. The numbers that matter to me are on the platform. It doesn’t matter if I can squat 600 in the gym if I bomb with 585 at the meet.
This is the powerlifting mentality. Go lift with some powerlifters or do a meet yourself. You’ll appreciate it.
My point is that if you think that the only numbers that matter to you are on the platform, then you are essentially saying that all of your progress done outside the platform is irrelevant when in fact it was that progress outside of the platform which led you to get those numbers at the meet in the first place. I don’t understand that logic. Clearly the progress outside the platform matters as much as the numbers on the platform. You wouldn’t have those numbers without it.
Look. There is a level of corruption in all organizations. Tolerance is always in place whether you are aware of the corruption or not. Why didn’t you do a thorough investigation before entering.
Maybe it is a convenience, because of the intense investigation required to accurately assess the corruption. But it is pragmatic when it comes to the fairness of the meet.
I guess what I’m getting at is that the corruption in organizations undermines using organizations as the ideal for identifying as a powerlifter. You talk about being pragmatic and I think the methodology used before competing is highly pragmatic.
How are you going to do well in a competition if it’s not for all the hard work you did outside of it? That work has merit. Is that not pragmatic? If we say all powerlifters who compete are equal including the grandma benching the bar compared to the guy benching 500, wouldn’t that undermine the spirit of competition? Why are you competing in the first place if it’s not to be better than the other guy?
Did you even read the comment before placing that mindless drivel on the keyboard.
What makes you think I didn’t find it fulfilling to have made a legal 450lb Bench Press.
Because you act as if all the hard work you did outside of the meet to get that 450 bench is meaningless and has no merit. You are self-refuting. You act as if that 450lb bench magically appeared only because you stepped on a platform in front of some judges.
Of course. Isn’t that the driving force behind all competitive sports?