I’m talking about non-lifting spectators, guys. Lol! I also love watching the deadlift, it’s my favorite event to watch in most shows. But it’s because I can appreciate what the athletes are doing. A 600 lbs deadlift registers about the same as a 1000 lbs deadlift to people not engaged in the sport, and standard weight plates just don’t look impressive in the way that, say, a car does. Even though car deadlifts would often be lighter than what you see in contest with a deadlift bar.
But yea, if you love the deadlift in your own training, you probably love to watch it competitively as well. Guys like us can even enjoy watching 100+ deadlift attempts at a powerlifting meet as well. But that just makes us exceptions to the rule.
EDIT: I’ll also add that the elephant bar and the large plates they use for that, and the fact that you can SEE so much flex in the bar does add to the appeal of that particular barbell deadlift. I hate that there are people who would want to swap that in the Arnold to a regular barbell for standardization of records in the sport. That would absolutely suck.
I will say though, reps for time over max effort. Unless someone wants to set a WR.
Both in training and on shows.
Max effort is kinda a done deal. If someone is 15/20kg stronger on max effort it’s hard to make that up. Unless they fail. The balls 100% in one person’s court.
Reps for time, theres more guts and determination involved.
Loads of events can be reps for time. Log, viking press, Axel press or deadlift, normal deadlift, car deadlifts.
I really like the new thing where they add weight each rep. I liked the keg drop at the last WSM. Great mix of max effort whilst rewarded competitors that ground out that little bit extra or when that little bit faster.
Is this new? I remember them doing this with squats and deadlifts in the late 90’s. Every rep they’d throw another keg on the lifting apparatus with a nice satisfying crash, just for the spectators.
Maybe not new then. Either way I like it. As I say it’s a good mix between rewarding the competitors with the strongest max effort AND the ones with the largest drive to push on.
100% agree. Even before I lifted, I watched WSM because it was just fun to watch. Even though I lift now (I do, honest), I can’t fathom watching a max effort deadlift contest for fun.
Its okay. It really heats up when you have a lifter going for a WR. But they skip a few weights in the mean time.
I’m sure I saw Big Z do this on a log press. He declined a few weights which others got. And went for broke on a WR.
Being Big Z he got it and jumped from 3rd to 1st for that event. But the tension and drama made the event.
I just watched the 1990 WSM on YouTube. What a load of BS that last event was. A 200 meter run? A 100 kg backpack? In Strongman? O.D. Should have won that year.
I hope anyone who watches that competition will realize that the event had no place in WSM, and that OD was the strongest man that year. I will now refrain from saying Jon Pall won 4 WSMs. I know technically he did, but I think the 1990 title should not count.
I wish every Eddie/Thor fanboy complaining about Martins! winning WSM 2019, because the events weren’t strength oriented enough LMAO, were aware of the history of the sport.
I think this is key. Whilst we consider it sport, it is also and maybe foremost a show. Events change every year and they can definitely be tweaked to give certain athletes or body types an advantage.
IMO, it does not need to be all static strength events, but the final event in 1990 was an event in which I would have had a good shot at beating O.D. at. 200 meter jog with a 100kg weight in a backpack position. It was closer to a CrossFit event.
I think @hardartery at one point said they changed the last event somewhat last minute. Which is pretty unfair if the change strongly favors the 3x champ, and is the worst event for the leader with a 5.5 point lead. I’ll say it was probably the least strength and most endurance based event in wsm history.
It’s been mentioned by others (@T3hPwnisher definitely). They changed the event specifically before the last event, knowing the score at that point, and knowing that O.D. needed to basically finish last, in order for JP to have a chance to win.
