bench press

Discipline and Sacrifice

(to Cody) I was talking to a friend, Cody, and we were laughing at the “tough” talk on “sacrifices”. Not to mention the embarrassing “alpha male”, “warrior” and “beast” embarrassingly stupid imagery. I did good both academically and in sports. Nope. Can’t remember any sacrifice. Let’s see what I remember as being an extreme sacrifice: …

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The endless cycle of grief: the day powerlifting died

The process of letting go is a slow and painful one, but it brings some relief. As if with each flake you shed, you become a lighter and a more genuine version of yourself. I just now opened the book manuscript I was supposed to hand in in 2012 and never did. It is in …

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Face savers

Face-savers are not metaphorical and if I could, I would make them mandatory in gyms. For thirty years I’ve been hearing things like “let go… he/she needs to save face…”. You see, I don’t read sub-text. I probably have a very low EQ. But I’m a trained and skilled debater. I also admit I enjoy …

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Ego lifting: are you using the right expressions and ideas?

  What exactly is being criticized and rejected here? Besides the obvious technical items in training in terms of planning and execution of a motor task, the object of criticism is the emotional attitude. It means “it is a worthless lift performed to satisfy the ego”. Like so many words and expressions that come from …

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Falling out of love

THE DREAM IS OVER – LONG LIVE THE DREAM – Older adults with a varied life experience will relate to this: there’s a moment, and you don’t know when exactly that moment happened because you are just aware that it passed, that you realize you’re not in love anymore. There may be something there, but …

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Falling out of love

THE DREAM IS OVER – LONG LIVE THE DREAM – Older adults with a varied life experience will relate to this: there’s a moment, and you don’t know when exactly that moment happened because you are just aware that it passed, that you realize you’re not in love anymore. There may be something there, but …

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The gym as the home: Brewhouse Barbell

This article is a case study partly based on ethnographic analysis about a strength training gym. The goal here is to explore the concepts related to “homeness” on the choice of the training environment. It sets the ground for subsequent essays on alternative training settings and facilities and the concepts involved in their evolution. This …

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The beauty of team work in sports: organizing meets is a very specialized occupation

I have been the president of a national powerlifting organization in a powerlifting and ethics-unfriendly country. Our organization never really grew: the corruption tradition was so strong that the IPL/USPA project could hardly be understood by people who were already lifters. Our chance were the newcomers. I didn’t have the time: I moved away. I …

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