OBS: the mentioned letter and response from Mr. Sweeney will also be revealed later. Dear Amy, I have received the e-mail in which you communicated the results of my teammates referee exams and, considering the extremely impolite previous response from Mike Sweeney to my (polite) letter pointing out problems at the Worlds, I decided […]
Letter to the WPC in which I step down as Brazilian representative Read More »
Most people who enjoy collective sports like football, baseball or hockey will follow a blog to read about the sport, the players and technical comments about each game in a competitive season. In individual sports, especially in strength sports, the reality is unfortunately different. We have very few blogs devoted to providing news or competition
Sports blogging: the guru threat Read More »
There are SANCTIONED meets and NON SANCTIONED meets SANCTIONED meets are those that strictly follow a set of guidelines known as “rulebook” from a “sanctioning body”, also known as “federation” NON SANCTIONED meets are informal powerlifting competitions more or less inspired in traditional PL rules, but accommodating for local conditions (for example: lack of certified,
Nine things that would make everything easier to understand for powerlifters Read More »
These last few days have been marked by a wave of negativity in the sport: all possible dirty forms of the infamous federation war, athlete bashing, angry arguments ending in open aggression – all over issues that have already been addressed in sober and more technical terms and never came even close to consensus. By
Negativity in powerlifting Read More »
Nowhere is home. After a while, it doesn’t matter anymore. Home materializes and then vanishes. Home is a transient state of recognition, of self-recognition and of remembrance. I was at home in Detroit but I wasn’t exactly in Detroit. I was at a Marriott hotel, far from downtown, where usually pilots and airlines personnel are
(read “Numbers” before) One day I calculated the safe time for alternating squat rounds (flights A and B), the time required to change the equipment on the platform for the bench press rounds, plus all that and the deadlift rounds. I summed the operational arrangements time and came to the “golden” number of 30
Again about the golden numbers – keeping powerlifting boring and kosher Read More »
About “giant championships”, advantages for the sport, “popularization” and the right number of lifters Today, powerlifting organizations are fighting for athletes: they all want the largest crowd in their meets. We hear about national meets with hundreds of lifters and Worlds with over 500 lifters. Why is this important? For two reasons: power and
The deal I made with myself was to record, every day, the things and events that I could see as having benefitted me. It was a conscious attempt to confront unproductive and/or destructive mental habits. After so many recent ordeals, I thought I had found an elegant system to avoid self-victimization. I blew it: many
Funny thing it took me long to grasp was the notion that when hurting someone purposefully the perpetrator needs to hate first, not after the conflict. That goes only for people he knows personally, had a personal relationship with, sometimes liked, sometimes admired and sometimes loved. I really couldn’t understand this. It was explained to
Hate, contempt, friendship and guilt Read More »
I bet there are a lot of things out there in powerlifting that you don’t like. From gyms, through methods, beliefs, gurus, drug testing policy, feds and meet venues. It is really ok to reject something: I, myself, am somewhat of a traditionalist concerning rules, and a radical, concerning individual rights (aka drug testing: against
Don’t like – don’t lift: don’t trash, don’t bash Read More »
