It’s within the rules, but damn that’s a short range of motion. His arch is so big you could practically walk underneath him.
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This is exactly where I lose respect for powerlifting.
Step 1: gain 300lbs so you barely fit under the bar.
Step 2: have arms so short that brushing your teeth is a stretching routine.
Step 3: hire a priest to perform an exorcism on you while under the bar (for the back arch).
Step 4: break hella world records.
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Congrats to that dude
Powerlifting is a silly sport
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Although the sport may be silly, powerlifters are strong.
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I love powerlifting and wish sometimes I could still compete. The rules need to change though to make arches like that illegal. I’m not sure how to change them – I’ll leave that for someone smarter than I am – but that ROM is just silly.
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Arching to be banned? How is this possibly enforceable?
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If they are going to change the rules, I think the records will be all screwed up. I think it’s only really the ipf and affiliates thinking about the change. They might lose a lot of lifters if they make changes.
The crazy arches and super wide grip needs to go imo. I think we will see the lighter women’s bench records drop by a 100 lbs if they make them actually have decent ROM.
I know it won’t happen, but if they are going to throw a wrench into everything, they should switch to an overhead press. Not easy to cheat that.
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Julius is the strongest bencher. He should make all bench press rule decisions.
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Where do they draw the line on arching? It’s pretty difficult to quantify how much is too much when some people can have big arches without turning themselves into a lower case N.
Would this be acceptable?
What’s his squat look like?
My memory of weightlifting history is that Olympic lifting dropped the strict press because lifters were leaning so far back that they were turning it into an incline bench. So a bit like what’s going on with arches on the bench press. Now if they switched to a seated overhead press that would eliminate the leaning issue. Or make the lifter stand next to a wall with their feet only a certain distance from the wall.
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Actually, they dropped it because leg drive (bending knees) became too hard to judge. Some “records” were effectively push-pressed. Layback was always part of the movement.
I’m case your feel like reading a spectacularly boring and questionably sourced essay on the subject: https://startingstrength.com/article/the_tragic_death_of_the_military_press
Interesting. From Wikipedia it sounds like it was both issues (leg bending and layback). Clean and press - Wikipedia.
IMO, grip width is the first rule change I would consider. Maybe a percentage of the lifter’s span from finger tip to finger tip.
The arch seems much more individual with no reasonable means of making a standard for arch height. Maybe the lifter must lower the bar to an area that includes pec muscles, that is, no belly presses.
I bench wide grip, so I think grip width would be better off left alone, but I’d like to see the arch just completely taken out. From the top to the bottom, someone’s ass needs to be in full contact with the seat.
Is ultra-wide stance sumo deadlift cheating?
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A standard length Olympic bar would greatly limit the exaggerated sumo deadlift stance width.
That said, it seems fair to have a stance as wide as you can.
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Geez… just lift (smh). I mean I could deadlift more if my arms were 3" longer or the plates had a bigger diameter…if someone has a genetic advantage and plays by the rules of that fed then what’s the problem?
Just lift and have a good time. Ain’t one of us getting rich from this.
Compete in the fed that speaks to you and compare yourself there to lifters in that fed. The rest don’t mean anything because the judging and rules vary too much from fed to fed.
This isn’t aimed at anyone specific but I often hear complaining on this subject.
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Would also have less whip (bend), which increases ROM. Two factors at play with the ROM.
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