Ep. 278- Is Arched Bench Press Cheating?

[@MrSquidna]

TNPF ( TrexNation Powerlifting Federation) Rules 1.Butt cheeks must contact platform in hole of squat. 2.All vertebrae of lifters back must be glued to bench during press. 3.Deadlift must be performed at 3" deficit.

[@nocifer]

Synced the "Omar" at the beginning Finally, I can go load 8 plates on the decline bench (unarched like a real man), unrack, and die a happy man

[@tescoownbrandlit]

I knew it was gonna be a monster episode from 0:04

[@aimeehill5329]

@omar coming in with the goods at 1.05. I have never seen at the gym a a single woman look at it another woman's arched bench press and say oh she's cheating. It's always like, girl , whoa look at that arch I wish I was that flexible and strong.

[@stoempert]

I think the IPF has a good ruleset and good equipment requirements. New bench rules to combat some of the clown edge cases are great. Mandatory Powerbar usage on all 3 lifts is also the way to go. None of that Kabuki bar bs.

[@jimr1603]

I was watching a video on things like the flosberry flop. That one got specifically allowed. Ones like "running straight through the hurdles" lead to changing the design of the hurdles.

[@jimr1603]

Boat racing is the other example. What began as a bunch of people playing with their boats and wondering how fast they are led to a codified ruleset. Now we have racing boats that are otherwise terrible boats.

[@emmang2010]

Thank you

[@timosavolainen9865]

Yes, arching is cheating. And, so is not using rusty Iron plates.

[@user-lguqrux]

Loved this episode, guys! Thanks so much, it was such a delight.

[@watsonkushmaster3067]

Damn the ending went dark really fast

[@michaelking745]

#trextocracy

[@joel5956]

I do kind of wonder how much a very narrow strength specificity comes into play on the difference between arching and "not arching" (as much as "not arching" is possible anyway). And I know this is more anecdotal, but I lift at a powerlifting gym with a lot USAPL lifters (they are not subject to the "elbow depth" rule that is in PA) and I know what their comp benches are as well as what they can Larsen Press. The difference for some is a lot closer to 20kg than 5kg. But that's not to say I think arching is cheating or whatever because strength standards are always so fuzzy. Like the concept of "raw powerlifting" came up a lot in this episode and a lot of people do take pride in their "raw" powerlifting numbers, but many of those same people struggle to put on their new Inzer ErgoPro knee sleeves because they are "almost wraps" (whether that's true or not, they believe it). And even outside of powerlifting, a lot of the people complaining about arching are comparing somebody else's meet PR to their PR where they bounced the bar off their chest, let their butt come up, and got a little help from their spotter.

[@BobbyHill26]

Larsen Press is a bit different though because you don’t have your feet for stability, and maximum force production goes down when you lose stability. I am surprised they said that the benefit of the arch is so low though. I don’t compete, but I am a pretty good bencher with a good arch and I feel like I get at least 10kg out of my arch, probably more and I don’t use a full arch in training, I only use a “competition arch” when I’m actually doing a max attempt and it makes my training max feel almost easy, if I trained it I could probably milk even more out of it

[@emmang2010]

Its the fact that the public does bench press and work hard at it and care about it. And dont arch like that. So they take it personally when someone is performing the literal event "bench press" and has a 2 inch ROM.

[@VideoEnjoyerr]

The bench press back arch is a surprisingly common talking point and meme by many nonlifting friends and colleagues. Pretty funny how much of a reaction it can solicit.

[@devlin76]

The super wide grip and high arch technique was rare, but definitely took away from the spirit of the movement. It is often only when people push the existing rules to the extreme that you realize new or additional rules are needed. I like the new rule.

[@Yupppi]

Thanks for asking, the answer is yes, it's cheating. Like sumo deadlift. In the wise words of an online commenter (I believe in the context of video games) "You cheated not only the game, but yourself. You didn't grow. You didn't improve. You took a shortcut and gained nothing. You experienced a hollow victory. Nothing was risked and nothing was gained. It's sad that you don't know the difference." It's sad what lengths people go to cheat a victory. A lot of weightlifters these days are sort of upset at the lockout rule. It seems so extremely vague but still strict on what the judges might call no lift. A common person might not even notice that it's not a clean execution and the 230 kg c&j win is a no lift. Many think it just takes away from the sport and we get to see great lifts (aesthetically as well) that aren't accepted. To be fair squat jerk is awful. To lift big weights with consistently, and visually as well. Shoutouts to any bull that can win a competition by doing it. There's a reason why most lifters aren't taught to do it (other than some Chinese miracles). Actually at some point in time top weightlifters were boasting about how little they overhead pressed despite winning the competitions with snatch and c&j. Which is really odd. Except Klokov who was something like the image of an ideal weightlifter at his time: he looked good and fit, athletic, and lifted big not only in the competition lifts but overhead press and others as well. He made weightlifting look sexy at the time of everyone having the powerbelly. At least now most of them train their overhead strength as well (which surprisingly helps with the finish). It sounds very obvious to me Helms is referring to how Germany plays soccer when he talks about morally corrupt athletes who make the sport a joke to win. It's funny though that we view straps and any such thing adulterated, but we're okay that it's a really convenient to grip bar with bearings and practical weight plates. Why is it not a box made of wooden planks, full of rocks or something? I feel like the strongman has it best. Like they're expressing huge strength and they're also having fun. There's also the third side to being a woman in strength sports. The people who are, no matter what you do, bowing and kissing your feet about how amazingly strong and good you are. Positive feedback and encouragement and compliments are nice, but you get this sense of either dishonest or deluded, sleazy approach. It still doesn't change the fact that there's no winning if you don't ignore people.

[@SimonMSvensson]

Cheating is breaking the rules. Sumo, and to a large extent arching, is allowed and thereby by definition not cheating. Whether it should be allowed or not is a different question.