When I was little, I used to climb steep rocks to follow my father, who was climbing steep rocks. I had the names all right: my father was a g-e-o-l-o-g-i-s-t. That means people who go hiking in cool places, climb steep rocks over dangerous surf and also collect colorful and beautiful little pebbles in neat […]
My Dad (tomorrow is Father’s day in Brazil) Read More »
Sometimes I really feel stupid to give advice on how to improve something – say, your deadlift – when everybody, plus myself, has already written extensively on it. How many different ways are there to tell someone they need to keep spine neutrality during the deadlift? Or that you need to avoid early/ asynchronous hip
The first attempt (things I’ve been learning while teaching) Read More »
Introduction * this paper was published in 2008 as part of the APT lifting series. It is available at other sites and now it is available here as well; the pdf version may be downloaded here Lifters have rituals, or at least most do. And one high point in lifters’ rituals is equipment. Apart
The controversial role of the lifting belt Read More »
I’ve recently fully assumed the presidency of our local powerlifting organization, the “Aliança Nacional da Força” (National Strength Alliance). When I say “fully”, I mean that I already was nominally the president but had different agreements with other members concerning the actual control I would exert. The organization was created in 2009 and we had
Learning to simplify things – on non-sanctioned meets in Brazil Read More »
I often read some of my favorite coaches writing about sacrifice and lifestyle in training and becoming strong. I know they accomplish what they mean, which is to motivate novices. I’m not sure, but I think a dose of dark truth would be good for these young minds as well. Until the WPC
Can you afford not to be that strong? Read More »
I believe we just watched another illustration of the perversions that the entertainment industry can do to the sports. Most readers will have a hard time making sense of this claim: you were all born under this industry’s domain. As every social institution or phenomenon, though, this association has a history. Today, most popular and/or
Anderson Silva X Entertainment Industry: the sport loses Read More »
The week before the last had been a total disaster. Last week I have not only done some progress, but actually hit a number of PRs. How can that be? The definition of “record” is an unsurpassed measurement. Nobody said it had to be a max-out (the maximum effort movement at any lift). Seen under
Learning to appreciate little PR’s Read More »
“But you don’t hate guys, do you?” “you’re not a radical, are you?” These are things that I hear from friends that are more or less (some more, some less, but all a little bit) weary of my involvement with feminism. How can someone like me, meaning an athlete, a cis-heterosexual woman, supposedly uninterested in
Sports and feminism – no proselytism, just some clarification Read More »
Brandon Lilly posted another interesting comment about powerlifting and attitude today. This is it: “If I gave up when I felt like I’d never get any better I’d have quit when I fell to the ground, busted my lip, and bloodied my nose when I tried to squat 135 lbs for the first time. I
About giving up (thoughts on Brandon’s thoughts) Read More »
Yesterday I sat in my chair at the office and – yuck – realized I had smeared my boots with dog shit. On a closer – double yuck – look, or, rather, smell I figured it was a mixture of dog shit and carrion. It was almost 1AM, I was home from having dinner with
When life is its own metaphor: heavy and smelly Read More »
