culture

Translated interviews and mainstream media stories series: “She’s got the strength”

Leave a Comment / bench press, bipolar, culture, mental health @en / By

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION: I have been translating (from Portuguese) some of the interviews and stories written about me in the past five years, as well as producing summaries about the videos recorded with some longer interviews. These translations were a requirement for a professional project. It has been hard work. Most of the original […]

Translated interviews and mainstream media stories series: “She’s got the strength” Read More »

Translated interviews and mainstream media stories series: “Sister Courage”

Leave a Comment / bipolar, culture, mental health @en / By

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION: I have been translating (from Portuguese) some of the interviews and stories written about me in the past five years, as well as producing summaries about the videos recorded with some longer interviews. These translations were a requirement for a professional project. It has been hard work. Most of the original

Translated interviews and mainstream media stories series: “Sister Courage” Read More »

Communication crisis and how it affects strength and conditioning

Leave a Comment / communication, culture / By

A crisis of meaning, goals and time management fueled by inefficient communication. You have been programmed to read no more than 140 characters, with an optimum length of …. *===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*===*=== (you have stopped there) 80. You will only go beyond this if there is a clear provocation, scandal, insult or controversy. It affects everything. Small

Communication crisis and how it affects strength and conditioning Read More »

“Just powerlifting” X “Passion” – time to take a breath and understand what “the other” is saying

Leave a Comment / bench press, coaching, communication, culture, high performance, squat, strength training / By

I might be playing the mother-figure here in saying both are right and that you possibly agree more than not. Most people who know me also know that I belong to the second class for a very strong reason: it was the accidental discovery of powerlifting that saved my life. I abandoned an academic career

“Just powerlifting” X “Passion” – time to take a breath and understand what “the other” is saying Read More »

About witch hunts: lynching athletes for failing a drug test

Leave a Comment / culture, doping, other sports, sports politics, sports sociology / By

1. It amazes me how so many people echoed through social media the crucifixion of Russian lifters for failing drug tests reported on mainstream press. To anyone who’s been in the game long enough, it is obvious that some political agreement went sour or some “negative test fees” were not paid. That is all. There

About witch hunts: lynching athletes for failing a drug test Read More »

Powerlifting branching meanings 2: the Spider Boys

Leave a Comment / bench press, culture, deadlift, politics, sports politics, sports sociology / By

Each person has their own reasons to dedicate increasing time, effort, money and other important resources to something that renders no financial benefit. Sport is defined as institutionalized game and game is an autotelic activity, which means it is an end unto itself. Amateur, marginal sports are that plus more: you don’t get external resources

Powerlifting branching meanings 2: the Spider Boys Read More »

The Instagram Toilet thoughts #1: There’s nothing wrong with being mediocre

Leave a Comment / culture, education, high performance, mental health @en / By

* About 15% of instagram posts, especially in the morning, are about achieving excellence and outstanding performance (with a strong bias on achieving higher status and recognition). * Humans are social animals. Therefore, hierarchical. By pure biological logic, a small number of individuals in each group will assume leadership and manifest excellence (in other mammals,

The Instagram Toilet thoughts #1: There’s nothing wrong with being mediocre Read More »

Questions I receive – an example of users’ entitlement and abuse

Leave a Comment / bench press, coaching, culture, deadlift, performance, sports psychology, sports sociology, squat, strength training, training methods / By

Questions I receive – an example worth sharing for many (bad) reasons   (I have corrected punctuation and grammar errors and translated in readable form: it was originally in bad Portuguese) Question: “Hello Marilia, I would first like to congratulate you because I think you are one of the best female Brazilian powerlifters. You have

Questions I receive – an example of users’ entitlement and abuse Read More »

More on Ronda Rousey vs Holly Holm: the humility enigma

Leave a Comment / communication, culture, other sports, performance / By

Some thoughts. 1. Athletes don’t deserve do win or lose: a sport is an institutionalized game. By definition, athletes deserve only fair judging (not winning or losing). Winning or losing, if under fair judging, is neither good or bad. 2. Athletes don’t lose or win because of any moral factor. Our wishes about the outcomes

More on Ronda Rousey vs Holly Holm: the humility enigma Read More »

Rousey versus Holm and the fighting fans

Leave a Comment / competitive planning, culture, high performance, other sports, sports politics, sports psychology / By

Yesterday Ronda Rousey was defeated for the first time in her career with the UFC in a fight with Holly Holm. As far as very knowledgeable commentators say (and published), in spite of Rousey’s favoritism for many technical reasons, Holm’ victory was no surprise, either: she came in as a world champion boxer who, up

Rousey versus Holm and the fighting fans Read More »

Scroll to Top