On Oliver Sacks and His Obsession with Weightlifting
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People who are into lifting are more likely to associate the term Weightlifting with the practice of Olympic Weightlifting. This article is about powerlifting.
Olympic lifting focuses on the two dynamic, technique-driven main movements. The clean and jerk, which is a two-part lift and the snatch, which is a single movement lift. Up until 1972, the press was also an olympic movement, but it became too hard to judge and was so removed. There are rigorous criteria in competitions.
Powerlifting, as the article goes onto state is centered around three movements, the squat, the deadlift and the bench press. Just like olympic lifting (or weightlifting), powerlifting has strict criteria for competition lifts. The aim of powerlifting though is to move as much weight as possible.
For people who do not lift, they typically hear the phrase "weightlifting" and think of the practice of bodybuilding which is concerned with hypertrophy of muscle groups to build a balanced and awe-inducing physique.
Context: I like to dabble in weightlifting as a fun pursuit and held a very minor title for a short time period. It was a hollow victory, as due to my only competitor weighing in 0.4kg too light, I ended up as the only person in my age/weight category. I won because I made all my lifts. I was competing against myself.
But I'm just too afraid of getting injured; chance of injury is so much higher when lifting explosively vs. lifting heavy. :(
The older I get, the more I want to be a 'jack of all trades, master of none' in terms of fitness, but that's just a personal bias. I don't have the patience or the motivation to ever learn how to do a snatch or squat clean properly, but I see the appeal.
Just because you know how to do something correctly doesn't mean you always will. I personally believe the combination of speed and weight makes olympic lifts inherently dangerous.
Most sports have a lot of survivorship bias. It looks like people can do them forever because a lot of other people have dropped out.
The impulse from the first 0.5s of my clean & jerk is significantly higher than the first 0.5s of me grinding out a heavy deadlift rep
Powerlifters will definately bench press more because weightlifters don't bench.
When comparing the squat - powerlifters perform a low bar squat and hence you cannot compare it to the high bar squat the weightlifters do. I think weightlifters have much more powerful legs though - when you compare across the same lifts.
Weightlifters dont specialize in the deadlift however it is a part of their training and I think weightlifters will out deadlift powerlifters if they focus on it.
Try this: walk over to a nearby wall and "try" to push it over. That is, put yourself into the position that feels like you have the best brace and power to transfer force into the wall, and actually do it. Notice where your hands, elbows and shoulder blades end up. That's basically the same position as a good powerlifting bench.
Thank you. Why have I not seen it before? It’s such a straight forward explanation.
Perhaps coincidentally, my bench is considerably weaker than my other 2 lifts.
Obviously, don't do something that's painful. But it's important to recognize the difference between "painful" and "uncomfortable." One is a sign you are doing something detrimental to your body; the other is a sign you are doing something you are unfamiliar with. If a low to moderate arch is what works for you, that's fine. I bench with a low to moderate arch, and yes, my bench is also considerably weaker than my other lifts.
If they're out of position, you'll get hurt.
With decent form and a reasonable balance of pushing and pulling movements (don't neglect your back!) you'll have healthy shoulders.
“No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training…what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” - Socrates
“In order for man to succeed in life, God provided him with two means, education and physical activity. Not separately, one for the soul and the other for the body, but for the two together. With these two means, man can attain perfection.” - Plato
Mistranslated/corrupted:
"No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training…what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable."
Closest quote:
"Besides, it is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength and beauty to their highest limit." - Xen. Mem. 3.12
Mistranslated/corrupted:
"In order for man to succeed in life, God provided him with two means, education and physical activity. Not separately, one for the soul and the other for the body, but for the two together. With these two means, man can attain perfection."
Closest quote:
"For these two, then, it seems there are two arts which I would say some god gave to mankind, music and gymnastics for the service of the high-spirited principle and the love of knowledge in them—not for the soul and the body except incidentally, but for the harmonious adjustment of these two principles." - Plat. Rep. 3.411e
Here's one relevant quote from the Memorabilia:
ὁρῶ γὰρ ὥσπερ τὰ τοῦ σώματος ἔργα τοὺς μὴ τὰ σώματα ἀσκοῦντας οὐ δυναμένους ποιεῖν, οὕτω καὶ τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἔργα τοὺς μὴ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀσκοῦντας οὐ δυναμένους.
As those who do not train the body cannot perform the functions proper to the body, so those who do not train the soul cannot perform the functions of the soul. (https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Memorabilia_(Xenophon))
Socrates was also a foot soldier/war hero who elected to continue to socialize and drink with famous athletes all his life.
Plato’s quote I’m not so sure but there is no shortage of discussion of mind/body, exercise, movement in his works.
https://www.oldtimestrongman.com/articles/the-iron-by-henry-...
> For although the body needs many things in order to be strong, yet the mind grows from within, giving to itself nourishment and exercise. Yonder athletes must have copious food, copious drink, copious quantities of oil, and long training besides; but you can acquire virtue without equipment and without expense. All that goes to make you a good man lies within yourself.
> Now there are short and simple exercises which tire the body rapidly, and so save our time; and time is something of which we ought to keep strict account. These exercises are running, brandishing weights, and jumping, – high-jumping or broad-jumping, or the kind which I may call, "the Priest's dance," or, in slighting terms, "the clothes-cleaner's jump." Select for practice any one of these, and you will find it plain and easy.
But whatever you do, come back soon from body to mind. The mind must be exercised both day and night, for it is nourished by moderate labour. and this form of exercise need not be hampered by cold or hot weather, or even by old age. Cultivate that good which improves with the years.
- Seneca
Plus I have an ass now. So many upsides to doing deadlift.
I snapped a photo of my 16-year-old (not some massive ox of a child either) picking it off the ground with his middle finger.
+1 for deadlifting. Also easier to coach than the squat. Personally I think the hex bar deadlift is the safest movement for untrained people as it reduces the technical issues. I haven't experimented on people with this but I would intuitively suspect that some form of Zercher or strongman influenced move would be another good thing for the sedentary (obvs with lighter weights) as in Real Life, many objects are not conveniently barbell shaped.
Plus, once you really get into it, diet improves. When one can feel the effects of the terrible food they ate, people tend to naturally gravitate towards a high protein diet with enough carbs to support their growth. Also helps improve sleep patterns in my experience.
I'm being flip - and I've also felt the same effect - i.e. "with all this effort in the gym, let's not act like a f*wit in the kitchen". But it's not guaranteed.
Most importantly though: squatting didn't just make my physically stronger, it made me psychologically stronger. Your main risk in failing a deadlift is making a lot of noise dropping the bar. Failing a squat is much scarier, and the prospect of being at the bottom of a squat and having the choice to give up and figure out a way to get the bar off your back without getting crushed or to just fucking stand up really forces you to toughen up mentally.
I realized I was capable of so much more than what I gave myself credit for, and that is something that every person should feel about themselves.
I agree. After one bad accident where I was lucky to not be injured beyond a strained back, I went out and spent the money on a good power rack so I can safely dump the bar at the bottom of a failed bench press or squat.
I have seen a newbie fall forwards though, and that can be scary and dangerous. But they fell forwards because their form was horribly wrong.
I've had professional instruction, I don't arch my back, I've watched countless videos, and nothing seems to help. It's a big shame, as I've always liked to put a big focus below the waist, but it just doesn't work for me.
Do you have any tips?
Then squat is even harder but for me helped to focus on keeping foot pressure midfoot, not heels. Also i realized my hips/glutes were weak and i had never trained them properly, hence my form was bad and overusing quads. It took me a while to be able to go full range of motion with glutes contracted. So i first did like 3/4 squats, then 1/2 and now ass to the grass
But this is just if the problem is about the muscles/technique. If your back is damaged somehow, it won't fix that. But it could be that you just haven't learned to activate your back muscles properly and then do way too much weight, with your body compensating with your spine/other muscles
He was clearly unhappy in his late 20s and early 30s. Despondent at Oxford, he spent a summer in Israel working on a Kibbutz. After finishing his medical degree, he travelled across Canada and tried to joint the Canadian Air Force as a pilot. When he began working in San Francisco, he was drawn to obsessive weightlifting. He also began to regularly consume copious amounts of hallucinogenic drugs, and briefly joined Hell's Angels.
Sacks says that things only fell into place when he began writing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/3...
And not mentioned: He also had some serious lasting physical problems from weightlifting, as did other of his competitive weightlifting friends:
https://medium.com/the-polymath-project/oliver-sacks-on-how-...
I am an avid weightlifter, I think its really great and overall healthy, but the linked article paints a rosy picture of something more complicated for Sacks.
Anyway, here is a pic of Oliver Sacks squatting 600lbs/272kg: https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/0*3-yWU2in-5YvucmG....
Truly a renaissance man.
"if the bar ain't bending, you're just pretending"
:-)
If somebody wanted to get into weightlifting, where would they even start?
You'll have a program of exercises, squat, bench, ... and sequence. You'll do the exercises and learn about form. It's a start.
Taking classes like Bodypump is another approach. You won't learn anything about form and the weights will be more about endurance and tone but it's a start.
I'm assuming you're a complete newbie walking into a gym needing a sustainable start. Do this for 3-6 months then try to connect with a powerlifting program.
If you really want to know a LOT, look at Stronger By Science.
Based on my and others' experiences, bodypump can be a negative as there's frequently no guidance on form, technique, starting weight, or progression.
What is your motivation and what do you hope to achieve?
If the answer is clearly "I want to move as much weight as possible", then you should pursue a powerlifting track. It's very unlikely you would start with Olympic lifts an and end goal, but in the off chance, ditto that.
If the answer has a component centered around muscularity and body image, then you may want to start with an elementary bodybuilding program. What's the difference? You'll do more reps at lower weights (as %1RM), and you'll do a lot more accessory lifts, as opposed to primarily focusing with intent on [mostly] just the major compound lifts.
If your goal is to become more athletic, then you'll probably end up with a blend that combines the major compound lifts, accessory lifts, and explosive functional movements with resistance.
In my case, my first goal was "get stronger so I can perform better at my sports of choice", so I started with bootcamp style HIIT classes, then added more explicit functional movements and accessory lifts, and only then started adding compound lifts for total body strength & power.
Point being, identify your objectives first, then choose a training program. And, if you're a complete newbie, do not try to do this by yourself. Join a class, hire a trainer, or find an experienced buddy -- you'll have more fun, probably experience faster gains, and reduce your chances of injury.
I'll be 50 years old next year and I'm losing my strength. I want to get stronger and add some muscle mass. I'm not concerned about weight and I'm not trying to get ripped.
I already have a bunch of equipment in my garage that I can use (pull up bar, lots of kettle bells, rowing machine, a bar and plates, and a set of dumbbells). I want to start with that and then I'm also thinking about signing up for a BJJ class, but first I have to drop something to make space in my schedule.
But what worked for me was Bigger, Leaner, Stronger by Michael Matthews
https://www.amazon.com/Bigger-Leaner-Stronger-Building-Ultim...
It's an updated approach to Starting Strength. It builds a weekly routine around the core lifts of bench, incline bench, overhead press, squat, and deadlift.
And while he dives into some iffy science at times and the diet section is – while informative and eye opening to me in the beginning about how much I needed to change my diet – it's also extremely unrealistic, especially for a beginner.
But, if you keep those things in mind, it's a strong base to build a lifting habit around.
I've been lifting 5 times a week for a couple years now and, while I've since modified much of the book to fit my personal goals and approach, it helped me get somewhere from no previous lifting experience (other than aimlessly wandering around the Y in my teens and 20s).
I have been somewhat seriously lifting for more than a year (~350 Wilks, raw), never had a coach and it's my only regret that I had not worked out the forms with someone early on. I didn't think much of the sport at first and was doing it just for fun. But as I hit heavier weights I had to re-learn all the lifts multiple times because the "canonical" forms I learned from youtube were often ill suited for my body structure.
In general, you've been lifting for much more than a year right? 350 Wilks is incredible if you're a year out.
Last June I attended my first meet and tanked it: failed all three deadlift attempts due to errors (not following commands, double movement, etc). I started working on technique and won the two local meets that followed. I cannot say I enjoy it as much as I enjoy martial arts, but at the moment I'm just curious to see how much my body can progress within my normal sleep/rest/nutrition regimen.
* Consistency: 3 to 5 times a week, every week, with periodic deloads (once every month or two, give yourself an easy week where you cut the weight in half or so).
* Intensity: you want to challenge yourself, but not overdo it such that it's hard to recover. Part of learning means you have to push to find your limits, but overall you shouldn't be going nuts until you're more of an advanced lifter.
* Movements: the core of lifting weights consists of the Squat, Deadlift, Benchpress, and Overhead Press. Any reasonable program will make good use of these movements. Add in accessory work as you like: rows, pull/chin-ups, arm work, ab work, etc.
* Diet: Sufficient calories and protein to support muscle growth. ~0.6g/lbs. of body weight is a reasonable protein target. You can count calories, but use the scale as the real test of whether you're hitting your calorie goal. If you want to get bigger, the scale better be moving up.
Want a program? Check out Jim Wendler's 5/3/1
However, there are a lot of unqualified lifting coaches out there, and many fitness certifications don't cover lifting well. So if you just walk into your local fitness club and ask for a trainer, you can easily wind up with the incompetent leading the ignorant.
A practical compromise might be to buy a phone tripod, record your lifts, and work online with a qualified coach. Just looking at the larger Starting Strength community, I've been deeply impressed by Barbell Medicine, and some people seem to like Starting Strength Online Coaching.
There are lots of other good programs out there besides Starting Strength, obviously. And honestly, all the uninjured, grey-haired lifters I've met were careful bodybuilders and not powerlifters (but my sample size is small).
To say that his advice is antiquated is controversial at best. SS is written for the brand new beginner, and is advertised as such. Its prototypical student is a high school freshman that weighs 140 lbs and needs to get bigger and stronger to make the football team.
Another commenter said it ignores other factors like diet and rest. This is objectively incorrect. The book harps on eating and sleeping/resting. Rest days are sacred. If you are trying to go from. 100 lb squat to 300 in a few months, you sleep and eat, taking occasional breaks to lift heavy. If you are fat, eat slightly less.
SS isn't about body building, it's about a brand new lifter getting to a non-embarassing level of strength. That means eating an adequate amount of food, erroring on the side of eating too much, and just cut back the calories after you have a 300+ lb squat. People like to make a meme of things like the 'Gallon of Milk A Day' advice. That's not general advice. That's for the 110 lb 15 year old who doesn't like eating food and wants to get bigger. It's not advice for the 20 something software dev trying to go from weak and fat to bodybuilder
I have not read the book, but Chad is a respected competitor and coach in the community. I have watched the Juggernaut Training YouTube channel for a few years now, and they always have sound advice for both beginner and expert lifters.
1. Resistance bands. These are a smaller, lighter, cheaper, and less intrusive investment than a weight set or a gym membership, and they continue to be a useful training supplement at all levels of training because the maximal resistance with bands comes near the end of the movement, when they're stretched, instead of at the beginning when picking up a weight. Lifters have devised combinations of weights and bands for a steady resistance gradient through the whole range of motion.
2. Focus the workouts on studying the technique. Even the simplest of movements has something to study in it. Initiation in a new technique can be done with books, videos, personal trainers, etc. but most of the work is in learning to do the movement more efficiently. Spend each workout sampling techniques and trying for good form before adding difficulty.
3. Log your progress. The real game of weight training is in the "progressive" part of "progressive overload", and logging each workout provides you with a benchmark to exceed in each session: you can aim to increase weight, reps, sets, try a more difficult form of a movement, etc. Calculations like "total volume" (weight × reps) let you adjust the composition of your training so that you don't stagnate. There are many apps that help you with logging - I started using "FitNotes" on Android years ago and never stopped.
Also, if you're like me and have long thighs and a short torso, the back squat is not the best exercise for developing strength as your leverages are bad. When I learned about that, and that the parallel-grip deadlift would be a better one for me, I was disappointed that Rippetoe didn't really promote alternatives to the back squat.
Secondly its a lifelong expedition, there are a million programs of exercise/diet/sleep/supplements online. Your body is unique so the only way to know is to try them out. Be ready to make progress, regress, get frustrated, get injured, feel really strong, and feel really weak.
Either way, definitely find something where you have an in-person coach. Its way too easy to develop bad form habits if you’re just learning from Youtube or something.
But squats are more complicated. Are the safeties really useless? It’s a bit hard in my area to find such a group, though I could look around. Have taken time off of lifts to fix some muscular issues.
A team or partner serves many needs: - safety in terms of spotting - safety in terms of feedback to guide you to proper form - safety in terms of damage control if you suffer an injury and need medical attention (especially if you have a stroke or aneurysm during a lift) - encouragement to maibtain your routine
But if you mean "I have failed my lift, prevent me from crushing myself" safety bars, there shouldn't be a problem with those as long as they are set at an appropriate height.
Front squats are also not so bad if you have safety bars to drop the barbell forwards onto.
Starting Strength style low-bar squats are trickier. I've previously found myself having to sort of roll forwards until the safety bars catch the barbell, then crawl out on hands and knees. Slightly scary the first couple of times but still pretty safe.
My worry is I won't really need the safeties until I have 200+ pounds on my back and if I exit wrong I could hurt myself. I tried practicing at the gym but it was very loud and the staff warned me not to.
I don't think front squats are inherently more or less safe than back squats; both are safe if performed with good form.
I understand the worry about heavy weights. If possible, you should try to find a gym that will let you drop weights (one mark of a good gym). Then you can practice to your heart's content.
On the other hand - he appears to have injured his wrist few months ago, although not by failing to finish the lift but by missing the rack when putting the bar back.
If you want an app, start with StrongLifts 5x5. He has a website, too.
I work out twice a week, bench both days and squat/deadlift on each of the other. Some days I do 6 sets of 5-10 reps, some days I do heavy doubles/triples, whatever I feel like doing, depending on how I feel that day. I’m almost 40 so I’m sure if I had started 15 years ago I’d have way better numbers.
~325 wilks with a poor squat because of an old hip injury (it’s less than my bench)
https://jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/101065094-5-3-1-...
He has more detailed stuff in his more recent books, too.
https://www.prevention.com/fitness/fitness-tips/a20440531/th...
Also, strength training is linked to cognitive increases in the elderly impaired as well.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170626093546.h...
> All participants were given cognitive tests at the beginning and end of the study and 12 months after they finished the study. The group that did the weight training scored significantly higher at the end of the study than at the beginning and retained that gain at 12 months. The gain in test scores was also greatest for those who had the greatest gains in strength. The scores of the group who performed stretching exercises declined somewhat.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/weight-training...
My best 2 mile time (14:11) came after doing a month straight of the Stronglift 5x5 routine. I didn't run once the month before.
A good heavy lift is cardio and strength training.
I routinely hit 180bpm deadlifting and squatting.
I would suspect you were reasonably fit before, needed some more leg strength to hit your peak speed, and didn't lose too much cardio from not doing it for a month.
This is demonstrably false, and a very basic search will reveal many sources that corroborate my claim.