I remember when I first started training, I was told to listen to the biggest, strongest person in the gym. I later learned this is not always true, but I have also discovered some key things in all of my years around Powerlifting.
While at one of my first nationals, I saw a competitor walk in the warm up room that was as wide as a barn door, huge biceps and jacked as fuck. Another competitor I knew well told me not to worry about it, he’s got no erectors or upper back. I beat him by almost two hundred pounds.
I read an article years ago about how Vasily Alekseyev would size up his competition by greeting them with a quick hug so he could tap them on their lower back to know if they were “ready” or not.
While compiling my thoughts on this post, I happened to click through an IG live by @realmattwenning and he was speaking about how important the back is and that really strong lifters never lose the back thickness.
I’ve always said that strength and size of the legs is a great display of one's pain tolerance and the back (most notably the upper back and erectors) displays the ability to strain.
No legs, no back, no strength. You can’t fake it. This shit is built in the trenches and IMO only understood by those who’ve live or suffered in them.
Does this mean you can’t learn from those without this thickness?
Not at all.
I learned a lot about sex from my health teacher, but it wasn’t until I started fucking that I really knew how to do it and how it felt.
#elitefts @elitefts #powerlifting #strengthandconditioning
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