"Weight lifting" WTF?!? arched bench and sumo deadlift
 

I've been seeing lots of these sorts of videos. I would be concerned that the extreme arched back in a bench would be dangerous. I would feel silly doing it, and I would feel like a fraud. I saw one video of what looked like a shortish 300+# dude benching 1400# with an arched back (shortish and 300+#, it was only 5-6" off of the bench). It still seems "wrong" but hey, anyone that can even hold 1400# up is a badazz in my book.

Having your back arched that much doesn't seem like it can be good for you. And then the way that they do it so the range of motion is minimal seems like a cheat. If you were going curls and only barely bent your arms, no one would think that would count, so why does the same thing count in a bench.

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<iframe width="960" height="568" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jkDIY2ZHIIQ" title="The First Zero Range Of Motion Bench Is Almost A Reality" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

this guy seems to think that it's not dangerous.
<iframe width="960" height="568" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V0iy6RuCMQE" title="My Opinion on Crazy Bench Arches" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

deadlift. I saw one vid where someone did one of these sumo lifts and ended up dropping the weight onto their foot.
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I get a lot of these vids in my feed. It's dumb they need to change the rules a bit for some of the lifts and categories.

Sumo is legit without a crazy wide stance in my book. Straps are a worse offense.

In HS, we had alternates that we could take instead of reg PE. One was weight lifting taught by a retired pro weight lifter.

I was a 140 lb. scrawny guy...but the class was still fun. After we did our workouts, the teacher loved to have us spot or watch while he piled a couple hundred lbs. of more plates on the bar and lifted with hardly any effort. He was a big dude.

I hurt my back doing kettlebell swings two days ago but was on the mend until I watched those videos. Time for more Aleve.

Cheating
Mr. Half-rep

Check this guy out...

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And the blonde guy that is visiting the strong guy is also a climber and is very strong. I've seen some of his videos before. I was in Cali 26 years ago, and met a guy that worked at a climbing gym and had a small setup built in his garage. That does seem to build impressive strength.

same kind of thing...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I-mA8zQOks0" title="This is the Strongest man on the Planet… and no one knows his name" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Seems like bench pressing a couple of inches, isn’t the real deal. Same with the dead lifting.

What’s the point?