Oliver Bateman Does the WorkVerified account

Paging @MoustacheClubUS, clean-up after The Work on aisle 4

he was here for it

I'll never understand the whole 'arch your back for 'strength'' thing in lifting. "Instead of supporting these joints in a neutrally-articulated position, I ask them to bear weight in near hyper-flexion. Yes." With the belt people make it safe-ish, but I'm skeptical as hell

An arch is impossible to avoid with the heaviest strict press. That’s why it was dropped from Olympic competition decades ago. On the bench press, the use of a proper arch in the center of the back — correct powerlifting form — ensures the load is pressed safely by the lats

Interesting. I presume though that a moderate arch on the bench is sufficient? Also I feel like I see fairly massive arching often in the gym esp. w folks trying for big weight?

My background is in dance, and we were taught to never compromise our core in a lift, so it always jumps out at me. Same with the 'flat back' lift that seems to be a thing for getting weight off the floor. Feels like that's anatomically weird. But it's the way people do, so...

you're ideally not supposed to compromise your core in the strict shoulder press, but arching is inevitable regardless of how tight you're keeping that core. the arch in the back on the bench is actually accompanied by a tight core sealed in with valsalva breath-holding