Topic: Jen's thread

[Mike]

<serious> so what happens if you fail?  Are you suppose to just hold until the spotters can grab it?  That sounds dangerous as fuck

[jkim]

No, your spotters are supposed to help lift up once there's downward movement in the squat and bench. Good spotters are very attentive. Downward movement for either is cause for a red light anyway.

[jkim]

https://youtu.be/PZJAI-Tyex8?t=1m36s

[jkim]

Wow, I didn't realize I didn't update this since my first meet.

In August, I competed in a state meet and improved my total by 17.5kg at a while dropping weight into the 52kg class.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifmswlb_jvw

Last week I improved to a 315 kg total with a little left in the tank, still in the 52kg class at the National meet for the federation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1Qps0FBWjI

[Jake]

Jen, that's some impressive stuff right there.

I was told that arching your back like you do which bench pressing is not good for your back - but it was bro talk at the gym not supported by anything. What do you think?

[jkim]

Pretty much this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enRx1X7dQRI

I don't care if you arch or not, but if someone tells me I'm wrong I know they're not competitively lifting. Personally, arching a little helps me engage my lats more which protects my shoulders. It does not bother my back.

The funny thing is, my arch is kind of terribly unimpressive compared to others'. One thing I will note is that some people arch in a way to drive their body up and minimize ROM instead of using the leg drive to push parallel to the bench. Doesn't look very pretty, and it probably isn't so great for development of pure strength, but powerlifting is not always about pure strength on competition day.