Chaos and Pain

[Arch0wl]

this guy's writing can be really annoying when he's wrong (his piece on tanning) but if he's writing about lifting or anything to do with it he's usually right to a superb degree and it's amazing

some of my favorites, with quotes:

Powerlifting is Not a Fucking Fun Run

"The most popular endurance events in the country, the Tough Mudder and the Color Race, don't even post results- according to the race coordinators, it's not about how you perform but about how you feel. Well, they should feel like they fucking suck, because I would rather eat a bullet than run a mile and guarantee I could finish three miles in fewer than 30 minutes powered by nothing but contempt for the egalitarianism and effeminacy of the mindset of the other competitors."

Natty or Not? Not That Anyone Should Give Two Shits: The History of Performance-enhancing Substances

"Don’t believe me about the fact that winners will do what it takes to win? Well, science says “eat shit”, because you’re obviously not a winner. A “researcher, Bob Goldman, began asking elite athletes in the 1980s whether they would take a drug that guaranteed them a gold medal but would also kill them within five years. More than half of the athletes said yes. When he repeated the survey biannually for the next decade, the results were always the same. About half of the athletes were ready to take the bargain” (Reynolds). Conversely, only 2 out of 250 recreational lifters said they would do the same (Ibid). That’s a pretty impressive disparity- 50% of elite athletes will do what it takes to win, whereas less than 1% of normies would. Amusingly, this study was done at a time when both steroids and ephedrine were legal and acceptable for use among the average trainee, blissfully avoiding the unnecessary, illegitimate, and indefensible stigmas they now bear."

Wimz Headed to the Club Aren't the Only Ones Who Should Accessorize

"By now, you’re likely shaking your head in disbelief, shocked that I would dare to laugh in the face of Millennial internet lifting dogma, which seems to have cemented itself in the heads of everyone in spite of the fact that such dogma rarely leads to impressive totals. I can do so, however, because I end up training people who have utilized the most popular programs on the internet, and they all suffer from the same issues- ridiculous muscular imbalances, easily fixable weaknesses in small muscle groups, small, weak arms, “shoulder impingement issues” (HOLY CHRIST, YOU DON’T HAVE A SHOULDER TO IMPINGE BECAUSE YOU TREAT SHOULDER TRAINING LIKE SOME ESOTERIC RITUAL ONLY BODYBUILDERS AND CROSSFITTERS DO), weak abs, weak calves, and a hideous misunderstanding of how strength training actually works."