Marilia’s Powerlifting Blog

Monday I took Mel (my daughter) to the Gym and she asked to bench. That was her third time ever touching an Olympic bar. Never had any strength training before, but right from the first time she set up on a bench, I noticed she was a natural. She never watches powerlifting movies, never had seen me training or competing, but she sets up with a huge arch and lowers the bar on a low groove, typical of experienced and technical lifters. 

We did a load test with her and she did 104.5. She just turned 18, weighs something close to what I do (123lbs) and, again… NO EXPERIENCE. 

I have no doubt she can become an awesome lifter, if she puts her mind to. She never had a passion for competition in other sports she practiced, but this time she asked me to take part on a meet. 

Be warned, folks: we are preparing the next Kara Bohigian… 

We have got to build ourselves a power cage. I think it is one of the most relevant equipment items in powerlifting. If you look up “power cage” on google, you will see a number of commercial ones, ranging in price from a few hundred dollars to more than one grand. 

Without the cage, a good part of important auxiliary exercises for all three lifts are impossible to perform, such as lockouts in bench press, squat with pause, etc. 

Can’t wait to get ours… 

I think I have been training there since September – early September. Fernando Canteli, my co-author in the controversial article on the IPF agenda (The IPF 2007 Agenda: A partial look from the Periphery  http://www.powerliftingwatch.com/node/6156 ), had been inviting me to visit his team since April or May. Then I broke my leg, spent two months unable to drive and the visit was postponed.
I went for a bench press training… and then another… and then I stayed. And there I am. Nautilus belongs to Henrique, physical educator and personal trainer, and is located in Santo Andre, which is pretty far from where I live. It is about 27 miles and I never took less than 1h15’ (record time!) to get there.
Some people would never understand such sacrifice for a two hour training session. Passionate and committed lifters, however, will.
Since I broke up with the Brazilian IPF chapter, I have been somewhat of a stray dog. I had nowhere to train with proper equipment, let alone training partners familiar with gear. There are two powerlifting gyms in the city of São Paulo, none in Osasco (a suburb of “larger São Paulo”, just like Santo André is) and for a while, with a cast on my leg, I trained alone, raw and unassisted, at a gym nearby. That was as good as it could get.
Nautilus is the home of important Brazilian bodybuilders, such as Brazilian champion Paulo Lima and world champion Patricia Mello. But for a few years, Fernando Canteli and other lifters have built a reputation in powerlifting. A small but powerful and high ranked team, it is the best training environment I have found up to now.
My marks have been improving from week to week, to levels I could not dream in my former team. The exact reasons for that, I am still trying to figure. Whether that other team just practiced inadequate, outdated methodologies or if there was some subtle sabotaging in course, I many never know for sure.
I am growing as a lifter as much as possible, I feel I also help around in technical terms and all seems to be going well. Whether this arrangement is long term or not, who knows? “Forever” is a long time – too long for me, anyway. For the time being, Nautilus is home and badge. I am proud to represent it and hope to make them proud as well.
ACADEMIA NAUTILUS
Av. Industrial, 417 - Bairro Jardim
Santo André - SP
(11) 4438-2943
http://www.academianautilus.com.br
contato@academianautilus.com.br
 

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As I posted earlier in this blog, I developed an acro-clavicular lesion also known as “weightlifter’s shoulder” (Clavicular Osteolysis or Weightlifter’s Shoulder – it hurts ) in June. This type of lesion affects between 25-50% of lifters, is considered an overuse injury and tends to become chronic. The chronic expression goes beyond than just the acro-mio-clavicular condition itself. A series of indirect injuries develop along with it and the present one seems to be a rotator cuff inflammation, or that plus a biceps tendon injury, or another “interesting” combination of painful conditions.
As many competitive lifters I know, I am a combination of an extremely careful and attentive person concerning my body – I eat well, I supplement, I ice dozens of times a day when necessary, I take anti-inflammatory meds – and a total freak. The “total freak” part is the problem: there are two meets I am dying to take part in: one is the WABDL bench press world cup (here in Brazil) and the other is a CONBRAFA (a local federation) event involving all the continent. If I score what I know I can at the WABDL meet, I may be ranked first in the WABDL open world ranking for my weight category. And that means a lot . It is not much more than I am currently lifting: just about 20lbs more and I am there. According to everyone, I should have already reached that.
But friends, pain does impair strength effort. I don’t know exactly how, because lifters LIFT – pain or no pain. But probably pain affects the strength exertion at a central level, where the conscious mind is neutralized. So I am finally following “some” advice (the real advice would be for me to give up the meets and just concentrate on recovery, which I haven’t even seriously considered) and have been taking Arcoxia and quit training Bench Press and accessory upper body exercises for 10 days.
For two weeks my weight has been beautifully controlled on 121lbs. On one day with Arcoxia, I gained 2lbs. On three days, 4lbs. What a mess… I didn’t know I would react with so much retention. I hope I can manage that more easily.
On the bright side, my deadlift is getting nice: after five months with no training (having no place for it plus breaking my leg), I am lifting more than I ever did before. On my third training session, I am lifting 330lbs, which is not bad at all considering what a good periodized training can improve over this number. And I finally did squat over the fatidic 286lbs on which I broke my leg – so I guess the fear of squatting is gone.
Well… Can’t win on all fronts.

By Fernando Canteli and Marilia Coutinho

(canteli@uol.com.br and marilia-coutinho@uol.com.br)

Why partial and why periphery?
Partial because you are not going to get a comprehensive report from anyone under the Equator line – not from Brazil, at least. Your best bet is someone who can look at things going on in Austria from a multi-faceted point of view, who knows enough about the local setting as well as the international context and – important – who can speak languages other than their native one - and here we are. We took part in IPF championships, one of us translated their last rulebook, but we are not IPF officials in Brazil and we do not support the IPF – we believe in honesty, so you must understand where we stand.
Periphery because Brazil is economically, politically and culturally peripheral in the global system, because Powerlifting is a marginal sport, because it is even more marginal in Brazil, where it is almost a typical working-class sport, which makes our position twice as peripheral.
Disclaimers properly stated, let us proceed to some contextual information: Brazil is not a relevant country in powerlifting in general, or in IPF powerlifting in particular. In most World Championships, Brazil scores low, in spite of the fact that it sends a small team of its best IPF lifters. A quick examination of Committees and deliberative bodies in the organization shows that Brazilians are not politically active at the IPF.
Powerlifting in Brazil is concentrated in a small number of South and South-eastern states. Most athletes come from underprivileged segments of society. Most have no higher degree and no knowledge of foreign languages. Although Brazil has surprisingly high indicators concerning internet and computer access (any slum has dozens of cheap lan houses), the level of internet literacy is actually low and the ability to retrieve information from the net,  poor. Athletes that have felt encouraged by winning titles for a couple of consecutive meets more often than not do the effort of buying Titan equipment. Most of them spend many months paying for a single shirt. Those who aren’t able to do this, use Murphy support equipment, which provides lower carry-over and support, but is cheaper and easier to purchase.
It is hard to put true numbers to proportions, but we would estimate that, considering all Brazilian lifters who have ever taken part in a meet, 30% are IPF-only; another 30% participate both in WNPF and WABDL meets (mostly Southern lifters), and the rest will go to whatever is organized close to them, irrespective of the federation. The number of un-sanctioned, raw-only bench press meets is growing in the country and, at this point, are too scattered and isolated to be counted.
Southern lifters going to WNPF and WABLD meets often use bench shirts produced by local manufacturers such as HADES or Canhão, which offer good carry-over and support and are not accepted in IPF meets.
Until a few years ago, powerlifting was practiced in Brazil with no concern whatsoever for the international scene – from rulebook to organizational procedures, everything was locally invented. The moves that gave rise to IPF, WABDL and WNPF Brazilian chapters took place between the States of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. Presently, IPF has more member states, but is still concentrated in São Paulo, whereas WABDL and WNPF have their basis in the South. A fourth national federation, with no international counterpart appeared, called CONBRAFA, spreading fast chiefly at the Southestern region, and concentrated in Rio de Janeiro.
The level of awareness about federation existence, divergence and conflict is almost nil. The great majority of lifters that have ever competed have no idea there are other federations at all. They actually have a very vague idea who the organizers of the event they took part actually are.
The agenda 2007 document has been online for quite some time and as far as we know, half a dozen lifters in Brazil even took notice of its existence, let alone read it, let alone discuss it. We have inspected internet communities and forums and found no mention of the document nor the Congress, in which dramatic transformations in present rules, procedures and even records may take place within IPF lifting, affecting not only IPF-only lifters but the whole powerlifting community.
No effort on the part of IPF officials in Brazil has ever been done to discuss proposed rule changes among lifters before they were voted in Congresses, making rule change appear as a sort of “religious revelation”: it comes from heaven and thus must be followed without criticism. The agenda 2007 is no exception. When we ask: “are you aware that Australia proposed banning support shirts all together, re-defining all weight classes and starting new record registration, putting the old records in a virtual museum?” what we receive are blank looks.
This said, it is easy to understand that it would be impossible to point out what a “Brazilian Perspective” on the IPF agenda would be.
We believe that the main issue here is this state of perverse isolation that has never been dealt with seriously. There are no democratic discussion channels or news channels. The result is that Brazilian lifters go on pretending there is nothing going on beyond national borders, which doesn’t help them at all once the new rules are poured over their benches and platforms leaving them utterly impotent. Once there, all they can do is either make their best to adjust to the new rules or quit attending IPF meets.
Both have happened in the past and, should the most radical changes proposed by Australia or Germany take place, we foresee a denser flight from IPF rows towards other federations and to unsanctioned meets. Lifters who have, with much sacrifice, purchased Titan shirts will feel betrayed and will not simply throw their most expensive item away to satisfy leaders. These lifters are more experienced and know enough about the national powerlifting scene to seek other alternatives among WABDL, WNPF and CONBRAFA. Unequipped lifters at this point are not benefited by the rule change either. These are lifters who struggle with much more difficulty, who have still a lesser contact with rules and procedures and who have found some hospitality in unsanctioned meets with more flexible rules. Should they be forced to lift according to a 30 plus page rulebook that legislates from the amount of buttock area that may be in contact with the bench, to head and feet position, whether elbow locking must or must not be simultaneous and other hair splitting issues, these lifters will either give up lifting or seek other alternatives. Such “other alternatives” are popping up around the country like mushrooms after the rain and will absorb this demand.
This is basically our prediction for the approval of what we both see as a set of suicidal decisions the IPF has ahead – at least in what concerns the unfoldings within Brazil.

For years there have been cries of dissent among athletes concerning their sports organizations, or Federations. In the name of the “Olympic Spirit”, however, disputes were kept quiet and there was a general agreement as to the need of organizational unity. As the newer, non-Olympic sports became diversified in practice and structure, the fundamentals of sports organization needed to be reviewed.
In the Olympic sports, discontents are still kept at bay, but in the newer ones, the call for unity and even the “Olympic Blackmail” (the argument according to which the sport needs to remain unified in order to get IOC approval) has found decreasing resonance.
A sports organization is a governing body. In principle, a governing body manages the activities of a community. It “governs”: it legislates, it deliberates and it represents. Much as a National Government is the governing body of a National State, the institutional arrangement of social power within society at large, a sports governing body in principle represents (= collects delegated power) athletes.
Representation, however, is far from actually happening. The first observation in this case is that the majority of athletes has no participation in the political life of their federation, has no decision-making power and does not vote. Therefore, athletes do not see federations as representative organizations, but rather bureaucratic nuisances they must handle. 
The second observation is that the “citizenship status” in any sport is at least hard to establish. Whereas anybody knows their national citizenship condition, an athlete does not know exactly what “body-politic” he or she belongs or enters.
Take athletics for example. Defined as a collection of “events” (running, throwing and jumping), it resembles much more an assembly of individual sports than one single “practice”, since athletes usually have a high degree of specialization within it. However, since it is an Olympic sport, one federation congregates all of them. Hypothetically, would throwers feel represented at an institution where 2/3 rds of representatives come from the running and jumping sports? Do marathon runners feel the same about sports as 100m relay athletes?
Who defines who belongs where? Not the athletes, but bureaucrats.
A clash of interests is almost inevitable.
In powerlifting, a non-Olympic sport, there are many federations. Why is it so? A historical approach could conclude that as the sport diversified and developed different relationships with the equipment industry and different techniques, more organizations appeared according to such differences. For example: as the use of bench shirts increased and their technology became more sophisticated, those athletes who decided not to adopt the new equipment went on organizing their own activities within a “raw only” federation.
Another, more structural approach would be that the clash of political interests, unrestrained by Olympic institutional ties, made it possible for leaders – either local, or economic – to create their own federations. Since none of them is actually politically representative, their legitimacy has no sustenance. Anything is possible.
The desperate alternative employed in many cases in sports is appealing not to representative legitimacy, but rather its opposite: a superior authority. The argument goes somewhat according to:

1. Federation “X” has attained, by any combination of factors (size, age, publicity, whatever) IOC recognition;
   
2. Therefore, it has more legitimacy than others;
   
3. Therefore, athletes must respect and come under its power.
   

The “exterior authority” argument, however, is weak to confront the actual infighting and reciprocal attempts at restricting elements of the practice itself, which have a stronger appeal to athletes. Lifters who do not enjoy the use of support equipment will not accept the leadership of equipment lifting representatives. If the organization does not accommodate their interests, they will not recognize it. Lifters who do enjoy the use of equipment, in their turn, will not accept equipment restriction. Rules introduced to restrict elements developed by certain “schools” will contribute to draw lifters away and into federations that accommodate their innovations – or even may contribute to the emergence of new federations.
With no foundation in representation, legitimacy is frail and the sport scenario becomes increasingly closer to a consumer market than to community political organization. Instead of “citizens” in different “sport nations”, athletes are turned into “consumers” of different brands of “entertainment”. Federation “X” offers rules “a”, “b” and “c” and nice big trophies, whereas federation “y” restricts elements “m”, “n” and “p”. Athletes who feel harmed by a certain rule or by the presence of athletes using certain devices will “buy” a different organizational “merchandise”.
In a global economy where this seems to be a widespread trend in so many cultural areas, the question of whether this is good or bad is becoming less and less relevant.

I’ve been training people. I used to turn down requests for personal training and conditioning for sports, but I finally accepted one, and then  another… So, for a few months, I have been playing with strategies.
My first “client” is a girl and her objective is esthetic: she wants to look fit, low bodyfat, cut, etc. I kept to the basics, but from the beginning I already introduced the three lifts: squat, bench press and deadlift. She has adjusted perfectly well to them and her strength sky rocketed.
Her boyfriend, to whom I have prescribing routines for a few months, is my lab rat. He is an experienced strength training practitioner and adjusts to almost anything. We have already gone through German Volume Training adapted routines and now I introduced functional training for the lifts – the lifts have been there since the beginning.
For about one month now I have also been training my daughter, Mel, who is a Kung-Fu practitioner. She has struggled with a chronic adductor injury and needs to recover, gain strength and prevent recurrence. With her, a “conventional” approach lasted only two weeks: she hated the machines, loved the free weights and WTF, it’s my daughter, I can experiment with her. So for a few weeks now she has only been doing functional training for the lifts – power and Olympic. I am still looking into functional training for the martial arts proper, but she enjoyed so much doing the lifts that I decided we will get better results this way.
Matt Gary has advocated the use of powerlifting lifts in general conditioning in “Powerlifting Towards Wellness” (http://www.marylandpowerlifting.com/page.asp?contentID=75) a very interesting article where he explores the advantages of multi-joint movements as opposed to prime-mover-isolated movements. After I read his article, I felt much more confident in prescribing the lifts for sports training and conditioning in general.
“Machines make good coat racks.”, Gary claims. I couldn’t agree more.