Wobbly Lifter

If you don't like being called skinny, why do you think women would like being told they're fat? Just don't. Chances are they know and are too hard on themselves already. Furthermore fitness is more relevant to health then weight anyway. People come in a variety of shapes and sizes and that is fine.

My biggest problem with conspiracy theories and the doomsayers is they distract from the real issues. The unequal power relations that structure society aren't being denied by anyone.

It's fine to use smaller plates, it'll just make it harder. Sometimes people stand on a platform when they do deadlifts to make it harder. Also below parallel squats are fine. http://www.exrx.net/Kinesiology/Squats.html

YES! And do some cardio to lean out as potter says(hey we agree! ) and you'll have great abs.

No, I don't have savings, I have debt from school. Most people in the world have no property or savings. Saving isn't all bad for the economy. It helps control inflation for example. So save all the money you want. Anyway I'm less concerned with the 'economy'(measured with GNP and the like) and more concerned with people(standard of livings.) I just think it's important not to overlook the consequences of stockpiling on prices, and other then stockpiling water, it's unlikely to be necessary, I mean a bag of rice lasts a week+ and that'll be long enough for 99.999% of cases.

When did I say americans didn't need food? You don't need stockpiles of food. When did I say no american has financial difficulties? but most people with financial troubles don't have the option of stockpiling. You don't need put rich americans in quotes, I know very well that many americans aren't rich. By rich I mean people who are rich enough to hope for higher prices(which has been done in this thread.) I know that prices(of almost everything) have more to do with market power then anything. However if more profit is to be made selling to stockpiling americans then the hungry the that's where the food goes and the prices go up. Stockpiling is an individual solution to a collective problem - one that can have negative consequences for those with the least. Sorry if I seem harsh, but I call a spade a spade, and I think its way harsher to stockpile food for yourself at the expense of those who are hungry now. A 5th of the world was undernourished before the recent food shortages. Many more were close. Are these the 'many' you speak of? Seems like a bit of a naive and privileged thing to say from my prospective.

People are starving right now. Rioting because they can't afford to buy food - but rich americans are talking about buying things they don't need, I mean who gives a damn if it makes food cost more for everyone else.....

Awesome tunes

315 is easy. I'm sure you'll pull it when you try! Good strength at that weight, how tall are you?

Do places with the death penalty have lower murder rates? What happens in countries when the death penalty is removed are more people murdered? You claim it works and I say prove it. But the evidence isn't there.(By evidence I mean more then you rambling about repeat offenders whilst sarcasm dripping from your text. A reputable media outlet or statistics gathering organization is appropriate.) Countries without the death penalty don't have more murders. For example Canada's murder rate has been lower since we got rid of the death penalty, not higher. I know you'll say it's a cultural difference, and yes of course these are all questions of culture. But when a culture accepts that murder is a good(or the best) way to deal with problems(murderers) the only expected outcome is more violence. It's shown as a solution to being wronged, so people will use it. It's logic man. Please do some reading about what the best ways of dealing with crime are instead of a knee jerk, 'lets kill em', reaction. That's revenge not justice. You want harsh penalties because people 'deserve' it, but what gives you the right to determine what people deserve? What if I think someone deserves to die? Should I kill them? If you don't think people should be killed for traffickings deal why did you imply the Philippines was a positive example? confusing much like your implied support of Saudi Arabia.... vast human rights abuses... You honestly scare me dude

They are very short and gained a lot of muscle since they began training. That said you can get stronger without getting bigger but it's harder, takes longer, and reaches the limit sooner. I've gained strength and not muscle in the past, but it keeps getting harder. What I try to remember is your only as strong as the weakest link. Fixing imbalances is a good way to increase strength with little to no size increase.

Trainers/Coaches are great. I honestly think everyone should start lifting with a good coach, and wish it hadn't taken me 6 years to find one. It's good to hear the trainer is helping Robert. DV - sucks you can't find a coach that will push women. They are out there though, mine does!

Harsh punishment generally makes people less able to function is society, people in prisons for example are far more likely to have suffered 'harsh disciple' from their parents. People who get out of places with harsher laws usually have more difficultly fitting back in after their sentence. Weather or not people get what they 'deserve' (who decides that anyway?) isn't as important as what's best for society. Anyways I think most crimes are treated too harshly. For all but the most serious crimes(sexual assault, murder, kidnapping, extreme assaults(not a little fight)) probation and rehabilitation makes a lot more sense then prison. Does someone deserve to lose a hand for stealing? Or a couple years in jail Seems way too harsh... Returning stolen goods, working off any expenses and hearing directly the hurt cause seem more useful to me. That's a learning experience, combine it with some job training and the person is much less likely to steal. Send someone away or cutting their hands off all you do is make them a pariah and make it harder to for them to lead a legit life. It doesn't make them less likely to repeat crimes... As for drugs killing people over any drug is messed up to me. To me it seems you have a lot of anger towards people you view as criminals. You see them as hurting people ans society and want to hurt them back. But if causing harm to people is the problem in the first place how does causing more harm fit it. I'd rather live in a safer community, with less crime, that spends less money on prisons even if it means criminals get off light. I'd rather be in a safe place like Europe or Canada, then being beheaded in Saudi Arabia(still support them, or did my links change your mind?) for sucking cock or going to jail in Philippines for being a union activist(the police there still kill media too.) But if hurting people is more important to you then safety keep on supporting who you support. I just hope your type of law and order continues to die, cause if it doesn't it'll start killing/attacking people like me. And don't claim these abuses aren't tied to harsh law - they always go hand in hand. Anyways we're looking at this backwards... we need to do what we can to stop crimes before they happen by addressing the social and economic conditions that increase crime. We people feel they have better options theft and drug dealing are far less likely. If people lived in a society where violence wasn't gloried, via the military, death penalty(look killing people is a solution to problems!), media, etc. and people learned how to deal with anger assaults and murders would go down. If men were taught to respect women, we stopped victim blaming, we believed the stories to sexual abuse survivors(it's scary how often we don't) they'd be less rape and sexual abuse. There is no evidence harsher penalties work better. Get beyond your anger potter look at the evidence and realize a safer society is more important then revenge.

Why are harsher penalties better? do you have evidence they work better? Why do you hold up oppressive states widely, criticized for human rights abuses, as positive examples? Why do you think people should be murdered for providing others with plants? Drug penalties in the USA are some of the harsher around the world(compare to Canada for example) yet drug abuse is no less a problem.

And animal agriculture is a major source of the problem: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/15/food.biofuels

That's going to be tough man. I've done 30 reps at 155 pounds(to parallel) and can only do maybe 5 at 225. How reps can you do at 225 now?

I'm sorry if you felt attacked but other then the one rude comment I made('That's not an argument it's a question, a poorly phrased one at that.' ) towards you I don't see how... and well honestly it might have been rude, but it was a true. Yes I attacked potter but when someone praises the legal system of a state that would put me to death, and kill or abuse my friends I feel attacked too and respond. I realize there is a emotional undertone to my arguments, but it isn't their base, logic is. I just find it hard to talk about people being oppressed without emotions getting involved. Not do I think they should stay out of issues, just not control them. I know you didn't say math could condense human experience, but you implied it could someday and I felt it warranted response. Despite the fact that Godel's theorem may not apply universally it stills applies to parts of math, and math is part of human experience. So if any mathematical description of math is incomplete then any mathematical description of human life is incomplete. QED. Sure talking past each other is part of the problem, but contact theory is hardly the main issue. I'm not attacking you because of you questioning nature. In fact I've responded to most of your questions, whilst mine have been routinely ignored. To me the main issue is a different one entirely. I think things we say matter(especially in public), they have social effects. You want a open roundabout questioning - I want people to be aware of the social effects of their actions. I think it's important to speak out and offer a counter example to attitudes I think are socially harmful. To me it seems you ignore the harm treating people like a means, like an object does. It dehumanizes people, and suggesting it's a good way to go about things further reinforces that notion. Anyways I wasn't trying to attack you, just criticize the(in my mind socially harmful) things we were saying. Further neutering your point I never said that math could be used as of yet to incorporate the whole of human existence I only alluded to a future time when (perhaps wistfully on my part) it could be. I think you hit the nail on the head here with this statement, which i have been trying to get to all along: It is the inability to relate on a common ground that sees you attacking me based on my questioning nature. I understand your point of view, and based on extrapolating questions am trying to see how they work in my own world view. That being said when you asked "whats with the philosophy jargon) that is how i have learned to express myself and my questioning nature. I hope next time you see me post something of an obviously distressing nature you will stop to take a moment and think before you attack because in reality you are attack some perceived social norm instead of the person who wrote what you found offensive or offputting. I am not society only a cog in the machine, and i am also not your enemy only someone who was expressing interest the only way he knows how.

If harsher punishments work why does the USA have higher crime rates(especially murder) then Europe and Canada where the justice system is less harsh. Sorry man but your desire for vengeance is blinding you. Harsh penalties aren't shown to work better. Also no process is perfect - innocent people will die with capital punishment - especially if you speed it up. Oh and Saudi Law is just great: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=45BQVYBAZNEV1QFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/07/16/wsaudi116.xml http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/arabs/saudiban.html http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=21680 http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2007/11/18/saudi-rape-victim-sentenced-to-200-lashes/ http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1286471 Racist Laws, Sexist Laws, Forced Confessions, Punishing Rape Victims, this is what you want? That is beyond fucked man. Get some help.

Not that it's my main concern but I thought a law and order guy like yourself would expect your government to respect international law and follow the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the American Convention on Human Rights, and the Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty resolution. But I guess your still living 100 years in the past when these treaties didn't exist and we didn't know how poor(maybe even counter productive) capital punishment is at stopping/reducing crime. It costs a lot too.

I wasn't saying logic didn't apply don't see where you got that... nor do I think my argument was a 'pathos' argument.(what's with the philosophy jargon anyway?) Math will never be able to condense human experience first because it's not the right tool for explaining many things, second any consistent system is necessarily incomplete. I don't accept social contract as a viable theory so I'm not sure how to answer many of your questions as they don't really apply... That's not an argument it's a question, a poorly phrased one at that. When you look at things out of context, or in a 'perfect world' I'd agree. But the context here is all important. Look at the history of medical tests on prisoners. There's a history of corporations abusing prisoners, and it's starting again. There is a really base problem and it's treating people(criminals perhaps, but people none the less) like a commodity, there body is something for us to use(like meat eater treat animals.) This is very important to consider when one considers this: "Free and informed consent becomes pretty questionable when prisoners don't hold the keys to their own cells, and in many cases they can't read, yet they are signing a document that it practically takes a law degree to understand," says Daniel S. Murphy, a professor of criminal justice at Appalachian State University. I think it's important to strongly resist medical experiments on prisoners and often abused. It reinforces the idea that their interests are irrelevant, there exist for us and are non-people. The same attitude that allows capital punishment to take place - they conceptually reinforce each other. Like I said - it further dehumanizes and makes them seem undeserving of the most basic rights(life, dignity, bodily integrity, etc.) making it harder to oppose/resist/change capital punishment. That is why I thought the comment I'm Your Man made was 'fucked'

I'm not sure math really applies here, nor do I think I said a=b and b=c, I'm pretty sure I said a(knowing) not-equal b(choosing), and anyways what your example is logic(which actually does apply) There is a difference between knowing something may happen and choosing it. I did not choose to get fired, my employer choose to fire me. It's a big difference, just look at the power relations. I think your ignoring an important element of choice - people with the power do the majority of the choosing. Look if I threaten you and say 'give me your money or I'll shot you' and you don't give me your money, did you choose to die? or did I choose to kill you? I guess in some abstract way it's both, but one is much more important - I could kill you regardless of your actions(or let you live) - but I doubt in court I could say 'hey he choose to die' Murders don't choose the death penalty, the gov't does. The people with power do. Anyway what about the kids who wouldn't really have a choice even in your odd definition(due to lack of power in the social system and lack of understanding of the legal system and consequences) If you disagree with death penalty why would you implicitly support it by agreeing with using death row people as test subjects? That further dehumanizes and makes them seem undeserving of the most basic rights(life, dignity, bodily integrity, etc.) making it harder to oppose/resist/change capital punishment.

I'm sorry I shouldn't have hijacked this thread into a discussion about capital punishment.

The USA puts kids to death. They didn't have a choice to move or change the system. Anyway the line of reasoning is bunk, you can justify anything but surprises that way. Just because you know something might/will be the result doesn't mean you freely choose it. For example if I get fired for joining a union, and I have been fired for that in the past, I didn't choose to be fired, even if I could see it coming.

People on death row aren't choosing to die. Giving them the option of which way isn't much of a choice.

Not quite sure what you mean by 'ability to flow' but if it's what I imagine I don't think proper weight training should effect it. I know the smoothness of my motions and the range I can go through have increased from Olympic Lifting. My couch has also helped martial artists in the past to good effect. So I'd say find a new couch, but I don't question mine, so I can't blame you for doing the same! I just can't see where he gets this outdated ideas..... If you won't use weights perhaps plyometrics? They'll build power without weights, not sure what they do for max strength...