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Seeing new lifters obsess over minute form details drives me up the wall.
They're so focused on being perfect that they never add weight. Just lift the damn bar and learn as you go.
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the_eric1mo ago
At the downtown YMCA, I see this every week. It's heartbreaking to watch people get stuck in analysis paralysis when they could be making progress. Jesse's story about the guy with the bar-only squats is a perfect example of this. I always tell new lifters that form is important, but it's something you refine under load, not in a vacuum (which is a lesson I learned the hard way). The fear of not being perfect can genuinely rob you of years of strength gains.
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the_mary1mo ago
It's like watching someone try to learn calculus before they can add two plus two. @ellis.jesse's guy with the perpetual bar squats probably has perfect form in a mirror but zero strength in reality. All that analysis paralysis just means you're building a PhD in lifting theory instead of actual muscle. Just put some weight on the bar and let your body figure it out through, you know, doing the thing.
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ellis.jesse1mo ago
Reminds me of a guy at my gym who spent six months perfecting his squat with just the bar. Now he's baffled why he can't lift more.
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