Bodybuilding (and/or Vegeterian/Vegan)

[Ibanez]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

You are judged in olympic lifting by your ability to do a single rep max, so naturally that forms a significant part of training, though you don't have to do them at home if your wrists hurt too much!

You have no idea what you are talking about. You are talking about maximums which equals 100%, going to 100% every practice will drain you. That's why there's peaking in training programs. If we use your line of reasoning it's easy to say, Powerlifters are judged on their 1 rep max at competitions, therefore every single training exercise they do is their 1 rep max.

OK - find a picture on the internet of a guy who has just finished the clean and is about to do the jerk. Check out the severe angle of his wrist to his forearm in order to have the bar resting on the front of his shoulders and chest.
Then, check out a picture of a guy in the bottom of the snatch position and note the angle of his knees which is well beyond parralell, with the hams touching the calves (considered absurdly dangerous in powerlifting, you never go below parrallel with heavy weights).

Severe. Not quite. Yeah, it's dangerous to powerlifters because it's of no use to them.

The following information is based on data collected by Charles Poliquin himself on 7 Canadian National Teams preparing for the winter olympics (Albertville, Lillehammer and Nagano).

Full Squat Benefits
1. Reduction in groin pulls and tears
2. Reduction in lower back injuries
3. Reduction in hamstring tears (900%)
4. Reduction in knee surgeries (reduction proportionate to number of years of full squatting).
5. Increases in knee stability
6. Better increases in vertical jump
7. Improvements in 30 and 60 meter times.
8. Improvements in vertical and penta jumps (penta jumps are 5 jumps in a row)
9. Improvements in 17 out of 23 measures of knee stability (the other movements are in a different plane so the squat does nothing for them).
10. Improvement in ham/quad ratio from 57% to 79% in 11 weeks. The Ham/Quad ratio is the best predictor of prevention of ACL injuries

Disadvantages of Half (Parallel) Squats

1. Decrements in hamstrings, quadriceps, adductors and piriformis flexibility.
2. Lower transfer to athletic tasks such as vertical jumping.
3. DECREASES in 18 out of 23 measures of knee stability
4. Worsening of ham/quad ratio.
5. Increased incidence of knee injuries in soccer, bobsleigh, speed skating, American football, volleyball and alpine skiing.

OL lifters use strong wrist straps and knee wraps to counter this, but seriously you need to be very well conditioned to complete lifts like that correctly and there will be plently of injuries throughout your career.

You do realize there is a difference between knee sleeves and wraps? I have seen some lifters use wraps or sleeves or nothing at all. I think the deciding factor for them is preference. Injuries? Again what are you talking about?

There's always this pervasive myth that full squatting and the olympic lifts are bad and will blow up everything in the body. It's usually spread by people who don't know anything or don't know any better.

[Lonewolf]

I do know what I am talking about - I've been pumping iron for longer than a decade and compete at a national level in powerlifting and I benched 200kg in a shirt this morning.
There are many different training programs and ideas - for me, I use a modified Westside system which entails me doing 1 rep maximums in rotating but similar lifts, evey time I go to the gym (which is twice a day). This would not be the correct routine for a beginner to follow. I have not had any major injuries in 13 years, though like most lifters I do get minor soreness and inflammation from time to time.
Periodisation (what I think you are referring to when speaking about peaks) is popular in some Western systems, though these days Bulgarian and Russian hybrids are more talked about as those nations dominate the sport. In most of these systems you will be spending the majority of your time doing less than 5 reps, which is a heavy, taxing range to work in. Frequently you will go to the 1-3 rep range. It takes at least 3 or 4 years of relatively heavy training before you could conceiveably think of following the Bulgarian training sysem, which is all about heavy lifts several times a day. Even the guys that do this are all naturally gifted and probably on drugs to recouperate from it.
But the point is, the OL movements must be done in a fast moving throwing and catching motion with the knees and wrists at fully leveraged angles. The strain on these joints is terrific! They are loose for most of the lift, then boom! all the weight comes down at once at an awkward angle. It is just asking for trouble and you will undoubtedly get that.
By comparison, the power lifts are heavy also, but far more controlled and with safety measures (bars, spotters etc.) so if something goes wrong, you have a back up plan.
The other issue is that OL lifters have weird looking bodies - thick waists, thighs and shoulders, relatively undeveloped pecs. Sometimes it is called "The Ugly Sister of Bodybuilding".