
On Oliver Sacks and His Obsession with Weightlifting - Petiver
https://lithub.com/on-oliver-sacks-obsession-with-weightlifting/
======
jamiecurle
Dinner party conversation comment for you all.

People who are into lifting are more likely to associate the term
Weightlifting with the practice of Olympic Weightlifting. This article is
about powerlifting.

Olympic lifting focuses on the two dynamic, technique-driven main movements.
The clean and jerk, which is a two-part lift and the snatch, which is a single
movement lift. Up until 1972, the press was also an olympic movement, but it
became too hard to judge and was so removed. There are rigorous criteria in
competitions.

Powerlifting, as the article goes onto state is centered around three
movements, the squat, the deadlift and the bench press. Just like olympic
lifting (or weightlifting), powerlifting has strict criteria for competition
lifts. The aim of powerlifting though is to move as much weight as possible.

For people who do not lift, they typically hear the phrase "weightlifting" and
think of the practice of bodybuilding which is concerned with hypertrophy of
muscle groups to build a balanced and awe-inducing physique.

Context: I like to dabble in weightlifting as a fun pursuit and held a very
minor title for a short time period. It was a hollow victory, as due to my
only competitor weighing in 0.4kg too light, I ended up as the only person in
my age/weight category. I won because I made all my lifts. I was competing
against myself.

~~~
ohaideredevs
Do I really need to squeeze my shoulder blades together and pull my shoulders
down during bench? It feels SO unnatural..but otherwise my shoulders hurt.

~~~
scott_s
You don't _need_ to. But it will allow you to press more weight with less risk
of injury. It only feels unnatural because you're used to just lying flat on
the bench with a relaxed back - doing _that_ now feels "unnatural" to me.

Try this: walk over to a nearby wall and "try" to push it over. That is, put
yourself into the position that feels like you have the best brace and power
to transfer force into the wall, and actually do it. Notice where your hands,
elbows and shoulder blades end up. That's basically the same position as a
good powerlifting bench.

~~~
0xfeba
What about back arch? I just cannot arch as much as some people seem to
without it really feeling painful.

Perhaps coincidentally, my bench is considerably weaker than my other 2 lifts.

~~~
rvn1045
Improving your squat and deadlift will make your back more flexible.

~~~
0xfeba
335 squat, 440 deadlift, 215 bench... I feel my deadlift and squat are good.
Squat a bit weak but it's progressing. I've been at 215-235 bench for years.

------
will_brown
Ancient ideas:

“No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical
training…what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the
beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” - Socrates

“In order for man to succeed in life, God provided him with two means,
education and physical activity. Not separately, one for the soul and the
other for the body, but for the two together. With these two means, man can
attain perfection.” - Plato

~~~
qntty
I don't mean to be a killjoy but both these quotes are obviously fake for
anyone familiar with Plato. (The concept of god was not used like this in
Ancient Greece and Socrates didn't talk like that.)

~~~
kilo_bravo_3
They're not fake, just mistranslated/corrupted.

Mistranslated/corrupted:

"No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical
training…what a disgrace it is for a man to grow old without ever seeing the
beauty and strength of which his body is capable."

Closest quote:

"Besides, it is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before
seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength
and beauty to their highest limit." \- Xen. Mem. 3.12

Mistranslated/corrupted:

"In order for man to succeed in life, God provided him with two means,
education and physical activity. Not separately, one for the soul and the
other for the body, but for the two together. With these two means, man can
attain perfection."

Closest quote:

"For these two, then, it seems there are two arts which I would say some god
gave to mankind, music and gymnastics for the service of the high-spirited
principle and the love of knowledge in them—not for the soul and the body
except incidentally, but for the harmonious adjustment of these two
principles." \- Plat. Rep. 3.411e

------
40acres
A majority of modern day office workers would really benefit from learning the
deadlift. Sitting for hundreds of hours a month, mixed with the standard
American diet is really bad for your health. The deadlift is a fantastic
compound movement that targets so many areas weakend by sitting, it also
incorporates a hip hinge which is a quite natural movement.

~~~
msla
It would cause a lot of serious muscle injuries, that's for sure.

~~~
toasterlovin
Weightlifting, in general, is a pretty safe sport. It has a way lower injury
rate per hour spent than soccer or running. The deadlift, specifically, is a
very easy lift to learn how to perform. And if you perform it properly and
only add 5lbs to your max from workout to workout, you’d have a pretty
difficult time injuring yourself.

------
Emma_Goldman
I'm surprised to see no mention of Sacks' mental state at the time. The gloss
seems a little too upbeat.

He was clearly unhappy in his late 20s and early 30s. Despondent at Oxford, he
spent a summer in Israel working on a Kibbutz. After finishing his medical
degree, he travelled across Canada and tried to joint the Canadian Air Force
as a pilot. When he began working in San Francisco, he was drawn to obsessive
weightlifting. He also began to regularly consume copious amounts of
hallucinogenic drugs, and briefly joined Hell's Angels.

Sacks says that things only fell into place when he began writing.

~~~
vsef
Also not mentioned: He was a gay man, which he never seemingly really came to
terms with after coming out to his father at 18 and then being unwillingly
outed to his mother who declared him an "abomination", and it clearly fucked
him up. He remained celibate for decades and never directly addressed the
issue until his memoir written/released when he had terminal cancer. It's hard
not to think of his interest in weightlifting as related to his internal
conflicts over gayness and masculinity.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-
mix/wp/2015/08/3...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-
mix/wp/2015/08/31/the-tragic-story-of-oliver-sackss-celibacy-and-
homosexuality/?utm_term=.2258d109e9d8)

And not mentioned: He also had some serious lasting physical problems from
weightlifting, as did other of his competitive weightlifting friends:

[https://medium.com/the-polymath-project/oliver-sacks-on-
how-...](https://medium.com/the-polymath-project/oliver-sacks-on-how-our-
hobbies-can-kill-us-2342f95c08)

I am an avid weightlifter, I think its really great and overall healthy, but
the linked article paints a rosy picture of something more complicated for
Sacks.

~~~
rv-de
Oliver Sachs being mentioned always strikes my attention since having a read a
couple of books by him. I was not aware though of his troubled past. Makes him
more relatable in some way. Also brings this article into perspective. For all
the positives that come with lifting weights (of what ever kind) it is obvious
that most of the time it is born out of a desire to compensate a perceived
shortcoming.

------
jseliger
I would add that many people who do brainwork that isn't physically demanding
feel the urge to engage in something physically strenuous as well; I certainly
feel that way. And the history of people interested in developing the body
goes back a long ways; the book _The Temple of Perfection_ is okay on this
subject:
[https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/T/...](https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/T/bo20174729.html).

~~~
saiya-jin
The old truth is (at least how I heard it maybe 20 years ago) - if you work
physically, relax by doing some mental work and vice versa.

~~~
rv-de
I suppose we need a new truth then addressing the 90% of the adult population
who neither work physically nor mentally (to any significant degree). How are
they supposed to cope?

------
gadders
I wish they would change the title of the article to powerlifting, not
weightlifting. I blame the sub-editor of the website. It's correct in the
article text.

Anyway, here is a pic of Oliver Sacks squatting 600lbs/272kg: [https://cdn-
images-1.medium.com/max/1200/0*3-yWU2in-5YvucmG....](https://cdn-
images-1.medium.com/max/1200/0*3-yWU2in-5YvucmG.jpg)

Truly a renaissance man.

~~~
mi100hael
Man that bar is really bending! Any bar at a competition today would be barely
flexing.

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
Dating myself with this one, but

"if the bar ain't bending, you're just pretending"

:-)

------
bondolo
I had associated Oliver Sacks with swimming based upon this New Yorker article
: [https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/swimming-with-
ol...](https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/swimming-with-oliver-sacks)

------
DataWorker
It’s all about training the nervous system. The mind body connection is the
whole thing.

~~~
mattnewport
It's not _all_ about that. It's also about building muscle which is about
training over time with appropriate rest and diet and can't really be short
circuited without steroids.

~~~
DataWorker
Perhaps I’m misinformed. Can you tell me what part is not tied to mmu?

~~~
scott_s
It's all _tied_ to the nervous system. But given a certain muscle mass,
there's a limit to how much weight you can move, even with optimal technique
and an optimally trained nervous system. Eventually, you'll need to add more
muscle in order to move more weight. Of course, more realistically, beginners
will add more muscle over the course of normal training. Intermediate and
advanced lifters will need to schedule muscle-building blocks into their
training to add muscle.

------
criddell
Great article! My only knowledge of Oliver Sacks comes from his appearances on
Radio Lab. I've just added _On the Move_ to my wishlist. He seems like an
interesting fellow.

If somebody wanted to get into weightlifting, where would they even start?

~~~
achompas
I got very far with Starting Strength:
[https://www.startingstrength.com](https://www.startingstrength.com)

~~~
tjpaudio
Mark Rippetoe, the author, is a broken old man as a result of his methods. He
is also known as a loudmouth that gets more attention than he deserves in the
community. I would not recommend his methods or book. Although his book got
popular among amateurs, it has no place in modern powerlifting and is
considered antiquated and rife with bad advice.

~~~
MrBuddyCasino
What would you recommend as alternatives?

~~~
scott_s
Beginner’s Guide to Powerlifting by Chad Wesley Smith:
[https://www.jtsstrength.com/product/beginners-guide-to-
power...](https://www.jtsstrength.com/product/beginners-guide-to-
powerlifting/)

I have not read the book, but Chad is a respected competitor and coach in the
community. I have watched the Juggernaut Training YouTube channel for a few
years now, and they always have sound advice for both beginner and expert
lifters.

------
mruts
The benefits of weightlidting are very marginal compared to cardio. There’s
very little weifhtlifting does anything for your body besides getting
stronger. Cardio on the other hand increases cognitive performance, life
expectancy, decreases chances of getting dementia and parkinson’s.

~~~
all2
Have you ever done squats or deadlifts? For reps or volume (overall weight
moved)? It gets your heart going.

My best 2 mile time (14:11) came after doing a month straight of the
Stronglift 5x5 routine. I didn't run once the month before.

A good heavy lift is cardio _and_ strength training.

~~~
jamiecurle
I agree but I think it is worth pointing out the two activities (cardio vs
lifting) use different energy pathways (aerobic vs anaerobic). You almost
certainly know that, so my comment is aimed at giving other readers some
deeper context.

I routinely hit 180bpm deadlifting and squatting.

~~~
stormthebeach
It's also worth pointing out that no energy pathway acts alone. You're always
using all of them in _some_ degree, but a particular activity will use one of
them over the others. You will strengthen them in conjunction, though what you
focus on will improve the most.

