Are you defending (or doing) stupid exercises?

I am always amazed how often people defend stupid and unsafe exercises. This video (shown below) has been making its rounds on the Facebook “fitness scene” and despite the fact that even a fitness newbie can tell that this particular video shows probably one of the most unsafe exercises I have ever seen, being taught to what look like inexperienced lifters, yet despite all this, I still can’t believe  how many people defended this atrocity.

The two most common comments for defending this stupid exercise can be summed up as:

1. This is a crossfit video, so you have your usual crossfit crybaby comments.
2. Calling the people that posted the video ignorant for not knowing that the exercise the people in the video are doing is actually a real lift used in strongman competitions called the axle clean & press

I have addressed the crossfit crybabies in the past, so I would like to address the 2nd comment, how ignorant we all are for not knowing this is a strongman lift. The video below shows a “strongman” doing the lift.

First thing to note about the “strongman” doing the lift is that the lift still looks just as stupid and just as unsafe as in the other video. Just because something has a name and is done by a few people does not mean it is OK. Here is an interesting thought, not everything that people do is smart and safe. People do lots of stupid things all the time, that does not mean you should copy them. Using this same logic; there are lots of people using heroine, smoking cigarettes, riding motorcycles without helmets, using the elliptical, or eating a vegan based diet 😉 should we be doing that stuff too?

Secondly, what is the point of this lift? To press a lot of weight? How about using a rack and placing the weight in the proper position without throwing your back out!!! Barbell training already has enough risks, and the last thing you need to do is add more danger just because “strongmen” do the lift. Are you competing in a strongman event? I didn’t think so.

This strongman lift looks like an extremely unsafe version of the clean and jerk done with horrible form. Again, can anybody please tell me how this strongman version is better than the traditional clean and jerk done with proper form? Also anyone who has been around the fitness game (barbell lifting) for sometime has heard the saying “if you can’t clean it, you should not be pressing it”, I guarantee that the same people that defended this strongman lift have said that at some point, ironically this strongman lift qualifies as a failed clean attempt, so they should have no business pressing the weight anyway!

Here is what a proper clean and jerk look like:

Now doesn’t that exercise looks much smoother and much safer on the back then the strongman axle clean & press?

So if you have no ambition of being a strongman competitor but want to get stronger leave this axle clean & press non-sense to the strongmen and instead do yourself a favor and learn proper clean and jerk technique.

Thank you!