The Truth About Internet Judges

If you checked out the video you just saw Maryana Naumova, a 13 year old girl, bench 240lbs.  In other words, you just saw something AWESOME!  You just saw something that literally maybe a handful of girls her age could accomplish, and she is the only one I have ever seen on video.  This was done with the Flag Nor Fail crew taping at the 2013 Arnold Classic, in front of the entire fitness world.

So you would think this would be something to celebrate, and you would be right.  However, the problem is there is a growing faction in our society that just wants to shit on everything.  Whenever they see something awesome, something that defies their small way of thinking they have to talk shit about it more than likely to make themselves feel better about their own mediocrity.

Youtube is an awesome resource for sharing videos.  Be they videos of athletic accomplishments, or videos of cute kittens.  The problem is that for some reason, there is no IQ Test required to post a comment on a video.  And so every idiot thinks their opinion is equally as important as people that are actually knowledgeable about the subject matter.

Some of the Comments:

• berserkir “Shes cheating.....she doesnt have to bring the bar as far down to touch her chest. If she did it flat back she would bench half that weight.”
•  MusikAlltid “Sure it´s much but she´s only doing one. When training one should do 12x2.”
•  EliQball “Yay she can lift some heavy weight. *clap clap* - But with that form all she's doing is 1x (barely) half rep and preparing herself for several herniated disks. No offence but she's doing more harm than good!”

Not surprisingly neither of those first two internet warriors have any videos of themselves doing anything awesome.  And then you get to EliQball, his youtube page suggests someone with a decent degree of fitness knowledge, and yet he accuses her of doing a HALF REP.  Yet again, do people even understand the English language.  I mean I know that texting shorthand has killed our ability to put together grammatically correct sentences, but still.  Words do in fact still mean something.  And when you say someone is cheating, and they aren't, you just look petty and ignorant.  Which is also what you look like when you see someone do a bench press that touches their sternum and is returned to lockout and you call it a half rep.  Just because she is physically able to get into a mechanically superior position to bench press does not make her a cheater.  That is similar to calling Shaquille O'Neil a cheater because he is taller than you and it is easier for him to dunk.

“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.” -Aristotle-

You gotta ask yourself, what the hell are people thinking when they spew this nonsense?  Or are they just wanting to try to bring her back to the pack and continue to cater to the lowest common denominator.  I mean seriously, at the end of the day all you have done is criticize a 13 YEAR OLD GIRL!  Congratulations, I hope you feel better.

Here is a video Mike Wolfe of Exile Barbell posted.  It shows 18 yr old high school Senior Seth Hipply smoking 765 to a 1 board.  According to Mike he then came back and smoked 805.  And *GASP* he was wearing a bench shirt.  Regardless, that is AWESOME.  How many 18 yr old kids could even unrack 805lbs at arms length for more than 1 second without winding up in the ER?!  Why can't people just watch that video and just say "Good Job!"  What is so difficult about that.

But NO, Instead you get this...

• Adam Sizemore Nice triple ply shirt. Raw vid would be impressive.
• Cody Ballinger He's small though, I'd really be impressed if he was taller than 4"8 with longer arms.
• David Deitering wow alot has changed since i competed of 4 inch bench WTF!

For some reason Adam Sizemore chose to ASSume that he was wearing a triple ply shirt since there is absolutely NO WAY to tell from a video.  Then he proceeds to point out that a Raw video would be more impressive.  In this case I am inclined to agree that an 800 lb raw bench would be more impressive.  But what does that have to do with this video?  Not much.  Again this is similar to suggesting that Tiger Woods' 300+ yard drives would be more impressive if he used a persimmon wood.  You know, since that is a "true test of blah blah blah..."  Then Cody Ballinger again ASSumes that Seth is short.  Yet again, this is impossible to tell with any level of accuracy from the video.  Doesn't stop him from throwing it out there.  Truth be told, Seth is 6' plus which is Officially NOT SHORT.  Then of course David Deitering chimes in with the prerequisite ROM and competitive standards critique.  He does realize this was a 1 board press in the gym and not at a competition right?  And as far as ROM goes yet again, what if he did have freakishly short arms.  What if he resembled T-Rex, it doesn't fucking matter.  That is how he is built.  Should he not use that to his advantage to be the best at his chosen sport?

You'll have to forgive me but this  latest rant is going to end in relatively the same way as the last few.  This really is a call to arms.  People need to stop bitching about stuff and start doing stuff.  These people are busting their asses, and doing awesome things.  If this offends you, then why not step away from the anonymity of the internet, and go out there and do something awesome yourself.  Why do you care what other people are doing?  Why would you ASSume they care about your opinion?  More importantly, why does other people's success bother you so much, unless it points out your own lack there of.  If that is the case, trying to bring people back to your level may be easier, but it doesn't solve the problem.

And trust me, if you are one of these ignorant Internet Judges, the problem isn't the people doing awesome things. the problem is YOU!

See more info on: Mammoth Strength Blog