Plato's Barbell

In Plato's Barbell we explore what ancient philosophers from Plato and Socrates to Aristotle, Epictetus, Zeno, and Ovid may have to teach us about approaching the sport of weightlifting. We take Aristotle's lessons on sophistry and apply them to our hunt for the perfect coach. Epictetus teaches us how to handle both injury and triumph. And we learn what Zeno's Paradox might teach us about approaching every snatch, clean and jerk, and back squat as the only lift that has ever and will ever matter. Plato's Barbell does not offer bar path analysis, optimal training tempos, or set and rep schemes. There is no detailed discussion of the value of not cutting the third pull short. It offers much more than that. It offers a way of thinking about the sport.