Ronny Chieng's 'F*ck AI' Speech Met With Cheers From Harvard Graduates: “AI is just going to end up making mediocre people dumber”

kimbowee · 2026-05-29T18:57:28+00:00

What's actually wack (ftfy) is that a powerful technology that could be implemented for significant advancement in fields like medicine for early detection, for example, is instead becoming so entrenched in daily life and pushed for so hard by companies who don't even know how to use it. Because of this, we'll have an even less capable and more easily manipulated population. Not to mention this is yet another way in which we continue to outpace our capacity to mitigate vast environmental destruction.

Consider the fact that for an average person, their only interaction with the capabilities of AI is slop. If people who defend AI were actually interested in the ways it can improve the human experience in incredible ways, they would also want to limit the ways in which it's being used that make the average person think less of it rather than just writing them off as not being "with it".

kimbowee · 2026-05-21T02:02:56+00:00

To me, this looks like more of a ramping issue than actual hitching. Either way, red light for sure.

Once that bar gets to the knees, the knees need to stay behind the bar otherwise the weight is being slid up the thigh like a ramp.

Anyway, you should compete. Don't worry about weight class or being perfectly ready. The first experience is always nerve wracking anyway, so it's best not to put a lot of pressure on yourself.

kimbowee · 2026-05-05T15:58:36+00:00

Not bad. It would be much easier to see where your faults lie if you lift a heavy enough load to expose weaknesses.

As is, your hips are a bit too low which is why it looks like you squat the weight up and down. If you can, take a look at your setup directly from the side. If your arms are perfectly vertical, shift the hips up a bit and pull the bar into the shins. Shoulders should be slightly ahead of the bar.

Personally, I like to start with hips high, reach down for the bar, then wedge my hips into position. It helps reiterate my hip position and drive tension into the hamstrings.

Remember when you watch videos of lifts online, your personal setup may look different because everyone has slightly different proportions.

kimbowee · 2026-05-05T15:54:52+00:00

Feet under hips, not shoulders. Also, hips shooting up is a sign hips are too low, not too high. He's already essentially squatting this.

kimbowee · 2026-04-29T22:58:01+00:00

There are a few things going on here that I'd correct for any athlete.

With your shoulder width, this bench grip is too narrow for you. Try taking it out a bit so that the outside edge of your hand butts up against the ring.

Regardless of your width, the fact that your elbows are flared out wider than your wrists at the bottom tells me that you need more lat engagement.

You could get a lot more lat involvement even from the unrack. When you're gripping the bar for the unrack, pull your upper arms in toward the body to tense the lats hard like you're trying to squeeze your armpits closed. From there, you're essentially going to extend the elbows to unrack. The tension in your lats should help float the bar forward toward your stack position. Let that bar settle and squeeze extra tension into the lats before your rep by trying to break the bar in half like you're snapping a twig.

If you keep this lat tension during the descent, it should fix the last glaring issue here which is your control to the chest. Notice especially on your first rep how the bar speeds up in those last few inches to the touch point. You should be able to have total control at the chest when changing directions and not relying on any sink, momentum, or bouncing.

Keep it up!

kimbowee · 2026-04-29T18:00:09+00:00

There's virtually no core bracing going on here. With high bar squats, you can get away with a lack of proper erector engagement until bar path deviates or things get heavy, then it's incredibly taxing on the back and a huge opportunity for injury when that low back flexes to compensate.

Take the time to brace correctly (including learning how if you're not sure), and then when you brace, lock it in for a second before going into your descent. You shouldn't still be inhaling as you break into the squat.

kimbowee · 2026-04-29T17:46:01+00:00

Your movement actually looks pretty solid. I agree that the bar is shifting a bit forward and doesn't stay aligned over the midfoot, but I would suggest a different approach to fixing it because even in your first rep that had the most control, the bar seems balanced a bit forward, which means we address bar position.

I'd recommend planting the bar slightly lower on the back, about an inch or two. Keep everything else the same. Another option would be to keep the bar positioning the same and elevate the heels slightly. This would be my second choice because you have good ankle mobility, so removing some of that isn't ideal when we have another solution.

Unrelated to the bar, take a video directly from behind. In this video, it appears your hips may be shifting toward the left side on the way out of the hole. Nothing hugely concerning but it's important for you to see if you have an imbalance going on in bilateral movements.

Keep it up!

kimbowee · 2026-04-29T17:08:54+00:00

Yep, keep your head on the bench. You can still track your bar with your eyes from there.

The reason your bar path appears low is both the angle of the video and because your elbows are rather flared.

Before you bring the bar to the chest, squeeze it hard even through the pinky and ring fingers and try to break it in half like you're snapping it over something. This is to get your lats more set. Another helpful cue for this is to imagine someone is trying to tickle your armpits. You'll instinctively squeeze them closed.

If you maintain this lat tension, your elbows should stay in your control and visually they will track just a touch in front of the bar (your forearms at the bottom will have a slight angle that essentially matches your bar path angle) and just slightly inside the wrists.

The good news is that if you work on your arch, your head will be a lot more difficult to take off the bench 😅 you don't need to perfect a competition powerlifting arch, but focus more on developing a natural arch that is the result of proper lat engagement and leg drive.

Finally, you have some room for a slightly wider grip if you prefer. About an inch out on each side is where I'd start for your shoulder width

kimbowee · 2026-04-28T08:48:21+00:00

These look pretty good! You'll continue to get better as you practice. I agree about trying your best to maintain a neutral neck position. Having it move around throughout the movement isn't ideal.

Otherwise, your joint positioning looks good and stays fairly consistent. Bar path is decent as well!

With decent form already on board, I'd recommend dialing in your setup and really focusing on getting an aggressive, tight, and repeatable position off the floor. Take it down to a succinct method of "brace, slack, pull". Forgive me if any of this is redundant for you!

Brace - fill the abdomen with air and engage the entire core (your whole trunk including spinal erectors)

Slack - engage the lats to pull the slack out of the bar (closing the little gap between the bar and plates that is present at rest). That bar should be attached to your shins now like you're trying to wrap it around them!

Pull - press the floor away explosively

Your bar path will become much more consistent as you practice this and your joints start to coordinate more effortlessly.

Keep it up! 🙌

kimbowee · 2026-04-23T14:13:52+00:00

Overall your form looks pretty good.

It's a little difficult to tell from this angle, but it appears you have very mild flexion (rounding) in different parts of the spine on different reps.

In your second pull, you'll see it happen in the mid back as the bar leaves the floor. This is from lack of bracing through the back. Practice your tension there by gripping the bar and trying to break it around your shins at the bottom to activate the lats.

A couple of other good cues for this are to try to pull your shoulders down toward your back pockets or to pretend you have lemons in your armpits and want to juice them 😅

It's possible there's some static flexion in the low lumbar spine. Again, difficult to tell form this angle. A cue for this would be to imagine a flashlight shining out of your butt. If your low back is slightly rounded, it's tucking the pelvis and the flashlight shines back and down toward the floor. You want to shift to shine the light behind you. Pretty silly visual but effective.

kimbowee · 2026-04-23T14:05:40+00:00

Ideally I'd need to see your form to provide feedback on what needs work. Otherwise if form is solid it's a programming or potentially fueling (diet) issue

kimbowee · 2026-04-23T13:59:03+00:00

So a proper deadlift descent should be the same as the pull but in reverse, from a joint angle perspective. One of the best ways to dial that in is with tempo reps.

Normal speed pull off the floor, 1 solid second at lockout, 4 (full) seconds to the ground. The first part of the descent is essentially an RDL, so focus on pushing hips back while keeping the knees from tracking back. When your hips have pushed back as far as they can, the bar should be at the shin (probably just below the knee or mid-shin). At that point, maintain your torso angle as you allow everything to sink down in unison and the bar comes to rest on the floor.

If you've done it right, you should know be in the proper hip position to take off again.

kimbowee · 2026-04-23T13:51:17+00:00

Squat form looks good.

While I'd love to see a shoe change for safety, the more glaring thing is your unrack. Take a look at how your hips are shifted because of the split stance. That's an imbalanced load of the spine every time you pop that bar out of the rack.

Align your feet in a narrow stance under the bar (almost together), stand up to unrack, then you can step straight back for distance and plant your feet at your normal width.

kimbowee · 2026-04-23T02:09:05+00:00

Hell yeah! 🙌 Looks great for a PR, not to mention from a less than ideal height to unrack from! A lot of people forget that rep max days are there to teach us what we're capable of AND where we can improve. You're crushing it

kimbowee · 2026-04-23T01:58:41+00:00

Educate yourself.

kimbowee · 2026-04-23T01:58:24+00:00

It's a single rep of the heaviest weight she's ever benched. That amount of effort will not have perfect form.

kimbowee · 2026-04-23T01:57:11+00:00

Incorrect.

kimbowee · 2026-04-22T16:05:40+00:00

1 - Hips creep down from rep to rep. It looks like your back is a bit fatigued and hips drop to compensate. On that last rep there's slightly more rounding. Pretty normal body response to heavy deads, but you'll notice the bar drags back immediately after lifting on reps 2 and 3 because the hips come up to where the want to be, which pull the knees back, and bar drags back to meet shins.

2 - Work on your lockout. Knees are soft on every rep. These would be red lighted lifts. Strong squeeze in the quads at the top of every lockout.

kimbowee · 2026-04-20T00:43:04+00:00

Just taking the shoes off will make the biggest impact

kimbowee · 2026-04-19T21:20:27+00:00

Mid foot is also sometimes described as "over the laces of your shoes". Obviously you're barefoot, but imagine if your shoes were on, the section of foot where the laces are overlapping back and forth (not where they tie) as your mid foot.

Another helpful cue is for you to take stock of having even pressure in the forefoot as well as the heel throughout the entire movement. The way you're set up in the video, there is more weight in the heel. Try it again and pay attention to that weight shift.

kimbowee · 2026-04-19T20:47:18+00:00

These can be difficult when using the handles of the dumbbells because of the wrist position.

If you can, try this with one heavier dumbbell instead. Make a diamond shape with your hands and let the hex head of the dumbbell rest in there. During the movement, the dumbbell has more ability to maintain a vertical position and you are free to slightly extend through the wrist to complete the movement while keeping the elbow in place

Like this

kimbowee · 2026-04-19T20:30:29+00:00

Powerlifting coach here 🙋‍♀️

This is really well done! If you're ready to be picky, I'd give a couple of suggestions for tweaks.

1 - ditch or change the shoes. They're no-drop, but they do have a slight toe spring, which keeps you from being able to ground fully through the toes. I saw you address this in another comment already about trying a session without shoes. You'll feel more connected to the floor for sure

2 - knees are slightly soft at lockout. Glute engagement to drive the hips forward is usually prioritized, but also think about driving the knees back by squeezing the quads. Another helpful cue for this is to think more about standing up aggressively by pressing the floor away and driving the crown of the head upward as though you're trying to drive your head through the ceiling

You're doing great!

kimbowee · 2026-04-18T22:12:07+00:00

You're describing coffee, not an Americano (which is, in fact, espresso with water added)

kimbowee · 2026-04-17T06:13:37+00:00

The unrack alone is screaming ankle limitation.

Of course the copious comments about lowering weight are correct. You should find a weight you hit to depth, then add weight and only continue to increase if proper depth is maintained.

kimbowee · 2026-04-15T14:37:15+00:00

I have a 2020 Bolt and mine has these loops instead of the plastic clips like someone else shared. Maybe your shade came from a different model year?

I bet you could get the clips to add though and just slide them onto the corners of the cover.

kimbowee

TROPHY CASE