Should i powerlift or bodybuild

This is what most people would consider average level strength. I still remembered what Stuart McRobert had laid out as a good level of strength was and what was obtainable for the majority of trainers at a bodyweight of lbs and height of 5' 9"; Squat: lbs, Bench: lbs and Deadlift lbs! Wow, after 19 years of training, I still had not achieved those numbers except for the bodyweight and height. It just wasn't fair. I trained regularly, while not overtraining. I drank protein shakes daily, sometimes 2 on top of 3 protein based meals.

On top of that, I'd literally taken every nutritional supplement introduced to the marketplace from Of course, this is in addition to multi-vitamins , and fish oil capsules , which I still take to this day.

I remember visiting my family in New York during May and working out with my childhood friend, Stephen, at Gold's Gym in a few miles from my parents home. Steve was always a good squatter and on this day, I think I worked up to my usual weight of lbs for a few reps. On that day, he decided to go for more than he'd ever attempted before for one all out rep.

He loaded the bar to lbs, wrapped up his knees, cinched his belt tight and carefully unracked the imposing weight, taking a few steps back from the squat rack. He braced himself, squatted down to parallel, drove the weight up and carefully stepped forward as I steered him forward, towards the rack. Wow, it was difficult, but he got it clean. Truly an impressive display of strength by my friend, and I was truly happy for him. As we continued to train, I distinctly remember talking to him about how for the longest time, I thought that I'd rather train by myself as I didn't think after all these years that there was anything else I could learn about training from someone else.

But, on this day, I told him that if I thought there WAS someone out there that could teach me more and help me get stronger, I would love to just let them train me. I was tired of trying to figure everything out for myself. It would be a relief to be just a student for a change. I was vaguely familiar with powerlifting as a sport.

I'd leafed through a Powerlifting USA magazine a few times, but never thought of it as a different training philosophy or anything. I remember thinking it was strange for a place like Las Vegas to actually have such a club. How great! I had to check this place out. I go over there one day and I was excited at what I found.

The "gym" was housed in a square foot space. There are 3 strange looking squat racks, which I learned were called mono-lifts. Three benches, a cable setup for pulldowns and rows, a rack of dumbbells, and a few weird looking apparatuses I had never seen before. And lot's of weights and barbells! No cardio equipment ha, ha. What a sh! I'm not there 5 minutes when Scott tells me to go onto a bench and show him how I bench press. I was excited to demonstrate my form gleamed from 19 freaking years of training.

I'm sure to impress him; he doesn't know who he's dealing with here. You're not a bodybuilder trying to work his pecs.

If you want to use more weight in the bench press, learn to keep your elbows in. Also, stop pushing the bar over your face in an arch. You need to push up off the chest in a straight line. Not only that, but learn to bench with an arch in your lower back. When you bring the bar down to your chest, lower to just below the nipples while simultaneously reinforcing your arch by trying to raise your chest to the bar without raising your butt off the bench.

The details of my five years of powerlifting I will save for a future article. I proudly refer to myself as a powerlifter now and will correct anyone who mistakenly refers to me as a "bodybuilder".

What I've learned is that though powerlifting and bodybuilding are closely related types of training, there is a MAJOR difference in training for strength and training to grow muscle. Similar to weightlifting and powerlifting, there are different divisions you can compete in based on gender and weight class. Other subdivisions in bodybuilding include wellness, physique, figure, and bikini competitions, each with their own rules. The training for bodybuilding competitions is less specific than for weightlifting or powerlifting because moves are not typically performed during the competition.

That leaves a lot of room for creativity in training. This protocol is efficient for developing muscle mass, he explains. Bodybuilders tend to isolate certain body parts on each training day, so one day may be focused on legs, while another is focused on chest, shoulders, and triceps. Cardio is also a key component of training, as it increases fat loss, vs. Since the goal of a bodybuilding competition is largely focused on physique, things such as bodybuilding nutrition and supplementation are also big components of getting ready for a competition, says Takacs.

When you compare bodybuilding vs. Olympic lifting in terms of body-composition goals, "arguably, bodybuilding is most efficient for developing increases in muscle mass and fat loss," says Sutton. That's because bodybuilding requires high volume resistance exercise that creates cellular changes to grow muscle tissue, he says.

One of the great things about bodybuilding is that it can be completed in virtually all gyms, and you don't necessarily need a trainer or coach to start. If you're training for a bodybuilding competition, you might use a combination of free weights and strength training machines that use a system of pulleys and weight plates.

Exercises could include the bench press, lat pulldowns, biceps curls, triceps extensions, and squats. Powerlifting, bodybuilding, and Olympic weightlifting are all advanced forms of strength training, so if you're just getting started with exercise or have any physical limitations or chronic disease, you're better off starting with a more basic strength training approach , says Sutton.

Once you're comfortable with light to moderate weights, you can try more advanced styles. And know that you're not limited to these three; Strongman and CrossFit are other options for strength-based sport as well. All of these styles will help you develop strength and power and impact your body composition by increasing muscle mass, explains Sutton, but unless you're looking to compete, combining aspects of all of the formats is probably your best bet.

That means bringing together "weightlifting, bodybuilding, powerlifting and other forms of exercise, such as stretching, cardiovascular, and core exercises. By Sara Angle April 13, Save FB Tweet More. Be the first to comment! No comments yet. Close this dialog window Add a comment. Add your comment Cancel Submit.

In powerlifting, the three main exercises are the squat, bench press, and deadlift. This means that any exercise that is programmed must have a direct impact on improving these three movements. In bodybuilding, while many of these same powerlifting movements are programmed, there is much less of an emphasis on them.

Both powerlifters and bodybuilders care a lot about implementing proper exercise technique. This is because neither can risk an injury, which might potentially put them out of their sport for several weeks or months. However, powerlifters use lifting technique that limits the range of motion on exercises, whereas bodybuilders use lifting technique that increases the range of motion on exercises. In powerlifting, the less range of motion that is used the less work that is required to move the weight from point A to B.

As a result, every angle of the movement is analyzed in order to reduce the range of motion so that more weight can be lifted. They want to take an exercise through its full range of motion in order to stress the muscle at different lengths. This will lead to greater muscle damage producing greater hypertrophy adaptations muscle growth.

This is much different than a bodybuilding split, where the main emphasis is on breaking each workout into muscle groups. Here are two examples of a powerlifting vs bodybuilding training split using a 4-day workout schedule:. Many people would broadly say that powerlifters use low reps and bodybuilders use high reps This is because lower rep ranges produce strength adaptations and higher rep ranges produce hypertrophy adaptations.

Therefore, the real difference is not necessarily what rep ranges are used, but rather, the ratio of time spent in each rep range. For powerlifters, they will spend on average in the lower rep range versus higher rep range. For bodybuilders, they will spend on average in the higher rep range versus lower rep range.

On average, powerlifters use heavier loads and bodybuilders use lighter loads.