Musings of a Powerlifter

So awhile back I mentioned that there were some things about powerlifting that I disliked.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love being strong and pushing heavy weight in the gym, and I also admire powerlifters just the same. I have not “given up” on it or left it completely.

I just want to touch base about several things that set me off about it. Keep in mind, these are words coming out of the mouth of a powerlifter, not someone who has never competed.

Reason #1: They can’t decide on a definite set of rules.

Powerlifting, in my opinion, is not a sport. Well…it is a sport I suppose, but not really. If you take a sport like Football, Baseball, or Basketball, you’d see that across the board there is a certain standard that they go by. The rules don’t vary depending on which State you’re playing in. If you make a foul, it’s a foul. If you miss the ball, it’s a strike. Three strikes and you’re out. That sort of thing.

But with powerlifting, it seems that there is so much rivalry between federations, and instead of there being set rules that are followed by every federation, there are different variations.

For example, you can compete with one organization, where they will want to see you squat three inches below parallel for it to pass. But if you compete with another, they may only require that you hit parallel. Some feds will allow you to bench with your heels off the ground, creating more room for you to have a bigger bench arch. Some feds will have you place your feet flat. Some feds will give you red lights for rolling the bar up your legs with a deadlift, and other feds will pass the lift.

So what’s right and what’s wrong? Nothing really. Neither one is necessarily “better” than the other, but I would prefer that they could decide on some rules, and stick to them. Either they all squat 3” below parallel, or they don’t. But don’t  have different standards just because it’s a different federation. A sport needs specific rules.

Reason #2: Supportive suits.

I hate geared lifting. There, I said it.

I think it’s silly, useless, and not impressive in the least. Would this mean that I thought Andy Bolton’s deadlift was unimpressive? In a way. That’s not to say that I can deadlift 1000 lbs, but bear with me here for a minute.

Powerlifting should be about how much raw strength you possess. In the old days when they held strength competitions, it was about how much weight you could lift, and how much stronger you were than the next guy. But they didn’t wear ridiculous supportive suits that took more than one person just to put on.

I will always prefer Benny Magnusson’s strength over Andy Bolton’s. Not only did he beat Andy Bolton’s record, he did it RAW. Now THAT is true strength.

I’m not trying to say that Andy Bolton isn’t strong, but his lifts would be far more impressive to me if they were done raw. That’s all.

In my opinion, wearing a supportive suit to help you lift weight is not something I’m interested in. It’s boring. It’s not exciting at all. I would much rather see someone squat down to the ground with 700 lbs. then watch someone squeeze into a suit and knee wraps, waddle over to the squat rack, get into sumo stance and squat 1000 lbs. down for a couple inches. It just isn’t thrilling.

I like raw strength. Raw power. I don’t give a fuck if you take steroids, just stay away from supportive clothing, because it’s not portraying true strength, it looks ridiculous, and it’s pointless.

Reason #3: Benching sucks.

And not just because I’m terrible at it.

I’ve never been a fan of bench press, regardless of how much I could do. Of course, it’s the best-known exercise in the world, and if anyone hears you lift weights, the first question to come up is:

“How much do you bench?”

In my opinion, the movement is not a true test of upper body strength and power. It’s really not that great for your shoulders, and in the world of powerlifting, it’s hardly even a bench press anymore.

EDIT: So you all know, I do still do some benching, but mostly close-grip and some medium grip with low volume, or speed work.

Reverting back to what I said about different federations and their benching policies, the allowance of this to pass as a “bench press” absolutely disgusts me:

Enough said.

Reason #4: The whole mindset of “It’s only about moving the weight”

Sure. I mean, I can’t argue that this IS the point of powerlifting. Move the heaviest weight possible in whatever way you can while staying within the rules.

But I think that should be rephrased to:

Move the heaviest amount of weight possible in any way necessary, with as little ROM as possible while still staying within the rules.

It gives guys an excuse to build a huge gut to shed 4″ off their bench ROM. It also gives people an excuse to use terrible form to lift a weight.

As much as I love weightlifting, if I’m putting my health in jeopardy by the way I’m lifting something, I’m just going to use a lighter weight. Does that make me a pussy? Maybe. But the crap I’ve seen pulled is just awful. I wonder how these people live past 35 without tearing every muscle in their body.

There’s a difference between rounding your back slightly with a max attempt deadlift, and turning into the McDonald’s M symbol when you’re picking it up. There’s a difference between a squat with forward lean, and doing a good-morning to get the weight when you’re in the hole.

Maybe I’m not a “true powerlifter” then, but I’d rather not break my back over 10 extra lbs. on my deadlift. It just isn’t worth it.

The body swinging made me cringe:

What I like about Olympic Lifting, is that it’s so technical that there are no real “short cuts” to the movement. You can’t limit the ROM for a snatch or a CNJ.

Reason #5: Bias judging and exceptions

Maybe I’m just bitter about the last meet I attended. I won’t say names, but I have seen the judges pass lifts that should have never been passed. Ridiculous stuff.

I’m not sure if other people have experienced this at meets,  but this is something I was not happy with. I have seen it done in other meets I’ve watched as well.

I’m not even going to blame the lifter there. I’m blaming the judges. It’s the judge’s job to inform the lifter of whether or not his lift passed. So if the squatter squats high and passes, it’s not the competitor’s fault. He was under the impression it was a good lift, when in the reality, it came quite short.

There should be no cutting slack. I was shown no mercy at my first meet, and I would have hated it if they would have let things slide, because that would have taught me nothing.

Now THIS is a squat:

——————–

To be quite honest, I guess that’s all I really dislike about it. In which case, it’s not powerlifting itself that I don’t like, it’s aspects of the competition that I don’t like.

Kind of like figure and bodybuilding. I don’t dislike the training for it, but there are countless things I dislike about the politics, judging, competition, etc.

So this post is NOT to say that I will never compete in powerlifting again. I probably will, because it is fun. That doesn’t mean I have to like everything about it.

I want to be a powerlifter AND be athletic. I want to have good levels of overall fitness, instead of only focusing on one thing. I want to be fast, explosive, strong, and look good. To achieve this, I have to keep my training varied.

And I guess just being really strong is more important to me than competing.

I’m okay with that.