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Dinner party conversation comment for you all. People who are into lifting are more likely to associate the term Weightlifting with the practice of Olympic Wei
by jamiecurle 7y ago
Dinner party conversation comment for you all.
People who are into lifting are more likely to associate the term Weightlifting with the practice of Olympic Weightlifting. This article is about powerlifting.
Olympic lifting focuses on the two dynamic, technique-driven main movements. The clean and jerk, which is a two-part lift and the snatch, which is a single movement lift. Up until 1972, the press was also an olympic movement, but it became too hard to judge and was so removed. There are rigorous criteria in competitions.
Powerlifting, as the article goes onto state is centered around three movements, the squat, the deadlift and the bench press. Just like olympic lifting (or weightlifting), powerlifting has strict criteria for competition lifts. The aim of powerlifting though is to move as much weight as possible.
For people who do not lift, they typically hear the phrase "weightlifting" and think of the practice of bodybuilding which is concerned with hypertrophy of muscle groups to build a balanced and awe-inducing physique.
Context: I like to dabble in weightlifting as a fun pursuit and held a very minor title for a short time period. It was a hollow victory, as due to my only competitor weighing in 0.4kg too light, I ended up as the only person in my age/weight category. I won because I made all my lifts. I was competing against myself.
- dehrmann 7y agoTo make it a little more confusing, olympic weightlifting's lifts are more powerful (think watts--energy over time--explosiveness) than the three power lifts.
- jamiecurle 7y agoI'd never considered it like that. Nice! thankyou.
- plausibilities 7y agoImpulse would be a good technical term to describe this. The impulse from the first 0.5s of my clean & jerk is significantly higher than the first 0.5s of me grinding out a heavy deadlift rep
- pen2l 7y agoI'm a (novice) powerlifter -- the way you just described that makes me want to crossover to weightlifting. But I'm just too afraid of getting injured; chance of injury is so much higher when lifting explosively vs. lifting heavy. :(
- glangdale 7y agoWeightlifting is very technical. If you want to compete in weightlifting (or just perfect more complicated lifts than the power lifts), go do it. I'm not aware of weightlifting (properly coached) being any more dangerous than powerlifting - anecdotally, I know more injured powerlifters than weightlifters. The older I get, the more I want to be a 'jack of all trades, master of none' in terms of fitness, but that's just a personal bias. I don't have the patience or the motivation to ever learn how to do a snatch or squat clean properly, but I see the appeal.
- imesh 7y agoI feel the part of weightlifting that makes it more dangerous is probably why weightlifters are less injured than powerlifters. Weightlifting is technically hard, and most weightlifters start from day one with a coach. Powerlifts are "simple," and as such most powerlifters don't start with a coach and end up doing things wrong and hurting themself.
- andrewvc 7y agoOr, you could go the route I did, and start with a coach, and still injure yourself. Just because you know how to do something correctly doesn't mean you always will. I personally believe the combination of speed and weight makes olympic lifts inherently dangerous. Most sports have a lot of survivorship bias. It looks like people can do them forever because a lot of other people have dropped out.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- makeset 7y agoAnd powerlifters lift more weight than weightlifters.
- rvn1045 7y agoNot completely true. Powerlifters will definately bench press more because weightlifters don't bench. When comparing the squat - powerlifters perform a low bar squat and hence you cannot compare it to the high bar squat the weightlifters do. I think weightlifters have much more powerful legs though - when you compare across the same lifts. Weightlifters dont specialize in the deadlift however it is a part of their training and I think weightlifters will out deadlift powerlifters if they focus on it.
- balfirevic 7y agoGood summary! One could almost say that the main point of weightlifting is maximum power production, while the main point of powerlifting is moving as much weight as possible. Ha!
- dredmorbius 7y agoEffectively, yes.
- ohaideredevs 7y agoDo I really need to squeeze my shoulder blades together and pull my shoulders down during bench? It feels SO unnatural..but otherwise my shoulders hurt.
- scott_s 7y agoYou don't need to. But it will allow you to press more weight with less risk of injury. It only feels unnatural because you're used to just lying flat on the bench with a relaxed back - doing that now feels "unnatural" to me. Try this: walk over to a nearby wall and "try" to push it over. That is, put yourself into the position that feels like you have the best brace and power to transfer force into the wall, and actually do it. Notice where your hands, elbows and shoulder blades end up. That's basically the same position as a good powerlifting bench.
- 0xfeba 7y agoWhat about back arch? I just cannot arch as much as some people seem to without it really feeling painful. Perhaps coincidentally, my bench is considerably weaker than my other 2 lifts.
- scott_s 7y agoDo my push-wall exercise in front of a mirror, and look at your back. I bet you it's arched. Obviously, don't do something that's painful. But it's important to recognize the difference between "painful" and "uncomfortable." One is a sign you are doing something detrimental to your body; the other is a sign you are doing something you are unfamiliar with. If a low to moderate arch is what works for you, that's fine. I bench with a low to moderate arch, and yes, my bench is also considerably weaker than my other lifts.
- rvn1045 7y agoImproving your squat and deadlift will make your back more flexible.
- 7y ago
- danmg 7y agoI'm in this world and never bring this up when people are discussing it. It's like bringing up difference between hacker/cracker. People don't care and their eyes will glaze over in disinterest.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]