Is powerlifting "Hard?"

[SlavikHavik]

Does anyone find training and competing in this sport physically taxing?

Personally I find that powertraining is much easier than any mid range or endurance training. A max squat is a lot easier than an intense 20 rep squat.

And I know the days where ive gone to set my max lifts arent nearly as challenging as running the 4k. Or even playing a real game of basketball or hockey for instance.

Does anyone find powerlifting hard? Not to say the competition isnt tough. But the actual act of powerlifting. Im still relitively new so i imagine working with heavier weights could be much harder

 

[spatts]

Depends on how the powerlifter trains.

What we do in competition is not what we do day to day.

You tell me how you think a powerlifter trains, and that will probably answer the question as to whether it's just your opinion or fact.

 

[Zander1983]

Everything is relative. What one person finds hard another one will find easy.

Powerlifters don't have it easy. It is a tough sport.

Anything is easy if you make it so...

 

[DBCooper]

I knew some people in the Army that could run forever and say it was all in the mind. They would turn and say they could not see how I could think about lifting heavy weights. I was a decent runner(in the Army) and sprinter (when I was young), but I just enjoy straining until I see stars/get dizy/pass out/bloody nose/broken blood vessels alot better.

 

[Grantsdu]

Totally depends on the person. I'm a short guy so basketball would be a tough sport for me. Powerlifting is the same way, some people are given a good body for PL, some arn't. For people to continually achieve elite status, yes, PL is going to be hard. Its not just about lifting. Its a lifestyle. If your not living the lifestyle you will never be able to achieve some of the weights alot of these guys and gals push. You have to eat and sleep PL...literally. Yes, some people can come in from the street and push some good weight but not the kinda weight they could if they lived the lifestyle. Its a fun and challengening sport because there will anyways be someone out there bigger and stronger than you and you have to go all out to catch them, cause you know there going all out not to let you!!!!

 

[Hannibal]

F*ck yeah it can be hard. Especially if you want to be as strong as you possibly can be. You will have to make sacrifices and push yourself beyond all previous limits.

As I sit here typing my back hurts, my neck hurts and I have had a headache all day because we used the Safety Squat Bar for GM's and it tried to decapitate me. But you know what...I got the PR and that's the important thing. And I will be going for another one tomorrow.

 

[SlavikHavik]

As I sit here typing my back hurts, my neck hurts and I have had a headache all day because we used the Safety Squat Bar for GM's and it tried to decapitate me. But you know what...I got the PR and that's the important thing. And I will be going for another one tomorrow.

Yeah that makes sesne.
See, i had no doubt in my mind that powerlifting takes effort, and dedication to succeed in. Thats not what i ment by hard. What i really ment was "taxing". as opposed to challenging

also i was reffering more to the competition then the training.
but never the less, I see what your saying hannibal.

 

[Exodus]

train wsb to the letter, and it is always hard, mentally and physically.

X

 

[benchmonster]

It is less taxing to me, personally than strongman type training, or even bodybuilding type training.

I have trained for some time now, tho to be strong in singles and triples. 20 reps of the bar is not any fun for me. 20 reps with any kind of serious weight and I am about to die.

A lot of it depends upon how you train. If you train to be able to do reps, you will be able to do reps, if you train for a max single, you will get better at max singles.

I hurt all the time. There is never a time when something does not hurt except the day of a meet. I take at least a week or a week and a half off before each meet, and it is at this time I feel really good. Other than that, I hurt in my joints, and get forearm splints all the time. Back is constantly hurting, and it is just something you have to deal with.

So for me, it is hard, but I can handle it. Endurance training for me would be hard, and frankly would be beyond my capabilities at the moment, unless I decided to train for that sort of thing all the time, and I have no interest in that.

But then I don't see many endurance athletes who strain so hard that they blow blood vessels in both eyes, as I did in my last meet, as DG21 does in every meet, as Becca Swanson did in her last one, or bleed through the skin of their nose like Andy Bolton did pulling over 900 in the deadlift. That sort of thing sounds hard to me.

B.

 

[spatts]

also i was reffering more to the competition then the training.

If you were referring more to competition then you have to be crazy to think that standing around in your underwear is "harder" than squatting, benching, and deadlifting for max effort 9 times.

If you were comparing BB training to PL competition, then you're comparing apples to oranges and it's moot point.

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

competition day is VERY taxing — and rewarding. nerves, pushing your body to the limit with 9 max attempts over the course of one day - yeah. tough, gut busting stuff.

but you gotta love it.

 

[Scotsman]

How many times do you see a bb on stage break a leg or dislocate an elbow. How many of them have blood streaming from their hands and shins at the end of the day. When their comp is done they go out eat and joke with their friends. When powerlifters are done they often puke then have to be carried off by friends and lay in pain for a couple of days. So therewithin is y answer to the question.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[argent]

As I sit here typing my back hurts, my neck hurts and I have had a headache all day because we used the Safety Squat Bar for GM's and it tried to decapitate me. But you know what...I got the PR and that's the important thing. And I will be going for another one tomorrow.

Amen and Fucking-A!

 

[sk*]

Aint nothing that's hard if you love it. I live for the pain in the gym!

-sk

 

[Hannibal]

When powerlifters are done they often puke then have to be carried off by friends and lay in pain for a couple of days.

...and THEN they go out and eat ALOT and joke with their fellow competitors (friends).

 

[slobberknocker]

How many times do you see a bb on stage break a leg or dislocate an elbow. How many of them have blood streaming from their hands and shins at the end of the day. When their comp is done they go out eat and joke with their friends. When powerlifters are done they often puke then have to be carried off by friends and lay in pain for a couple of days. So therewithin is y answer to the question.

Cheers,
Scotsman

Bullshit. Bodybuilders work just as hard as powerlifters.

 

[spatts]

slobberknocker....again....he is comparing BB training to PL competition. Apples and oranges. When comparing training to training, the work can be equally difficult for both. Varies lifter to lifter, I'm sure.

 

[Exodus]

well...... in my last bodybuilding contest i was doing some rear bicep and lats poses...... when my glutes cramped up...... now thats pain, when was the last time a powerlifter ever had that problem huh???? sheesh...... and you folks think bb competitions are easy....... HA!!!!!


X

 

[spatts]

Pics?

 

[GhostMan]

amen spatts! hahaa



all other answers, totally agree........I couldn't count all the times I black out in the gym a day due to pushing my self through reps of screaming

 

[Scotsman]

Bullshit. Bodybuilders work just as hard as powerlifters.

I was refering to the actual day of competition if you care to look at the syntax I used. I never said that training wasn't as intense.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[slobberknocker]

Maybe you're right about that then. Still, when they go on stage most of them are starving and dehydrated. Probably not all that much fun. Whatever I don't care. Football's harder than both.

 

[IronLion]

Football is also better compensated...

 

[spatts]

Not the team I coach....damn semi-pro.

For the record, I came into my last powerlifting comp dehydrated, starving, and pissing blood. I didn't even get to wear a bikini to flaunt my ribs and self-digesting stomach.

...of course, it wasn't because it was necessary, but because I was a dumb ass.

Oh, and many smart BBers carb load before hitting the stage to plump their muscles back up so they still look dry but not flat.