newbie here, questions about powerlifting

[aaron_simkovich]

Hi all, i posted in general forum that im looking to get stronger, but not necessarily bigger.



someone told me to do powerlifting, but i have a question that may seem stupid, btu whatever i have to ask.


What exactly is powerlifting? is it just ilfting heavy weights?

Doy ou need any special gear for it? like those compression shirts or anything like that?

also if you have any advice you can give to me, that would be g reat

 

[Devastation]

you have defined one goal already: you are looking to get stronger. now you need to figure out how to accomplish this. visit www.elitefts.com for help on how to accomplish your goals. understand that a slow and steady tempo doesn't cut it, but that you have to continually better your performance time after time, year after year. there are no shortcuts in powerlifting or just getting stronger in general. there are methods that will assist you to continually improve. understand those methods and embrace them. and no you don't need any special gear to start powerlifting. eventually if you become serious, you will want to look at boards, bands, chains, boxes, suits, shirts, briefs, different bars, and many other pieces of equipment. only advice i have to give you is do as much research as you can and always keep learning. strength training is continually changing and evolving. you'll need to evolve also

and never be afraid to ask questions my man. there are many here who are willing to help

 

[aaron_simkovich]

thanks deva!

 

[pwrlftrscott]

Hi all, i posted in general forum that im looking to get stronger, but not necessarily bigger.



someone told me to do powerlifting, but i have a question that may seem stupid, btu whatever i have to ask.


What exactly is powerlifting? is it just ilfting heavy weights?

Doy ou need any special gear for it? like those compression shirts or anything like that?

also if you have any advice you can give to me, that would be g reat

powerlifting is a sport that uses 3 lifts, the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift, and takes the best lift of all 3 for a total. if your goals are to get as strong as possible, without worring too much about size or definition, then p/l is the type of training you should be doing, if you plan to compete or not, in p/l the weight lifted is all that matters, so our training is done strictly to increase our 1 rep max in the big 3. low reps and heavy weight are used in the big 3 with the only assistance work done is the ones that directly help the big 3 lifts. dev gave you some links and you can read for days on those sites, but do a search for powerlifting routines, and you will find tons of info. but a very brief summary would be you will train less often than most in comercial gyms do, but with very heavy weight and low reps, and very little if any isolation exercises. and like devestation posted, ask away here and on any of the p/l boards you can find, most powerlifters will be glad to help you.

 

[donsj]

The previous 2 posts are correct in every detail. It is a neat thing that you are absolutely a tabula rasa or clean slate. What I mean is that you have discovered a sport and a training technique involving an enormous amount of interesting aspects and it is totally new to you. That was a very exciting discovery for me and I am only in my 2nd season of competitve lifting. The compound exercises you do will make you really, very very strong and that is a super neat feeling. My totals are modest as the numbers are not large but my 365 lb squat was very exciting to me just as the first time one of my lifting buddies did a 500 lb squat and now I see this guy on the cover of a powerlifting mag who just did a 1200 pounder. There is a guy who has benchpressed 1005 lbs. That is one thousand and five pounds just so you know it isn't a typo. And the neat thing is that these enormously strong people I see at meets are happy to see me hit my numbers and give me tips on how to get to that 400 pound squat. You will see teenage girls benchpress bare bars with collars on them and people will scream for them just as they do for a monster dude doing an 800 pound bencpress. Enjoy and learn.

 

[PaganPunkstress]

welcome!

 

[Chambewy20]

Welcome, keep us informed on your progress and what you are up to.

Listen to the folks around here, they know what they are talking about and have already made the mistakes in training, identified them and fixed them so you don't have to just yet...

 

[aaron_simkovich]

thanks everyoen