Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below What do you guys think; should someone who is new or in the beginning stages of bodybuilding train as a power lifter for a while first? Some old school bodybuilders(such as Arnold) reccommend this so that a strength base is built and you learn all the basics before you try the advanced or isolations techniques. In your opinions, is this solid advice and if so, how long should one train utilizing a powerlifting approach before crossing over to the bodybuilding side of training?
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power lifting before bodybuilding
- Thread starter danaf1
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danaf1 said:
I think its a good approach- there are plenty of people who do both, at different time of their training. build up your core strength for a while, get your lifts up, learn what you like. you may love powerlifting or learn that your strength gains aren't improving and you miss training specific bodyparts.
good luck- let us know what your routine plans are.
stilleto said:
Thanks. I think I am going to take a power lifting approach to training for the next several months and just see what happens. I have tried HIT before from a bodybuilding approach, and while I did gain some size I was most impressed by the quick strength gains. Is HIT a good approach to powerlifting for long term, continueous gains in power? I did not get the opportunity to utilize it very long because I began lifting with a training partner who was completely against this type of training and refused to accept that it could be effective so I quickly began a higher volume routine while training with him. I want to give it a shot again but if others have given it a shot without success I don't want to waste time.
Quadsweeps Sister
New member
danaf1 said:
I trained and competed as a BB first for 7 years and then switched over to PL this last year or so. IMO the PL is much more difficult to master than any BB workout regime I ever did. It takes a bit of time to learn what your body will respond to and some genetically blessed few can compete in both PL and BB at the same time - I however could not do both.
I think you have to decide first what you want to gain from either. Do you have a desire for the asthetics of a BB or the raw strength in certain lifts as a PL does? PL'ing leaves out a lot of body parts as you are just training the lifts so to speak. In more advanced PL training you are building your stamina and GPP, but overall you aren't training your muscles to obtain any certain 'look'.
In closing I will tell you my lifts have most certainly become stronger, but my size has become much smaller. It is all in what you want to achieve. Decide and then put your heart into it. Take care and good luck.
__________________
Mythicwrld
"We deceive ourselves when we fancy that only weakness needs support. Strength needs it far more."
The ratio between getting bigger/stronger is mostly dependant on diet. If you are in caloric excess on a clean diet, you will continue to grow on almost any regimen, certaintly including powerlifting. Although powerlifting regimens include ME days, and mainly focus on improving neural efficiency and relative strenth, you will continue to grow if youre eating enough.
riverrock
New member
Arnold and Franco were both outstanding young PowerLifters before becoming professional BB's. When you consider the amount of muscles that get worked from the 3 exercises (Franco was a very good Olympic lifter too) then its little surprise the excellent base they had. I'd recommend any athlete, no matter what his sport, to include Powerlifting exercises in his program.
I compete in a weight category, but ever for those in the open category, I see no excuse for being out of condition. Why eat sloppy when you can just as easily eat clean, get in all your calories and look/feel great as well as strong?
I plan on one very heavy schedule next year in terms of competitions where I will compete in several meets. Used to BB before, but much prefer PL. Not as big, but way better defined and athletic looking. Many BB tell me they are sick of BB as the results are not very tangible if you don't compete, but in PL you always have Personal Bests to keep you focused and motivated whether you are a serious competitor or just do it for the enormous amount of personal satisfaction and benefits it brings.
I compete in a weight category, but ever for those in the open category, I see no excuse for being out of condition. Why eat sloppy when you can just as easily eat clean, get in all your calories and look/feel great as well as strong?
I plan on one very heavy schedule next year in terms of competitions where I will compete in several meets. Used to BB before, but much prefer PL. Not as big, but way better defined and athletic looking. Many BB tell me they are sick of BB as the results are not very tangible if you don't compete, but in PL you always have Personal Bests to keep you focused and motivated whether you are a serious competitor or just do it for the enormous amount of personal satisfaction and benefits it brings.
Quadsweeps Sister
New member
nycgirl said:
Yes - I'll link you up to something later. Have it on home PC. Take care.
BlondBomber
New member
I am a former competitive PLer, but now BB.
What I do, inspired by Mike Francois, is have a heavy compound lift in the 3-5 rep range, followed in succession by more isolation exercises.
Like for legs, a good workout would be (and this is what I coincidentally read in the latest Flex that Francois did for his tree trunk legs):
1. squats-3x5 (like a ME day)
2. leg press-3x10
3. leg ext.-3x10
My last workout was this exact rundown, and my legs (quads especially) were fucked up for 5 days straight.
If you are lifting above ~80-85% of your 1 rep max, you should definately have a good PLing belt. Not one of those pizza belts that are laying around the gym.
What I do, inspired by Mike Francois, is have a heavy compound lift in the 3-5 rep range, followed in succession by more isolation exercises.
Like for legs, a good workout would be (and this is what I coincidentally read in the latest Flex that Francois did for his tree trunk legs):
1. squats-3x5 (like a ME day)
2. leg press-3x10
3. leg ext.-3x10
My last workout was this exact rundown, and my legs (quads especially) were fucked up for 5 days straight.
If you are lifting above ~80-85% of your 1 rep max, you should definately have a good PLing belt. Not one of those pizza belts that are laying around the gym.
