POWERLIFTING VS BODYBUILDING

Question: Would you rather look like a ripped bodybuilder or a fat powerlifter?

You know, like this

Or this

Seems obvious, right?  But you want to be strong like a powerlifter, right?

Not like some weak bodybuilder, who is all show and no go, right?

If you follow lifting, you probably already got my point, but for those of you playing along at home.

Photo 1: Kirk Karwoski.  Powerlifter.

Photo 2: Lee Priest.  Bodybuilder.

Photo 3: Ronnie Coleman.  Bodybuilder.

Photo 4: Dave Tate.  Powerlifter.

On the internet, there is a war, and it is between powerlifters and bodybuilders.  You have to pick a side and choose your alliances wisely, for no quarter will be given.  Will you dedicate yourself to a greater total at the cost of never seeing your abs again and having a 50" waist, or will you be some prettyboy bodybuilder, all oiled up in a manthong with bulging, useless muscles.

Like this, but WAY more important man!

Notice, I said this is on the internet.  Why?  Because in the real world, it's total bullshit.  Those with no accomplishments to show in either physique or strength rage at each other from the safety and anonymity afforded behind their screens while the real bodybuilders and powerlifters are out there getting big and strong.

Want a basic description of how to train for powerlifting?  Train something heavy, and then train some lighter stuff to build up size and bring up weak points.  Want to know how to train for bodybuilding?  Train something heavy, and then train some lighter stuff to build up size and bring up weak points.  

You aren't going to become a good bodybuilder without getting stronger.  It just does not happen.  You spend enough time lifting iron and eventually you get good at it, no matter what rep range you are working in.  Your body doesn't care that the 8 rep range is actually the range for sacroplasmic hypertrophy, it just wants to adapt to the stress you are putting it under.  Similarly, if you are lifting heavy shit and eating a lot of food, you WILL put on muscle, even if you occasionally put on a spandex one piece and spend about 18 hours only doing 3 lifts.  Your body doesn't know you're a powerlifter, it just wants to grow.

Look at the old school guys.  Arnold was a capable weightlifter and won a stone lifting contest in Austria as a bodybuilder.  Lou Ferrigno and Franco Columbu were both invited to the first World's Strongest Man competition, and actually did decently well

Well, ok, minus that

Meanwhile, guys like Bill Kazmaier and Ed Coan were jacked.  Why?  Because you can't lift heavy stuff and eat big without getting big, and you can't get big without lifting heavy stuff.

Put down your "rep range tables" and other such nonsense, get away from your notions about how you HAVE to train below 6 reps to get stronger and how anyone training in the 8-12 rep range is just building squishy sacrplasmic filler goo muscles and start busting your ass instead.  Your body will have no other choice but to grow.

People will ask "why is it that everytime I see a powerlifter in a video, they are fat?"  This isn't because powerlifting makes you fat, it's because if you're watching a powerlifter video, you are most likely watching a world record lift.  A powerlifter setting a world record is going to be as heavy as he possibly can be, because weight moves weight.  In this situation, yes, this man will be fat, but he is a representative of the extreme in powerlifting, not the norm.  If you aren't a 308+lb powerlifter, it does you no good to carry excess fat, as this is just moving you up into a higher weight class and killing your coefficient (pound for pound strength essentially).  You're going to see abs on a lot of successful powerlifters in the 242 class and below.  

Additionally, people will talk about how they see bodybuilders moving small weights to gain bigger muscles.  While this may happen (Kai Greene discusses the intent of that exercise here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8wZNGL4iA4), it is not to say that these people do not still possess incredible strength.  Quite the contrary in fact.  It necessitates a great degree of strength to be able to have such mastery and control over such a weight.  If you do not have said strength, the weights you will use for this method will be even MORE paltry than what Greene utilizes, and were Kai to decide to deviate from this approach and go for maximal pounds on the bar, he'd be able to demonstrate a great level of strength, as seen here

Yes yes, he has a spotter, isn't pausing, etc.  Re-read my post on training lifts.  This is still strong.

This isn't binary.  The only place the extremes exist is on the internet.  Get strong, eat big, and you will get big.  Get big, and you will get strong.  Spend your time worrying about rep ranges and sarcoplasmic vs myofibrillar hypertrophy, and you will do neither.