Powerlifting, namely men's and women's powerlifting, is a sport whose essence is to overcome the resistance of the heaviest weight.
Powerlifting differs from bodybuilding in that it is a sport where the beauty of muscle mass is not important, but strength achievements are taken into account.
Powerlifting is called a power lifting, since during competitions to establish strength indicators, 3 movements are used for women and men: squat with a barbell, deadlift and bench press.
Strength indicators are compared among those involved in this sport who are in the same weight categories. The winner is the one who scores the maximum number of points when adding up the conclusions from all three exercises.
What powerlifting is can be clearly seen in the photo below; this will help not only to understand what kind of sport it is, but to decide whether you specifically need it.
The photo below shows what a man doing a sport like powerlifting looks like.
Established myths for women
Many girls, when they come to the gym, make a big mistake, believing that working with heavy weights will turn them into a huge masculine woman. If you are a woman, answer the question: what is included in your training program?
Let's try to imagine a typical workout for girls in the gym. First, you do a light warm-up, and then go on a cardio machine for 20-40 minutes because you ate cake last night and want to burn off all that extra food.
Julia Vince
Julia Vince was born in the city of Engels. Today the girl is known throughout the country as “muscular Barbie.”
Julia herself is not offended by such a comparison. On the contrary, she is happy with her appearance.
According to her, she herself likes to have a beautiful face, big expressive eyes, wear makeup and at the same time be physically strong, resilient and active.
Yulia easily lifts 180 kilograms; the girl only plans to improve her results. The girl claims that the attitude of the opposite sex towards her is ambiguous.
Men were divided into 2 camps: those who consider her beautiful, and those who have a negative attitude towards such a physique, considering it unacceptable for a girl.
However, according to Yulia, criticism from some guys is simply caused by envy of her muscular body.
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After this, you perform several approaches of some exercises with light weights, and in the final, pump your abs on the mat for 10-20 minutes, trying to lose weight in this area. That's all true, right?
If this is your program, it's time to change it! This training pattern is typical for most women in the gym. They are afraid of becoming big and muscular, so they only do those exercises that, in their opinion, burn the most calories and tone their muscles.
All powerlifters are fat
You often hear that a person seems ready to take up powerlifting, but is stopped by the fear of gaining excess weight. In fact, this idea that most powerlifters are fat is completely wrong. This stereotype came to us from the 80s - the era of heavyweights.
Today, powerlifters like Ryan Kennelly, Scott Mendelsohn, and Sebastian Burns are like bodybuilders in the off-season. This is not to say that they become flabby and lose their shape greatly, however, they do not win victories in competitions so often. They manage to maintain this result due to a certain diet and determination (i.e. they are not lazy). Thus, we find that the heaviest of the recently performed lifts were performed by relatively lean and fit athletes.
In fact, there is no specific reason to justify a weightlifting athlete being overweight (i.e. having a body fat percentage of 18% or more), as proper, optimal nutrition is an essential component of success. Just like in bodybuilding, the athlete’s body needs a large amount of protein and pure carbohydrates, the consumption of which must be clearly calculated.
Work with the weight, girls.
In fact, such women achieve insignificant results. They might burn a few hundred calories doing cardio and maybe another hundred doing circuit training, but they won't make a difference in how their body looks.
You cannot radically change your body by holding flowers in your hands instead of iron.
If you want to transform your body for the better, stop and think about your program right now. Try to forget about the myths and look at women's powerlifting with different eyes. This is truly a sport that can transform you!
And you will NOT become masculine for several reasons. Let's talk about them in more detail.
“Powerlifting didn’t make me a man.” The story of a girl lifting weights
24-year-old Sofia has been involved in powerlifting for the second year and hopes that this sport, in addition to her sporting ambitions, will be able to provide her with a stable income.
“It all started about two years ago. I went to an ordinary fitness center for about a year and very soon realized that I was embarrassed by those who trained there. I couldn’t understand why men constantly pump their biceps; trainers give the same set of exercises. In general, the atmosphere in the club was counterproductive, but there was one man in that room who came in Converse sneakers and he always had the biggest barbell in the room. Then it seemed to me surprising and something unnatural, but at the same time I was attracted by the fact that a man strives to be strong. I also wanted to become strong, so I went to the Sparta gym not far from my house, which is located in a bomb shelter. There I met a coach who included basic powerlifting exercises in my training program: squats, bench press and deadlift. This really captivated me, and since then I have been training this way, but now under the leadership of Maria Yuryevna Parfenova in the legendary MAI team,” says Sofia.
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