In Part 1 of this post, I talked about the personal story of how powerlifting has changed Jackie and myself. In this post, I want to focus on why I think powerlifting should be at the heart of your training and why I think it can save this weak, obese country. The lesson that I intend to convey is that everybody should be powerlifting because it’s a great way to lose fat, it’s excellent for injury prevention and general physical preparation, and it will change your entire outlook on life!
So, let’s start with the fat loss piece…
When you think of a powerlifter, you may envision something like this:
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| Big Jeff Lewis weighing 540# in this pic! |
...or this:
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| Holley Mangold of olympic and Biggest Loser fame |
But powerlifters don’t all look massive and/or obese. They can look like this as well:
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| World Champion Dan Green |
...or this:
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| Multiple world record holder Caitlyn Trout |
The point here isn’t that there are fat powerlifters or that there are lean powerlifters, but that powerlifting can be a great way to lose fat. From my perspective (and many others), the best template for fat loss looks like this:
- Strength Training (read: powerlifting)
- Solid diet
- Lots of sleep and walking
As I’ve blogged about before, everyone thinks that you have to do endless cardio to lose fat, but that simply isn’t the case. Jogging, Spin, Insanity, Zumba, even Crossfit are all inferior to the model outlined above when it comes to fat loss.
The first reason you and America should be powerlifting is FAT LOSS!
The second reason to try powerlifting is that it does a great job of preparing you for life. The whole goal of bodybuilding is to create a massive and symmetrical body and that’s what bodybuilding does well. If that helps you with your everyday life, then maybe bodybuilding is for you. Olympic weightlifting is very good at improving strength, but it’s especially good at improving athleticism. If you need strength and athleticism in your daily life, then maybe weightlifting is for you. Powerlifting, on the other hand, is all about creating the most strength we can create in one body. Could you use some extra strength in your daily life? Maybe you’d like to be able to do pick up and carry heavy things while gardening? Maybe you’d like to be able to open that jar without help? Maybe you’d like to be able to haul/throw your carry-on in the overhead bin easily on your own? Strength, it turns out, is very useful…
If you’re wondering why I’m only talking about lifting weights and not addressing cardio, please read my blog post on cardio. I don’t have the time in this blog to address that topic.
Applied correctly, powerlifting is a safe way to create a strong, useful body. While the ballistics involved in weightlifting make for improved athleticism (compared to powerlifting), they also can be harder to do as we age. Smart powerlifting should involve mastering technique before adding load and the powerlifts applied this way should lead to very few injuries. In fact, building some strength and muscle can serve to injury-proof your body. Developing strength across a full range of motion is in fact one of the best things we can do to decrease our likelihood of injury. Powerlifting with proper technique + Prehab = Injury Proof!
The third reason why you and all of America should be Powerlifting is that it will make you useful and injury proof! In short, it will make you…
If the fat loss and usefulness weren’t enough, there’s one more reason everyone should be powerlifting… Powerlifting offers some fantastic opportunities for mental and spiritual growth. In Part 1 of this post, I talked a little bit about Jackie’s personal growth since taking up barbell training. It can be amazing what happens to people as they struggle to add more weight to the barbell. The barbell will teach you how to believe in yourself. In fact, as the weight approaches your limits, the lifter is often correct whether they believe they can lift it or they believe they cannot. In that way, the barbell teaches you to believe in yourself in a way many of us never learned to do. Likewise, accomplishing things you never thought possible has a fantastic way of changing one’s level of self-confidence. We saw this in the last blog with Jackie and surfing. There is no way she ever would have attempted surfing before the barbell entered her life! Lastly, I think competition is good for average people, but the kind of competition that powerlifting offers is especially good. Competing as an individual means that there is VERY little chance you will ever be the best in the world. It also means that when you’re having a bad day there’s no team to rely on. There is no way to hide from bad days! For people who suffer from perfectionism, the fact that you will never be the best can be difficult to deal with. In these individual sports you must learn to compete with yourself, simply trying to be the best version of yourself each day. This kind of competition does a great job of promoting personal growth and can carry over to many other aspects of our lives. While I think there are many individual sports you can partake in to get these kind of benefits, I think these benefits combined with the first two points in this blog make powerlifting the best choice.
The last reason why you and America should be Powerlifting is the spiritual and mental growth that occurs as you add more weight to the bar!
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| The Miss Fits from Lexington Kentucky |
I think crossfit has done a great job of putting the barbell into the hands of many individuals who would have never touched the barbell otherwise. That’s great, but I think that the typical crossfit template is not the optimal training template for most people. Instead, I’d like to see a shift towards powerlifting! Powerlifting can be great for fat loss, can make you strong and injury proof, and it will cause life-changing mental and spiritual growth! Get a barbell in your hands today and pass the message on. Let’s start a revolution!!
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