Beginner's Guide To Powerlifting - Power + Poundage

Blow up your maxes and build dense, function-first muscle with this entry-level, results-driven powerlifting program.

- Eric Velazquez, C.S.C.S.

WHEN BODYBUILDERS hit the stage, they are competing in a subjective judging environment where opinions on victors are seldom universal. But in the world of powerlifting—where the competition is simply a function of athlete versus iron—objectivity reigns supreme. Either the athlete has developed the physical constitution and proficiency to complete the lift or he has not. Success in either discipline requires specialization. But when was the last time you invested an entire training cycle to simply increasing limit strength on the bench, squat, and deadlift? And what can you do with all that extra strength—not to mention muscular density and durability—at the end of that type of program? Anything you want, that’s what. POWERLIFTING 101

Powerlifters have a very narrow competitive focus—bench, squat, and deadlift—and, as a result, their programming is generally free of angled, pump-focused accessory work that you see in physique-focused plans. The principle of specific adaptations to imposed demands (SAID) requires that improvements are dictated by programming. And it is in the specificity of training for extreme gains in three particular lifts that full-body strength begins to thrive.

“Powerlifters know you get stronger when you get bigger and you get bigger when you eat more and rest more,” says IFBB pro bodybuilder Stan Efferding (stanefferding .com), who has moonlighted as a competitive powerlifter and posted an 800-pound deadlift. “They exert themselves only when they’re lifting heavy weights and avoid wasting energy elsewhere.”