Through the centuries feats of physical strength have always been fairly popular for people to watch and participate in. In the 21st century things have not changed. There are now multiple disciplines that are considered strength sports, many organizations that promote them, some in which you can earn money, most in which all you get is a t-shirt and a plastic trophy or medal. My goal in this article is to help you distinguish between two of the more popular strength sports in our current society, power-lifting and weightlifting. These two individual sports are used in the other strength sports as events or training tools. Since they are the base to almost every strength sport out there let us see what they are.
Weightlifting is the more commonly known sport of these two strength sport giants. This is mainly because these lifts are what people see during the Olympics. Weightlifting is comprised of two lifts, the clean and jerk and the snatch. The clean and jerk is started with the weight on the ground, the athlete will grab the bar with a shoulder width grip and “clean” the bar to their shoulders. The athlete will make a sudden dip and drive the weight overhead until it is locked out and the judge gives the signal that it was a good lift. The snatch is a lift in which the bar also starts on the ground, but this time the athlete will get an extremely wide grip. They will then hoist the weight from the ground to an overhead position. These descriptions are very simple but the lifts are actually very technical lifts. If you are looking at adding these into your workouts I would advise you to learn the technique well. Weightlifting requires an extreme amount of speed and flexibility along with strength. like with most sports, you can make up for a lack of strength with excellent technique. Despite weightlifting being the more well known of these two power houses it is actually less popular. It has been shunned in almost every gym in America because people don’t know how to perform the lifts, it does not create the ideal beach body (or so you think, these lifts were staples in bodybuilders programs up through the 70’s), and it scares the soccer moms and grand-moms that work out in the local gyms. If you want to get good at these lifts you will need a coach or a nice camera to view your techniques every time you train. This is the sport of weightlifting.
Power-lifting has become very popular over the years partially because of the popularity of one lift, the bench press. This is just one of the three lifts that are involved in power-lifting. The other lifts are the squat and the deadlift. In a power-lifting competition, just like weight lifting, you will get three attempts to lifts as heavy a weight as you possibly can. You will start with the squat. The squat bar starts in a stand or a mono-lift and the lifter puts the bar on their back, once ready the athlete will be given a “squat” command and they will lower themselves into a squat and have to stand back up with the weight and then wait for another command to put the bar back. The bench press is everyone’s favorite lift but I will go over the basic rules. The athlete will lay down and a bench and take the bar from the rack, once they have the weight under control they will lower it their chest until the bar comes to a complete stop, then they will reverse the direction of the bar until it is fully locked out and under control. The athlete will then have to re-rack the weight. The athlete must also keep their shoulders on the bench, their but on the bench, and their feet on the ground. If all of these rules are followed the athlete will be given white lights and will be able to continue on. The dead-lift is the least technical of the lifts but is possibly the best overall test of strength. This lift is very simple, the bar is on the ground and you must lift it up until your hips are locked out. Your best lift in each of the events will then be added up and the winner will be determined by the total. The one problem i have with this sport is the lack of unity. There are over 50 different federations in the United States, all of which have their own set of rules which are slightly different but serve the purpose of those that do not want to follow the rules of another federation. Power-lifting is a fun sport and can be done almost at every gym in America. Unfortunately, some gyms frown on strong people and will not let them dead-lift, bring chalk(increases you grip) to the gym, and not have safe equipment to squat or bench press in. Power-lifting is much easier to learn than weightlifting but the same attributes that help you become a successful weightlifter can also help you become a successful power-lifter.
Despite their differences these two sports have survived for a number of years and will continue to flourish as a form of training for years to come. Both weightlifting and power-lifting require technique,flexibility, speed, and strength to be successful. So get out there, learn the lifts and maybe even enter a competition or two…they are fun.
