Powerlifting vs. Bodybuilding

Lol this is categorically untrue.

Firstly, powerlifting is A LOT about muscle equality at the functional level, body building is about muscle equality at the asthetic level. A bodybuilder wants all of their muscles to show well, which means lesser muscles are often focused on just to get them to "pop". Bodybuilders focus on working strands of muscles to get good definition.

Powerlifters often don't care about the particular asthetics of an exercise and work the muscles that will help them push or pull at one of the big three. They do that by continuously focusing on thise big three excersises, which may make their body look asthetically unequal as compared to a bodybuilder.

Regarding accessory workouts, that's debatable. There's the school of thought that you want to lift a certain weight in a certain way (ie: squat) so why would you intentionally not do that excercise to do skmethkng else? Then there's the school of thought that you can bust plateaus by getting away from the big three. And then there's those that mix powerlifting in with equal part accessory workouts. This is a constant debate so there's no point in arguing about it. What I would say is, you'd be hard pressed finding a powrlifter spending an hour on their biceps.

Some obvious contrasts between the two kinds of workouts you'll find bodybuilders and powrlifters doing: a bodybuilder will typically do 6 - 8 reps, powerlifters aim for 5. Body builders focus on two muscle groups a day and have one leg day a week, power lifters will do legs, in one capacity or another, almost every day.

The goal of a powerlifter is to get stronger, which means gaining muscle and not caring as much about weight. The goal of a bodybuilder is to gain muscle while "losing weight" (fat).

As to the "you're not doing either" comment, just because yiu only play beer league hockey doesn't mean you're not a hockey player. You might not be a pro but you're still a hockey player.

To the original question: what do you value, op? Does dead lifting a lot of weight matter to you? Or do you just want to look big?

My cautionary tale to you, as someone who focused on isolation excercises and body building for many years and the switched to power lifting: breaking inequalities is a bitch. Meaning, if you build yiur quads more than your hamstring or develop hip inflexibility, trying to get to a place where yiu're squatting with good form is really hard and takes a lot more work than if yiu were to start "fresh". With that said, there is literally no shame in just wanting to look good.

/r/Fitness Thread Parent