powerlifting vs bodybuilding

Doman26

Ok most of you will probably think this is a stupid question, but I came upon this subjective viewpoint because of the little I know about professional bodybuilding and powerlifting.

I understand the difference between the two styles of lifting but professional bodybuilders are not by any means slouches when it comes to lifting weight, you guys can lift a ton!

My question relates to the actual difference in gaining strength between the two styles. I assume a powerlifter will always be stronger, but as I said previously bodybuilders are strong too. I guess it is kind of hard to answer this since every body is different.

If you could take a person and see how strong he got powerlifting vs bodybuilding, how much difference in strength could there really be? I know a powerlifter will be stronger, but how significant is the strength difference?

Thanks for any input, I just wanted to see what you more experienced guys had to say.

Bodyworks

all down to training. powerlifters sole focus is moving the heaviest weight possible,a bodybuilders sole focus is building muscle tissue. that said, in either discipline, if you lift very heavy weights regularly, you will make great strength gains. the old addage that muscle size doesn't necessarily equate to muscle strength holds some truth. powerlifters aren't just strong f*ckers, there is plenty of technique involved that must be learned over time.

wogihao

Also they depend on suport equipment alot (equiped lifting anyway), limited number of movements as well.

you have to work on becoming a proper fat bastard as well to be good at it, your rom reduces even further on stuff like bench and squat with the extra blubber.

There is technique like all things, the training is very diffrent. alot of the exersises are performed in a completely diffrent way to what your used to.

For instance a powerlifting bench press is almost the oposite of a bodybuilding one. You arch your back as much as possible (so that your butt and shoulderblades are the only things touching the bench).

You dont flare your elbows out, you take the majority of the weight on your back/lats. you keep the bar if possible in your fed to almost your gut (because thats going to be the high point..) but some feds make you do it to the breast bone and thats harder...

Its hard to explain in words, your best bet to see the diffrence is to watch some of the american mickey mouse fed videos to see just how diffrent the techniques are.

labrat

Have to agree on that point. I look at some of the videos on You Tube of mainly American benchpresses and think "what the f%^& was that s+_) ???? "
Very strong but if you are going to CHEAT the range of motion and CHEAT by wearing Robocops cast offs then surely you are just CHEATING all round ??????
Maybe we can have a new catagory called POWERCHEATING where the the one with the most support equipment and shortest range of motion wins

scottswald

yes, i agree, also, powerlifters work in a differant rep range (obviously lower) to bodybuilders as they are not aiming to stimulate the muscle in the same way.