Weightlifting vs Powerlifting vs Strengthlifting - What's the Difference?!
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(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 11/20/18)
“What’s the deal with all of these lifting sports? I can’t keep them straight!”
No worries - let’s take a quick look at the three major sports of the barbell world (you can also watch the included video).
Powerlifting
This is the sport of the squat (i.e., back squat), bench press, and the deadlift. Each lifter gets 3 attempts on the squat, 3 attempts on the bench press, and 3 attempts on the deadlift.
Take your best attempt from each lift, add them together, and you have what is known as your total.
Stephanie locks out the press at a strengthlifting meet.
Strengthlifting
This is the sport of the squat, the press, and the deadlift. It is similar to powerlifting, but there are several notable differences:
The press (i.e., overhead press) is contested, not the bench press.
The deadlift is conventional, which means your hands go outside of your legs. This is how we teach the deadlift anyway, so it’s not unusual to you, but at powerlifting meets, a beast known as the sumo deadlift often makes an appearance (wherein the stance is very wide and the grip is fairly narrow - inside the stance).
The judges simply tell you whether or not the lift counted, whereas in powerlifting, the judges are a bit more involved.
Chris snatches 133 kg at a weightlifting meet.
Weightlifting
This is the sport of the snatch and the clean-and-jerk. Like the other two sports, each lifter gets 3 attempts on each of the lifts, and once again, we add the best successful lifts together to get a total.
Weightlifting is also known as “olympic weightlifting” or simply “olympic lifting.”
If you’ve ever watched lifting during the Summer Olympics, this is the sport you witnessed.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
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What NOBODY Tells You About Your First Lifting Meet!
/Thinking about doing your first powerlifting meet, weightlifting meet, strengthlifting meet, or strongman competition? Phil gives the most important tip you'll ever get for your first competition.
(This is a Blast from the Past video originally published on 01/01/22.)
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Weightlifting vs Powerlifting vs Strengthlifting
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jason deadlifts 218 kg (480.6 lb).
(This article is a Blast from the Past article originally posted on 11/20/18.)
“What’s the deal with all of these lifting sports? I can’t keep them straight!”
No worries - let’s take a quick look at the three major sports of the barbell world.
Powerlifting
This is the sport of the squat, bench press, and deadlift. Each lifter gets 3 attempts on the squat, 3 attempts on the bench press, and 3 attempts on the deadlift. Take your best attempt from each lift, add them together, and you have what is known as your total.
Geneva presses 55 kg (121.3 lb).
Strengthlifting
This is the sport of the squat, the press, and deadlift. It is similar to powerlifting, but there are several notable differences.
The press (i.e., overhead press) is contested, not the bench press.
The deadlift is conventional, which means your hands go outside of your legs. This is how we teach the deadlift anyway, so it’s not unusual to you, but at powerlifting meets, a beast known as the sumo deadlift often makes an appearance (wherein the stance is very wide and the grip is fairly narrow - inside the stance).
The judges simply tell you whether or not the lift counted, whereas in powerlifting, the judges are a bit more involved.
Maddie cleans-and-jerks 60 kg (132.3 lb).
Weightlifting
This is the sport of the snatch and clean-and-jerk. Like the other two sports, each lifter gets 3 attempts on each of the lifts, and once again, we add the best successful lifts together to get a total.
Weightlifting is also known as “olympic weightlifting” or simply “olympic lifting.”
If you’ve ever watched lifting during the Summer Olympics, this is the sport you witnessed.
If you found this helpful, you’ll love our weekly email. It’s got useful videos, articles, and training tips just like the one in this article. Sign up below, and of course, if you don’t love it, you can unsubscribe at any time.
At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Click the button below to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach and start getting stronger TODAY.
Thinking About Competing? Here's Why You SHOULDN'T.
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You’ve been squatting, pressing, deadlifting, and benching now for a few weeks - perhaps a few months, even. Maybe you’ve been snatching and clean-and-jerking, too, you crazy cat. Then it happens - you hear about an upcoming meet that’s a few months away, and for the briefest of moments, you actually think that you might sign up for it. “It could be kinda fun,” you find yourself thinking.
But then you mentally pull back a bit. You think, “I think I’ll do a meet at some point - maybe when my squat gets up to Random Weight. Yeah. That sounds good. When I can squat Random Weight and deadlift Other Random Weight, then I’ll sign up.”
Stop. Stop it right now. Your problem is - somewhere along the line - you became an adult. If you were still in kindergarten, your folks would toss you in youth soccer/basketball/volleyball, and two weeks later, you’d play your first game.
Thank goodness. If kindergartners played sports the way we adults often treat lifting, the poor kids would never get to play a game. Instead, they practice for a few weeks, then they play some games . . . and they have a blast.
You will too. Don’t wait until you feel ready. If you wait for that particular ethereal sensation, you’ll never sign up. Once your squat gets up to Random Weight, you’ll tell yourself, “Well, that wasn’t all that impressive, but I’ll sign up when my squat gets to The Next Goal.” This type of thinking runs on forever, and in the meantime, you’ll be missing out on a lot of fun.
Because that’s what happens when you do a meet. Fun. After someone’s first meet, I always hear something like, “That was so much fun! I’ll definitely do another one.” You don’t do your first meet to break world records - you do it to have fun and get some experience, and you then have some numbers to try and beat for your next competition.
If you’re thinking about competing . . . don’t. Not “Don’t compete” but “Don’t think about competing.” Just do it.
The time to compete is Now. Not later. Stop thinking about it. Just sign up. That meet is still a few months off, anyway, so you’ve got plenty of time to train. But sign up today. You won’t regret it.
As always, we hope this helps you get stronger and live better.
P.S.
If you’re still reading at this point, you’re definitely thinking about signing up for a meet, so click here to head over to our events page and check out our veritable smorgasbord of upcoming events. You’ll have a blast no matter which one you choose.
At Testify, we offer small group training, private coaching (in-person or remotely via Zoom), online coaching, and form checks. Would you like to get quality coaching from a Starting Strength Coach?
Barbell Sports
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(A Blast from the Past article originally posted on 11/20/18.)
“What’s the deal with all of these lifting sports? I can’t keep them straight!”
No worries - let’s take a quick look at the three major sports of the barbell world.
Powerlifting: This is the sport of the back squat, bench press, and the deadlift. Each lifter gets 3 attempts on the squat, 3 attempts on the bench press, and 3 attempts on the deadlift. Take your best attempt from each lift, add them together, and you have what is known as your total.
Strengthlifting: This is the sport of the back squat, the press, and the deadlift. It is similar to powerlifting, but there are several notable differences:
The press (i.e., overhead press) is contested, not the bench press.
The deadlift is conventional, which means your hands go outside of your legs. This is how we teach the deadlift anyway, so it’s not unusual to you, but at powerlifting meets, a beast known as the sumo deadlift often makes an appearance (wherein the stance is very wide and the grip is fairly narrow - inside the stance).
The judges simply tell you whether or not the lift counted, whereas in powerlifting, the judges are a bit more involved.
Weightlifting: This is the sport of the snatch and the clean-and-jerk. Like the other two sports, each lifter gets 3 attempts on each of the lifts, and once again, we add the best successful lifts together to get a total.
Weightlifting is also known as “olympic weightlifting” or simply “olympic lifting.”
If you’ve ever watched lifting during the Summer Olympics, this is the sport you witnessed.