What Is Powerlifting?
What Is Powerlifting?
Powerlifting is a strength sport consisting of three events: the squat, the bench, and the deadlift. Competitors (lifters) are allowed three attempts in each event and the maximum weight from each event is summed for a total. Lifters are divided into classes based on bodyweight. In each class, the lifter with the highest total wins.
Lift the weight on your back, remove it from the rack, and wait for the judge to say, “Squat!” beginning the lift. Lower yourself until the top of your knees are slightly lower than the crease of your hips. Then rise and wait for the judge to say, “Rack!” ending the lift.
Grasp the weight, remove it from the rack, and wait for the judge to say, “Start!” beginning the lift. Lower the weight to your body and wait for the judge to yell, “Press!” Then press the weight up, locking your arms at the top, and wait for the judge to say, “Rack!” ending the lift.
(In the deadlift, the weight starts on the floor; the lift begins when you lift the weight off of the floor.) Approach the weight, bend down and grasp it, and then stand up with it. After locking out your knees and hips, wait for the judge to say, “Down!” ending the lift.
Powerlifting has elements of both individual and team sports. Lifters individually place 1st through 5th in each weight class. In turn, placing contributes points to the lifter’s team, with 1st place earning more points than 2nd; 2nd more than 3rd; and so on. Individual trophies are usually awarded for best male lifter and best female lifter (where bodyweight and totals are taken into account). The teams are then ranked by the sum of their lifters’ points. Team trophies are awarded for best men’s team, best women’s team, and best overall team. The Collegiate National Championship is awarded to the highest-ranked overall team.
Who Are Powerlifters?
Quite simply, powerlifters are people who compete in the sport of powerlifting. But, let’s begin with who powerlifters ARE NOT. Powerlifters are not bodybuilders, who are chiefly concerned with muscle mass and not muscle strength. Likewise, powerlifters are not Olympic lifters, who focus on maximum quickness and speed-related exercises.
Powerlifters concentrate on developing maximum strength in the three powerlifts. As such, they do not usually develop extremely muscular physiques; in general, powerlifters look like “ordinary people.” In fact, most lifters stay in one weight class, growing stronger without growing larger.
Collegiate powerlifters are athletes who, with the help of their teammates, work to continuously increase strength and set new personal records. At every competition, is the goal of each lifter to outperform their past efforts. As a team, Texas A&M powerlifters provide motivation, intensity, and support for each other as we work to become a top team full of top-level lifters!
Rules and Weight Classes
The rules of powerlifting are designed to prevent lifters from gaining an advantage by means of equipment, physical size, steroids or similar substances, etc. All equipment is inspected and must conform to IPF guidelines. To ensure fairness in competitions, lifters are divided into classes by gender and bodyweight. Also, most (if not all) meets in which Texas A&M competes employ random drug tests. Click here for USAPL official rules.
The weight classes are listed below:
Men: 114.5 - 123.5 - 132.25 - 148.75 - 165.25 - 181.75 - 198.25 - 220.25 - 242.5 - 275.5 - SHW
Women: 97.0 - 105.75 - 114.5 - 123.5 - 132.25 - 148.75 - 165.25 - 181.75 - 198.25 - SHW
Powerlifting Myths
“I’ll bulk up and gain weight if I start powerlifting...”
As above (Who Are Powerlifters?), most powerlifters are not extraordinarily muscular, but basically look like ordinary people since the goal of powerlifting is to build strength, not muscle size. Having said that, most new powerlifters do gain a small amount of weight during their first month or so of training. This initial (small) weight gain is expected of anyone who starts to work muscles they have never worked before. Generally, though, lifters will pick a weight class and stay in it, rather than try to bulk up over time.
Remember: how big you become will be determined by the amount you eat; not what you do in the gym!
“I'm a girl and don't want to bulk up and ruin my figure...”
Again, the idea that lifting weights will necessarily give you the physique of a bodybuilder is ridiculous! Check out this article about why lifting heavy weights doesn’t bulk up female athletes. Many girls of ALL SIZES compete in powerlifting; girls you have probably seen in class that you would never have guessed were WORLD CLASS POWERLIFTERS!
In fact, here is a quote from The Battalion (8/25/04, “Only the Strong Survive”) with quotes from former A&M lifter and Team USA Junior-World Team-Member Ashley Awalt (Class of 2007):
“I am too busy with school to worry about powerlifting...”
If you say so! Many of our lifters (including club officers) pursue demanding, time-intensive courses of study; some are involved in other student organizations; and several maintain jobs in addition to going to school and lifting.
“Powerlifting is full of steroid freaks; I don't have a chance!”
The USAPL/IPF Powerlifting Federations in which Texas A&M participates require random drug tests from a MINIMUM of 10% of lifters, in addition to drug tests for all record-setters and 1st-place finishers. Now, many people use vitamins and supplements to speed recovery and lessen the chance of injury. However, essentially no one uses substances that create “steroid freaks,” since these substances are prohibited and a positive drug-test nullifies any titles won. If you do see a very muscular collegiate powerlifter, know that their physique is the result of years of hard work, not illegal drugs.
In short, collegiate powerlifting is a strength sport in which you will become part of a team, test yourself, and compete against some of the strongest people in the country.
Awalt said that because they are women, she and the other two females on the A&M Powerlifting Team get varied reactions from students when they tell people they powerlift.
"They always start asking you how much you can bench. We get a lot of dumb questions like, 'Aren't you afraid you'll look like a guy?' or what supplements we take," said Awalt, whose body resembles that of a soccer player or gymnast more than it does of Adonis.
She said many female students at A&M avoid weightlifting because they are afraid they will become bulky.
"The Olympic lifting that's on right now - the girls are huge. The girls on the team here are pretty little, and when you go to a powerlifting meet, you see that the competitors look in shape - not like Sumo women," she said. "A lot of people here don't think that [the girls] lift to the extent that we do because we're not huge."
