waking of the sleeping giants

I've noticed something over the last five years that has me thinking and coming to a shocking conclusion...bodybuilding is evolving faster than powerlifting. why? it seems bodybuilding has taken training methods and diets to a whole new level changing and evolving the athlete into something beyond that of bodybuilder from what I've seen. Powerlifting from what I've seen is a stand still. Using and REusing training methods that have been tried over and over again only to end up with the same kind of result every time. Myself being a powerlifter, is a big fan of old school training which is a complete hybrid of bodybuilding and powerlifting...in which forged some of the strongest lifters in history. Don't believe me? Look at the world raw records and tell me how many of them were set back in the 70s and 80s.


 

Over the course of the last few months...I've slowly gone back to my old training method while adopting some new ones and in that process...I've managed to help a few that felt like no matter what they did...they remained stuck in only ONE WAY of training. One of my training partners was stuck at 185 for the longest while earlier this year and was frustrated. Then I simply changed up his training a bit...taking it from a purist powerlifting perspective to an "old school" approach and his bench went from 185 to 245 in a few months. Another one of my friends was having knee problems everytime he was squatting. When I approached him we talked about how his training was and granted was training the only way he knew how...which was ONE WAY of training. So i suggested a few ideas and not only did he run with it...he took it further. He went from struggling to squat 365 for just 1-2 reps in the beginning of the workout to doing 8 reps with 405....pre exhausted and at the END of the workout. One more of my friends took his squat from 405 to 495 in 2 months...what did I do to these individuals? I simply gave them a bodybuilding approach to their training that has exceeded their expectations in the gym.

I also noticed that slowly but surely some powerlifters have adopted not just the training aspect but the mentality of bodybuilders into their regimen and diet. Eric Lilliebridge obvious has done this over the years while slowly adding muscle and strength ontop. Anyone that has looked or done their training method knows this. They see the value of using bodybuilding methods into their training and the fact that the results speak for themselves. Mark Bell has made drastic changes over the years in appearance and in the gym. I would say he's alot more stronger now than he was years before and i would like to say the reason for that was mighty Stan Efferding. Yes. He came from bodybuilding to powerlifting and easily and quickly became one of the strongest 275ers in the sport. Others like Ed Coan, Kirk Karwoski, Doug Young, Roger Estep, etc...powerlifters who have adopted bodybuilding concepts ended up making amazing gains. Much of Eric Spoto's training has been bodybuilding adopted. Eric and Jeremy knew what they were doing when they were doing reps on the bench in the 20-40 range with 225 and above...they were overloading the muscle with immense amount of tension rep by rep building a greater level of strength and muscular size...such that is capable of moving the amount of weight these two are capable of and they are both two of the strongest benchers in the world. Another powerlifter that should be made mention is Allen Baria. He's the guy you can find on youtube that benched 405 for 25 reps easy and then did 500 for 10 easy...raw bench. Like Spoto..adopted alot of bodybuilding concepts into his training and he too is incredibly strong as a raw lifter. so why is anyone else not picking up on this? is it pride for the purist? not sure

The issue with powerlifting now is that most of the training programs come from a purist mindset that in order for you to be a powerlifter you have to train like you compete. But to me I've come to see this as incorrect. You compete on the platform not in the gym. My first coach taught me that training is called training for a reason...if you fail to get squat depth or pause on bench or lockout on deadlift...you train yourself to be stronger and to work on those weaknesses so that you can when the time comes. HERE THAT...TRAINING IS TRAINING. Too many guys today come out with the neanderthal approach that you have to lockout EVERY REP OF EVERY LIFT THAT INVOLVES THE PRESS to be a stronger bencher. That you have to pause every rep of every set of every press to be stronger on the bench....that you have to do this or that. fuck no. that only thing you have to do is train your ass off to be stronger. being a strength athlete means being strong all around not just in the big 3. If your stronger on your accessory movements...you'll be stronger on the main three. This has been proven. Look at Ed Coan's training regimen. His training was intense and constantly getting stronger every session to build the big 3 and not just by focusing on the big 3. Sure in the beginning it works very well but at a certain point when you have built up amount of muscle on your frame...the same methods or the same way of training will be rendered useless. Here's what I mean:

My warmups aren't normal warmups. They help you break your ass into a sweat. Stuff like pulldowns hard and heavy before deads...cable crossovers...same...before bench....leg extensions/leg curls/calf raises before squats. Why all this? Cause your not a damn rookie. You have muscle. The more muscle you have...the longer it takes for you to be warmed up and ready to rock and roll. If your not physically ready to do the work...your approaching the lift cold. Yes...you have warmup sets on the big 3 BUT since its a compound movement...multiple muscle are being involved hence..the overdominant ones taking over instead of the muscles all working together. Only way to do that is to "pre-exhaust. Tiny Meeker..years ago came to a meet i was helping out at. He commented on how big i was and later we talked over the phone and wanted to know how much i was benching. I was embarassed to say the least when I told him it wasn't what he was expecting. So he discussed how I warmed up which was 135/225/315/ and then work set. He wanted me to approach it in this manner...135x12/10 225x8/6 315x3/1 405x1 and 495x1. Now at the time I couldn't do 495 and my work set started at 365 so I did the first 6 sets like he told me and wow..big difference. That day I moved 365 stronger than I ever did and I remembered at the meet Tiny took a lot of warmups before he even got into his shirt...ended his last warmup nearing 585 raw before putting on his bench shirt and he was sweating up a storm. I was afraid that by sweating I would be wearing myself out. Nope. Just means that I was finally ready for the work and it was going to be productive work. My friend that I mentioned earlier that was having knee issues would go thru an entire workout before he touch squats and made them look easy. Did the same with deads. Pre-exhaustion is old school training method and still works 40 years later even though you might find more bodybuilders using this concept than powerlifters.

Powerlifters have a tendency to only use a limited amount of rep ranges to make gains...while bodybuilders use a variety of reps...training methods...etc to get stronger in any way and every way to be bigger thru being stronger. I was seeing powerlifters locking out every rep on shoulder work but compared to a bodybuilder who was using the method of "time under tension" was moving more weight and showing a great deal of results faster in terms of both strength and muscular size and more muscular size..the more it can move MORE WEIGHT and less prone to injury from having weight bear on joints. I was also seeing bodybuilders transitioning over to powerlifting in a major way making themselves seem light years ahead of those with the "purist" mindset. Jeremy Hoornstra and Derek Kendall are two that i know of that came from a bodybuilding background to powerlifting and skyrocketed to world class in a very short time. Eric Spoto's training simlulates bodybuilding training as well. Ryan Kennelly..while he used a bench shirt...used alot of high reps in his raw training to be physically strong as he was in his shirt and not just rely on the gear to do the work.  These guys know the value of what "training is about thru using various rep ranges. One week I did dumbbell inclines but not knowing i was locking out every rep. Days after my elbows were killing me but after watching Justin Comptons' training video and explain his reasoning for doin "his" reps it was clear to me on that i compete on the bench...not dumbbell incline bench. i merely use it to train and get stronger for the bench. So the next week...I dropped my reps short of lockout...not only was there more productive work on the chest using time under tension...but it translated very well and very fast to the bench press. So one has to ask...do you perform a movement cause its explained in the textbook or its the right way or do you perform the movement by letting the muscle being worked move the weight even if the range of motion was shorter and using time under tension.

I truly and honestly believe that bodybuilders will in term will be stronger than powerlifters...and keep in mind..i'm talking about the powerlifters' who have the purist mindset not those who have adopted the "hyrid" style of training.  now that's a bold opininonated statement. But if powerlifting doesn't pull its head out of its ass it very well be a fact of life. The sport itself has become very close minded more than when I first started. Powerlifters are becoming more reliant on what gear they are using as supposed to work on getting physically bigger and stronger. Back in the 70s and 80s powerlifters were taking ideas and concepts from bodybuilders. Now bodybuilders are taking pages out of powerlifters' book and evolving faster. I mean look at the strength that some of these physiques are able to achieve. Yes..they aren't powerlifters. But the fact remains that the few that has transitioned over from bodybuilding now have become obvious or anyone that has adopted bodybuilding into their powerlifting regimen. There are few lies or delusions here. Its from what I'm seeing and I hope this comes off a wake up call to those who feel entitled and/or too proud to think outside of the box as bodybuilders are doing today just simply cause they feel their training methods don't need to change due to the results they have been yielding. Cause to those who have adopted the hybrid way of training and those who are bodybuilders are out to do three things now:

1. get stronger.
2. get jacked.
3. do epic shit.
the purist powerlifters are sleeping giants that need to be awakened to what's really happening around them and from what i'm seeing the purists are being left behind in the smoke in this equation. 

train. adapt. evolve.