Struggling with motivation after time away from training, Kevin found his way back through powerlifting. In this episode, he breaks down the key differences between powerlifting, weightlifting, and weight training, explaining how each impacts strength, fitness, and overall health.
Struggling with motivation after time away from training, Kevin found his way back through powerlifting. In this episode, he breaks down the key differences between powerlifting, weightlifting, and weight training, explaining how each impacts strength, fitness, and overall health.
Get-Fit Guy is hosted by Kevin Don. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hello listeners, I hope everyone is doing well this week. This week, I went shopping to buy a new pair of workout pants and found myself at my favourite spot for such things: Lululemon. I love their clothes, but pretty sure there needs to be some disclaimer here that other brands are available. What I didn’t love, however, was the 360 degree mirrors in the changing area. After 7 months of focusing hard on my studies and my training in the past year going from 6 days a week to 6 days a month, I did not enjoy that view at all. However, like all things related to ones self, it is changeable. I went out to a local spot that I knew had a body composition machine of the same brand I have used in the past and did a quick check in. Since the pandemic, my body weight has not changed at all. However, I have lost 10lbs of muscle mass and gained 10lbs of body fat. Not good, but it’s useful data to use to make a change.
After acquiring this data, I reflected on why this had happened. Really it came down to loss of mojo. Before the pandemic, I was really, really active, I was up early to walk the dog and then after breakfast, I went to meet friends to train strength, usually 3 time a week were pure strength: A squat day, a press and pull day and a deadlift day. In between those days were things like long walks carrying odd objects or pushing/ pulling sleds. In the evenings, I would do martial arts of some kind for my cardio and because its something I enjoy. On a Saturday, I would often try a new sport: swimming, stand up paddle board, trail running etc. Sunday I would rest. On top of that, I tracked everything I ate Monday to Saturday and on a Sunday I didn’t track food and ate whatever I wanted.
Then one day, like it did for everyone, the pandemic happened and I was in ‘lockdown’. No gym, no martial arts, no meeting friends, only allowed outside once a day for 30 mins and it had to be inside a 5 mile radius of home. For the first few weeks my motivation was still high, I went out to run with my dog for 30 mins, I did push ups and air squats at home. But as the weeks turned to months, I stopped. Eventually the lockdowns eased and gyms reopened, but no matter what, I couldn’t seem to get my motivation back. I tried, but it just didn’t seem to work. Looking back, it could be a range of things, including self shame, I didn’t enjoy that I was going and unable to do things I previous found easy. But also, it seemed that somehow the pandemic changed the way people were with each other at the gym. Gone was the sharing equipment and chatting to people. In was people sitting on equipment blocking it for their whole workout, although they were taking 3-4 mins between sets. In was noise cancelling headphones and a look of suspicion at anyone who came too close. I didn’t like it and then I decided to go back to my studies anyway, so it didn’t seem as important. I could just do things for fun when I wanted and in my head I was still fit and strong anyway perhaps so didn’t need to worry.
Recently I have tried a bunch of things but found them to be really cliquey, so I didnt go back. But this past week, after my Lululemon mirror horror, I thought about why I need something new. Why not go back to the things I did enjoy? Martial arts and powerlifting. Why let my memory of being strong and fit stop me from being strong and fit again? So, I messaged the University of Edinburgh Powerlifting Club and asked if I could come and train. They were so friendly and said of course, no problem. So I headed along, everyone was greatly welcoming and there wasn’t a pair of AirPods in sight. Everyone shared a lifting platform and when one person was lifting heavy, everyone stopped to watch and support. I was really great. And although at one point, I was deadlifting 560lbs, yesterday I was deadlifting 270lbs and I felt happy to be there and no pressure at all to do anything outside my current strength levels. After the class, I signed up for the rest of the year and I am really excited about it.
So, thats my little personal anecdote done, now on to this weeks episodes subject matter: what is powerlifting when compared to weightlifting and weight training? So, on the days that the powerlifting club aren’t training, the weighs room is used by the weightlifting club. These being two different sports. In powerlifting, there are 3 main lifts that are trained for: The squat, the bench press and the deadlift. In the squat, your aim is to take the largest possible load through the minimum legal range of motion, usually the hip crease below the knee. Usually, powerlifters do what is called a low bar squat, where the bar is slightly further down your back that it would be for weightlifting, which I will cover in a moment. The reason is no more than mechanical advantage. When the load is closer to the pivot point, the ‘moment arm’ as its called in biomechanics is shorter, so you can usually lift more. In the bench press, again the largest loads are taken through the minimum legal range, this time you are lying on your back and bring a loaded barbell from straight arms down to the chest, press up to straight arms again and you are done. You sometimes see powerlifters with really arched backs or wide hand positions to decrease the range of motion. Finally we have the deadlift, where the load is picked up from the ground, hips and knees lock out and you return the load to the ground under control. You sometimes see some powerlifters with a wide stance called a ‘sumo’ stance to decrease the range of motion.
In the sport of weightlifting, there are 2 lifts, but once there were 3. The lifts are the snatch and the clean and jerk. Until 1972, there was also the clean and press. It was removed then due to difficulties in judging standards, mainly due to competitors leaning back really far and doing what almost looked like a standing bench press (minus the bench obviously). So, what are the two remaining lifts? Well, in the snatch, the goal is to snatch the barbell from the ground overhead in one movement. Usually, the lifter starts squatting down behind the bar, with a very wide grip, almost at the ends of the bar and then pulls the bar up the hips and drops under the bar, catching it overhead and standing up out the bottom of the squat while holding the bar overhead. There are other variants, like a power snatch, where the athlete does not squat under the bar, but these are not usually performed in competition because you cant power snatch as much weight. The second lift is the clean and jerk. In the clean portion, the athlete will start in what looks like a deadlift and rapidly pull the bar up, while shooting under the bar and catching it on the from of the shoulders. The athlete then stands up in what what we call a ‘front’ squat and gets ready to perform a jerk, which is where the knees bend and the barbell is lifted overhead until arms are straight. As support for weightlifting, athletes often train the ‘high bar’ squat, different from the low bar squat powerlifters do. This is because you can do this more easily with an upright torso, something critical to performing weightlifting, but not powerlifting.
Which brings me to weight training. As I said, on certain days in the week, the weight training room is used by the powerlifting club and on others it is used by the weightlifting club. At no time is it used for weight training. Which is the first difference. Weightlifting is a sport. Lifting weights is not. Everything you do in weightlifting is to be better at weightlifting and everything you do when lifting weights should be to be better at life. The next difference is that when I was describing powerlifting, I noted that it is where a participant takes the largest load through the minimum legal range of motion. Lifting weights or weight training, the focus should be on taking the loads through the largest range of motion you can around the joint. So you should squat deep, not as shallow as you can get away with. So why have I gone powerlifting again? Shouldn’t I be training for health? Well, I would argue I am, because I will be training more than I would without the sport club as a motivator. This is more healthy than messing about once a week on my own at the gym, doing not very much and swapping 10lbs of muscle for 10lbs of fat. But also, I am a super competitive person and I will get more out of a sport than I will out of another scenario.
If you are thinking about struggling with motivation, then I think considering joining a club could be an idea. I have said before that the number one predictor of success is adherence and the number one predictor of adherence is enjoyment!
Have a great week and if you want to send me an email, then please do so on getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com.
Get-Fit Guy is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. Thanks to the team at Quick and Dirty Tips Morgan Christianson, Holly Hutchings, the director of podcasts Brennan Goetschius and Davina Tomlin. I’m your host, Kevin Don. If you have a question for me, leave me a voicemail at 510-353-3104 or send me an email at getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com. For more information about the show, visit quickanddirtytips.com, or check out the shownotes in your podcast app