5 Reasons Why a Powerlifting Program Might Be Just What You Need
Written on July 17, 2014 at 7:10 pm, by Eric Cressey
Today's guest post comes from CSP Coach Greg Robins, who is my co-author on the resource, The Specialization Success Guide: 12 Weeks to a Bigger Squat, Bench Press, and Deadlift. It's on sale through tomorrow (Sunday) at midnight; just enter the coupon code ROBINS at checkout to get 40% off.
I realize that competing in powerlifting is a far cry from what most aspire to do. That being said, much can be learned from the approach, and much of what the general gym-goer is looking to accomplish can be reached with the help of a powerlifting program.
To be honest, when I began training alongside a few competitive lifters, competing was not even a thought in my mind. To this day, I don’t consider myself first and foremost a “competitive lifter.” I am a coach, and powerlifting simply has done the following positive things for me. I have seen it do the same for countless other people, and so I invite you take a gander, and ask yourself if you aspire for a similar outcome.
1. It teaches you the difference between “training” and “working out.”
Simply stated, if your visits to the gym don’t serve to attain a greater result in some physical endeavor, then you are simply “exercising.” Diving into a powerlifting program gives your visits to the gym a purpose. When you have a purpose for what you do, you are “training,” not “working out.“
When you make the switch, a few essential characteristics of the successful gym goer begin to emerge. For starters, you become more consistent. Knowing that each session builds off the last makes you more accountable to each training session. Consistency is the absolute must-have ingredient to accomplish any goal.
With that in mind, you ultimately become more accountable to yourself. Recovery measures like sleep and nutrition no longer become a tedious chore. Instead, you willingly make the decision to eat right, get adequate sleep, and minimalize activities that may take away from your training.
When those things organically start happening, you become more productive, see more results, and all the while never feel like they are anything but part of your way of lifes.
2. It teaches you about managing variables and gives you a consistent measurement for improvement.
The problem with most gym-goers is that they have no idea what is working, what isn’t working, or even what they are using to measure their success. Following a powerlifting program gives you three fundamental lifts from which you can measure progress. It’s cut and dry: are the numbers going up? If not, you can look back on your training and assess a few possibilities for why your strength isn’t improving. If yes, you can make note of what you are doing as a source of information to look back on should you run into a plateau down the road.
Over time, consistently working on the same end goal helps you to understand the training process as a whole. You will be able to take ownership for your plan, and optimize it for you.
3. Getting stronger just so happens to do a lot of good things for your physique, health, and lifestyle.
I’m not clueless; I know why most folks exercise. You can feed me all the lines about health, but the fact is most people just want to look good. I was no different. If I could go back in time, I would have started training like a powerlifter at age 16. If I had, I would have acquired everything I sought out from an aesthetic standpoint a LOT SOONER. When I began powerlifting, I obviously began to get a lot stronger – but I also ate better, slept more, and kicked bad habits that didn’t help my performance to the curb.
Not surprisingly, getting stronger meant I put on more muscle, eating better meant I actually got leaner, and paying attention to how my lifestyle did or did not support my training meant I was actually healthier, more productive, and just generally feeling more awesome.
I realized that looking and feeling good were just a bi-product of training with a purpose. My outlook changed, and I wasn’t caught up in superficial crap, just in paying my dues in the gym and earning my progress.
4. The powerlifting community brings out the best in the industry.
When you begin to train for the “Big 3,” you begin to enlist the help of others who do the same. You read their articles, watch their videos, attend their seminars, and so on. Maybe I’m biased, but those who put the time under the iron – and instill that mindset in others – are the people I have come to admire the most.
It’s really not surprising to me at all. Powerlifting taught me what was important. It taught me about movement, because I had to optimize my positions in each lift. It taught me about programming, because I had to be able to objectively look back on all my training variables. It taught me about delayed gratification, because strength takes time to develop. It taught me about work ethic, because nothing comes easy in the battle of forcing adaption. Again, it taught me about what is important, because I began to only concern myself with things that had positive influences on my development. It has done the same for others who share in the pursuit of strength and they are among the best people to learn from and be around.
When you take on this identity to your training, you become part of that community.
5. It instills a sense of confidence in you that is unparalleled.
Walk around and look at the state of this country. It can be appalling. Exercising, in general, may make you feel like you aren’t wasting away, but possessing a level of physical strength far higher than the normal person makes you feel like the specimen you are.
I’m all about using powerlifting as an outlet for my aggression, my need to push the levels of what I can do, to channel my inner animal, to overcome. To some, that notion is unappealing; it’s too “meatheadish”, or too primal. I beg to differ, completely.
In fact, through purposeful training I am more confident to share how I feel, to learn about anything and everything, to explore different avenues of self-development.
A well-defined training goal gives you an opportunity to willingly make yourself uncomfortable. In doing so you learn that even in times of adversity, or pain, that you did not choose to encounter you can get through. I walk around with a sense of confidence, not because I can lift a certain number of pounds, but because I can welcome a challenge head on, and crush it.
Can other forms of physical activity do something similar? Sure they can, but if you are part of the herd of gym-goers that walks into the gym each day and doesn’t know exactly why you there, and what the focus is for that day, then I challenge you to give a powerlifting-geared approach a shot.
You can pick up several 12-week training programs in The Specialization Success Guide that Eric and I developed, or you can dive into any other number of programs out there. I don’t care what you choose to do, but I do challenge you to see it through for a prolonged period of time. I welcome you to this community of like-minded individuals, and for those of you who do choose to run our program I thank you and look forward to hearing about your success.
For more information on The Specialization Success Guide - which is on sale through this tomorrow night at 40% off the normal price - click HERE. Just enter the coupon code ROBINS at checkout to receive the discount.
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July 17th, 2014 at 8:22 pm
I am an older lifter who has been told to stop lifting altogether by my ophthalmologist (especially power lifting). His reason, increased intra optical pressure. He says that the valsalva effect increases the pressure and greatly increases the risk of glaucoma. I am on medication (eye drops) that control and lower the pressure and will be seeking a second opinion soon to see if the diagnosis and treatment are the same. If anyone has encountered this issue I would greatly appreciate any input…..I would hate to give up the iron after all this time, I eat breath and you know the rest of it.
July 18th, 2014 at 6:24 am
Great read Greg! Could not agree more. I had always been on this never ending “cardio-quest” because I battle with my weight. Once I began putting more focus on my lifts it all started “magically” coming together.
-Mike
July 18th, 2014 at 9:43 am
Thank you for this! I’m competing tomorrow in my first Powerlifting Meet. IFBB Figure Pro making the switch into Powerlifting! 🙂 Great Read!!