Powerlifting is a sport that consists of three main lifts—the bench press, the deadlift, and the squat. The weight lifted for each of the three lifts is totaled for the final score. Powerlifting offers different weight categories so lifters can display their “relative” strength. The powerlifting movements are shorter than those found in Olympic lifting, where athletes try to lift weight from the floor over their heads. However, the powerlifting movements aren’t as explosive as the Olympic lifts.
Many football teams rely on the bench press and squat as two of the core lifts. Strength and conditioning coaches periodize these lifts based on a percentage of the player’s one rep maximum. The squat and the bench press both have an eccentric contraction followed by a concentric contraction. This is important because a concentric contraction is always more forceful when followed by an eccentric contraction. On the other hand, the deadlift is different because the weight is being lifted from the floor so the concentric contraction of the agonist muscles precedes the eccentric contraction of the agonist muscles. The purpose of these lifts is to display the highest amount of power in your weight class. These lifts are fairly slow because when force development is high, velocity is low and vice versa.
Physiology of the exercise
All three of the movements in powerlifting are compound movements, meaning they involve more than one muscle group and more than one joint. The force in these movements is incredibly high. Therefore, the velocity is relatively slow. I use the phrase “relatively slow” because all of these lifts are completed within 3–5 seconds, which isn’t very long. Because the force is so high, the distance is short.
For example, I’m six-feet tall so the largest range of motion for any of the three lifts that I complete are during the squat. My hip joint lowers about 0.6 meters from the top to the bottom of the squat. During the bench press, I move the bar approximately 0.55 meters, and during the deadlift, the bar is moving 0.58 meters. I used a nice easy number of 500 lbs (226.75 kg) to plug in for all three of the lifts. I figured that the bench has a total of three seconds of work compared to four seconds for the other two lifts. This means that while lifting a weight of 500 lbs, the highest power output occurs during the bench press. My output is 407 W of power. However, the greatest amount of work done is in the squat because I have to cover the most distance in this exercise.
The agonist muscles in the bench press and squat are preloaded at the beginning of the lift. I don’t know if this has been proven, but from personal experience and in talking with experienced powerlifters, I know that this helps stimulate the nervous system in preparation for the lift. It can be explained by the first step in force development known as the motor neuron action potential. The deadlift is different because it starts from a “dead” position, meaning there was no preloading. The weight is lifted straight off the ground. The squat and bench press have an advantage over the deadlift. We know that a concentric contraction is more powerful if it’s preceded by an eccentric contraction. The bench press can actually lose this beneficial effect because some powerlifting meets require a complete stop and pause at the bottom of the lift. The stored elastic energy will then be lost and you’re essentially starting from a “dead” position. However, the lifting shirt that some lifters wear creates a very artificial elastic response. The eccentric part of the deadlift doesn’t happen until the end of the lift.
Athletes with a higher activity of the enzyme, ATPase, are more successful than lifters who have a lower activity of ATPase. If there is higher activity of the ATPase enzyme, there are more fast twitch fibers. Powerlifting movements rely heavily on fast twitch type II b fibers. A greater number of fast twitch fibers equals higher peak power. Because the powerlifting movements only last up to five seconds, the ATP-PC system is the dominant system used. This energy system can supply up to five seconds of all-out effort making it the perfect system for powerlifting. The three activities that require energy from ATP are crossbridge cycling (65–70 percent), calcium pumping (20–30 percent) and ion pumping (5–10 percent). Recruitment plays a larger role than rate coding in these short, but powerful types of movements.
It’s interesting to examine the different body types at these events. I always assumed that shorter, stout men had a greater chance at success than taller men. However, most of the time, taller men have longer levers and can exert more power and speed than shorter men. On the other hand, they have an increased range of motion, which, when lifting very heavy weights, can hamper their ability to move the heavy poundage over that greater distance. Both body types have their own unique advantages, but the shorter lifter usually has the edge.
The key to force development is figuring out how much muscle there is that can be activated, or in other words, determining the “active cross-sectional area.” The muscle spindle and Golgi tendon organs play a protective role in the three powerlifting movements. If the nervous system senses from either the muscle spindle or Golgi tendon organ that the muscle is being stretched or eccentrically contracted against too great a force, the system will shut down and essentially terminate the lift. The muscle spindle will actually detect the lengthening of the muscle, resulting in a more forceful concentric contraction.
Assuming that the powerlifter’s diet is nutritionally sound and he or she has no underlying medical disorders, failure during an actual competition will result most likely from either an injury or too small of an active cross-sectional muscular area. Fatigue isn’t a significant factor during a meet where the lifter is attempting a personal max lift. Fatigue can impair performance when training for this type of lifting because most of the time the lifter is lifting a higher overall volume and doing multiple sets. This can be the result of insufficient ATP formation and too high of a power output.
Assessment
Powerlifting has been used to train many different types of athletes. The squat and the bench press are common in many strength and conditioning programs. I sometimes question the use of these exercises in training athletes because they have to be decelerated at the end of the lift. There are other ways to get around this, such as plyometrics or jump squats for the lower body. For the upper body, you can use explosive throws with a medicine ball while lying in the bench press position. The problem with these solutions though is that power development is low because of the light loads. Most athletes (but not all) would benefit more from high velocity movements such as the power clean and snatch, where very high speeds of movement are reached. However, it’s the strength and conditioning coach’s job to decide what will benefit the athletes the most.
Competitive powerlifting can take several years to master because many things must be adapted in order to be successful. These adaptations include increases in muscle cross-sectional areas, changes in the nervous system, and inhibitions of muscle spindle and Golgi tendon organs so that you’re able to lift these incredible weights. The rate of force development in the form of recruitment and rate coding must be enhanced, and tendons must be strengthened, which takes longer to adapt than muscle tissue.
Generally, powerlifters train with high intensity and low volume compared to bodybuilders. Some powerlifters gain a noticeable amount of muscle mass from this type of training, which demonstrates that hypertrophy can occur with lower reps and that everybody is different. Some powerlifters aren’t very big at all, but they move a ton of weight. This illustrates how the nervous system plays a very large role in power development. Powerlifting is very unique because many other factors such as muscle insertion, limb length, and psychological factors will all determine lifting limitations. All other things being equal, those individuals with a higher number of fast-twitch fibers will be the ones breaking the world records.
In my opinion, powerlifting is inappropriately named because of the very heavy loads being moved and the low velocity of the lifts. If I could rename the different areas of weight lifting, I would call powerlifting weight lifting. Many people don’t know the difference between Olympic lifting and powerlifting. Generally, Olympic lifting can be called explosive lifting. One of the underestimated benefits of powerlifting for athletes is the psychological benefit of setting a new personal record.
References
1. Baechle TR, Earle RW (2000) Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning: 2nd Edition. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
2. Eldrige JA (2007) Unit 1, Lesson 1, pg 4.
3. Eldrige JA (2007), Unit 2, Lesson 1–3, pg 4–9.
4. Eldrige JA (2007) Unit 3, Lesson 1–5, pg 3.
5. Howley ET, Power SK (2007) Exercise Physiology: Theory and Application to Fitness and Performance: 6th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
6. Sports Fitness Advisor, Power Training for Sport.
7. Katch FI, Katch VL, McArdle WD (2001) Exercise Physiology: Energy, Performance and Nutrition: 5th Edition. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins.