Choose Weightlifting or Powerlifting?

Thanks.
Strongman is also an option.
I see these people at my gym who are ridiculously strong and think “I have a very long ways to go.” I also see the numbers some of the powerlifters and weightlifters put up as well as strongman competitors; I just feel like its impossible strength.

I’ve only been lifting SERIOUSLY for about a year and I see how far I have to go and how long it is going to take for me to become competitive. It’s kind of frustrating sometimes.

[quote]elano wrote:
Thanks.
Strongman is also an option.
I see these people at my gym who are ridiculously strong and think “I have a very long ways to go.” I also see the numbers some of the powerlifters and weightlifters put up as well as strongman competitors; I just feel like its impossible strength.

I’ve only been lifting SERIOUSLY for about a year and I see how far I have to go and how long it is going to take for me to become competitive. It’s kind of frustrating sometimes.[/quote]

Honestly, if you do WLing now, and get competitive you can always switch to pling and be reletively competitive in a short time. The reverse is rarely true.

Don’t wait until you are “competitive” to compete. Doesn’t matter which you chose, the goal of a specific competition gives your training incredible focus. Pick a competition and enter it.

I didn’t choose between the two. Competing in powerlifting never entered my mind until recently. I started o-lifting back in 1973, fell in love with them the first time I saw someone do a snatch. For some time I just played around with them. Then in the early 1980’s, I ran into a guy, Doug Cooper, in the weight room at school who competed. He encouraged me to try competing. His girl friend at the time was one of the first female o-lifters in the country, Rachael Silverman. It sounded like fun, and besides, she was cute. So I went with them and have been competing ever since.

Yeah, just do whatever gets your jollies.

Apply that to all walks of life, btw.

Do weightlifting if your going to compete. Most weighlifters have great pulls and squats to begin with, so it wouldn’t take them long to compete in powerlifting if they wanted to!!!

[quote]elano wrote:
Thanks.
Strongman is also an option.
I see these people at my gym who are ridiculously strong and think “I have a very long ways to go.” I also see the numbers some of the powerlifters and weightlifters put up as well as strongman competitors; I just feel like its impossible strength.

I’ve only been lifting SERIOUSLY for about a year and I see how far I have to go and how long it is going to take for me to become competitive. It’s kind of frustrating sometimes.[/quote]

EVERYBODY starts somewhere.

It’s not like choosing between the NBA and the NFL :slight_smile: Just focus on getting really strong, and like others have said, OL has a far greater curve that needs to be started earlier on, so if thats an interest of yours, no time like the present.

I also agree that you should get started competing as well. I think it was Louie Simmons who said you don’t really learn how to train until you incur a serious injury. I think a close second to that would be having your weak points (even if its everything!) exposed on the platform and then streamlining your training to improve.

Best of luck

Pat

[quote]gainera2582 wrote:
Do weightlifting if your going to compete. Most weighlifters have great pulls and squats to begin with, so it wouldn’t take them long to compete in powerlifting if they wanted to!!![/quote]

I qualify that with this: most STRONG weightlifters have good pulls and squats. That is to say that a lot of guys hitting good- not record-setting, but good- numbers in weighlifting that are not hellaciously strong- thay are just good at what they do. I have seen guys that compete at a lower level in national meets in WLing that were not impressive pullers or squatters- even by regular gymrat standards. Technique is paramount and lots of guys get pretty far by learning to pull and jump fast with meticulous technique without ever dunking a 400 lb squat or a 500 lb pull. This is logical though- why should you worry about a 500 lb deadlift when you are chasing a 275 snatch and a 308 clean?

[quote]Pinto wrote:
gainera2582 wrote:
Do weightlifting if your going to compete. Most weighlifters have great pulls and squats to begin with, so it wouldn’t take them long to compete in powerlifting if they wanted to!!!

I qualify that with this: most STRONG weightlifters have good pulls and squats. That is to say that a lot of guys hitting good- not record-setting, but good- numbers in weighlifting that are not hellaciously strong- thay are just good at what they do. I have seen guys that compete at a lower level in national meets in WLing that were not impressive pullers or squatters- even by regular gymrat standards. Technique is paramount and lots of guys get pretty far by learning to pull and jump fast with meticulous technique without ever dunking a 400 lb squat or a 500 lb pull. This is logical though- why should you worry about a 500 lb deadlift when you are chasing a 275 snatch and a 308 clean? [/quote]

hum… Actually…

I better not… this is not the thread to discuss that. Plus such a discussion is plenty stupid. Just like the Raw vs Gear discussions in PL are stupid.

[quote]sluicy wrote:
I love watching weightlifting and the combination of strength and fluidity. I would absolutely go for it if I could afford coaching, mainly for the reason that it is so unique. Not here, but ya know what I mean. But it’s a goal for the future. Heck, I still am figuring out the basic stuff.[/quote]

Most weightlifting coaches offer free training in exchange for registering at USAW ($30/year)

Yeah, my first coach taught for free, and the club I train with now is $20 a month–individualized programming, hands-on coaching, and excellent facilities. Nobody in America is in the sport for the money.

I think I choose powerlifting for a few reasons. Powerlfting meets are more popular and accessible, my vertical jump sucks bad, and I feel like I would do better at powerlifting. I’m going to a meet next semester that my school sponsors to get started.

I’m going to keep power cleaning though since it has so many benefits. Maybe ill get good at it some day.

I want to thank everybody in this thread for helping me make my decision.

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Strongman[/quote]

True story. Its just so much more fun than the static lifts, and so much more raw than the dynamic lifts.

Squatting is something we can all agree on.

Except maybe the strongman people. Maybe they don’t squat. But the rest of us are in agreement.

[quote]Otep wrote:
Squatting is something we can all agree on.

Except maybe the strongman people. Maybe they don’t squat. But the rest of us are in agreement.[/quote]

We tend to squat with the Oly guys. Lots of front squats, lots of back squats, lots of zercher squats. I have, however, met a strongman competing at the pro-level that does not do regular leg training other than events training and deadlifts.

since i saw my first strongman competition and kevin knee on true life it has been my life goal to get on the show since, mind i dont have any implements yet but im taking the right path, training and eating hard doing shot put for school (i feel like it leads to meeting ppl interested in other strength events hopefully) ect… u will see me on WSM someday you can count on it