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Train Like a Powerlifter

Semi-rant warning, which I suppose can just be summed up as if you’re going to lift weights, lift them the right way.

The lynchpin here is right way, since everyone has their own idea of what that means. From what I see in the gym, it means not going all the way down on squats or bench, doing dead lifts with a bananna spine, and doing way too many isolation exercises while all the time wondering why you’re not getting any bigger or stronger.

I’m no expert, but I’ve been doing it a while and I’m not short of opinions, so here we go.

If you’re going to lift, why not lift like a powerlifter? A real, live Olympic powerlifter. Since that’s the way they do it in the Olympics, I’m going to call it the ‘right way’ and explain it to you.

Bench Press

Don’t bounce it, don’t only go halfway down, don’t lift your ass up off the bench.

Your hands can’t be any wider that the lines on the bar and your thumb has to wrap around. Lower the bar all the way until it touches your chest, pause for a half-second or so, then press it up.

That, my friends is a bench press.

Squats

I’ve already ranted about going all the way down on squats, and why your knees hurt, but I’ll reiterate: when you do squats, go all the way down. When you’re talking powerlifting, all the way means until the top of your thigh is even with or below your knee. Top of the thigh! Not your hip joint, not the middle of your thigh. Top of the thigh! I can guarantee that’s probably further than you go right now.

Deadlift

The nice thing about the dead lift is that there’s really only one way to do it, and that’s to bend over and pick up the weight. Now when it comes to training, I’m an advocate of pulling it from the floor, locking out, and dropping it. Of course you need drop pads for that. But in a contest, you’re required to ‘control’ the bar as you lower it. This means you have to maintain a grip on it all the way back down.

As a point of form, make sure you keep your back arched. Start with it arched and keep it that way through the whole lift. When it starts to flatten, or even round, you are greatly increasing your risk of injury.

Doing your exercises this way will ultimately benefit you and protect you from hurting yourself. One thing it does is keep you from using weight that’s too heavy, which is always a good thing.

So stop the hald ass partials benches, hald-squats, and rounded deads. Start doing it right for a change and see how much better the results you get will be.

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