Being from a background where I have lifted for muscle growth, I have always been curious about powerlifting. Can you powerlift and still build muscle like a bodybuilder?
MESO-Rx
Anabolic Steroids
Powerlifting and muscle building
- Thread starter Cityofgrit
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You can train for strength and still watch your diet. You don't have to just get fat and strong. If you're doing full powerlifting certain muscles are gonna get hit harder and some will be neglected. My calves look like I don't lift lol.
But if getting really strong you're muscles are going to grow. Obviously not to the degree of someone training strictly for size, otherwise top powerlifters would be the biggest guys around and that's not the case. If you look at really strong guys that stay fairly lean they're gonna have good amounts of muscle though.
But if getting really strong you're muscles are going to grow. Obviously not to the degree of someone training strictly for size, otherwise top powerlifters would be the biggest guys around and that's not the case. If you look at really strong guys that stay fairly lean they're gonna have good amounts of muscle though.
Do you think it's possible to increase strength while still training muscles that don't get hit hard enough? Or is it detrimental to strength to hit those muscles?
Powerbuilding.
It's not optimal for pure strength in powerlifting but you'll get stronger and be able to keep adding muscle. If the programming is built towards strength it may drop the hypertrophy movements as your move through the training blocks and test your strength. Once you get to the start of the next hypertrophy block it really kind of looks like a bodybuilding program a lot of times.
It's not optimal for pure strength in powerlifting but you'll get stronger and be able to keep adding muscle. If the programming is built towards strength it may drop the hypertrophy movements as your move through the training blocks and test your strength. Once you get to the start of the next hypertrophy block it really kind of looks like a bodybuilding program a lot of times.
Can you obtain decent numbers this way?
Of course it’s possible. It all depends on your intensity, TUT and rep ranges. You can get stronger without following a pure PL program and trying to peak every 4-6 weeks. If you forgo the “peak” phase and keep repeating the other blocks, you’ll essentially be doing exactly what you said. Peaking is only necessary to test 1RM and for meets.
Ok, I have been interested in powerlifting for quite a while. I'm just afraid to lose the muscle that I have acquired.
It's fine in the off season, beneficial even to get away from going heavy on the comp lifts for awhile and heal up. In season it's detrimental. You only have so much recovery and time. There's days when I'm two hours or more just getting through my comp lifts. You can only recover from so much and will want to be as fresh as possible hitting your comp lifts.
If you're talking not necessarily competing and still having decent numbers while doing your show muscles too it's definitely possible. Just depends on you. There's been guys here that trained the big three and still did a bunch of bodybuilding and still had great numbers. Would almost certainly have been better without all the extra stuff though.
Alright, where do I start?
^^^^ This. A powerlifting program like Sheiko uses A LOT of volume and submaximal weight so you’re getting hypertrophy built into it. The excel spreadsheets are widely available online. Just use the google.
531 is another simple program but its strength based and you don’t get much volume unless you work that into the accessory movements. It’s easily adaptable though so you can make it fit your goals.
OP, don't know if it was said, but you can work it doing "accessory" work. Do your big 3 (maybe cube method) and work other muscles after. Really the biggest hits you'll take will be biceps and calves, which are doable. Everything else gets hit some way doing PL training
Ok, I like the sound of this and I really like the thought of crushing my maxes on the big 3. So, where do I start..how do I program? I follow a couple of your logs so I see what your programming looks like. How did you get to that point? I am as green as a brussel sprout
Between you and me, I think some of them take steroids...
Start this weekend by calculating your 1 RM for the big 3 lifts. Probably better to use a calculator and base it off of a 5 or 3 rep max.
Once you have your maxs you’ll need to pick a program. I think 531 would be good for a beginner. Google “wendler 531 spreadsheets” or get the simple free app for your phone. It’s a good program because you’re not using maximum weights right away so you’ll have repetitions in order to improve your technique. Use assistance movements to hit your other muscles and get volume work in.
I was looking at Greyskull...but I have heard of Wendler. Would 531 be better? I'm not weak..my form is pretty good, maybe not as technical as it needs to be. Should I just max out each lift this weekend?
I’ve never done 531, but the cube method is a great program too. It adds a body building day as well.
Greyskull is good too. These are basic programs so you’ll get good familiarity with everything.
You can max out this weekend if you want but keep in mind when you use maximum weight your risk of injury goes up. So for example a 1RM of 315 can be a balls to the wall stress the muscles tendons and ligaments with 315 pounds or it could be a triple with 280 pounds.
Play around with the calculator and see what you’d rather do.
Code:
https://www.calculatorpro.com/calculator/one-rep-max-calculator/I actually bought the Wendler 531 app. I'll give that program a try. Seems pretty easy to follow except that I am not certain of the exercises under the main lift..am I supposed to do all of them?
Worf
Member
my understanding of 531 is that you are supposed to base the accessories on your weak points and perform exercises that give the most training economy "bang for the buck''. Definitely dont do them all, Wendler states this. His book says to pick 2-3 per workout to compliment the main mover. Im sure these can be rotated.
Ok they all have 5 sets of 10 listed. This is excellent to know. I should probably read the book before using the app lol
