Author Topic: Why is powerlifting so much bigger in north america? (Read 2397 times)

Paul LaDuke · « **Reply #8 on:** Oct 28, 2006, 08:00 PM »

I think one of the reasons that powerlifting is so popular is the cost of equipment also. You can buy any old bar for powerlifting and train effectively with it. You can use any brand Olympic weight set and train effectively with them. You could be set up in your basement for less than $500 if you know where to shop and exactly what to buy.

But you have to have a good, smooth revolving bar to be a weightlifter. A good bar is at least $300. Then you have to have bumper plates. You don't want to be dropping that much iron in your basement or garage. Iron weights are much cheaper, but won't withstand much dropping. Bumper plates are very hard to find. You can find some on the internet, Ebay, Mail order, etc. but the shipping becomes expensive. You will spend another $500 for bumper plates plus shipping. Then you need a platform. If you know what you are doing, you can build one from 4x8 plywood (5 sheets) and rubber mats (at the Tractor Supply for horse stahls). This will cost you about $150 or you can buy one for about $600-$1,000 plus shipping.

So to set up your basement for powerlifting would cost about $500 or more depending on how much iron you want. It would cost at least $1,000 to set up your garage for weightlifting. That is a big difference.

Matt Denslinger · « **Reply #9 on:** Oct 30, 2006, 11:13 PM »

Does anyone have access to the full text of this?

1: J Strength Cond Res. 2004 Feb;18(1):129-35.Click here to read Links
   Comparison of Olympic vs. traditional power lifting training programs in football players.

   * Hoffman JR,
   * Cooper J,
   * Wendell M,
   * Kang J.

   Department of Health and Exercise Science, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey 08628-0718, USA. hoffmanj at tcnj dot edu

   Twenty members of an National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III collegiate football team were assigned to either an Olympic lifting (OL) group or power lifting (PL) group. Each group was matched by position and trained 4-days.wk(-1) for 15 weeks. Testing consisted of field tests to evaluate strength (1RM squat and bench press), 40-yard sprint, agility, vertical jump height (VJ), and vertical jump power (VJP). No significant pre- to posttraining differences were observed in 1RM bench press, 40-yard sprint, agility, VJ or in VJP in either group. Significant improvements were seen in 1RM squat in both the OL and PL groups. After log10-transformation, OL were observed to have a significantly greater improvement in Delta VJ than PL. Despite an 18% greater improvement in 1RM squat (p > 0.05), and a twofold greater improvement (p > 0.05) in 40-yard sprint time by OL, no further significant group differences were seen. Results suggest that OL can provide a significant advantage over PL in vertical jump performance changes.
PMID: 14971971 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Chris Ⓐ LeRoux · « **Reply #10 on:** Oct 31, 2006, 07:12 AM »

Matt,

Yes, I have the full article.

Kelly Kelly · « **Reply #11 on:** Dec 07, 2006, 07:38 AM »

I think one of the main reasons that powerlifting is more popular is that it is actually a highschool sanctioned sport in several states (Tex. Wisconsi, PA, Miss), here in Texas the highschools started a powerlifting season back inthe early 1980's, if you look at a lot of the American IPF teams most of the lifters under 30 all came out of highschool programs in the states listed above. A lot of these kids who were too short or small to play football at the next level stuck with powerlifting,

Pete_Stewart · « **Reply #12 on:** Dec 07, 2006, 03:30 PM »

Have to agree there are a number of issues:

1. Gym Access: Like Chris stated very few gyms are equipped for OL. While on this point the gyms do not often give a general introduction to new gym members. I have had to train in a number of public gyms and quite often someone will walk right behind a snatch.

2. Flexibility: A lot of people I see who start to train at the lifts cannot get into the full squat position, cannot rest the bar across the front of their shoulders or put the bar above the head in the snatch position. This often leads to frustration

3. Patience: The time it takes to learn the OL techniques in comparison to time taken to learn PL techniques.

4. Advertising: As people have shown schools, gyms, training magazines etc are more inclined to cater for PL. Also when the Olympics are similar mutli-sport events are on how much TV coverage does weightlifting get and at what time of the day do they televise it?

So a member of the public is unlikely to hear about OL and if they do they will have trouble finding a gym with someone who can coach OL. Given the small numbers in the sport they may also find themselves training on their own a good deal of the time. Furthermore they may not have the patience or the flexibility to stick at it and therefore there will be a high attrition rate.

Nick Albert · « **Reply #13 on:** Dec 07, 2006, 09:27 PM »

television. nothing can get people into it like television. i am thinkin about majoring in telecommunications in college (gotta finish high school first) but i think it would be a fun project to make a program on nationals and present it to t.v. stations. i know its not that simple but it could be done