Topic: Why is powerlifting so much bigger in north america?

[Jake Harrison]

Why is it so much bigger in north america(canada&usa) then weightlifting? my guesses are you dont need a lot of time to learn the form like you do in weightlifting, you can lift the heavier weights faster. i mean why struggle with a small weight in the snatch or c&j when your just starting when you can deadlift a ton of weight or bench. american laziness? can we call it that or is it just being human that makes people like that. but still saying all that, its much more exciting to see a guy c&j 300 pounds rather then a 500 pound deadlift and once you get the form down weightlifting is a much more enjoyable sport to practice and train seriously. but still i guess people would rather see guys bench down to their guts with a range of motion of 3 inches and squat down barely to parallel with a super wide stance and not to mention of the ridiculous suits which allow guys to bench squat and deadlift 100-200 pounds more then they do raw. i still like raw powerlifting though.

[Jack Dluzen]

[ CORRECT ASSUMPTION! I  TOO FEEL  LIKE THE NEW WAVE IN POWER LIFTING IS A FARCE,   WITH ALL THE SPECIAL GEAR AVALABLE NOWADAYS :!:  ALL SEEMS TO BE A QUICK FIX[/b]

[Nick Albert]

powerlifting to me is a joke. i love benchpressing. i do it for highschool competition (bench and cj) and my bench is way better than my clean and jerk.

But i believe that powerlifting is big here for one reason is football. football players do a lot of the training that i believe is crappy which is similar to powerlifting. americans like seeing big numbers and brute force. same reason why americans like football instead of a more complex sport like soccer. they want to see big guys doing big things. and the numbers just dont excite people like in powerlifting

why?? who knows. i can watch olympic lifting alllllll day and not get bored. watching the different styles and techniques and the intensity. powerlifting to me is just a joke and not intertaining and non athletic.

[Paul LaDuke]

Jake,

You touch on a great debate topic that I used to banter around a PT clinic that I used to work at.  The debate question is:

"Are powerlifters athletes?"

I would take that one step further for us here:

"Are weightlifters athletes?"


I have my opinions that I will save for a later date.  I look forward to any responses that may come.

[Jake Harrison]

The only lift i still really care about in powerlifting is the deadlift, becasue with the squats they barely get down to parallel, for bench they curve their back so much and bench to their gut, the range of motion is also small.

so the deadlift is really the only pure movement left in that sport.

and of course for the top lifters the suits give them another couple hundreds pounds in their lift, suits are meant to protect the joints, not help with ur lift.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

I think another major reason powerlifting is more well known and gets more participation in the USA is because you can pretty much train for it in the average street gyms while these gyms won't allow you to do the Olympic lifts- at least won't tolerate platforms, dropping weights, etc. This also increases Americans exposure to powerlifting while Americans rarely ever even see weightlifting.

[Jake Harrison]

I think another major reason powerlifting is more well known and gets more participation in the USA is because you can pretty much train for it in the average street gyms while these gyms won't allow you to do the Olympic lifts- at least won't tolerate platforms, dropping weights, etc. This also increases Americans exposure to powerlifting while Americans rarely ever even see weightlifting.

ya true it is very hard sometimes to find a gym which you can practice the olympic lifts and if you do a lot of the times the bars just arent for olympic style lifting.

[Matt Denslinger]

Personally, I don't like PL at all. I dabbled in everything, BB for a while, then PL for a little, and now OL for good. I was in BB for the vanity purposes of course, but I realized how stupid it was as if it meant something anyway. When I did PL for a little I was just bored it seemed so slow and boring. Then I saw OL and quite frankly I fell in love. You need brute strength and mastery of a fine motor skill. In a way I feel cheated that I wasn't introduced to OL early in life when I started lifting.

But i believe that powerlifting is big here for one reason is football. football players do a lot of the training that i believe is crappy which is similar to powerlifting. americans like seeing big numbers and brute force. same reason why americans like football instead of a more complex sport like soccer. they want to see big guys doing big things. and the numbers just dont excite people like in powerlifting

True, the numbers in OL don't excite people. I think they over simplify how "easy" OL is. Also the over emphasis on  the bench press is hilarious. Yes, it has it place, but it's not the king of exercises and certainly doesn't develop huge power capabilities.

"Are powerlifters athletes?" & "Are weightlifters athletes?"

I think first you have to define athlete. But as of right now no to PL and yes to WL.

I think another major reason powerlifting is more well known and gets more participation in the USA is because you can pretty much train for it in the average street gyms while these gyms won't allow you to do the Olympic lifts- at least won't tolerate platforms, dropping weights, etc. This also increases Americans exposure to powerlifting while Americans rarely ever even see weightlifting.

Yes, I largely agree with this. It's a shame too. Some gyms will have like a pair or two of bumpers maybe a small area to practice to, but nothing that I would call adequate.

It's an uphill battle.