The Difference Between Powerlifters and Bodybuilders

For those who are who are not aware, there exist a rivalry between body builders and weight lifters that is as baseless as it is ridiculous. Undercurrents of this rivalry stay hidden until a discussion arises about either among the opponent athletes. It should not actually be called a rivalry; rather we should call it a childish, ignorant and jealous-motivated propaganda. It stems from the two types of exercises being different and divergent in goals. While body builders exercise to stimulate muscle growth in terms of mass, weight lifters exercise to stimulate muscle growth in terms of strength.

Body builders are actually and objectively too, the guiltiest party of the existing hostility. Body builders are fond of coining disgusting names for their weight training allies, names that belittle weight trainers in general. Propaganda, as misinformed and baseless as only stupid things can be, circulate in all body building gyms. This propaganda refers to and regards weight training as a lesser form of training. One very common way of belittling and stamping of weight trainers is by calling them fat boys. Jokes about the fat pigs, the fatty Joe’s and such derogatory terms are rife with body builders.

To prove the misinformation upon which this attitude is based, let’s examine why body builders refer to weight trainers as fat and validate the claim with facts. Read the message boards in your local gym, listen to conversations around you and accumulate all the myths that are in wide circulation and being preached as the gospel truth in matters concerning weight lifters. It most often will regard them as athletes who are not concerned with regulating their body fats. Body building gyms, lifting clubs or sports organizations all around the globe, treat weight lifting as a game of the obese. How much truth is in this connotation?

None! Power lifters are not and should not necessarily be fat. Many athletes would love to learn and perfect power lifting as part of their training. But they are afraid of being fat! The idea that all power lifters are or must be fat is really ludicrous. It actually stems from the stereotype of the old 80’s, when super heavy weights weighed horrific poundage such that people heard about their weight and looks before even knowing how much they lift or if they were power lifters.

Strength in muscles does not in any way correlate with body fat accumulated. In fact, only the broken down fat can assist the body fuel lifts and not the solid deposits of fat. In actual sense, solid fats deposited along muscles delimit not assist in power lifting. It’s a requirement for power lifters, just as many other athletes, to control and regulate their body fat.

Modern day power lifters such as the champions Sebastian Burns, Ryan Kennelly and Scot Mendelson are not fat at all. In truth really, they look like they were body builders in an off season, at the very least. But they are not slobs also; rather they are at the very top of their game despite not being fat. Modern training techniques have developed supreme diets that work well with power lifters in providing awesome strength values and delimiting accumulation of body fats. In modern day power lifting contests, no world class power lifter can even show up if he or she is just a fat slob. The trend in the last ten years is that the biggest and record lifts have been made by some relatively lean power lifters.

Dane Fletcher is the world’s most prolific bodybuilding and fitness expert and is currently the executive editor for BodybuildingToday.com. If you are looking for more bodybuilding tips or information on weight training, or supplementation, please visit http://www.BodybuildingToday.com, the bodybuilding and fitness authority site with hundreds of articles available FREE to help you meet your goals.

Be the first to comment on "The Difference Between Powerlifters and Bodybuilders"

Leave a comment