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Beginner powerlifts advice (Read 1952 times)

Menon

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Beginner powerlifts advice
October 05, 2020, 05:59:14 pm
Can anyone with experience of powerlifting help with some advice? I've never been near a weight in my life.

My son, who's 17, is getting into lifting weights at the gym, mainly deadlifts, squats, bench press, I think. If your information comes from YouTube, how likely are you to end up bad form? If you have bad form, how likely are you to screw yourself up eventually? If you decided you wanted some sound coaching, how can you tell the difference between someone who knows what they're talking about and someone at the gym with a loud voice? (I should add that this is just a getting strong deal, not a competing thing. And it's not related to climbing; he doesn't climb to speak of.) Thanks.

Fiend

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#1 Re: Beginner powerlifts advice
October 05, 2020, 07:25:58 pm
Does he even lift br......oh....wait  :strongbench:

Obviously there are masses of Youtube videos of varying degree of usefulness, maybe watch several of them and take an average?? Or see if there's a fitness coach at the gym who can give him some guidance? Maybe someone related to a local power-lifting club?

gollum

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#2 Re: Beginner powerlifts advice
October 05, 2020, 08:40:47 pm
“Starting Strength” by Rippetoe is as good a place to start as any, in terms of reading.

There are also loads of Facebook groups who will give tips on form if you post a video, although these sometimes descend into lengthy debates about exactly where the bar should be for high or low bar squats and whether sumo is actually deadlifting or not.

Local Powerlifting groups are good and gyms sometimes specialise in this sort of thing, read their blurb and you’ll get an idea of what they’re about.

Nibile

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#3 Re: Beginner powerlifts advice
October 06, 2020, 08:46:29 am
Hey!
Maybe your son is a bit young to categorize the type of lifting he wants to do or already does, but if his aim is pure power, then nothing will compare to a proper education in Olympic lifts, in terms of technique and mental attitude towards heavy barbells.

Liamhutch89

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#4 Re: Beginner powerlifts advice
October 06, 2020, 01:53:27 pm
Athlean X on YouTube is perhaps the most viewed (subscribed?) fitness youtuber and has legitimate credentials and a long history training proper athletes. His focus seems to be on longevity, and all around athleticism as well as strength and just lifting to look the part.

Of course he's a business man too and sells training plans and supplements but gives plenty of good free advice and you don't ever hear of rivals pulling him down (which is very rare in youtuber world) because he truly knows his shit. If YouTube is your son's source of information he'd do well to subscribe to that channel.

Tails

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#5 Re: Beginner powerlifts advice
October 12, 2020, 09:15:27 am
I haven't posted on here much at all, but I am a climber who has done some lifting over the past few years so I'll weigh in.

Gollum is right in recommending starting strength, its one of many good novice programs built on bill starrs work decades ago. The book is cheap on Kindle and has loads in it. However, rip gets very dogmatic. I actually prefer gslp(very similar) and 5/3/1 which is now a little more complicated. But they are all based around the same core lifts: squat, bench, deadlift and over head press (not tested in powerlifting).

Nibile is right in pointing out that powerlifting isn't based on power but weightlifting is. The names are the wrong way around. But that's explained in starting strength as well. Doing simpler versions of Olympic lifts is in many programs. However, if you want to do the full technical Olympic lifts then get a coach, a reputable one. They are the snatch, and clean and jerk.

To not get injured its very important to remember that strength work is about training not testing. In those 4 lifts mentioned above I barely ever go above 80% of what I can do, I just slowly accumulate work over time. Start at what he can do for 10 reps and slowly builds, getting others to check and/or filming his lifts for upload and self review. The set is over when you hit technical failure not all out physical failure, on the big lifts.

harrison

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#6 Re: Beginner powerlifts advice
December 01, 2020, 09:36:42 pm
Great that he's getting into it.

I used to compete in powerlifting and then weightlifting (not very good mind, just enjoyed it).
I helped friends who competed at nationals (and one who went to worlds) with their technique though, and coached a few people briefly.
Everyone asked me because my form was good.

I learnt everything from: books, youtube and (obsessively) watching the best lifters.
I only had some coaching when I did weightlifting, some of it was good (and some of it was bad actually).

If he is smart, he should be fine.
You can end up with very good form those resources and you can end up with really crap form while having even better resources available. I think the information available now is pretty good.

I would ask him what he's doing about learning technique and what he thinks is important and see what he says.
Most people have no interest in getting injured and are actually a bit too cautious in my experience.
You might just have to trust his judgement.

One thing people don't realise is technique changes as you get stronger. You have to constantly work on it. The way you lift light weights is different to lifting heavy weights, and that's different again to lifting very heavy weights. Some principles remain the same, but you don't learn it once in an hour, you have to review and adapt the whole time.

How injured can you get? It depends on what you do. In powerlifting and weightlifting you regularly attempt to lift the most weight you possibly can. You will pick up injuries no matter how well you do it. The same for any sport in my opinion.

On the other hand if you take a more moderate approach the risk will be lower. I've had many friends who train for physique or other reasons and are very cautious over getting injured.

I would say your spine is the number one thing to look after. You don't want a disc herniation.
Then your knees and shoulders.
Then strength imbalances can cause long term issues and can be very subtle.
(I actually didn't realise a lot of things about my own shoulders until I started climbing - and in retrospect I could have done some really useful stuff back then if I'd know what I know now.)

I think going to a local club is a great suggestion and would be helpful.

Its worth mentioning some PL federations are not drug tested in the UK, and I wouldn't want to unwittingly take my son to train at a gym affiliated with those federations without a solid grounding in the sport already and a very screwed on head.
GBPF and BDFPA are the two big drug free / drug tested PL federations, and BWLA is the WL one - so I would choose a club affiliated with one of those federations.

Whereabouts are you based? I might be able to recomend a gym / coach.

How can you tell between a fake and someone good?
A good question - look at who they coach, their track record and their qualifications. Strength athletes can be very dismissive of Personal Trainers, but some of them are good.

As an example here is someone I would absolutely trust and recommend - Marc Keys owner of https://www.facebook.com/castironstr/
He did a sports science degree
He's a good powerlifter himself
He's coached proper athletes in other sports (rugby players)
He puts the well being of anyone he coaches first.
If your son went to his gym and explained his situation, he would take him through the basics and look after him without pushing any agenda (like PT sessions, or joining his gym etc)

That's a pretty high bar!

You can tell your son now though, having massive quads is on balance shit for climbing :lol.


 

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