Torn between bodybuilding and powerlifting

[F4iGuy]

I'm not sure which direction to go. I've always enjoyed training like a bodybuilder. 4-5 days a weeks for 1-1.5 hours, 2 body parts per session.

My strength has continued to go up with my current routine. Although I'm natty many people comment on how I could possibly be an elite powerlifter if I focused my efforts in that direction. I was able to do 30 strict pull ups before I started lifting at the age of 12.

I posted my info in the powerlifting section. Here's a recent video of me benching

https://youtu.be/ENM5vUDmDT0

I'm a little weaker than usual at the moment (80 hr. work weeks, First child about to be born, and lack of sleep + natty status don't help). My Squat/Bench/Deadlift are going up but I feel my progress would be much faster if I switched over to a powerlifting routine.

Has anyone switched from bodybuilding to powerlifting or vice versa? I'm sure my lifts would go up but I'm concerned I'll loose my hard earned muscle.

You can see in the video my bodyfat is up (maybe 15%?). I've been down to around 6% before with abs/veins all over but obviously strength suffers. I'm pretty sure I could continue to build strength and cut down to about 190lbs.

I guess what I'm trying to ask is will I loose mass as a natty lifter switching over to a powerlifting routine that emphasizes Squat/Bench/Deads? I feel lost at the moment.

[DocToxin8]

Can't say, but I would think it easier to maintain mass, and a powerlifting routine should be enough.
Maybe you'll lose some definition, (that's all about BF really),
but shouldn't be a problem to get that back quick if you wanted.

If your truly natural I'd go for powerlifting. Time enough for switching to bodybuilding later and then maybe add in some PEDs if that's what you want.

[NACH3]

Very nice slow and controlled reps at that... at your weight and being natty & your still making progress I'd continue and switch over to PL & or PowerBuilding!

I thought you looked heavier than 198 for sure... I'd be interested in your progress regardless but if you threw in a cycle as said above at some point this can get real interesting - great work

[kelkel]

Powerlifting benefits the bodybuilder and vice versa.

[BG]

Exactly when one plateau's turn to the other. Which ever one you think you may want to complete in train that way.

[songdog]

Power lifting never hurt no one it packs on the mass and the comps are a lot of fun.

[MuscleScience]

There is such a thing as power building, look that up, some good stuff out there.

The main thing about powerlifting strictly speaking is the unscrupulous fear of cardio. I was into that mindset as well for a time. You can build a great physique, build power and still keep your gut into check. I still to this day do the big three lifts. I am probably not far off my all time PR's when I'm in shape as far as my powerlifting days. Just have to engineer you're training to what keeps you interested and engaged.

[PT1982]

Powerlifting benefits the bodybuilder and vice versa.

Great point here

[F4iGuy]

I'm not too concerned about low bodyfat levels. I'm happy around 12-15%. At 190lbs I'll be about 11-12% maybe a little less.

I'm going to switch from a linear progression bro split to undulating periodization powerlifting routine. I've been giving my body the same training stimulus for years.

I agree with the comment earlier about things getting interesting. So much temptation. I know I've got 450 in me natty. I honestly think I could hit a clean 500 bench at around 190 enchanced. That would be crazy.

I even think about housing down 4-5,000 clean calories a day and bulking to 220 but without cardio and vitamin T I'm not sure that's a great idea health wise.

[MuscleScience]

Just watched the bench video. That is a hell of a lift man. I could barely touch 350 once, twice if I was lucky at 208 in my PL days.

[F4iGuy]

Just watched the bench video. That is a hell of a lift man. I could barely touch 350 once, twice if I was lucky at 208 in my PL days.

Thanks! It's crazy how much variation there is in people's strength. Even crazier is when people who look weak move crazy weight. I was able to do 30 pull ups by 12.

I'm excited to try a completely new training style. As a happily married man about to be a father my motivation is to hit some PR's in the next few months for my son. Who knows he might not even lift... but it would be awesome if he did. Something we could share.

[F4iGuy]

Can't say, but I would think it easier to maintain mass, and a powerlifting routine should be enough.
Maybe you'll lose some definition, (that's all about BF really),
but shouldn't be a problem to get that back quick if you wanted.

If your truly natural I'd go for powerlifting. Time enough for switching to bodybuilding later and then maybe add in some PEDs if that's what you want.

I'm truly natural. My total test was on the low side when I had it checked but I'm supplementing with D and trying to reduce stress/increase rest and get it up. I've never really been interested in stepping on stage but my ideal weight would be 190lbs, not hard to achieve with a little cardio and some calorie reduction. I'm not worried so much about losing definition, more about losing mass. Everybody seems confident a good powerlifting routine will maintain the mass. I'm sold.

[MuscleScience]

Thanks! It's crazy how much variation there is in people's strength. Even crazier is when people who look weak move crazy weight. I was able to do 30 pull ups by 12.

I'm excited to try a completely new training style. As a happily married man about to be a father my motivation is to hit some PR's in the next few months for my son. Who knows he might not even lift... but it would be awesome if he did. Something we could share.

My lift was always dead lift, I was built for that. I lifted raw when I competed. Not because I though equipment was cheating. It was just expensive and I was a broke college and graduate student.

I remember my dad taking me to the gym when I was very little I would watch him or my uncle workout. I was hooked, exercise has always been a positive in my life. When all else was going wrong I could always go to the gym. I suspect if you bring your son up, and he sees the joy it brings you and make it something that is positive to him, he will enjoy it too.

[AR's King Silabolin]

Powerlifting benefits the bodybuilder and vice versa.

Very true

[F4iGuy]

It's definitely a brotherhood. I've met lots of cool people on this site and in the gym. People have actually started conversations with me in public about my arms. I think Henry Rollins nailed it.

Iron and The Soul

by Henry Rollins

I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself.

Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me "garbage can" and telling me I'd be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn't run home crying, wondering why.

I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time.

As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn't going to get pounded in the hallway between classes. Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you'll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time.

I didn't think much of them either.



Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the black board. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no.

He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn't even drag them to my mom's car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.'s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn't looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn't want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in.

Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn't know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away.

You couldn't say s--t to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn't teach you anything. That's the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble.

That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn't until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can't be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn't ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you're not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr.Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body.

Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn't see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone.

It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you're made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.

I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

[MuscleScience]

I can't believe I've never read that before. That pretty much sums up how I grew up.

[hammerheart]

I can't believe I've never read that before. That pretty much sums up how I grew up.

^ +1.

[AKD_FitChick]

It's definitely a brotherhood. I've met lots of cool people on this site and in the gym. People have actually started conversations with me in public about my arms. I think Henry Rollins nailed it.

Iron and The Soul

by Henry Rollins

I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself.

Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The humiliation of teachers calling me "garbage can" and telling me I'd be mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I didn't run home crying, wondering why.

I knew all too well. I was there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time.

As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing that I wasn't going to get pounded in the hallway between classes. Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and you'll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school sucked. Teachers gave me hard time.

I didn't think much of them either.



Then came Mr. Pepperman, my advisor. He was a powerfully built Vietnam veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class. Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the black board. Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no.

He told me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a hundred pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special. My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought the weights, but I couldn't even drag them to my mom's car. An attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.'s office after school. He said that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I wasn't looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or tell anyone at school what I was doing. In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than I ever did in any of my classes. I didn't want to blow it. I went home that night and started right in.

Weeks passed, and every once in a while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my books flying. The other students didn't know what to think. More weeks passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one could ever take it away.

You couldn't say s--t to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong. When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it wouldn't teach you anything. That's the way the Iron talks to you. It tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble.

That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn't until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes without work and a certain amount of pain. When I finish a set that leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I know it can't be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks lifting weight that my body wasn't ready for and spent a few months not picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you're not prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect. I think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr.Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was racing through my body.

Everything in me wanted her. So much so that sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn't see her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone.

It enables me to concentrate on the lessons that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you're made of is always time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had taught me how to live. Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane. People have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole.

I see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly. And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the Iron Mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my mind.

The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

This is really great!

[Capebuffalo]

This is really great!

Ahh. I see where that came from now. Lol

[AKD_FitChick]

Ahh. I see where that came from now. Lol

Yes!!! I knew it looked familiar, I had read it before I said that in PM


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[Capebuffalo]

Yes!!! I knew it looked familiar, I had read it before I said that in PM


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes you did. My bad. It's a great read. It almost transports you to your youth. And the feelings you had. The toughness the desire the commitment. This is us.

[AKD_FitChick]

Yes you did. My bad. It's a great read. It almost transports you to your youth. And the feelings you had. The toughness the desire the commitment. This is us.

Hell yeah!!!


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[F4iGuy]

Yes you did. My bad. It's a great read. It almost transports you to your youth. And the feelings you had. The toughness the desire the commitment. This is us.

I think we need a documentary or tv series "This is Us" based on how weight training shaped our lives and built relationships. The world might benefit. A lot of people need something like weight training in their lives to give balance.