Question of the powerlifter

[Mr.Rose]

Hey guys,

This may sound ignorant, however i was wondering if you guys target your auxiliary muscles and single muscles, such as triceps, biceps, calves, separate deltoid heads or do you guys just hit them as a result of your compound movements. Also, again ignorance, but do you guys just hit the main basic compounds, squats, deadlifts, bench, press? Or do you also hit the other muscles like i described above. Reason i ask is i have this cynical friend, who claims to be a powerlifter, and blatantly makes fun of people who work out muscles such as biceps and triceps and calves because he see's them as not being 'important' to strength or not being a 'mans' exercise. All he does is bench, squat and deadlift, and thinks he is god. My belief is that, say for bench, if you want to up your bench, you have to target the triceps on their own to get their strength up, which will help with the whole overall bench lift, or for shoulders, if you want to get your press up, you need to target all three heads of your deltoids, as well at your triceps, which when strengthened will help increase your press lift.

[Mr.Rose]

Obviously you guys mostly wont target calves because they don't help your lifts at all, i mean they are a fairly isolated muscle. But What about the other minor muscles?

[Mr.Rose]

I Just realised my title makes no fuking sense, haha. It's meant to read, Question FOR the powerlifters

[BgMc31]

Powerlifters do a ton of tricep work. I know I do some shoulder presses, both bar and dumbell, but I'm also a strongman. We don't do a lot of isolation work like bodybuilders do as we get most of work on those muscles from compound work. Biceps do get worked but many powerlifters and strongmen differ on that. Some do a ton of bicep work others don't do any.

I don't know what you're friend is on, but I know very few powerlifters who do just bench, squat, and deadlift. At least no successful powerlifters.

[Nooomoto]

I powerlift for sport (rugby)...while I don't target my biceps, I do target my triceps quite a bit. In powerlifting the 3 basic lifts are bench, squat and deadlift. However, in order to achieve maximal output in these lifts, you need to do what are called "assistance exercises."

Glute-ham raises, box squats, dynamic bench press, lunges, back raises, weighted situps, tricep extensions, pull ups, reverse hyper extensions, hanging leg raise with bent knees, side bends, shoulder presses...you get the picture.


We do a lot of back work, so the biceps get hit while doing that. The body is a machine...if one part is weak or lacking, the rest will suffer. For your friend to insist that deadlifts, squats and bench is all thats important is ignorant and foolish. He needs to do some reading or talk to real powerlifters.

The biggest difference between bodybuilding and powerlifting isn't really the exercises themselves, rather the number of sets/reps and the weight used during the exercises.

That being said, everyone has their own reasons for doing what they want, and no one is "right" for doing one thing or the other. For your friend to insinuate that body builders aren't "men" because they aren't focusing on strength is ludicrous...not everyone needs or wants to squat 600 lbs...just like not everyone needs to be able to be at 7% BF. I know a few serious body builders, and I promise you those guys work just as hard in the gym as anyone else I know.

[Mr.Rose]

Thanks for the input guys.

I myself am not a bodybuilder, but more a strength athlete, I'm a semi-professional cage fighter and i need to work on all my muscles to help me fight better and hit harder, i.e. biceps for grappling, calves for explosives jumps/kicks, triceps for more powerful punches, etc.

Yeh, assistance exercises are extremely important, as i thought. I realize that bodybuilders are more prone to develop workouts that target hypertrophy, where as powerlifters/strong-men want to lift more. However, I've seen bodybuilders who lift more than powerlifters, and have that bodybuilder physique (lean and cut), just like you said Nooomoto, some bodybuilders work just as hard.

There are also plenty of bodybuilders who lift just as much as the best powerlifters, however, they are really developed professionals, such as Ronnie C.

Like you said, my belief is that everyone lifts to make them better at what they do, eg,you Nooomoto, you lift for Rugby, I lift for fighting, and BgMc31 lifts to be a strongman.

The funny thing is, you mention weightlifting, and people straight away think of bodybuilders, like ronnie and priest, etc, but no one relates it to power lifters, strength athletes or strong men.

[Mr.Rose]

Double post

[Squat Junkie]

If you stuck to the big 3 your c.n.s. would burn out we hit iso. stuff like tri's and shoulders CORE. as aux workouts....tri's are a big part of bench...but I belive your buddies right about biceps we call em curls for girls..not meaning guys who do them are girls meaning the only thing there for is to look good for the chicks.as far as calves I work them alot I think it helps me during the walkout...But at the end of the day to each is own..your buddy thinking he's god hell my friend its called testosterone..makes us all feel like the alpha male!