How can a beginner start powerlifting?

Beginning Powerlifting, GympieThis is a common question found on popular internet fitness and bodybuilding sites due to the increased popularity of the sport of Powerlifting. The answer depends on your starting point, a beginner can be a complete fitness novice or they can be a semi-experienced gym rat who is looking to make the next step. Below I will cover the process for a complete fitness novice.

Starting Powerlifting Step 1, The Gym

The first step for a complete beginner is to get themselves a gym membership, however not all gyms are equal. Every gym has a different culture, with most chain gyms discouraging or banning many of the exercises needed to train for powerlifting effectively. This include over enthusiastic banning of noise, when powerlifting there will be some mild grunting and the occasional dropped weight. If a gym frowns on this type of noise then it is not a suitable gym for powerlifting.

Gym equipment is the next factor in choosing a gym for powerlifting. A gym suited for powerlifting training will have a good selection of free weights, an area suitable for deadlifting, a power rack for squatting (Not a smith machine) and a Bench Press bench, preferably one with safety bars (face savers). Other specific powerlifting equipment is optional and only dedicated powerlifting gyms are likely to have some specialise pieces of equipment.

Starting Powerlifting Step 2, The Coach

It is important when starting any new sport or fitness activity to learn the correct technique from the beginning. It is harder to unlearn poor form than to do it correctly from the beginning.

Most Gyms will not have an accredited powerlifting coach available, however an accredited coach will be able to put you on the right path from the beginning and is the best option if available.

The next best option is a Personal Trainer. This is where care must be taken because most personal trainers have very little experience with powerlifting, or even the power lifts, Squat, Benchpress or Deadlift. Of those personal trainers who have a basic understanding of these lifts, the majority will have never competed and with that lack of experience they will be held back from giving the best possible advice.

Coach or Personal Trainer

Starting Powerlifting Step 3, Start Training

Once you have a training venue and coach sorted out, you can begin training.  Most powerlifters will train 3-4 days per week, with most training sessions being a lot shorter than a training session that a bodybuilder might do. A powerlifting training session will also consist of a lot less reps, sets and total number of exercises.

As first time athlete training the powerlifts you can expect that the majority of your first training session and possibly more will be spent lifting with no weight on the bar. Correct form must be learned first.  A good coach will not let you progress to heavy weights until your form is spot on, progressing to quickly leads to injury.

Starting Powerlifting Step 4, Your first Powerlifting meet.

After some quality training it is time to step onto the platform for the first time. This first powerlifting meet should not be complicated, it is a learning experience in which cutting weight is not needed and you don’t need to be the best of the best.

Powerlifting meets are very friendly and supportive, especially for a first time lifter but it will be less stressful if your coach has competition coaching experience (Personal Trainers usually lack this experience). The key is to relax and just have fun.

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eigh03

Hello, this blog is such an eye opener
I am a newbie on weightlifting in general and the insights are such wonderful makes more comfortable on pursuing a new way of living.

Thank you

jaymish

Hi. Brilliant advise. A gym membership is quite expensive. Any advise for those who are interested in powerlifting but can’t afford the gym and want to do it at home?

Are they any online sites that have videos or a personal trainer at a cheaper fee?

What level of fitness do you need to be at to power lift? Do you need to be doing this in conjunction with cardio to improve your fitness?

melvs

I hope you make an article regarding how scoliosis patients can do exercises or lifting for our benefits. So that even we have this kind of structural problem we can still feel healthy and gain strength.

Heatman

I am a male Nigerian guy, weighing 85kg and about 6″11″ inches tall. I do love exercise as I take joy in having my body muscles look so strong turgid. There are certain areas of my body that I take more serious when working out. They are my fore arm, biceps, abdominal muscles, thigh, butt and finally my chest cavity size.

My normal workout routine is, warm up with a little juggling to stir my blood up for the exercise, little stretches of the fore arms, seat down chair squat, lunge, crunches and press up.

kevinfeb4

Hi, I’m Kiko and I’m 24 years old. I once took Powerlifting as my PE back in college. That P.E. scared the bejeezus out of me. We always had training and all that before we were allowed to lift the big guns. But, there was this one guy in my class who accidentally lost his balance and dropped half of the plates during midraise. But thanks to your blog, it kind of makes it reassuring that that was an isolated case. Hope to go back to lifting some weights again soon. 🙂

cthebigpic

Quite a good read Trusylver. I am new to this. What would you say is the major difference between a bodybuilder and a power lifter. Is a bodybuilder mostly after the looks and a power lifter after the weights?

Do you have a list of good power lifting gyms and the relative membership fees? Considering you mentioned a good gym should have a coach who has competed, then the list is bound to be quite short!

Haley

Gotcha! This is practically right, powerlifting is a very dangerous sport to be done without proper supervision from a professional trainer. Everything has techniques even in basic lifting that for sure a newbie didn’t know about. Thanks, man!

geemojica

I have seen my co-worker’s sister doing power lifting for two years. She’s already joining competitions now I can’t imagine her during her “novice years”. How did she turned out to be like that? We’re just in the same age. Perhaps you can feature here a story about a woman powerlifting and gained her success. I am enlightened now a little more about this. Thanks!

APO-JR

No wonder I have pain on my shoulders, joints, and back. I think I injured myself by lifting improvise (home-made) weightlifting object. My intention was to just gain a little bit of muscles on my shoulders, arms, and biceps; and of course, for health purpose. After reading this article about powerlifting, I realized I was doing the wrong procedure, and without even seeking advice from an experience weight lifter. I didn’t really read articles discussing about bodybuilding. I only got a chance to watch videos showing how. Luckily, I stumbled right here. So, I am hoping to learn more about… Read more »

ecole11j

Unfortunately, the chain gyms you refer to tend to be the most affordable gym options. If I can’t afford a pricier gym membership, am I better off joining one of these gyms and praying that I don’t set off the “lunk alarm” or would it actually be better to invest in a home gym?

lightningedge13

As a beginner looking to start working out, this article is very insightful. It showed me that if you want to be successful as a powerlifter, your decisions are crucial. I never knew that a gym that welcomes noise was crucial to weightlifting. I definitely agree that a coach is needed to get started in weightlifting. Learning the correct technique early on will give you a good form and will maximize results. I like how Trusylver mentioned in the article that you must start slow. I think there is a tendency for beginners in powerlifting to start off with heavy… Read more »

mharjoe

Hello, I’m just wondering If a teenager can start doing weight lifting, I’m just curious if they can adjust their body on weight lifting .I’ve read other article saying that weight lifting at a very young age can cause decrease in height .

Thank you

marshmallow1310

I think one must look into his lifestyle first before engaging into any kind of physical activity. This is because you’ll need to have good nutrition to utilize your body in such sport. It is also advisable to have some professional advice first before involving yourself with this sport. Safety first, that’s one thing to remember too. Also, do some research if it’s really for you. It may help because you’ll be able to look into the activity in advance and you can decide after if you really do like it or not. Then, of course, if you like it,… Read more »

Mandigirl

It is nice to read an article like this about powerlifting beginners and also to those people who are interested. Actually, I am interested in powerlifting with this article I have ideas now in starting it. Now I know that it is necessary to have a powerlifting coach rather than doing it own you own. I was also suprised that there is an accreditation for a gun to conduct powerlifting. Powerlifting caught my interest when I heard from one of the doctors that I know that there are health benefits that you can get in doing powerlifting such as fat… Read more »

Paco

Wow¡¡¡ this is really interesting I clearly can see the importance of work with a multidisciplinary group because if you do this alone at home you can cause injuries to your body, also is important to make the beginner visit the doctor to have medical check, because the person can have a pathology like problems with the legs like Achilles Tendon, meniscus lesions, Scoliosis, etc. And this will give the coach and the personal trainer a different vision to abord the exercises in a personalized way and get the better results. Also, they should work with a nutritionist because they… Read more »

junrose123

When I was young, I started to work out my body at home without any training or coach to guide me. I was just searching in the web some information regarding powerlifting and how to overcome some of its uncertainty. But later on I just realize that I should go for a coach and training so that I can really come up with a good result in powerlifting.

Makhi09

I think this post really shows why some people think that it is so hard to get into powerlifting. Most people in today’s lifestyle don’t have the time to dedicate to find a gym and a coach to help them achieve in powerlifting. We see a lot of people opting more and more to just running on a treadmill. I think that this kind of thinking is preventing people from expanding their horizons and finding an activity that is rewarding and challenging.

Meg25

It takes a lot of will and guts to choose weightlifting as one’s sport. Discipline will surely be measured during the training and the willpower to continue. I would like to try weightlifting someday and test the capacity of both my arm and leg muscles but I know there is much more to that. Thanks a lot for the beginner advice.

Tatiana Stan

Hi! This post really helped me understand why I couldn’t get my job done in the past, why I used to quit after 2 weeks or so of training. This is a great article for beginners, you explain step by step what needs to be done in order to start powerlifting. I guess my issue was that I tried to go for it all by myself. I was thinking ” what can it be so hard, I can lift and move around a little and get a great healthy body” but it wasn’t like that. A coach or personal trainer… Read more »

2603

With the given techniques on how to start Power lifting, I would like to ask if there is a preferred body shape. Is it better to have more weight? Will my weight contribute in making me better in power lifting?

2603

With the given techniques on how to start power lifting, I would like to ask if there is a preferred body shape? Is it better to have more weight and fat? I had an injury on my foot almost a year now is it still possible for me to do powerlifting? Thank you for the article hope you can answer my questions

alexharris1111

Very helpful blog. Was on the fence whether I should begin powerlifting or bodybuilding. I knew the beginning steps to enter the world of bodybuilding through my brother who is a bodybuilder. But not so much about powerlifting.

RRI87

Choosing the right gym might seem a trivial step but it’s in reality one of the most necessary ones. In a powerlifting gym you are able to make as much noise as necessary (you will, as powerlifting is not easy and it’s also “rewarding”) finding people that do the same thing also encourages you and you can make friends, ask them for tips (just not while they’re focused training) and check their form and yours and see if you’re doing it right. I’m mostly a loner and never had a coach or a training partner. I do my research and… Read more »

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