Powerlifting

A lot of folks confuse body building, weightlifting and power lifting. These are three sports that use similar equipment for different effect. It is important to explain this to avoid a lot of confusion and understand the authors target audience. 1. A bodybuilder is using a variety of exercises to have large and well defined muscles. While strength gains are real, the primary goal is to have a shapely body and the contests are based upon how good the contestant looks. There are numerous resources, magazines and so on available to the prospective trainee. Most people who "work out" are following one or more bodybuilding routines. 2. Weightlifting is a strength and speed exercise with many classic lifts such as the 'clean and jerk' - and this is the sport most people think of when they talk about weight training. This is an Olympic sport and has a lot of books and other references. 3. Powerlifting is mostly a strength exercise based upon 3 exercises: the Squat, the Bench Press and the Deadlift. This book is about this particular sport, and it is about these three lifts. If you want to know about this sort of lifting, the sport and the types of people that do this, as well as a taste of the types of diet and exercise programs people use to train, this is a good book. *** It happens to be one of the only easily available books on the subject, as such it is a "must get" for the prospective Powerlifter. *** The book is not a complete reference for an absolute beginner to weight training, but if someone is familiar with basic bodybuilding routines, and has done it for a little bit (a year of minimum training in my opinion) this is a great introduction into the sport of powerlifting. From some of the bios in the book, most of the people did bodybuilding for some time, and then discovered Powerlifting, and this probably should be no different. The book does a great job of describing the lifts, how to perform them properly, and safely, and it explains routines for training, periodization for competition as well as how to set up your own powerlifting routine. You can glean a lot of information on the sport and routines for a variety of ages, body types as well as men and women form the book. It also has sections talking about how to have a balanced routine, which is important if you are to have a LONG powerlifting routine! If you want to learn about POWERLIFTING (the sport) this is a great book! If you have some experience in bodybuilding and want to know more about some really core exercises as well as one possible way to expand you horizons with a new sport - pick this up!

I can't believe all the bad reviews this book is getting. Ive been into fitness for 12 years and seen far, far worse efforts by self-styled "experts". I'm aware that power lifting is hard on the joints. So is every sport I can think of. Sad to say, as a weightlifter and martial artist, my sports have a lot of envy and gossip. The author is a professor of Physical Ed at a Virginia University. What are the qualifications of his critics? If you want a book that shows real strengh training, get this one. It's about ten dollars used and twenty new. You won't be sorry.