What Is Powerbuilding? – An Overview
You want to get big and you want to be strong as a bull? Seems like an easy task, right? I mean, if you really sit down and think about it, most new trainees are going after the goals of powerbuilding – to get big and strong at the same time. However, to achieve massive strength and great size with aesthetics as well, training, nutrition, and overall scheduling of your programs is of the utmost important!
Powerbuilding – Two Birds With One Atlas Stone (corny fitness joke) ?
Powerbuilding is a new trend that a lot of fitness enthusiasts are flocking towards. You can even see plenty of people talking about it in its own subreddit! It’s for good reason too. Sure, it’s cool to be the biggest guy in the gym. However, if you only squat 300 as the biggest guy in the gym, you aren’t going to get a lot of credit for being strong. The same happens on the opposite spectrum. Sure, it’s great to bench more than those big guys can squat. However, if somebody just walks past you in your normal daily life, they might not even know that you are a gym rat, since you only weight 185 lbs!
I hate to sound cynical about powerbuilders – but it is really an ego thing that gets you started down this road. I’m not ashamed to say i train this way – I want to prove how strong I am and still look awesome. I don’t think it’s necessarily a negative thing to have these goals. I just had to throw it out there. If you don’t care how strong you are and want to get as big as you can, go for it. If you just want to lift heavy sh*t and don’t care about aesthetics, go for it! I’ll stick to powerbuilding though!
Training For Powerbuilding
If you know a few things about basic programming methods, you know that in strength training, your heavy compound lifts should happen at the beginning of the workout for maximum strength-building potential. We also know that powerlifting comes down to the big three lifts: squats, deadlifts, and bench press. From that, we can create a training schedule skeleton focusing on the big 3 lifts and continue building workouts around them. Most powerlifters are going to hit the big 3 lifts at least two times a week. However, for a beginner powerbuilding routine, I’d keep the big 3 to one session each. Hit squats on leg day, hit bench on chest day, and hit deadlifts on back day. To fill in two more days to complete more of a bodybuilding schedule, we will hit arms one day and delts another day. Here is a basic routine that could work for you:
- Monday – Back (Deadlift focus)
- Tuesday – Arms
- Wednesday – Legs (Squat focus)
- Thursday – Delts
- Friday – Rest
- Saturday – Chest (Bench focus)
- Sunday – Rest
Hit those big 3 lifts heavy and with low reps, probably around 5 sets each after warm ups. Fill the rest of those days with 3-4 accessory lifts for 3 sets of 8-12 reps to work on the hypertrophy for that muscle group. For the accessory days (delts and arms), hit 4-5 movements for the same 3 sets of 8-12 reps. This basic powerbuilding program will take you to a plateau where you will need a more intermediate/advanced program to continue with results.
Nutrition For Powerbuilding
A lot of powerbuilers want to compete at something to show off their skills and bodies. If you compete with powerlifting, you will have to make a weight class. If you do bodybuilding shows, you will have to be ripped. So, combining these two, you will see that you need to pack massive muscle on a certain body weight. What that means is you need low body fat and need to stay within 10-15 lbs. of your powerlifting weight class to maximize your powerbuilding potential. Remember, in the aesthetic body pyramid, diet is more important than training for body composition. You will need to cut fat and then put on more weight with clean muscle gains. Or, you could go the slower route and recomp the whole way.
A lot of powerlifters cut 5-10 lbs. for a meet, and most natural bodybuilders can cut that same amount in water. If you stay about 15 lbs about your powerlifting (and bodybuilding) weight class year round, you can cut that extra 5-10 lbs. of fat and 5-10 lbs. of water before either type competition. The key is to stay lean year round so your cutting phases are short and don’t really interfere with your strength gains!
What’s Next For You?
So, you now know what powerbuilding is and a basic idea of how it’s done. Does it sound like something that you would want to do? Remember, you don’t have to compete at all if you don’t want to. You can still subscribe to the ideology behind powerbuilding and still reap the benefits. Let us know what you think with a comment below!
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