My Powerlifting Deception

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 All of my weight training used to follow a powerlifting type model.  Heavy squats, bench, deadlifts, and overhead press.  In order to increase the weights I was using for each lift I used to spend a fair amount of time studying the respective technique of each lift and try to figure out different tips and tricks to make heavier weights seem easier to lift.



Now this was done in part from a safety perspective, meaning I was trying to learn how to handle these relatively heavy weights while putting myself at the lowest risk of injury.  But figuring out these tips and tricks was also done so I could lift the weights more efficiently.

I would try to "pull the bar apart in my hands" when pressing, altering the respective moment arm to the shoulder and elbow.  I would throw my body weight back while deadlifting--a tip I picked up after watching countless YouTube videos of some of the best powerlifters in the world--effectively attempting to use the inertia of the mass of my body to help lift the bar.  I would place the bar at a very specific position on my back every time I squatted in order to maximize the amount of weight I could add on top of my torso and still sit down and stand up.

The ironic thing about all of this is that I was not training to be a powerlifter.  Powerlifting was not my sport, basketball was, and I was lifting to get stronger and stay healthy.  I liked seeing a lot of weight on the bar and watching as that amount increased.  But the veil of deception that I was under for the longest time is that the more weight I would put on the bar meant I was automatically challenging my tissue more.  More challenge to the tissue meant more strength meant more weight on the bar.  At least that's how I had it in my head.

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Here's the funny thing, though:  I'm not sure how much of that weight was actually challenging my muscles in the way I wanted them to be challenged.  In fact, all of the tips and tricks I learned and applied were done in order to challenge specific tissue less to make the weight seem easier to lift.  For example, trying to pull my hands apart on the bar when I bench pressed created less mechanical challenge to my chest and more to my elbow extensors.  But why was I bench pressing?  To move more weight or to build a bigger, stronger chest?

Trying to rip the bar off of the ground and fling by body backwards when deadlifting certainly helped me pull 500, but how much stronger could I have gotten if I actually tried to lift and control the weight and the motion at every point along the way instead of trying so hard to fling the bar up that the inertial effects of the movement of that mass propelled the bar through part of the range?
And I definitely found the best bar placement spot on my back to create the most optimal moment arms to my knees, hips, etc when I squatted, but what kind of challenge was actually being presented to the muscles that controlled those joints?  Furthermore, how much was I challenging myself when I would stand up so fast that you could see the bar elevating off of my back by the time I was at the top of my rep?

There isn't anything inherently wrong with powerlifting or training to increase the amount of weight you can move, but what I have come to realize is if your goal is to improve the amount of tension (force) your muscles can generate, all of the tips and tricks to make lifting the weight more efficient by actually challenging the tissue less might need to go out the window.  You still want to set yourself in a specific manner to try to limit injury, but if the goal is truly to challenge tissue, then you need to create a different relationship of your joints to the forces of the imposed challenge, in which the pursuit of finding the most efficient way to lift the weight needs to be strongly reconsidered.

What is the goal of the challenge you have created for yourself?  Is it to move a mass with a bigger number on it or to challenge tissue to a greater degree?

Your body.  Your training.

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