Had a go at powerlifting and strongman recently - becoming very popular these days - not just for men but the ladies are heavily involved. You do not realise just how exciting and motivating training  and taking part can be! You should give it a go.

 

Below some of my pictures and certificates - proud to say I have  won few competitions recently!

 

POWERLIFTING

 

Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves lifting weights in three attempts.

 

Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as “odd lifts”, which followed the same three-attempt format but used a wider variety of events, akin to strongman competition. Eventually odd lifts became standardized to the current three.

 

In competition, lifts may be performed equipped or un-equipped (typically referred to as ‘raw’ lifting or ‘classic’ in the IPF specifically). Equipment in this context refers to a supportive bench shirt or squat/deadlift suit or briefs. In some federations, knee wraps are permitted in the equipped but not un-equipped division; in others, they may be used in both equipped and un-equipped lifting. Weight belts, knee sleeves, wrist wraps and special footwear may also be used, but are not considered when distinguishing equipped from un-equipped lifting.

 

Powerlifting Competitions

 

The squat, bench press and deadlift are the three main lifts in competition.

In order to maximize their effectiveness at these lifts, individuals typically train with a cyclical routine. A common split is to give each of the three lifts a day where exercises designed to increase that lift are performed or to treat the deadlift and squat as one lift and perform upper and lower body sessions, however there are many different methods. Training consists of mostly compound lifts (a compound lift being any movement across multiple joints) in the 1-5 repetition range.

 

Again, Performance Fitness members and staff compete regularly and have some seriously good instructors such as Scott Halliday owner of Performance Fitness Gym who competes at world class level. Picture Above James monk competing in the recent 2015 UK Powerlifting finals where he took bronze with 745kgs for the 3 lifts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STRONGMAN

 

Strongman is a weightlifting-based sport where the athletes, male and female, compete in several events involving different aspects of mental and physical strength, speed and endurance. There is a wide variety of possible event combinations which opens the sport up to all kinds of different athletes.

 

Some competitions are very, very heavy and favour the biggest and strongest athletes. Some competitions are more focused on moving moderately heavy weights for a set distance or a certain number of times within a given time limit. Then there are the well-balanced competitions that require strength, speed, and good physical conditioning to be successful.

 

The thing that makes strongman so accessible is that anyone can train for it. This is also the biggest thing that people fail to realize when they see it on TV. Just like going into a commercial gym and picking up a barbell or dumbbell, almost all of the events in strongman can be made lighter or heavier depending on the strength and experience level of the individual who is training. As long as you have access to the equipment, anyone can train for strongman.

 

This can dramatically alter the way people train and the results they achieve. Anyone can get a lot stronger in a relatively short time by doing strongman-style training and following an intelligently designed program.

 

As an added bonus, most people will lose significant fat weight and improve aerobic conditioning by training this way because most of the exercises in strongman force the trainee to use most of the muscle groups in his or her body at once. On top of this, the trainee will often be doing an exercise for an extended period of time, such as 60-90 seconds, rather than just a few seconds.

 

The biggest detriments to more people adding strongman training to their workout routine is lack of access to equipment, lack of qualified people to instruct newcomers in safe and proper exercise technique, and ignorance of the fact that anyone can train for strongman rather than just those who resemble sasquatches!

 

Performance Fitness Gym in Eastbourne is proud to have ‘strongman’ as one of its key areas of expertise for both male and female and hosts regular competitions. The gym is one of the only ones in the area to have all the necesary equipment available and instructors who are qualified to teach and also compete themselves. James Monk winning the Hastings Strongman title 2013.