battle of the big guys: strongman vs powerlifting vs olympic lifting

[SevenStar]

Which do you do / prefer and why? Here is an interesting article I found on t-nation:

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=560555

[bodhitree]

I like the explosive movements of olympic lifts, I also like powerlifting. I've never had any experience with strongman.

By the way, I'm small, usually floating at 175ish.

[Vash]

I chose the Olympic lifts, even though I tend to focus more on dumbbells as opposed to the bar. Not because I'm stuck up or anything (I am, but that's beside the point), but because my left elbow is formed a wee bit different from the left, so having the load move in a divergent manner on each side is a plus.

Besides, it's nice to get looks and giggles from the high school boys doing curls and crunches when I dumbbell snatch a 30# DB for a warmup, then ahve them start getting quiet and posing when I start using the 70# for reps.

Favorite lifts, though, are the lunges, dumbbell snatch and the Pull and Catch - search T-Nation for John Davies doing a demo,, and of course, teh chins/pull ups. I have a weird grip, but they work.

5' 8", 190lbs, since we're throwing that out there.

[Toby]

I'm honoured to post after Vash.

Still doing PTP. I'd do Oly lifting but for my bad shoulder.

[Mr Punch]

Still not been doing weights long enough to know what the hell the differences are! :confused::o:(:)

[sanjuro_ronin]

never been trained on olympic lifts so I dont't do them.

My bread and butter lifts are DL, Squats, Overhead presses, Weighted Chins and Weighted Dips.

5-6, 175 :D

[bodhitree]

Still not been doing weights long enough to know what the hell the differences are! :confused::o:(:)

Olympic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_lifting)
dynamic explosive movements such as clean and jerk.


Powerlifting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerlifting)
The big three, bench press, squat, and deadlift.


Body building is for asthetic purposes. High reps, low weight, little rest between sets. It's more about obtaining an image than anything functional (although some BBs are strong motafukas)

[SevenStar]

yeah, pretty much. and strongman stuff falls in line with powerlifting. There is a split amongst trainers for various reasons. There have been numerous studies done comparing the results of those two types of training.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i voted powerlifting as its what i do, but i have nothing but respect for it all. bodybuilding included. i dabble in the ollys and hope to do the same with strongman training at some point.

[Samurai Jack]

I cross train with everything but pure bodybuilding. I've been too scattered to truly have made any signifigant progress putting on mass anyway in the last few years, and my goals have changed from "beefing up" to just getting better at making my strength transferable to my martial art. My favorite protocols have involved simple programs built along a core movement or two, such as the Deadlift, Squat, or Power Clean.

I don't believe it's good to over specialize, because each style has great benifit to martial arts and other sports. If I had to choose the one that had the greatest carryover, it would be Oly lifts, but they are too complicated to be practical for most trainees. For someone who dosen't want to learn technique for a good few months, or lacks the facilities, I'd choose the Powerlifting three, with a few explosive movements like Shot Puts, Sledgehammers-to-Tires and so on.

Got any links to those studies Seven?

[IronFist]

I like powerlifting. I would do Oly lifting if I knew the lifts. I like bodybuilding, too. And strongman training is awesome because who doesn't want to be strong? So I vote for those four.

[Royal Dragon]

I like the strong an stuff because it has an almost infinate variety, and much of the lifting is odd shaped things like stones, or wisky barrels etc...

The power lifting is good too, and I have also found military presses to be really helpfull.

I also found that a combination of bent over rows, and bicep curles done both with the bar and dumbells seems to be helping my pull ups. I really suck at those, so by doing the weigths I can actually lighten the load enough to get more reps in.

I sometimes do slow punches with dumbells, and well as slow upper cuts which seems to build shoulder strength right where I am kind of weak.