Powerlifting State Of Affairs

[Bill Piche]

So I go on Youtube and I see some of these "top gym" teams for powerlifting training videos. Squatting way high is the norm with a majority being a mile high. Non-locked out bench presses galore. Non true pause benches. That's why I posted that 600+ bench. It's like the oddity now rather than the norm.

It's getting REALLY BAD now. I mean really bad.

I bet I could have squatted 800 or more given that 1/2 squats pass with 3 whites a big atta boys from the crowd.

[tselegala]

So I go on Youtube and I see some of these "top gym" teams for powerlifting training videos. Squatting way high is the norm with a majority being a mile high. Non-locked out bench presses galore. Non true pause benches. That's why I posted that 600+ bench. It's like the oddity now rather than the norm.

It's getting REALLY BAD now. I mean really bad.

I bet I could have squatted 800 or more given that 1/2 squats pass with 3 whites a big atta boys from the crowd.

Maybe one day, that bubble will burst and we will go back to all raw and all strict everything. But i don't think the competitors have any choice really if they choose to compete. They need to exploit every edge allowable by the loose rules cuz if they don't someone else will. There are strongman events now that reflect my views more on what strength is about anyways.

[IROC-Z]

Unfortunately the definition of "below parallel" has changed a bit over the years. I've witnessed some awfully high squats in recent competitions, and they passed with flying colors. I guess the bigger numbers create more excitement, which in turn creates more revenue for the federations and the sponsors.

[Sher]

So I go on Youtube and I see some of these "top gym" teams for powerlifting training videos. Squatting way high is the norm with a majority being a mile high. Non-locked out bench presses galore. Non true pause benches. That's why I posted that 600+ bench. It's like the oddity now rather than the norm.

It's getting REALLY BAD now. I mean really bad.

I bet I could have squatted 800 or more given that 1/2 squats pass with 3 whites a big atta boys from the crowd.

Maybe one day, that bubble will burst and we will go back to all raw and all strict everything. But i don't think the competitors have any choice really if they choose to compete. They need to exploit every edge allowable by the loose rules cuz if they don't someone else will. There are strongman events now that reflect my views more on what strength is about anyways.

I definitely understand what you are saying, but it still does come down to a matter of priorities. The competitors always have a choice.

Bill, I lifted in my first meet last October and I can at least vouch for the pause on the bench there - I had to hold for a 2-3 sec pause before I got a "press" and I wasn't unsteady. I was starting to wonder...

[The Natural]

I just ignore most of powerlifting now. A bunch of billy bobs who think they can overcome their mediocre genetics with lots of drugs and equipment. Disgusting, out of shape lifters who don't even know what it's like to work out hard. Legends in their own minds, a thousand world champions with nobody around to blow the whistle and remind them where they really stand in the pecking order. A friend of mine recently saw one powerlifter make his girlfriend pour Gatorade in his mouth because he was too lazy to grab the container and drink it himself.

Nowadays the only competition I care about is Raw Unity. Super strict, all raw, big time talent.

[Bill Piche]

Raw Unity seems to be a breath of fresh air.

[rico300zx]

Raw Unity seems to be a breath of fresh air.

I totally agree with Bill and Rex. Ive been thinking the same for a wile now too, And yes it is probally ALL about revenue, everything is.

rico

[ChrisJames]

This is the reason why i think the greats like Jon Cole, John Kuc,Jim Williams, Larry Pacifico, Ron Collins,Tony Stevens, Don Reinhoudt,Pat Casey ,Bill Kazmaier, etc Were THE REAL DEAL.

Don't think raw powerlifting strength has moved on from these gentlemen.

Watching a Ed Coan highlights video on youtube the other day , first of all they only rated him about 3 stars out of 5 but they were also slagging him off saying things like he wouldn't live with todays lifters and so and so was outlifting his totals by over a 100kg and so on.

One thing for certain was Ed always hit depth and everything he did was superstrict.

Wouldn't be great if they unified powerlifting with just one organisation like the 70,s and then we could see who really are the best!

[Bill Piche]

Go to Powerliftingwatch.com and watch the news come in on these big time lifts in training. It's really bad. This super wide stance crap where it ends up being a 6 inch deep half squat.

I could never go to a meet and bench more than I squat due to these shirts. I would be embarassed to do that -- but that's just me.

In fact, I would be somewhat embarassed to squat more than I deadlift.

[anson]

So I go on Youtube and I see some of these "top gym" teams for powerlifting training videos. Squatting way high is the norm with a majority being a mile high. Non-locked out bench presses galore. Non true pause benches. That's why I posted that 600+ bench. It's like the oddity now rather than the norm.

It's getting REALLY BAD now. I mean really bad.

I bet I could have squatted 800 or more given that 1/2 squats pass with 3 whites a big atta boys from the crowd.

This is the main reason why powerlifting has stagnated, while strongman has taken off.

[rico300zx]

Bill

What are your current raw numbers with the 3 main lifts (about)? And what grip specific work are you into these days? I've been here for some time and don't see you post to much about it ecept that your upset with the state of affairs of powerlifting. Oh and do you ever hook up with the guys for grip workouts?

Parris

[AP]

I actually think its gotten much better than it has been in the last few years. We've seen the re-emergence of raw lifting and big names like KK are bringing some excitement and legitimacy back to the sport. The biggest contests in powerlifting are becoming the raw contests and that's definitely a step in the right direction.

[Bob Lipinski]

While I agree with the sentiment, one thing to remember is that not many of the names mentioned above competed raw. Kuc, Williams, Kaz, Pacifico, all used equipment. Again, not getting into the raw vs. gear debate, just going over the history.

Also, strongman is as geared up as powerlifting, for the events that equipment helps. Watch closely.

Powerlifting is messed up becuase of the splitting of feds and "ALL TIME RECORD" phenomenon. Sadly, raw lifting sometimes exaggerates this. KK is an example, as he appears more of a youtube star and backyard raw record lifter. Besides the RAW UNITY meet, there exists very little competition in the raw venues, if you define competition as lifting against someone else.

If I lived as far away from everyone as Bill does I wouldn't be in any contests either! After being on the internet for 10+ (and Bill has been around longer than me) years sometimes this stuff just gets old.

[The Natural]

While I agree with the sentiment, one thing to remember is that not many of the names mentioned above competed raw. Kuc, Williams, Kaz, Pacifico, all used equipment. Again, not getting into the raw vs. gear debate, just going over the history.

They did use equipment, but they were famous too for competition lifts that were done raw. As you know already, Kuc has a famous raw deadlift record to his credit, and Kaz for years held the all time raw bench record. Rarely do you see equipped lifters these days having anything similar to their credit. Many of them go out of their way to hide their raw numbers.

Truthfully, back in the day, powerlifting seemed to not fall neatly into either equipped or raw categories, with lifters from that era doing many of their lifts without equipment, whether for reasons of comfort or other reasons. Many did not use deadlift suits, and some chose to not use bench shirts even though they were lifting in equipped competitions. I think the squat was the only lift that uniformly involved equipment, but in training lifters of that era did not squat in equipment at least some of the time. That too is rare these days.

So I think Chris James does have some reason to mention those names in support of his point.