Have you ever done a squat or bench press? Then you’ve already done some form of Powerlifting before!

The sport seems to hold the stigma that only big burly men can do it. This can’t be much further from the truth. Powerlifting is as equally possible AND beneficial for women as it is men.

As a method of exercise, powerlifting doesn’t really differ that much to other weightlifting forms. The main focus of powerlifting are the big 3 lifts: squat, bench press and deadlift. But most people who aren’t training specifically for ‘powerlifting’ do these anyway.

Powerlifting simply focuses on a workout programme that assists in increasing the strength of these three main lifts, whereas more traditional bodybuilding routines focus more on the physical aesthetics and ‘shaping’ of the individual.

All styles of weightlifting have their own pros and cons, but let’s take a look at 4 benefits of powerlifting that are on offer to both males and females:

1 – Primary focus on strength

Powerlifting focuses heavily on strength; but don’t be worried. This means lifting weights relative to your capabilities, not simply throwing all the plates on the bar and struggling to muscle it around, when actually you build most of your strength while working with 70-85% of your maximum weight. Whether it be building muscle or burning fat, getting stronger is beneficial to all individuals working to any fitness-related goal.

“Strength is never a weakness” – Mark Bell

2 – Good form is key

In Powerlifting, a lot of emphasis is placed on good form. This means correctly executing the exercise to be as efficient as possible, and using a full range of motion. Too often people jump into the gym and try and lift as much weight as possible, potentially performing the exercise wrong and injuring themselves. Powerlifting focuses more on perfecting the form and gaining as much as possible from the lift.

3 – Fat Loss

Powerlifting is a form of exercise that burns lots of calories. Not only does it burn them whilst training.

A study from 1994, published in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition”, studied a group of participants who were partaking in resistance training. Over a 24 hour period, the amount of calories their body required increased by 15 percent. Powerlifting as a form of resistance training has been shown to be an effective method of fat loss.

4 – Athletic Ability: ties into other sports

Powerlifting helps to improve many other sport-related abilities, for example speed, and the vertical jump. As an example, a direct correlation between squat strength and sprint speed was discovered in a 2004 study published in the “British Journal of Sports Medicine”.

The bottom line here is, if you want to run faster or be able to jump higher, then increase your squat through powerlifting.

There are very few activities in which strength doesn’t help you in one form or another. Building up strength in your posterior chain (all the muscle down the back of your body such as hamstrings, glutes and spinal erectors) can cross over into martial arts, wrestling and fighting to name but a few.