Body building and power lifting are very similar sports. They both involve spending lots of time pumping iron in the gym and growing massive muscles. Perhaps you’re thinking of taking up either of these sports (or even both), or you’re just a muscle enthusiast interested in knowing more about muscle building sports, this article will guide you through the differences and similarities between body building and power lifting.
Similarities Between Body Building and Power Lifting
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Massive Muscles
noted in the opening paragraph, power lifters and body builders really have one major thing in common: massive muscles. Building muscles is the name of the game for both sets of athletes, so if that is something you are passionate about, then either sport could be right for you but there are fundamental differences so read on to be sure which of the two is just right for you.
- Cosmetic Help
The stark reality is that you’re going to need some cosmetic help in order to be successful as a muscle builder. We’re not recommending that you take steroids or any performance enhancers which could be quite dangerous for your health, but you can and probably will need to take a lot of nutritional supplements to aid in building and retaining muscle mass. These can be expensive so if you’re aiming for the top, you should make sure you have an adequate budget.
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Neither sport makes much money
But body builders probably make a bit more. Body builders tend to have better looking bodies which probably attracts more people to watch body building tournaments than power lifting tournaments. The extra audience means more attention and endorsements from the corporate world and of course more money. Also body builders, again probably because they have good looking bodies, usually have more opportunities in the entertainment industry and many end up as models or actors.
At the end of the day though, you’re going to need to be at the very top of the ladder in either sport, to stand a chance of make a decent living without doing anything else.
Differences Between Body Building and Power Lifting
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Focus
Body building is more about looking strong than it is about actually being strong whereas power builders are, like the name implies, much more focused on actually building up power for performance. The core difference shows in the way these two sets of athletes train and prepare and in the actual format of competitions.
In body building, athletes will typically be judged on the aesthetic quality of their muscles but in power lifting, performance is judged by athletes capacity to lift heavy weights in correct form.
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Lean body mass
Power lifting competitions do not take into account the appearance of athletes at all so it is common to find many power lifters with a comparatively chubby appearance. In fact, this is one of the regular jabs thrown at power lifters by body builders who on the other hand need to be extremely lean in order to compete. While power lifters will often train to increase body mass and density, body builders may often need to reduce body mass to appear more lean and sharp.
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Training Regime
In training power lifters tend to focus more on lifting really heavy weights with low repetitions but body builders on the other hand, usually train using moderately heavy weights with very high repetitions based on the principle that lifting lower weights at higher reps gives better muscle definition and lifting higher weights at a lower repetition gives more muscle density and strength.
Body builders will also typically train to the point of muscle exhaustion which is considered good for the development of aesthetically strong muscles but this practice could be detrimental to good form and as such is discouraged for power lifters for whom good form is an essential part of performance.
Power lifting as a sport is focused on executing the dead lift, squat and dead press. Body builders have to have a full body structure that is muscularly aesthetic as such the training routines for athletes in these two sports will be specific to certain muscle groups
Conclusion
Whichever your preference, you will need a lot of hard work and dedication to become a serious athlete in either of these sports.
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