Too fill out a 120kg class with mostly muscle is a very hard task which is why fat weight takes a portion of that weight up. Holding 108kilos of lean mass at 10%bf is a very hard task for a natural to do.
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I don’t know if aesthetics is the right word, but under 220 most good lifters are pretty lean. Still, look at Mike Tuchscherer a few years back when he was at his peak, he was a lean 120kg. Dennis Cornelius is kind of fat but he’s also strong as hell, he holds some all time records in the 275 class which he set at a chubby 120kg (264lbs.)
At a certain point you need to get your priorities straight. Do you want to be lean or do you want to set world record and win championship titles? If Dennis Cornelius cuts down to 8%bf and comes in last place, will girls throw their panties on stage? Probably not.
Yes I’m not sure about the exact definition but I’m thinking about people who are not extremely lean, but still very muscular and built like tanks - Matt Kroc, Stan Efferding, Karwoski, young Ed Coan and other old school guys.
Also, old school oly lifters like David Rigert. I know some of these also compete(d) in bodybuilding, but in their “powerlifter forms” I think they look better, more powerful.
That’s my ideal look and honestly I think most lifters who are in the “common mortals” realms would be more than glad with that kind of body.
Having been to a few meets, few powerlifters have a muscular look. The few that do are those that are doing well.
This is still fundamentally a hobby for most.
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You do realize that all those guys took steroids, right? I’m not aware of Kirk Karwoski testing positive, but I would be very surprised if he was actually clean.
The problem here is that you’re concerned with a certain look rather than performance. Look at some Russian lifters like Yuri Belkin for example. He doesn’t look particularly jacked but he’s not fat and he’s strong. That’s the result of training with lots of low rep sets rather than the bodybuilding style that is more common with American lifters. You don’t need to be fat to move big weights (unless you are a SHW where you don’t give a fuck anymore) but if you want to look like a bodybuilder then you need to train like a bodybuilder.
I think you’re taking my words too literally.
I didn’t mean looking EXACTLY like those guys, who are elite level athletes often in more than one discipline of weight lifting, I’m talking about having that kind of body composition/structure/look, you name it.
Belkin is a good example. He’s not ripped, he’s not fat either, has a powerful look, looks like he lifts and his legs are trunks.
If you mean specifically me myself, when you say “you’re concerned with…”, trust me, I’m not. I’m nowhere close enough to being strong to be concerned about it, I’m still a beginner so doing strength for my main stuff and then some volume/hypertrophy work as assistance is enough to get results in both areas. It will be a very long time before I need to choose how I want to specialize, if that ever happens.
Sorry for being late on this post, but OP, it’s not difficult at all to lean out and still keep your strength gains, and maybe even add some to it if you do it correctly, and to stay lean. I’m on a different program, but most time powerlifters in general tend to over look the benefits of HIIT/cardio/systems work. Go check out @MarkKO log. He shredded down something fierce, and his numbers are still hella good.
But to be honest you’re probably better off doing sled pulls and carries. Maybe some walking as well.
Sorry I directed this post to you Benanything, I have no idea what I did with that.
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Stop reading Broscience