I was wondering what some of the T-Nation members thought. I saw a video of Rezazadeh casually front squatting 617lbs for reps. There is no doubt in my mind that he could probably do an Olympic Back Squat anywhere from 700-750lbs, maybe even 800.
If he was to put on a squat suit and train for a Powerlifting Squat he would probably do very well.
By the same token I don’t think that any powerlifter could Olympic back squat 800lbs. Or maybe they could. To me an olympic lifter could make the transition to powerlifting fairly easily and do very well. But I’m not so sure that a powerlifter could transition to olympic weightlifting with same ease. Thoughts? Comments?
Personally I think this one has been beaten to death…but ye, olympic lifters are stronger, and by some stretch imo. When Reza does that 280kg front, it looks like he could do 15-20 reps with it. 800lbs back squat? Try 1000lbs. Same goes for Dimas 200kg front squats @83kg (1993 worlds)and Aranda’s 200kg+ back squats.
They both look like play weights. To be honest, how many PL guys can squat 300kg completely raw (no belt etc.) regardless of bodyweight let alone after a ton of other work? Aranda looks like his true max would be anywhere from 300-330kg…@77kg!!!
Personally I think I am a case in point. I deadlifted 605@190lbs about 6 months ago (belt, straps)… my clean and jerk is 242lbs (and I have a excellant weightlifting coach too). I think that says it all.
Maybe guys at the top of the sport (bolton, benni, hooper etc.) would be close, but majority of other pl guys would never come close to these numbers…
by olympic back squat, do you simply mean without a suit, like raw. Or is this a variation of the back squat?
Anyways, seems to me they both train CNS intensive, and the only reason the two elite level weight/powerlifters wouldn’t have equal lifts is because they haven’t had as much practice with each others technique.
If technique didn’t need so much practice at those levels, I’d imagine transitioning from one to the other would be pretty common.
I’ve trained as both with high level lifters, both at the national and world level, and I can say that two groups are so different that it’s hard to even generalize.
What I will say though is that the Weightlifters would have an easier time adjusting to Powerlifting than the other way around. This is not to say that it’s not possible to have Powerlifters transition to Weightlifting because I have seen it work the other way from time to time, Shane being a good example.
I do want to say that while most Weightlifters make their squat training sets look easy, most of them don’t squat more that 15%-20% over their Clean max, reason being that they don’t train for the squat, so the squat is merely an auxiliary lift for these lifters. They need to make sure that the speed of their squats is about the same as the speed they come out of the hole. Any slower, and the lift won’t really carry over to their lifts, even though their absolute strength would increase with the increased loading.
For me, the bottom line is that both sports are so different that I think the athletes that compete in each truly are pre-disposed to be good at each sport.
[quote]Hanley wrote:
I think the stupidity of this thread will only be surpassed by the amount of flames it will contain.[/quote]
You got it my friend. OP, since you’re on a roll, please also ignite another American Football vs. Rugby debate, a thread asking whether bodybuilders are athletes or not, a funny-bones vs. twinkies vs. oatmeal pies debate, and finally one that ponders the life question – is Charmin truly the quilted quicker picker-upper?
Personally I think I am a case in point. I deadlifted 605@190lbs about 6 months ago (belt, straps)… my clean and jerk is 242lbs (and I have a excellant weightlifting coach too). I think that says it all. [/quote]
That’s either a bad case in point, or your weightlifting coach isn’t that good.
I’m cleaning 17lbs less than you, but deadlifting 200lbs less than you. Maybe you should look into getting into powerlifting.
As for the question… olympic lifters make all their lifts look easy. They have to be fast. Rep 3 might look explosive, but that doesn’t mean they can get rep 4, so the “more in the tank” theory goes out the window here.
Also, overseas, a greater percentage of the gene pool goes towards olympic lifting. Besides that, Reza is a FREAK, and would succeed in any strength sport.