Perhaps you you mean to say they are not competitive powerlifters, they’re just powerlifters
I think there’s a difference between being a powerlifter and a competitive powerlifter
Here is the difference: If a Powerlifter has a training partner doing the same routine and the training partner never competes. Of the two, only one is a Powerlifter
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Yeah the training partner who doesn’t compete is a powerlifter, the other one that competes is a competitive powerlifter.
What if his training partner who doesn’t compete is stronger? Do you think the other one who competes is going to tell him, “Hmph. Come back to me when you’re a powerlifter, chump.”?
If it were me, I would tell him to compete. You haven’t defeated me until you do it on the judged platform.
What do you do when you’re trying to hit failure at 9-12 reps, and at rep 10 you can feel that won’t happen, you’ve got 4-5 reps left in you at least.
Do you start nessing with the execution of the last couple reps. Like slowing down the cadance, or pausing under tension to nake the reps harder?
Push on to failure at 15-16 reps or whatever, and call it a good day?
Or terminate the set at 12 reps, not to failure. Then consider that one your last warm up, and add weight to do another set?
For me, it’s typically this one
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Ok so your training partner who doesn’t compete pulls 250lbs more than you do in a training session together. You think he hasn’t defeated you until he does it on a judged platform?
If I’m trying to hit failure at 9-12 reps and at rep 10 I feel that won’t happen because I’ve got 4-5 reps left, I push on to failure at 15-16 reps. Why? Because 15-16 reps provides the same amount of effective reps as 9-12 (the amount of effective reps caps at a certain point so more reps won’t change that fact). This way I’m not sandbagging the set and still getting the same amount of growth stimulus as if I were to fail at 9-12. Then the next set I’ll add a tiny bit more weight knowing I overshot the reps to failure on the previous set. I don’t change the execution at all if I know I got more than 12 reps in the tank.
9-12 reps is just when the max amount of effective reps for growth caps out. Any more reps than that is inefficient, but not necessarily less effective. It would only be a problem if I went so light that I would need close to 25 reps on a hack squat for example to reach failure (I have done that before when I switched to hack squats not knowing what I was capable of). I reached rep 12 knowing I got way more and just kept going to failure and then the next set I added a lot more weight to be less of a strain on my cardio. At the end of the day, every set of hack squat in that session was to failure. The muscle isn’t going to know how much weight is on the bar or how many reps have been done. It’s not going to tell itself, “ok now we can grow because we are at rep #10”. Muscles only know tension
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For one thing, that ain’t happening. No serious Powerlifter trains with a partner that is 250lbs weaker or stronger than they are. It just does not make for compatible partners.
Quit offering up hyperbole to emphasize your point.
I have an example of what you just suggested. I mentioned Charles Bailey as an elite Powerlifter. There was a period of time that Vince Urbank trained at our gym. He had a 900lb deadlift without straps. Charles only deadlifted just under or over 700lbs. They never trained deadlift together.
Sure, the 250lbs gap was exaggerated, that’s not the point. The principle remains: training like a powerlifter, following the lifts, methodology, and intent, makes you a powerlifter. Competition only adds a label of ‘competitive.’ Denying someone that identity because they don’t compete is like saying someone isn’t a runner because they never joined a race.
What you’re doing is a form of gatekeeping or elitism. It’s a classic example of the no true Scotsman fallacy. That’s like saying I’m not a lifter because I don’t use barbells. Or are lifters beholden to using barbells otherwise they’re not a true lifter?
Talk about weak analogies. You might have undeniable claim to the award.
Also, it is my guess that everyone who would identify themselves as a runner has run in some kind of a race. At least here in America.
Who would ever suggest that? Lifting generally means picking something up against the force of gravity.
I suggested that example because you have a gatekeeping/elitist attitude. Instead of being fair and saying a powerlifter who competes is a competitive powerlifter and someone who trains like a powerlifter but doesn’t compete is a just a powerlifter, you go as far as saying, “nope, you’re not a powerlifter until you stand before some judges”. If we follow your line of logic, then we should also be able to say that anyone who doesn’t use a barbell isn’t a true lifter. But you argue that well no..lifting is just lifting objects against the force of gravity.
So in other words, you have a selective form of gatekeeping. You apply it to powerlifting with regards to competing, but not to barbells for lifting.
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I almost like that. Could we change “attitude” to “standard”?
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Yeah but you are selective with your gatekeeping, it’s arbitrary. You decide to gatekeep when it comes to powerlifting unless someone competes, but not when it comes to not using barbells for lifting.
So your arguments are inconsistent and arbitrary
How?
Everyone here says that when you compete = you’re that sports representative. It’s pretty simple and consistent.
If you lift things at gym you’re a lifter.
If you start to toss around words such as non competitive powerlifter, that’s inconsistent terminology, unless everyone who increases their strength is a powerlifter.
Powerlifting is a very specific sport with many detailed rules.
Whatever that other nonsense about barbells and lifting is just a distraction by adding confusion.
Barbells, dumbbells, and weight machines are all possible tools for lifting for a purpose other than accomplishing “work.”
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Read Nomad’s replies. Yes, you are a powerlifter if you compete, but he claims that anyone who trains like one but doesn’t compete isn’t a powerlifter either.
That’s a form of gatekeeping/elitism. When I gave him the example of not being a true lifter unless you use a barbell, he denied it saying well actually….
So he is selective with his gatekeeping and arbitrary
No .
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