If you compare powerlifters with bodybuilders, then no doubt you can easily notice the difference in their form, although both of them train hard in the gym and work with basic exercises.
And as you are aware, simple activities are the best way to burn subcutaneous fat.
Why would someone who competes at that high level in a strength sport be so unfit and overweight?
Unbelievably, it makes perfect sense, and here’s why.
Overweight powerlifters frequently compete in the open category, which has no maximum weight restriction. Strong athletes benefit from having more fat on their bodies since they can move more weight because they are heavier.
What’s going on here, and, in general, why do they not lose mass but, on the contrary, gain it? On purpose! Read on to learn all about it.
Why Powerlifters Are Fat – A Quick Answer
To answer this question, you have to compare them again with bodybuilders. The figure of a bodybuilder is achieved through the addition of nutrition, recovery, and appropriate training, which implies not only an increase in muscle mass but also the burning of fat, which only spoils the shape.
Most athletes divide a large period of time into periods: mass gain, when bodybuilders gain mass, gaining muscle and a small amount of fat (ideally), and then cutting, which burns unnecessary fat, leaving muscles and giving the body a characteristic relief.
Bodybuilders almost never use extreme weights because they don’t need to. They need the weight with which they can do 8-15 reps in a controlled and high-quality manner.
This is where the differences in training approaches lie.
Powerlifters don’t need to look athletic and lean to lift big weights. For a powerlifter, the main thing is to lift the maximum weight. All attention is focused on the weight of the projectile and not on the shape of the athlete, so powerlifters have the opportunity to look full and be champions.
The food is also different. It is important for bodybuilders to consume a large amount of protein, and powerlifters focus more on calories. High-calorie food promotes anabolic processes, but they also include an increase in fat mass.
Powerlifters almost never dry out because, with a calorie deficit, the athlete’s strength indicators decrease, which is simply unacceptable for them. Of course, there are exceptions when bodybuilders get rid of their fat “load,” and then the stomach is replaced with powerful press cubes.
Body Differences
There is a simple explanation for this question, but this requires understanding and knowing the processes that occur in the body when playing sports.
Muscle strength is different, and in some people with large constitutions, it may be less than in thin and frankly frail ones.
This phenomenon is due to developed strong and strong tendons. Yes, tendon strength also plays an important role along with muscles, but it is not enough for working with maximum weights, as well as large muscles.
Diet Goals for Powerlifting
During training, powerlifters develop both muscles and ligaments. And in order to work with big weights, these athletes need energy, which they receive thanks to a truly heroic diet.
The figure of a bodybuilder, aesthetics, and proportions are created by performing various exercises and following the tactics of conducting the training process, which is aimed at creating well-developed lean muscles.
To do this, bodybuilders use not only dietary products, deprive themselves of carbohydrates but also resort to the use of medications.
Powerlifters are the opposite. Even though an athlete’s weight is equally important in powerlifting, since athletes in this sport compete in weight categories, the main emphasis in training is on strength.
That is why we observe athletes of this sport in their usual physical form, and those athletes with a predisposition to gaining mass can be frankly fat.
Outcome
Powerlifters look massive because the loads they perform are not designed for weight loss, like a high-carbohydrate diet.
But what about the basic high-performance exercises that are recommended for weight loss – you ask?
The fact is that when losing weight, basic multi-joint exercises are also introduced into training. However, they are performed in a slightly different way. For weight loss, they do many repetitions, and such training should be as intense as possible.
In powerlifting, the opposite is true. Exercises are performed with a minimum number of repetitions and long, in comparison with other types of training, breaks between sets.
Benefits of Being Overweight for Powerlifters
Increases in body fat typically make it more simpler to gain muscular build and strength.
Strength, muscle, and fat are all correlated. Many athletes, especially bodybuilders, use bulking and cutting phases for just this reason.
This guideline only applies to innately talented athletes, but there are a number of questionable foreign chemicals that can be used to get around it.
Even in nature, strong creatures like bears and hippopotamuses have a propensity to put on weight.
Therefore, assuming you’re not hideously obese or severely overweight, you could argue that putting a little extra fat when pursuing power and strength is more natural and healthy than being fully shredded and lean, as we see on social networks all the time.
Additionally, it is more likely that carrying a little additional weight when doing hard tasks can protect your joints and organs than cause complete damage.
Of course, this is a generality and will vary from person to person depending on DNA.
Is Being Overweight an Issue for Athletes at all?
For many folks, gaining muscle and losing fat are top priorities. It gives you the best of both worlds because it is both stronger and slimmer.
But everyone has different goals, and success for many (including powerlifters and strongmen) depends on having power. Physical attractiveness and appeal are secondary factors for those folks.
This is especially true for high-level strength competitors because these athletes deliberately gain weight to outperform opponents and don’t give a damn about how they look.
Eddie Hall in the later part of his strongman career is an excellent example of this.
In competitions, people will constantly push themselves and take chances since it is in their nature to outperform their competitors. For all types of sports competition, this is true.
Many strongmen and strength athletes will put on tremendous amounts of weight in an effort to increase power at the price of their health.
Eddie Hall had this experience, which not many sportsmen do. After winning the 2017 World Strongest Man title, Eddie Hall even admitted that his physical size wasn’t long-term sustainable and took the decision to lose a significant amount of weight.
Powerlifters: Are They Healthy?
The sudden deaths of numerous prominent competitors in the bodybuilding industry without any prior indication of ill health have become a worrying trend in recent years.
Bodybuilders and weightlifters both compete in very different sports, yet they also have some things in common.
The causes of the deaths of these bodybuilders, who were frequently in the prime of their professions in their 20s and 30s, have been investigated by experts. The obvious impromptu reaction will mention the use of performance-enhancing substances like steroids.
While steroids are a given in professional bodybuilding, strongman and powerlifting also benefit from their use.
The Olympics do test for performance-enhancing substances, but the testing procedure has flaws that can be easily exploited if you know when to act. Even recently, there have been PED-related controversies surrounding the Olympics.
It would be naive to believe that many top competitors aren’t using steroids, even though steroid usage isn’t as prevalent in powerlifting as it is in bodybuilding.
The large body bulk that these competitors maintain year-round is another component of health issues that are frequently overlooked.
In the off-season, bodybuilders may weigh as much as 300 pounds, and as was already said, some powerlifters and strongmen may exceed 400 pounds while competing.
It is against nature to carry that weight because it places a tremendous amount of stress on the body. In addition, when body weight is significant, basic bodily functions become more challenging.
Even athletes experience this. Even if a large percentage of that weight is made up of muscle, it can still be harmful.
A 300-pound powerlifter is inherently healthier than a 300-pound inactive, fat person. Increased muscle mass is advantageous for several reasons. Intense exercise also raises the heart rate, which benefits cardiovascular health.
However, even if a person is physically active, the additional heft might still be harmful to their health.
The good news is that strongman and powerlifting haven’t experienced the horrible, unexpected fatalities that have devastated bodybuilding. The majority of people see the sport favorably, and it does not have the same negative connotations as other sports.
Society is Harsh on Powerlifters for Being Fat/Overweight
This is precisely why you googled what you have just googled.
In today’s world, we are regularly reminded of the dangers and risks associated with being overweight. Extreme weight gain and obesity can lead to a number of health problems, including early mortality.
Therefore, it should not be surprising that bad lifestyle choices are associated with obesity and fat.
In addition, thousands of people in western civilization experience depression and anxiety as a result of the stigma attached to being overweight.
When you put this together with the idea that working out at the gym and lifting weights are related to getting in shape and building elite physiques, it’s easy to see where this idea of how a strength athlete should look comes from.
