Powerlifting is an internationally recognized sport, not to be confused with Olympic-style weightlifting. Whereas Olympic weightlifting involves lifting a barbell from the floor to arms locked out overhead and tests speed, balance and coordination as well as strength, powerlifting places more emphasis on pure strength. (However, since power derives from both force and speed, it’s at least arguable that the term ‘power’ is more applicable to Olympic lifting than it is to powerlifting!)
Powerlifters compete in three different lifts: the back squat, bench press and deadlift.
Back Squat
Primarily tests the athlete’s lower body strength.
Bench Press
Probably the most well-known lift among gym-goers (apart, maybe, from arm curls): Tests mainly chest, arm and shoulder strength.
Dead Lift
Least familiar of the three lifts but the most straighforward and functional: Tests mainly the strength of the back, ‘core’ and legs.
Competitions
Events may be ’Three-lift’ or may involve only one or two of these lifts: e.g. Bench press only and Push-Pull (bench + deadlift). Normally a lifter makes three attempts at each type of lift. An attempt cannot use a lighter weight than the previous attempt and the weight of the best successful attempt contributes to the overall total. Thus in a ‘Three-lift’ event the lifter may make up to nine attempts, with his or her best successful squat, bench and deadlift contributing towards their total. Lifters usually compete in weight and gender classes and sometimes also in age groups. The International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) weight classes are:
- Men: 59, 66, 74, 83, 93, 105, 120 and 120+ kg
- Women: 47, 52, 57, 63, 72, 84 and 84+ kg
Wilks Scores
Just as in Olympic lifting, a lifter’s total may be adjusted to determine the overall champion between people of different bodyweights and genders. The Wilks formula was developed for this purpose with powerlifting events. So the the totals of lighter lifters are adjusted higher than those of heavier lifters and those of women are adjusted higher than those of men. Coefficients are used to multiply the totals by when applying Wilks. Unlike the Sinclair formula used for Olympic weightlifters – where the coefficients are adjusted every four years based on the performance of weightlifters over all classes in the Oympic Games – the Wilks coefficients remain the same from one year to the next.
Yet another adjustment may be made to the Wilks score when comparing younger or older lifters against ‘open’ category lifters. Thus for Masters lifters (40+ years old) a multiplying factor can be applied that increases from age 40 to age 90. There are also adjustments for Sub-junior (18 yrs and under) and Junior lifters (23 yrs and under).
Put your lifts on my Three-lift Ranking Table! As well as calculating your Wilks score and age-adjusted score for old fellows like me, you can see how you fare against others.