There’s weight lifting and there’s power style weight lifting. Although each one is good for your body, there are some extra benefits that powerlifting (which involves doing squats, deadlifts and bench presses with higher amounts of weight) provides to you that you won’t necessarily get by simply lifting weights. They include:
Greater strength
Now, you’re obviously going to gain strength if you lift weights as part of your exercise regimen, but the gains you make with powerlifting are going to be far greater. It’s like the difference between being able to lift a tiny little sports car or an overweight commercial delivery truck. Okay, maybe not exactly to that extent, but you get the picture.
Faster speed
Although you wouldn’t necessarily correlate strength with speed, it is true. The stronger you are, the faster you can exert force. For instance, if you’re trying to catch the subway, you’ll get there more quickly if you have stronger muscles as they will carry you more efficiently.
More fat loss
The more muscle mass your body has, the higher your metabolism because it takes more energy to maintain lean muscle than it does fat. Therefore, when you increase your muscle mass via powerlifting, you’re also increasing your body’s ability to burn fat more effectively.
Stronger bones
Studies have long proven that engaging in weight lifting exercises makes your bones stronger, thereby reducing your chance of breaks and fractures. So, it would only go to reason that powerlifting would have a greater effect, strengthening your skeletal system that much more.
Improving your sports performance
If you are engaged in sports that rely on strength and speed, such as football, then power style weight lifting will improve your game. It will make the motions that you must make easier, and your results more effective. Add powerlifting to your exercise regime and you’ll be able to enjoy these types of benefits, plus many more.
