22 FLEX | JUNE – JULY 2017LIFT TRAINING STYLES
POWER
HOW TO COMBINE BODYBUILDING
AND POWERLIFTINGPowerlifters and bodybuilders
are like quarrelling brothers.
Some differences they can never
fully bridge and yet, for better
or worse, they remain closely
related. They do many of the
same exercises. Bodybuilders
squat, deadlift and bench press,
just as powerlifters may crank
out sets of triceps extensions,
barbell rows and dumbbell flyes.
A few bodybuilders — most
especially Johnnie Jackson,
Stan Efferding and, in his early
years, Ronnie Coleman — have
combined powerlifting and
bodybuilding to great effect.
They’ve ended the tiff and used
a lower-rep, power-intense
approach to bodybuilding to
become both stronger and larger.RAISING THE DEAD
The powerlifting and bodybuilding
connection has been long and
strong. Two-time Mr Olympia
Franco Columbu started as a
European champion powerlifter in
the ’60s. His best reported lifts of a
750-pound (340kg) deadlift,
665-pound(302kg)squatand
525-pound (238kg) bench press
are remarkable when you consider
the 165cm Sardinian strongman
competed at around 84 kilos.
Though not quite as strong, his
best mate Arnold Schwarzenegger
also powerlifted competitively,
deadlifting 710 pounds (322kg) in
hislastmeetin1968whenhewas
alreadyMrUniverse.
Let’szeroinonthedeadlift,
becauseunlikethesquatand
thebenchpress,deadshave
had an uneasy relationship
withbodybuilding.Infact,if
youlookattheroutinesofmost
champion bodybuilders before
the mid-1990s, deadlifts are
rarely there. To dead or not to
dead was one of the chief things
that separated powerlifters
fromtheirbodybuildingbrethren,
and it was mostly the rare hybrid
powerlifter-bodybuilder whoPOWER
BODYBUILDING
BASICS
In clude the three
powerlifts —
squats, deadlifts
and bench
presses—in
your workout
program.
Do the powerlifts
first in your leg
(squat), back
(deadlift) and
chest (bench
press) routines.
Pyramid the
powerlifts,
goingaslow
as four reps.
Do most other
exercises for
sets of 6–8 reps.PAVEL YTHJALLjtttBY GREG MERRITT