Powerbuilding aims for the strength of a Powerlifter and the physique of a Bodybuilder. It is a mixture of these disciplines and combines both of their training methods. It is a great physical challenge and can help you to perform better in other sports.

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The following post will outline…

1. Personal experiences

2. What is Powerbuilding?

3. How does Powerbuilding work?

1. Personal experiences

I started lifting when I was 17. Like most guys at that age, my main motivation was to get bigger and stronger. I was particularly unhappy about the size of my arms and upper body. My gym sessions consisted mostly of curls, machines for my upper body and other isolation exercises (all exercises that only train one particular or very few muscles).

What I didn’t realize at the time, is that this way of working out is inefficient to build muscle. It may sound contradictory, but arms do not grow from training them on their own. Over the years I realized that a much better way of becoming big, was to train with compound exercises (all exercises that will train many/most muscles at the same time). Later on in this post I will further explain this statement and list all benefits of compound exercises and in particular “The Big 3” (Benchpress, Squats, Deadlift).

By completely changing my training into Powerbuidling, I was able to put on muscle and equally improve my strength levels. Furthermore I train other sports and Powerbuilding allowed me to perform better.

2. What is Powerbuilding?

I will give you more detailed instructions on training routines, towards the end of this post. First of all you should check if Powerbuilding makes sense for you or not.

4. Who should do it?

-People that simply want to look better do NOT need to do Powerbuilding. A main aspect of Powerbuilding is to improve your strength and the technique of compound exercises. Building muscle and looking fit are only part of it. If you can’t be bothered to learn “The big 3” and getting better at them, you are wasting your time with Powerbuilding. The same goes for people that want to get in shape for a certain time (e.g. summer) and see fast results. Building muscle and becoming strong is a long process and requires consistency and patience. Anyone who is not willing to do the required work, should probably do another sport.

-Competitive Powerlifters and Bodybuilders (that are most probably not even reading this post) or people aspiring to become competitive, should neither train Powerbuilding. If you want to go on stage, isolation exercises are important to work on your weaknesses (muscles that have developed slower than the rest). As a Powerlifter, perfomance is your priority and not building muscle. That being said, many Bodybuilders do heavy compound exercises, to present denser muscle on stage. Powerlifters also use Bodybuilng exercises to become bigger, which will eventually also improve their strength.

-Injured and/or enhanced athletes are another group of people that should carefully reconsider if Powerbuilding is their best way to go. If you have an injury, I advise that you fully recover from it before lifting heavy weights. Otherwise it will get worse and you might be unable to train for over a month. Most injuries can be recovered from in less than a week. It may be annoying to not train for these days, but certainly better than spending an entire month out of the gym.

Anyone that takes or injects PED´s (Performance Enhancing Drugs) does not need to train heavy! A classical hypertrophy training (8-10 reps per set) with high volume and low intensity is sufficient. This is due to an improved protein biosynthesis (the process in which cells produce protein and eventually build muscle) you acquire by taking PED´s.

Furthermore enhanced athletes have a higher risk getting injured. An exogenous intake of Testosterone can reduce the collagen synthesis (the process in which cells produce collagen) up to 80%. Collagen works as a buffer in your joints and is essential for maintaining them in a healthy state. Testosterone also increases strength levels, which combined with very little collagen in your joints, significantly increases the chances of a serious injury.

If you are taking DHT (Dihydrotestosterone) -derevatives like for example Winstrol, Primobolan or Anavar, your joints are even more vulnerable. By almost completely eliminating the oestrogen in your body, DHT´s have a pro-inflammatory effect. Athletes that run a cycle of Testosterone Enanthate and for example Winstrol, need to be extra cautious with their joints and train very carefully.

Finishing a cycle of PED´s is not very pleasant as you will lose strength, size and overall energy. If not done properly you may also grow “bitch tits” (gynaecomastia) and experience other nasty side effects. If additionally to all that you have an injury, it will take you even longer to get back to normal and you’ll go through an even harder time. These two side effects apply mainly to Testosterone and DHT´s. Other substances like Growth Hormone even reduce the risk of injuries.

6. How to get started

As mentioned earlier, the key to get started is to properly practice Deadlift, Benchpress and Squads. You would be surprised how many people that trained for years and claim to be at an advanced level, are still unable to Squat or Deadlift with a decent technique.

As a second step I recommend the 5×5 system. It consists of you doing 5 sets with 5 repetitions each. This is a classical Powerbuilding method as it allows you to build muscle while becoming stronger. It is important to challenge yourself with heavy weights, without becoming overconfident. The best guideline is to lift as heavy as you can, without neglecting your technique.

My recommendation is to initiate your training sessions with on of “The Big 3”, like for example Deadlift (after a decent warm up of course). Start with two sets and very little weight to get your body used to the movement. After that, do the 5×5 system. In this training method you need to rest at least 2 minutes in between sets, as you are moving a lot of weight. When you finished the strength part of your session, it is time to move to the exercises that focus more on building muscle. If your initial exercise was Deadlift, I like to continue with Dumbbell Rows. This time however you train with a 5×10 system (5 sets with 10 reps each time). As a beginner these two exercises should be sufficient to make you feel very sore the next morning. In case you are still full of energy or you took a few scoops too many from your booster, do some sets of chin ups until you reach muscle failure.

When training chest, you start the same way and as a follow-up exercises you can do inclined bench press and dips. For your legs, training Squats with a 5×5 system often feels more than enough in the beginning. If you have reached a higher level, a good exercise to round off your sessions is the Leg Press or Lunges.

If you are training other sports in addition to Powerbuilding, the 3-day-split I outlined above is probably too much. I would only do one day a week for your upper body and one for your legs. On the upper body day you do Deadlift and Benchpress, both with the 5×5 system. On the leg day you simply stick to Squats. This may seem insufficient to some of you, but if you are training other sports you easily overtrain by lifting 3 times a week in addition to e.g. playing football another 3 times. Furthermore “The Big 3” are your priority, as they give all benefits for other sports you need.

If you still feel the urge to train harder and more often, you definitely should. This is simply a rough guideline with the main aim to increase your strength and performance, without getting you hurt. I have used both these training regiments for about a year and they both worked great. If you have made different experiences or have better suggestions, I am genuinely interested to hear them from you as I am still learning many new things myself and aim to get better every day.

As you can see, Powerbuilding is a very effective and minimalistic way of working out. It is not made for everyone, but I am sure a lot of you might find a new challenge in it. Although this post is a bit superficial in certain aspects, I tried not to overcomplicate the topic. In the future I will publish posts dealing with nutrition, supplements and more advanced training methods that should all help to reach your goal of looking and being strong.