Here we’re going to explain different lifting types. If you ever stepped into a gym, I’m pretty sure you’ve seen a lot of different people working out in a lot of different ways. While someone only reps 3 times, others seem to rep 20 times. Moreover, everyone has different exercises, forms, rest, weights, and so on. Additionally, there are so many different things that those people are talking about that it is sometimes hard to keep up.
Nonetheless, you may have heard about the fact that there is powerlifting, Olympic lifting, bodybuilding, or calisthenics among others. You may wonder what the hell does each one mean? What’s the difference? Are there any differences at all or are they all the same? We’re going to talk about the lifting types and determine what they have in common.
Overall, the fitness could be pretty daunting. It can be even harder to understand if you’re new to lifting. It can even be pretty hard to understand even for the huge guys at the gym. But when you get it all, it can be helpful to achieve your goals.
That’s why, in order to maximize your workouts and understand your goals, we need to understand the different lifting types first.
However, you need to understand that the different lifting types we explain below are only a brief, summarized information. Each and every lifting type has its own “art” and secrets. If you want to explore the different lifting types in more depth, there are almost endless resources online regarding each lifting type.
Powerlifting
I guess everyone heard about powerlifting. You don’t even have to go to the gym to hear about this lifting type. However, it definitely does not mean that everyone actually knows exactly what powerlifting means. It is pretty easy to assume that it involves lifting incredibly heavy weights. That’s pretty much everything most people know about powerlifting. Nonetheless, doing bicep curls with heavy weights doesn’t actually make you a powerlifter. However, powerlifting is a sport that consists of three main lifts:
- Squat
- Bench press
- Deadlift
Yes, that’s right – only these three. So, a powerlifting athlete is competing in the above three lifts and is aiming for the heaviest weight they can do. Again, they don’t really care for other types of lifts (although it doesn’t mean that they do not perform other types of lifts when training). The powerlifting competitions then calculate their “total”. This means their heaviest successful attempt at each lift is added together. So, if someone is talking about 1,000 lbs total, for example, then this is a combination of maximum squat, bench press, and deadlift. An example would be:
- 235 lbs bench press
- 355 lbs squat
- 410 lbs deadlift
If an athlete is training for powerlifting, then you know that they are training to be as strong as they possibly can and humanly be across those three major lifts. You may hear of someone claiming they are a powerlifter. But the rule is – someone who doesn’t compete is not a powerlifter, despite the fact that you may train hard and lift heavy.
Moreover…
You should note that the word “power” here refers to force times velocity. In the fitness world, usually, it is all about speed and explosiveness, regardless if we talk about throwing, spriting, or jumping. However, in powerlifting, the focus is actually way more on strength than power. That’s why the term “powerlifting” is pretty misleading. That’s because powerlifting is not about how fast you can squat 800 lbs. It is actually about your strength that you can do it at all. All that matters in powerlifting is to make sure that the weight moves during your lifts – squats, deadlifts, and bench presses. How fast you do it, doesn’t matter.
Weightlifting
If you really want to get technical, the sport of “weightlifting” is more for you. Weightlifting is what we would refer to as “Olympic weightlifting”. In the past, simply the process of training with weights was called weightlifting. However, nowadays the two are separated in two different meanings:
- Weightlifting – the sport of lifting weights AKA Olympic Weightlifting
- Weight training – working out with weights (the process of lifting weights)
Similar to powerlifting, weightlifting as a competitive sport usually refers to only two major lifts:
- The barbell clean and jerk
- The barbell snatch
While you may know what a barbell is, it could be hard to understand what these Olympic weightlifting terms mean. Let’s analyze them closely. The clean means when the barbell begins on the ground and ends in the “front rack”, as it is resting in the hands and on the shoulders. The jerk means when the barbell begins in the hands and on the shoulders and ends overhead. Then there’s snack, when the barbell begins on the ground and ends overhead, in just one fluid motion.
There are various weightlifting variations (hang, power, and others), however, they are all focused on the principles above. Olympic weightlifting is very different from powerlifting because it doesn’t only focus on strength, it is actually all about power. The aim of weightlifting is to be as quick and as expensive as possible. It involves moving the weight just enough to be able to drop down beneath it. This is the reason why professional Olympic lifters must be highly mobile. And, of course, you need to be incredibly technical too to compete in Olympic weightlifting.
CrossFit
You may have seen various videos on various social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok of guys completely dismissing the idea of Crossfit. You may have even heard about guys down the gym dismissing CrossFit. That’s simply because most people do not really understand the idea behind CrossFit. Moreover, similar to many wrongly assuming that lifting heavy in the gym is powerlifting, high intensity workouts are often assumed to be Crossfit.
So, let’s clarify some things. Working out in a CrossFit affiliate gym (AKA box) means that you are doing Crossfit. Crossfit is not actually a style of workout, it is actually a company. In reality, all Crossfit has done was to revolutionize a concept and branded it. But I must mention that they did it in a very smart way. So, the next time you hear of someone dissing Crossfit, suggesting they would never do it, remember there’s no definition of a Crossfit workout. That’s because it covers pretty much everything.
Bodybuilding
Most people who hear about bodybuilding automatically assume that those who are doing bodybuilding should get a spray tan. That’s another common mistake. Bodybuilding is not about competing on the stage at all. You need to know that bodybuilding is not even a style of workout. It is actually a goal. Bodybuilding is the goal of defining your physique and hitting a low body fat percentage.
If we are talking about the different types of lifting, the bodybuilding category is often getting specific muscle group workouts into your regimen. To explain it easily, if someone finds an exercise to work out each individual muscle, such as the triceps, it is going to be a bodybuilder workout. So, every muscle group in our body is worked out through bodybuilding workouts.
Moreover, similar to the confusion of weightlifting being all about strength only, bodybuilding is also not focused on strength alone. I mean, it is pretty obvious that in order to grow big muscles, you need to lift big weights. And when you already have grown huge muscles, you can lift heavy. Nevertheless, bodybuilding is not actually focusing on strength at all. The goal of a bodybuilder is 100% focusing on body composition. Their physique is what really matters. The definition of their bodies and the way they look is what they are rated for in bodybuilding competitions. Nobody would bat an eye on how much they can squat.
If a guy with bigger muscles will squat less than a guy with fewer muscles, he would still win in an actual competition. So, bodybuilding workouts are all about hypertrophy (AKA muscle growth). While they gain strength, they focus on growing muscle. It usually involves higher rep sets and split days.
Calisthenics
While bodybuilding, powerlifting, and weightlifting may be more popular terms, you may still hear someone saying they are working out with a calisthenics style. However, similar to other types of lifting we’ve discussed above, calisthenics is often used in another way than it actually means.
In order to explain it more easily – calisthenics are bodyweight exercises. This means that in order to work out, you do not need any equipment. All you do is just use your body weight. That’s just as simple and as straightforward as it is. Are you doing weightless pushups? Chinups? Squats? Dips? Those are all calisthenics workouts!
However, unlike the typical “bodyweight workout” that you can do at home, calisthenics has mostly become synonymous with a particular type of bodyweight training in which you use your own body for incredible feats of strength and stamina, usually doing exercises that the majority of people won’t be able to do.
This means that instead of simple bodyweight exercises that I mentioned, such as push ups, jumping jacks, or others, people are mostly thinking of the lines of human flags, front levers, handstands, and others. So, calisthenics has become bodyweight workouts, but to the extremes.
Strongman
Strongman training is one of our favorite types of workouts. Simply because out of all the others, this one mostly helps in everyday tasks too. And due to its diversity.
When it comes to goals, strongman is similar to powerlifting, that’s because they are both focusing on becoming as strong as humanly possible. However, the huge difference between the two is in the types of events in which you are going to find strongmen. Powerlifting, as said, is focusing on three main events and lifts. Yet, the possibilities are endless for strongman competition. Imagination is your only limit when it comes to lifting for strongman competition. That’s because strongmen are lifting heavy and weird stuff.
Strongman involves huge strength, and the bigger and crazier – the better for strongman events. That’s why this is so entertaining. During strongman events, athletes are carrying, lifting, pressing, pushing, or pulling extremely heavy items, either on their backs, arms, legs, etc. Whatever you dream about – they will lift it. That’s why these athletes flip massive tires or rocks, carry giant stones, deadlift or flip cars, pull airplanes, or whatever. Training for strongmen is incredibly intense and varied. That’s because it involves the ability of pulling, pushing, pressing, squatting, throwing, lifting, etc. various different items that are heavy and may not be easiest to grab. Moreover, they should do it more and faster than the other athletes.
Lifting Types Conclusion
Here’s a quick summary of the different types of lifting:
- Powerlifting. Be as strong as humanly possible for bench pressing, back squatting, and deadlifting.
- Weightlifting. AKA Olympic lifting. The barbell snatch, clean, and jerk.
- Crossfit. Workout done in a Crossfit affiliated facility.
- Bodybuilding. Getting the biggest possible muscles and the possible lowest body fat percentage.
- Calisthenics. Crazy bodyweight exercises (more than just a press up).
- Strongman. Moving, lifting, flipping, pushing, pulling, etc. weird and really heavy stuff.
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