Can Olympic Weightlifters Do Powerlifting?

Powerlifting is a sport involving the maximum weight you can lift for the Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift while Olympic Weightlifting is the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. So how do these sports correlate? Can they benefit each other? 

Understanding the training

In my opinion, coaching as both a Powerlifting and Olympic Weightlifting Coach for various athletes at competitions for both sports, they do correlate. The style of training and the work you do outside of competition to prepare your body have a lot of similarities which can enhance each other. Powerlifting training is based on improving muscular imbalances and strengthening muscle groups that will enhance the big three. Those similar muscle groups are also used when performing the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk. For both sports you will need strong a pair of strong legs, back, shoulders and mid section. In my coaching experience, we had multiple Olympic Weightlifters who did plenty of Powerlifting in their off season training. We also had plenty of Powerlifters wanting to give Weightlifting a crack and they picked it up fairly quickly. Take example of Russian National weightlifting champion Mikhail Kokylyaev (able to snatch 210kgs and clean and jerk 250kgs) who was also a European record holder in Powerlifting (squatted 360kgs, bench pressed 230kgs and deadlifted 400kgs).

The differences

Although there are plenty of correlations, there are significant differences that segregate the two sports. The biggest one I see is movement pattern. Powerlifting is based off maximal strength and the whole intent is to lift the weight with the most force and velocity as possible. Weightlifting however is dependant on positioning and timing. Take example the deadlift, in Powerlifting you start from the floor and lock the bar out at the hips which you should aim to do with the most intent. In Weightlifting however, the clean deadlift is the complete opposite as the faster you pull the more it throws you out of position, it is only at the hips where you really start to introduce speed to accelerate the bar upwards into the clean. Overhead mobility is also a big one as the majority of the time, people struggle to hold a bar overhead and then squat with it as it requires a tremendous amount of mobility and stability. The amount of stress accumulated is also different from each sport. Take example you hit a max squat at 95% for a single. You would only be able to do that once or twice during a session without feeling completely wrecked. In a Snatch however, you could attempt it another 5-6 times before it starts to take a toll. The reason is because Weightlifting is far more technical and requires a lot more cognitive function than Powerlifting, you are accelerating a bar upward while changing direction to get under the bar all within seconds making it harder to increase significant load.

Conjoining Powerlifting to help your Olympic Weightlifting

If you remember what I said about the athletes I coached incorporating the two styles of training into their programs, its because once you factor in the differences you can start planning on how to make the two work together. Olympic Weightlifting training incorporates plenty of squats and hypertrophy work to help the body stay healthy. Powerlifting does just that and when you calculate the overall volume, you make it work. During off season periods where you don't need to focus on specific movements as much, you could replace pulls with deadlifts to strengthen the posterior chain as a whole and add in bench presses to improve overall pressing strength and shoulder girdle stability (one bench press session will not magically make your pecs tighter and ruin your snatch). Just remember that you are using Powerlifting as an ACCESSORY to your Olympic Weightlifting and should not be doing a ridiculous amount of volume that will impede recovery and make your Olympic lifts sluggish. 

An example of a three day program could look like:

Monday - Overhead Squat, Snatch, Back Squats, Bench Press and Accessories

Wednesday - Clean, Push Press, Deadlift and Accessories

Friday - Snatch, Clean and Jerk, Front Squats and Accessories

This is just a brief example and there are a million ways you can change things around to make it work. I hope this article helps to shine some light on both sports and helps those in limbo thinking of incorporating the two. Add Powerlifting into your Weightlifting to make it a little less monotonous or vice versa!

Thanks a ton guys and tune in for our next article. Peace out Movement Fam!

Coach Matty