Powerlifter

[Christopheel]

Why are they fatty ?

Everytime I see a Powerlifter pictures, he's fat ... Is there a point in that lol

[HOUSTON TEXAN]

I know! I don't understand either.

[DianaB]

Why are they fatty ?

Everytime I see a Powerlifter pictures, he's fat ... Is there a point in that lol

Do you see what those guys eat? I communicate with a few PLers pretty much daily, and I can tell you, they are not concerned with diet. Although the ones I know do eat pretty healthy, the quantities of food are huge.
However, I do know 2 girls (one who is a national level competitor) and although they are not aiming for a girlish figure, they are in decent shape and damn strong to boot!

[Christopheel]

Hum amybe they eat tons of food, but why ? Is there a reason ? You can be strong without being fatty lol ... Even if I try I won't get that fat ahah

[Petersworkinout]

they want to be at there strongest, people in figure completions are very weak because they cut thier diet so they have like 5% body fat and there is no sodium and potassium in there system.

[Boss Man]

That's not really a comparison though. BB don't need to do anything resistance based for comps, Powerlifters have to, so the possible reasons for being like thay are wise is

A: Plenty of Carbs for lifting energy.

B: Plenty of Fats for any secondary energy sources. Don't forget they need to do 1RM's usually, not for reps, so if you eat lots of Protein, and then couple it with quite a bit of Fats and Carbs, you will get eventually some calorie excesses created, causing stored Fats.

The other possible reasons might include doing little Cardio, incase they sacrifice precious muscle, and also possibly bad calorie increases.

Being told when they start out, that big 's have 4,000, 5,000 maybe 6,000 calories a day, is fine to know about, but when a newb heres that and they're in the early stages of powerlifting, and eating about 1,800-2,500 calories daily, many probably and foolishly just start eating another 1,000-2,000 calories a day to eat like experienced 's.

Fact is it's not good, as most of the extra calories will cause excess and store as Fat. Said increases gradually reducing, as the Powerlifter gets stronger, and uses more of the calories for bulking, creating an ever diminishing surplus that converts, but they needn't do it like that.

If they eat 6 meals a day, they could increase cals by around 300 say, which means 50 a meal, or something like 5g Protein, 5g Carbs 1g Fats, and do that until you plateau, then increase again.

So if you're eating 2,500 as a novice Powerlifter, don't suddenly eat 4,000 or 4,500, eat 2,800, then when you're plateauing, eat 3,100, then 3,400 then 3,700 then 4,000.

Keeps the increases simple, and the Fat conversion from excess very reduced. In a sport where you hit 1RM's, for Squats, Deads etc etc, I would think having the strength of the next guy, but packing 4-5% less Fat, would be an advantage. Better power to weight ratio, and less muscle resistance from Fat, but yeah does make me wonder why they look a bit too fatty.

Best example of that type of body was Glenn Ross the Northern Irish guy, who has done WSM and finals a few times too. He's strong, but he's got an unnecessary gut, which kind of helped him on things like the Stone carry, where he can rest it on his gut, but that's about all, and he also has noticable Gyno to some extent.

He probably could have placed better in finals, if he'd found the way to shed some Gut Fat, clean of course no A.A.S cutters, (well you'd hope so anyway), but if he lost about 5-10 lbs of Fat, he'd have better Power to Weight ratio, and be quicker.

Does surprise me though, that some guys are as fatty as they look, and with mild Gyno, in a sport where 3-4lbs less Fat could give you just the edge you need to succeed, you'd think more would consider natural ways to cut their Fat down, and want to be a touch leaner.

[swanso5]

basically the more you weight the more you're potential to lift is...you can't be 300pds of fat though...they have an awful lot of muscle on though, don't be mistaken...if you have a big gut it decreases your range of motion too for comp's so you can lift more

[Boss Man]

if you have a big gut it decreases your range of motion too for comp's so you can lift more

Did you mean to say can lift more or can't lift more. That statement just looks a bit puzzling.

[swanso5]

you can lift more because your biog gut won't let you go doen as far so more wt can be used...couple that with lifting gaer and you've got an extra 200 - 300pds easily for a big guy

[Boss Man]

Fair point, only issue I could see with that is, if you can't go down as far, youmay have to cut back otherwise risk your form not being adequate for the judges.

I've never been to any stuff, but I'd imagine like WSM, each rep is scrutinsed for technique, and someone who can't Squat deep enough, risks possibly getting a fail or a DQ, I would imagine. So someone might need to lift less than possible, in order to be able to complete the second phase of the lift, in a competition situation.

Just a thought.

[miller1089]

another reason powerlifters are so big is because they are naturally strong- or rather endomorphic-and gain strength and mass easily(same goes for linemen) they choose to exploit their own strength for athletic stardom-a friend of mine is the strongest highschooler in michigan and 's huge #'s.