5 Exercises Both Weightlifters and Powerlifters Should Do Weekly

[01dragonslayer]

Adding important pulling motions like bent-over rows and pull-ups can help you lift more in competitions. These exercises work against forward shoulder posture and build strength in your upper back.

Add hip hinge exercises like Romanian deadlifts and good mornings to your routine to improve your lockout power and fix any imbalances in your quads.

Don't forget to do core stability exercises like planks and Pallof presses. They stop power leakage when you do big squats and deadlifts. Regular training on your ankles and hips will make sure that your squats are the right depth and mechanics for both sports.

Essential Pulling Movements Powerlifters and Weightlifters Need​

Powerlifters mostly work on their deadlift to build their pulling strength, but weightlifters can't ignore how important it is to include a variety of pulling activities in their training. To build the strength in your posterior chain that will help you with both your competitive lifts and your overall athletic performance, you'll need to do a lot of different types of pulls.

You should do bent-over rows, pull-ups, and rack pulls every week as part of your strength training routine. These exercises strengthen the upper back, which is necessary for keeping the bar in the right position during heavy squats and managing the barbell during your lifts. They also make your core more stable by making you resist bending your spine while lifting.

In addition to improving performance in competitions, continuous pulling exercises are a great way to avoid injuries since it counteracts the forward shoulder position that commonly happens when you do pressing motions.

Hip Hinge Exercises That Boost Your Competition Lifts​

Deadlifts are the most common exercise in most training regimens. Still, if you're not doing hip hinge exercises in addition to your competition pulls, you're missing out on important strength gains. Romanian deadlifts, good mornings, and hip thrusts are all exercises that work on weaknesses in the back chain that make it harder to lift weights and do powerlifting.

Romanian deadlifts improve eccentric control and hamstring flexibility, which are both important for clean pulls and sumo stance. Good mornings develop your spinal erectors and help you learn how to flex your hips correctly when carrying a load. Hip thrusts get the glutes working at their best, which makes deadlifts stronger and gives snatches and cleans more explosive hip drive.

These hip hinge workouts fix problems caused by squatting and pressing with your quads too much. You can make your competitive lifts stronger and lower your chance of injury during intense training cycles by working on your posterior chain with different movement patterns.

Core Stability Drills for Stronger Squats and Deadlifts​

When your core gives out during big squats and deadlifts, you lose power and put yourself at risk of getting hurt at the worst possible time. Planks, dead bugs, and Pallof presses are examples of core stability exercises that build strength that directly transfers to compound movements.

A stiff torso that keeps your spine in line while you lift weights will help your back squat. Core stability keeps your spine from rounding during deadlifts and makes sure that the force from your legs gets to the bar quickly. This training transfer makes both sports much better.

Instead of dynamic motions, focus on isometric holds. Three sets of planks and side planks for 30 to 60 seconds each will help your core get stronger so you can handle heavy singles.

Add Pallof presses and bird dogs twice a week to work on your rotational stability, which holds you in place.

Overhead Mobility Work for Better Pressing and Jerks​

If you can't get into the right overhead positions, core strength doesn't mean anything. If your shoulders and thoracic spine don't move well, it will be harder to lock out your overhead press and get into the right posture for receiving a jerk. Bad placement makes it harder to move and forces compensating tendencies that slow down the growth of explosive strength.

With focused mobility work, you may work on your thoracic spine, shoulders, and lats. Wall slides help your shoulder blades move better and follow things overhead. Banded shoulder dislocations make the shoulder girdle more flexible while keeping it stable. Cat-cow stretches help desk-bound lifters who have trouble extending their thoracic spine.

This mobility foundation helps your core stability and overhead mechanics work together better. You'll have superior bar trajectories, stronger lockouts, and a lower danger of shoulder impingement. For the best results, add these moves to your warm-up and combine them with accessory lifts.

Ankle and Hip Mobility Fixes for Deeper Squats​

If your ankles and hips are tight, it will be hard to get into the right squat posture since you need to be able to move all of your joints at the same time. You'll lean forward, let your knees cave in, or end the drop early, all of which will hurt your performance.

Do wall stretches and calf stretches to work on ankle dorsiflexion. Hold each stretch for 90 seconds every day. The 90/90 stretch, the sofa stretch, and deep goblet squats with pause holds are all good for your hips. These mobility adjustments will make your barbell workouts better right away.

As part of your weekly warm-up, make sure to include these movements. Improved ankle and hip mobility changes the way you squat, letting you go deeper in both back squats and front squats. If you practice on it every day, you'll see measurable increases in depth in just a few weeks.

 

[01dragonslayer]

 

[BigTex]

Since I was actually a world-ranked powerlifter in the 275's and 308's I can tell you right off that static exercises like planks have no place in powerlifting. There is very little direct evidence that static exercises like planks transfer meaningfully to heavy full-ROM lifts like squats and deadlifts—especially in trained lifters. A key EMG study compared planks vs heavy squats, that squats produced similar activation in abs/obliques, much higher activation in spinal erectors. Further, muscle activation increased as the set progressed in squats (fatigue + load effect). Thus, heavy squats may be more effective than low-intensity core exercises for trained athletes.

In fact, heavy deadlifts (and to a slightly lesser degree, power cleans) build functionally stronger abs than sit-ups. Most powerlifters do not have a weak core because the training they do with squats and deadlifts is much more effective than doing sit-ups or static exercise training like planks.

The law of specificity applies heavily to the sport of powerlifting. If you want to have strong muscles to have a big squat, you are going to have to spend a lot of time squatting with heavy. Same with deadlift and bench press.

In this sport, it is very important to eliminate any exercise that does not 100% transfer to the 3 main lifts. Doing a bunch of extra stuff can cause you to recover more slowly and possibly get injured. I use to see powerlifters doing endless bicep work. They are always the ones with detached biceps doing the deadlift. The deadlift puts enough strain on the biceps.

Comparison of Core Muscle Activation between a Prone Bridge and 6-RM Back Squats - PMC

The purpose of this study was to compare core muscle activation during a prone bridge (plank) until failure and 6-RM back squats. Twelve resistance-trained males (age 23.5 ± 2.6 years, body mass 87.8 ± 21.3 kg, body height 1.81 ± 0.08 m) ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov