Powerlifting is a weightlifting sport that not many people know about. It has been around for many decades and is a weightlifting sport about strength and power like Olympic lifting and doesn't bear any resemblence to Bodybuilding which is just about the aesthetics of the human body.

The idea behind powerlifting is that you complete a series of exercises and the total weight you can lift over the three exercises is the total score you achieve. The person with the highest score is the overall winner.

The exercises used in powerlifting are the Squat, the Deadlift and the Benchpress. The reason these are the three exercises used is because between them they incoorporate all the muscles in the body and they are compound movements.

Compound movements are movements that use two or more joints in the movement, this also means they use a large number of muscles so really show the strength of a person who is carrying out the exercise.

One of the exercises used in powerlifting is the bench press.The bench press is an exercise that predominantly uses the pectoral muscles of the chest with the use of the deltoid muscles of the shoulder and Triceps muscles of the arms as secondary muscle groups.

To carry out the bench press a weightlifter lays flat on a bench and lifts a straight bar called a barbell with weights on either side above them with their arms straight in front of their chest. The weightlifter then brings the bar down to their chest and then pushes is straight back up in front of them.

In powerlifting the bench press is carried out in one repitition at the heaviest weight possible. One reptition means its bought down to the chest and pushed back to the starting position just once.

The Deadlift is probably the biggest test of strength there is and is one of the oldest tests of strength that has ever been. The Deadlift has been carried out since the time of the ancients when they lifted heavy rocks to show their strength.

So for the deadlift a bar (the barbell) is loaded with weights on the floor, the weightlifter then squats down and lifts the bar utilising their legs and lower back till they are standing straight with the bar at waist height (the arms stay straight throughout the movement).

Overall the muscles of the legs, back and forearms are used in the deadlift.

When carrying out the deadlift its important to ensure that the back stays straigtht so no damage occurs.

The Squat utilises the muscles of the legs and is actually a hard exercise to master correctly.

A weight lifter carries this exercise by placing the barbell loaded with weight across their back just under the bone at the bottom of the neck and, keeping their back straight, squats down using their legs. Once down in the squat position the lifter then powers using their legs, driving their heels into the ground until they are standing straight.

The powerlifting rules are governed by the IPF which stands for the International Powerlifting Federation.

The IPF set out the rules for what is a good lift and what is classed as a failed lift to ensure that no one can try to win by cheating the rules for their own gain of lifting heavier than they physically can.

Did you know that the world records of Powerlifting are as follows

Squat - 1250.0 lbs (567.0 kg) - Vladislav Alhazov in 2008

Bench Press - 1074.8 lbs  (487.5 kg) - Ryan Kennelly in 2008

Deadlift - 1003.1 lbs (455.0 kg) - Andy Bolton 2006