Jello, you raised lots of points, so i'll try my best to go through them all one by one:
rep ranges and volume is also similar the majority of the time for each sport
Bodybuilding typically involves reps that can go up to the 20s, but powerlifting rarely involves anything above 12 reps. A friend of mine recently transitioned from bodybuilding to powerlifting, he tells me his workouts have gone from 45 mins to well over 2 hours, mainly because of all the extra core work and increased rest times.
Simply put, in general it would not be obvious to someone in the gym as to whether or not someone in training for bodybuilding or powerlifting or both
I very much disagree with this - a bodybuilder can put 50 kg on a bar and make it feel like 100kg, because the emphasis is on muscles contracting. A powerlifter can put 150kg on the bar and bench like its nothing. Powerlifters take a lot more rest between sets - all in all, i think it's pretty easy to tell if someone's bodybuilding or powerlifting.
Finally, many of the great legends in bodybuilding started out in powerlifting and vice versa
This isn't because powerlifting provides a solid base for bodybuilding - this is because bodybuilding didn't really exist until the 1960s, and didn't really take off till the 70s. The last competitive bodybuilder in my memory to swap from powerlifting to bodybuilder is Ronnie Coleman, and he hasn't been competitive for the better part of the last decade. AFAIK, no one on the current olympia stage used to be a powerlifter.
Powerlifters don’t focus on the curl either
yes of course, I just put it in there to illustrate the same point - bodybuilding isn't about increased weight, it's about increased muscle contraction.
This is just an inherent difference between the two sports, not necessarily good or bad.
completely agree.
Powerlifting form does not exist to cheat out a few kilos. I don’t know how you have even come to this conclusion. First of all, powerlifters lift in a way such that the heaviest load can be moved most efficiently and safely. I’ll take the bench press as an example, as the form of the squat and deadlift between both sports is identical. The powerlifting bench press simply put encourages scapula retraction, a natural arch in the back and feet to be planted firmly on the floor. The scapulae are retracted so that the shoulder is put into a safer position to move a load to and from the chest. The natural arch means that the scapulae can be more effectively retracted and encourages the lifter to flare the latissimus dorsi and create a stable base to push the weight from, the feet are planted in order to encourage this stable base in which total body tightness can be achieved (again allowing the lifter to safely perform a lift as maximal effort).
maybe I should have phrased myself more clearly - I don't mean that powerlifting is cheating out extra kilos. I mean that powerlifting is *all* about the numbers. You win or lose depending on how much you can bench/deadlift/squat. It doesnt matter if your chest is taking the load in your bench, if the bar goes down, hits your chest, and goes up, you win. And accordingly, the form for powerlfting reflects that, the aim is to put as much weight on the bar as possible. Like you said earlier, it's not a good or bad thing, but it's *completely* (just completely) different to bodybuilding.
As I said before I would actually recommend a bodybuilder to start on an appropriately chosen strength based program. Take a look a Layne Norton’s PHAT program that is precisely a mix of bodybuilding and powerlifting. Layne Norton is a very successful natural bodybuilder who sees how the two sports are very complimentary.
if someone is looking only to be the best bodybuilder they can be, I wouldnt recommend doing something like SS or strong lifts. If you're just someone looking to get started in the gym, then yeah, sure, those programs will work great for you.
And yeah, Layne is pretty cool. I think he's coming to FitX this year...
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