Obesity and Powerlifting

By Tucker Loken

Hey. Reality check. It’s still not cool to be obese. Go figure.

This isn’t a rant, this is just some honest talk to the folks out there. I’m not here to body shame or give people a hard time for just being themselves, but I felt it necessary to say something.

[wa-wps]

Two events happened recently that got me thinking. A friend from college was getting into working out and texted me, asking why all the powerlifters he saw were so big and out of shape. A day later social media gave me some inspiration. Upon doing my morning Instagram scrolling, I saw a couple powerlifting videos in a row. Some were the PL motivation stuff, and some were just people I follow who put up big numbers. I saw a couple posts in a row of several very heavy people deadlift and squatting, and it was a disturbing trend. As powerlifting gains more popularity, and as the average person’s weight increases as well, they seem to be movi  ng together along the same path. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions… Does this mean to road to powerlifting glory is paved with bacon?

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I scrolled through the comments and noticed a few more things that got me thinking. Most of them were just nice “awesome job” type comments, but some were pretty mean ones telling them to lose weight in less than sensitive ways, and then a whole bunch of people coming to their aid as well to bash on the hater with things like “that’s just how he/she is”, “big and beautiful” yada yada. There were a couple main points that popped into my head.

Be constructive

If you’re going to criticize people and want to actually make a helpful impact, don’t be a dick about it. It’s not doing anyone good to give or receive that kind of stuff. Chill out and put it in a constructive format.

Weighing that much is bad for you

I’m sorry, but type 2 diabetes is not normal, and if you’re telling yourself that walking around at 5’8 300 lbs of fluff is just a natural occurrence, you’re lying to yourself. Just look at the weight lifters of yore, before obesity was such a major health problem and before we had access to copious amounts of unhealthy food every day, the people who lifted heavy weights weren’t all that fat. Even the circus performer strong men back in the day might have had a little tummy on them, but now you see modern powerlifters walking around who resemble the circus fat man, rather than the strong man.

Besides your appearance, letting your weight get away from you isn’t doing you any favors health wise. Heart disease is killing more people every day, and if someone continues weighing a ton just because they’ve convinced themselves they have to be fat to be good at their chosen sport, they’re going to end up on the surgeons table eventually. When the surgeon opens you up and isn’t sure if that’s a fatty heart in your chest, or a cinnamon bun with extra frosting, you’ve got a problem, and you can only look in the mirror to find the one responsible.

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The people who are supporting them are right to tell the jerk to knock it off and not rain on their parade, but people close to the athlete should be saying something, otherwise they are just enablers and only facilitating the problem.

Make powerlifting look good

If you really love powerlifting that much and want to spread the message, make it look good. Why does bodybuilding, and now Crossfit dominate the fitness world? Powerlifting has been around for a long time, but always relegated to a small corner of the weightlifting community. You can’t change the way the game is played, and there’s a reason girls who do lots of cardio and lift the pink weights are booking magazine covers over some big fella who deadlifts 8-10 plates on each side.

The cool thing about powerlifting is that it’s not mainstream. I remember the first time I went into an actual hardcore gym, the music was loud, there was chalk all around and people were repping my max. It was sweet. Once the nostalgia wore off, I was very surprised at what else I saw. I was looking around realized that I only saw a few normal sized people, and so many other folks who are huffing and puffing to get off the bench trying to reach the drinking fountain… I get it, you like metal music and you’re not a poser and not obsessed with looking good. That’s fine. But I didn’t see people who were living life to its fullest. Frankly I just saw a bunch of people who couldn’t control their eating habits. It would be the same if I went onto a track for a run and it was full of smokers, or if I went to a gymnastics competition full of alcoholics (the balancing beam would be a great event to watch). Everyone is sweaty and working extremely hard towards their goal, so why do they look so unhealthy?

When I see all the people repping the powerlifting gear and feeling proud and saying it loud about the powerlifting lifestyle, it’s a pretty hard sell to the general public. Its fringe for a reason, and almost nobody takes you seriously if you are a hefty mess trying to preach discipline, hard work and rising above to meet challenges, when it’s clear you can’t conquer your own. Pre and post workout Oreo’s didn’t make you PR today. Neither did size large pizza you put down by yourself yesterday. Neither did the Big Mac from the day before. And that huge Sunday meal you had with your family where everything had butter in it? That didn’t help either.

Be proud to be a powerlifter, and better yet, make people actually WANT to be powerlifters too, because they see you and admire you.  It’s not going to serve you or the community well if people see you and immediately don’t take you seriously because your labored breathing is distracting them while they are trying to talk to you.

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Tucker Loken is a Bodybuilder turned Powerlifter turned Powerbuilder from Eugene, Oregon. He did his first bodybuilding show when he was still in high school, and has been training male and female competitors for shows since 2011. Several years ago he decided to take a step away from his normal routine and learn how to get strong. He worked with Brian for 9 months, added 200 pounds to his raw total and qualified as an Elite lifter in the 220 pound weight class. He returned back to bodybuilding much stronger and now incorporates the 10/20/Life philosophy into his training to keep himself healthy and making continual progress in the Big 3 as well as adding size and shaping his physique. Now part of Team PRS, he brings his unique expertise of nutritional knowledge and how to balance Bodybuilding with Powerlifting to help athletes achieve their best potential.
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