Powerlifting Guides
Everything you need to understand the sport - from your first meet to federation rules, scoring formulas, weight class strategy, and competition day preparation.
Understanding Powerlifting Strength Standards
What strength standards are, how they are calculated, what the classifications mean, and how to use them to set realistic competition goals and track your progress over time.
Raw vs Equipped Powerlifting: Understanding the Divisions
A clear breakdown of the differences between raw, classic raw, single-ply, and multi-ply powerlifting divisions - what gear is allowed, how it affects performance, and how to choose the right division for you.
Powerlifting Equipment Guide: What to Buy and Why
A practical breakdown of every piece of equipment used in powerlifting - from mandatory competition gear to performance accessories - with buying advice and federation compliance notes.
How to Squat for Powerlifting: Complete Technique Guide
Master the competition squat from setup to lockout. This complete technique guide covers stance, bar placement, bracing, depth cues, common mistakes, and coaching cues for every phase of the lift.
How to Deadlift for Powerlifting: Complete Technique Guide
Master the conventional and sumo deadlift for powerlifting competition. This complete technique guide covers setup, the pull sequence, lockout, choosing your stance, and the five most common deadlift mistakes with targeted fixes.
How to Bench Press for Powerlifting: Complete Technique Guide
Master the competition bench press from setup to lockout. This complete technique guide covers arch, grip, leg drive, the diagonal bar path, pause timing, and fixes for the five most common bench press mistakes.
The Complete Beginner's Guide to Powerlifting
New to powerlifting? This complete beginner's guide covers everything you need to know to start competing - from the three lifts and basic rules to equipment, training, and your first meet.
Learn Powerlifting from the Ground Up
Powerlifting has a steeper learning curve than it looks from the outside. The sport has its own vocabulary, rulebook, and culture that can feel overwhelming to a newcomer. These guides exist to flatten that curve. Written for competitive lifters at every level, they cover the topics that matter most: understanding the sport's structure, navigating the federation landscape, preparing for your first (or fiftieth) meet, and making sense of scoring systems that can seem needlessly complex until you understand what problem they solve.
Every guide on this page is informed by the OpenPowerlifting dataset - over 3.84 million competition entries from 1,000,000+ lifters across 100+ federations. Where we reference standards, benchmarks, or typical performance levels, the numbers come from real competition data, not generalised estimates. Use the tools on this site alongside the guides to put theory into practice: calculate your Wilks or DOTS score, see your percentile rank, model your attempt strategy, or compare federations side by side.