Powerlifting is a strength sport, consisting of three events:

1. Squat: Stand holding a barbell resting across your upper traps and shoulders, hands should be wider than shoulder width apart. Place your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, feet should be angled slightly outward. Pull your shoulders back slightly, contract your lower back muscles, take a deep breath and hold it. Looking straight ahead, slowly bend at the knees, inclining your torso forward slightly and descending under control until your thighs are just above parallel to the ground. Don't bounce at the bottom, but don't stop either. Push through your heels to drive yourself back up, contracting your gluteus muscles (buttocks) strongly and exhaling as you pass the halfway point. Take a deep breath and repeat.

2. Bench Press: The bench press is an exercise intended for the development of the chest, or pectoral muscles. It is usually performed while lying flat on your back on a specially designed bench with a weighted barbell suspended on a rack over your chest. You then take the barbell, lift it off the rack, and lower it to your chest at about the middle of your sternum. The weight is then raised back up to the starting position. This exercise should always be performed with a spotter to catch the bar in case you drop it on your chest. Other variations on the exercise or to perform it on the incline, on a decline, or on a stabilizer ball. Each variation is intended to work different subgroups of muscles, or work the same muscles in slightly different ways.

3. Deadlift: To begin this exercise, stand with a barbell in front of you. With your back flat and straight, keep your head up and start the lift by contracting your leg and gluteus muscles to drive the bar up. Use your arms only as hooks to hold the bar, do not lift with them, you should be lifting with power in your legs, glutes and back. Exhale as you ascend with the weight. Keep knees over your toes when bending to grip bar. Keep the bar as close to your body as possible throughout the lift for maximum strength. Pause at top position, then slowly return to beginning position. Repeat.

Total: The maximum weight lifted in each event is totalled for a final score; lifters compete in bodyweight classes. Powerlifting is of relatively modern origin, dating from the early to mid 20th century onwards, and is sometimes referred to as "weightlifting's ugly sister".
Powerlifting is open to both men and women.

Existing Olympics

The Olympic Games are a multi-sport event taking place every fourth year. Originally held in ancient Greece, they were revived by French Baron Pierre de Coubertin in the late 19th century. The Games of the Olympiad, better known as the Summer Olympics, have been held every fourth year since 1896, with the exception of the years during the World Wars. A special edition for winter sports, the Winter Olympic Games, started in 1924; since 1994 these are no longer held in the same year as the Games of the Olympiad.

Clean and Jerk: The clean and jerk is a type of weightlifting. It is a highly technical lift, one of the two used in Olympic weightlifting. The clean portion of the lift refers to the lifter explosively rowing the weight to approximately navel level, dropping underneath it into a low squatting position to "catch" the bar on the shoulders with the elbows parallel to the ground, and then standing upright.
Lifters rely on speed and strength as well as technique, with a view to lifting the most weight overhead. Powerlifting relies on limit strength, utilising the entire body to push, pull, and support as much weight as is humanly possible for the athlete to move.

In the squat, the athlete stands under a racked barbell which is loaded with weight. Grabbing the bar from behind, the bar is put onto the top of the back just behind the neck. The athlete walks clear of the rack (unless competing in a federation using a "monolift", a device which supports the bar in place until the lifter is ready), squats down until thighs are lower than parallel to the floor and stands up again, carefully returning the weight to the rack. Disqualification results from the bar making any downward movement after the lift has started upwards, if the spotters touch the bar in any way, if the thighs do not break parallel, or if the lifter makes no effort to rerack the weight under his or her own power.

In the bench press, the athlete lies on a bench. A loaded barbell rests on stands built into the bench above the eye level of the lifter when lying prone on the bench. The athlete removes the bar from the supports with the aid of a "liftoff man", lowers it to the chest or upper abdomen and then presses it up to the full extention of the arms and carefully returns the weight to the rack. Disqualification results if the bar is placed too low on the body (varies by federation), if the bar does not rest on the chest before being lifted upward (in some federations, an explicit "press" command is given, and the athlete cannot lift upwards until it is given), if the bar fails to touch the chest, if the bar hits the uprights of the rack on the ascent, or if the bar makes any downward motion during the ascent. In addition, if the feet move during the lift, the lift is nullified, as it is if the buttocks lift off the bench or if the body makes any extraneous movement during the lift.

In the deadlift, a loaded barbell is placed on the floor. The athlete squats down and lifts the bar until the legs and back are straight. The bar is then carefully returned to the floor. In competition, the top of the movement is finished by 'locking-out', which means to straighten the back and lock the knees into a balanced position. Disqualification results from the athlete failing to stand completely upright, for using the thighs to assist the lift (hitching), etc.

Although powerlifting always uses the squat, bench press and deadlift as events, different federations have different rules and different interpretations of the rules, leading to a myriad of differing variations on a theme. Some federations, such as the AAU, allow NO protective gear to be worn by the lifter. Some, such as the IPF, only allow a single-ply tight polyester squat suit, deadlift suit and bench shirt, wraps for knees and wrists, and a belt. Other federations allow for opened-back bench shirts, bench shirts made of multiple ply material, canvas squat suits, etc. In an IPF bench press, the barbell can go as low as the xiphoid process and no further in the lift, whereas in other federations, the barbell can touch the abdomen. (This shortens the distance in which the barbell is moved and is an advantage to the lifter.)

With the advent of the latest high-tech gear, powerlifting gear usage has become somewhat controversial. Whereas it has allowed gargantuan lifts such as Scot Mendelson's 900+ bench press, Brent Mikesell's 1100+ squat, etc. some argue that allowing a shirt that gives 200+ lb (100 kg) of assistance to the lift (when used properly) lessens the point of a purely limit strength sport.

The multiplicity of federations and rules, the behind the scenes politics of Olympic certification, and the use and/or abuse of competition gear makes inclusion in the Olympics unlikely. There is no recognition in the Olympics for powerlifting at this time, however the Cyclops campaign hopes to make Powerlifting an Olympic

The Olympic Games are a multisport event taking place every fourth year. Originally held in ancient Greece, they were revived by French Baron Pierre de Coubertin in the late 19th century. The Games of the Olympiad, better known as the Summer Olympics, have been held every fourth year since 1896, with the exception of the years during the World Wars. A special edition for winter sports, the Winter Olympic Games, started in 1924; since 1994 these are no longer held in the same year as the Games of the Olympiad.