Hacker News Reader

Comment by pen2l | Hacker News Reader

I'm a (novice) powerlifter -- the way you just described that makes me want to crossover to weightlifting.

But I'm just too afraid of getting injured; chance of injury is so much higher when lifting explosively vs. lifting heavy. :(

View on HN

Weightlifting is very technical. If you want to compete in weightlifting (or just perfect more complicated lifts than the power lifts), go do it. I'm not aware of weightlifting (properly coached) being any more dangerous than powerlifting - anecdotally, I know more injured powerlifters than weightlifters.

The older I get, the more I want to be a 'jack of all trades, master of none' in terms of fitness, but that's just a personal bias. I don't have the patience or the motivation to ever learn how to do a snatch or squat clean properly, but I see the appeal.

I feel the part of weightlifting that makes it more dangerous is probably why weightlifters are less injured than powerlifters. Weightlifting is technically hard, and most weightlifters start from day one with a coach. Powerlifts are "simple," and as such most powerlifters don't start with a coach and end up doing things wrong and hurting themself.

Or, you could go the route I did, and start with a coach, and still injure yourself.

Just because you know how to do something correctly doesn't mean you always will. I personally believe the combination of speed and weight makes olympic lifts inherently dangerous.

Most sports have a lot of survivorship bias. It looks like people can do them forever because a lot of other people have dropped out.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com