“What is streetlifting?” is a question that’s being asked more and more these days. This has everything to do with the growing hype around this sport.
But what is streetlifting exactly? Is it about lifting weights in the street? Or is there (much) more to it?
What is streetlifting?
In essence, streetlifting is a strength sport. This has everything to do with the fact that it’s a combination of two others terms that people that work out are probably quite familiar with:
· Calisthenics: In calisthenics, the idea is to use your bodyweight to improve your overall fitness level. It’s therefore a form of strength training that uses very natural movements, without the necessity of complicated work-out machines, dumbbells and other equipment. This lets you improve in many different fitness ‘areas’, like strength, endurance, flexibility and coordination.
· Powerlifting: Powerlifting, on the other hand, is more about competitive strength. When you are training for powerlifting, your goal is to attempt a maximum weight at certain specific lifts; the squat, the bench press and the deadlift. Therefore you are in essence measuring your absolute strength and technical capabilities. Note that it is much different in that sense from calisthenics.
Since streetlifting is a combination of these two it comes down to the following:
It is a fitness discipline that puts the focus on mostly 2 main, fundamental body movements; the pull-up (or a chin-up) and weighted dips. The pull-up or chin-up is performed on a horizontal bar, whereas the weighted dips are performed on parallel bars.
In streetlifting, you get 3 attempts at maximum weight on 2 lifts pull-up or chin-up and dip.
The idea is that in a street lifting session, you use weights and dipping belts to lift a heavier weight than just your natural body weight.
Today, streetlifting will also allow for muscle-ups and back squats, to add 2 more exercises to the main ones.
How did streetlifting get started?
The first time streetlifting really was ‘practiced’ in public, was in 2012 in Ukraine. It was here were the first competition was held.
After that, a couple years later the first official governing body was founded. This was the International Streetlifting Federation (ISF) in Russia.
It is this federation that has been doing a lot to make the sport more known worldwide.
Think about:
· Expanding the sports reach
· Facilitate the development of national championships
· Unifying national streetlifting federations
hi This is why these days there are more and more competitions popping up worldwide. People are even setting records that others then desperately try to improve on.
The main exercises of streetlifting explained
As mentioned before, there are now 4 main exercises in today’s expanded version of streetlifting:
· The pull-up (or chin-up): During a pull-up or chin-up you are gripping a bar above your head and pull yourself up. You have to reach a certain height with your head and/or chin for it to count as a rep. This trains your arms and back muscles.
· Dip: With a dip, you are grabbing two parallel bars around the height of your hips, while hanging above the ground. You then ‘dip’ down, bending your arms and then push yourself up again. This trains your triceps and upper-body.
· Muscle-ups: A muscle-up is one of the newer additions to streetlifting and consists of largely the same movement as with a pull-up. The main difference is that you pull yourself up completely (with more speed for momentum), until your arms are fully stretched. This basically adds a dip to the movement.
· Back squats: The back squat is the second addition to the 2 basic exercises of streetlifting. This one consists of holding a barbell behind your neck on your upper back and squatting down, bending your knees. You then press your feet against the floor, training your leg muscles to move back up again into a standing position.
More and more people are intensely working-out and improving on these exercises to be able to beat others during a competition.
Now that you know what streetlifting is exactly, are you also excited to get started?!