I'm a competitive powerlifter. Your statement isn't quite true. The best way to acquire the flexibility for weightlifting movements is to perform those movements. If you aren't flexible enough to squat to the correct depth, the solution is to squat as deep as you can, and let that serve as the stretch.
The accepted wisdom amongst my crowd is that the appropriate warmup prep is some dynamic movement to raise the body temperature, like rowing or biking, followed by practicing a given movement at progressively higher weights, until you are ready for the work sets.
I've never heard a weightlifter recommend static stretching before training.
I do powerlifting, though not competitively, and I can't agree with you that the best way of acquiring the flexibility is to do the movements. I struggled for nearly a year to improve my depth on my squats and deadlifts that way.
It took <3 months to fix once I saw a physiotherapist that gave me some dynamic stretches to do in between my workouts. I increased my squats from a paltry 2/3 of my body weight and reduced range of motion to 1.5x my body weight at full range of motion in 6 months from I started doing the stretches, after having been stuck without any improvement for many months. I've kept increasing since.
I don't doubt that doing the movements may work for some, especially if you have reasonable flexibility to start with, but it certainly didn't work for me, or at least did not give noticeable results over a very long period of time, whereas it took less than 2 weeks from I started doing my stretches until I saw substantial improvements.
I absolutely agree with you that pre-exercise stretches is not recommended for lifting weights, but that does not mean stretches are not useful.
Can I ask specifically what kind of dynamic stretching you were doing? I have chronically tight hips that leave me unable to perform "adequate" squats - poor range of motion and balance on the squats, and lack of power. I'd love any tips you have to offer.
Not much, actually. Swinging a leg at a time back and forward, and left and right, as well putting a foot at a time forward and doing a pike stretch down to that foot and right back up again, walk a couple of steps and doing the other foot (like #2 here, but a foot forward at a time: http://www.wikihow.com/Get-a-More-Flexible-Back).
Strict good-mornings are also quite good once you have decent amounts of flexibility. Strict = make sure your back stays arched, push your butt as far back as possible, with a slight bend in your knees, and hinge/bend at the hips. Essentially you should feel it in your thighs and butt and not elsewhere; if you start losing the arch in your back, you've pushed as far down as you can go, go back up and repeat. It's more important to keep form than forcing yourself as deep as possible - you'll get better depth soon enough.
I've later incorporated some static stretches including several of the one in the wikihow link above, but the ones above were enough to see dramatic improvement when done a for a few minutes a couple of times a day.
I also do asian squats regularly (so effectively sitting down in a squat position, unloaded, for as long as I an do - a few years back I wouldn't be able to get up without intense pain from that position, if I got into it in the first place...) and feel that helps me increase the depth I get into (and it's made it so much easier to play with my young son, to be able to effortlessly squat down to him instead of ruining my knees...).
That's good to hear, thanks. I have always had very good flexibility, so it was never an issue for me. I do stretch my hamstrings and IT band sometimes, and static stretching certainly has it's uses.
Yeah, static stretching makes you too loose for powerlifting. You need to be able to achieve extraordinary tightness to maintain proper posture under the bar.
I find that foam rolling, lacrosse ball rolling, and band tension exercises help the most before powerlifting. My knees don't seem to track properly for the squat unless I foam roll my legs and glutes beforehand. It makes a huge difference.
Light static stretching is good for relieving tension and tightness after the workout. But before, foam rolling is much much better for making you flexible without losing force and tightness.
I second this. While I'm not a powerlifter, I do lift regularly. Two years ago I stretched before doing anything, including a warm up. Sometimes I would be in a rush and skip the stretching. After I noticed that it made no noticeable difference, I dropped it and just did my regular warm up (run a mile). Now, before doing anything really heavy, I'll just do the movement with little weight or only body weight. I've been able to lift more and seem to have less muscle fatigue as a result.
The accepted wisdom amongst my crowd is that the appropriate warmup prep is some dynamic movement to raise the body temperature, like rowing or biking, followed by practicing a given movement at progressively higher weights, until you are ready for the work sets.
I've never heard a weightlifter recommend static stretching before training.