What is Street Lifting?

Street Lifting is a competitive strength sport that combines calisthenics (bodyweight training) with weighted resistance, focusing on a few key compound movements performed as heavy as possible.

Instead of doing bodyweight reps like traditional calisthenic endurance competitions, street lifters add weight using a belt to lift the maximum load for one rep (1RM), and have three attempts to do so across 4 primary lifts.

Street Lifting has 4 primary movements: Muscle up, Pull up/Chin up, Dip, and Squat. Across different organizations and federations, rules can vary, but most have the same standardized expectations for a clean rep. Muscle up: legs need to be straight, with no knee kip and minimal hip kip, transition must be smooth up and over the bar. Pull up/Chin up: Chin must be above the bar, no knee kip. Dip: elbow must be 90 degrees or break 90 degrees from the shoulder, belt and/or dips must be below the bar before pressing into the second half of the movement. Squat: Barbell back squat, hip crease must be below the top of the knee.

As Street Lifting grows across Canada, and more athletes join competition, it is good spread awareness about the sport. For many years, Canada only had one annual Street Lifting competition; and today, including the Kalisthenic Kingdom Ontario Championships, we have 2-4 every year. Seeing such growth is inspirational for others who aspire to join the sport.