Powerbuilding is the intersection of two pursuits, being jacked and being strong. Powerlifting and Bodybuilding styles of training are combined where both monstrous size and the ability to lift mad heavy weight is concurrently trained. The term has recently been popularized as a trendy new program because everyone wants both size and strength but training for both is far from a new idea I mean the history of these sports is intertwined and as long as there's been feats of strength its been tied into looking strong and like one is capable of such feats.
The two strength sport disciplines of powerlifting and bodybuilding have for a long time been thought to be separate pursuits and with a good line of reasoning, adaptation to maximal strength or hypertrophy are two different processes but the truth to the matter is that you cant have one without the other. Ask any powerlifter who's been in the game for a good minute and they'll tell you that you get to a certain point where you cant drive strength development optimally unless you build more mass because of the curve of deminishing returns for strength gains and so its far more effective to program a hypertrophy block and focus on muscle mass development especially if you're still not a fair few years into hard consistent training. The same isn't exactly true for bodybuilders as in they can afford to drive hypertrophy through every loading phase of their career and steer far from training directly for strength but the fact of the matter is more muscle moves more weight and its undeniable that if you get big quads you will squat more or if you get big arms and a protruding slab of chest muscle your benchpress is gonna go up. Many and almost all the big name bodybuilders moved respectable weights in the gym; Ronnie Coleman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbo, Johnnie Jackson and Stan Efferding to name a few of the better known and it makes sense that these guys would be willing to train heavy given the idea that if you lift heavier weights you're gonna force your body to recruit more muscle fibers and stimulate enough response to drive hypertrophy.
However some have argued against heavy weights because of the risk of injury and the idea here is hypertrophy is driven by how close to failure you take the muscle (how much you beat it down and create more micro-tears) but I mean there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that Ronnie Coleman is the King and his physique is the craziest and biggest the history of bodybuilding has ever seen but look at where the man is sitting now, crippled, having had to relearn how to walk. So maybe his main opponent and long time friend Jay Cutler had a point to steer clear of heavy weights and same goes with Phil Heath who actively doesn't train heavy but these guys still can put up respectable weights I mean jay cutler squatted 700 for a double in a smith machine when he was 19 and stopped training legs for two years because his legs were TOO jacked in comparison to his upper body but the point is they avoided injury and while focusing on size they got strong. The key here is how they got jacked besides world class genetics and world class drugs its with smart training and consistency no doubt but more importantly the biggest take away is the Muscle Mind connection these men have when they train. Look at the way Kai Green poses, every muscle is at his disposal for executing perfect displays of size as if he can recruit more muscle fibers unresisted then most can fully engaged in an activity.
Muscle Mind connection is the key foundation to creating size and size is the base for a lifelong (or even a yearlong macrocycle) pursuit of strength which is exactly how powerbuilding should be approached, switching focus while having two end goals of muscle size and strength.
-Mr Wolf
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