If you’re working your muscles you’re bound to see some changes occur in them. If you’re one of those individuals asking whether you can build muscle by powerlifting I’m here to tell you that, yes, you can. Why do I feel comfortable saying this? Well, because I’ve gained a fair amount of weight (or at least repositioned my muscle/changed my composition quite a bit) since I’ve been doing this sport. There are a few reasons why I say this (that powerlifting is a sport that causes muscle growth).
Here is a video by Meg Squats where she poses the question of whether powerlifters should train like bodybuilders (which is for growth).
Carryover
The law of progressive overload is strong with this one (lol). When bodybuilders get used to a particular weight or movement they either up the weight or change that movement (or they find some other way to make it harder). When powerlifters are training they're constantly testing themselves and upping the weight (steadily is probably a better word to use). I say this to say that both types of lifters lift heavier as they progress and both lifters gain muscle mass (some more than others). Powerlifters may not gain as much muscle mass they would/should but, they do gain enough muscle mass to support the weights they’re lifting for a period of time.
Progressive overload is, according to Built Lean,
Underlying all progression of natural muscle growth is the ability to continually put more stress on the muscles. This stress is a major component involved in the growth of a muscle and disrupts homeostasis within your body. The stress and subsequent disruption in homeostasis causes three main mechanisms that spur on muscle growth.
https://www.builtlean.com/2013/09/17/muscles-grow/
For more on progressive overload and bodybuilders in general, check this article out.
What causes the muscles to grow
So, both bodybuilders and powerlifters lift heavy weights (90-95%of their one-rep max) and tend to gain muscle mass. Why is this? Well, I can give you some internet-hypothesized version of a decent answer (meaning that there wasn’t really a crazy decent answer on the internet but it all makes sense). It’s been said that lifting heavy weights activates our Type II muscle fibers (which is true) which are known for the power they produce as well as their role in promoting muscle growth (or hypertrophy) (take the muscle growth portion with a grain of salt since that’s usually associated with Type 1 muscle fibers). The logic behind this is that heavyweights are supposed to shock your body and make your muscles “think” that they’re supposed to be growing, so to speak.
Aside from that, there are other factors that play a part in the body's ability to grow muscles, such as Muscle Tension (which discusses lifting more weight to gain muscle - something powerlifters must do anyway.), Muscle Damage (another thing powerlifters experience when they're performing volume work), and Metabolic Stress (this causes the cells around a muscle to swell up because of the addition of muscle glycogen)
Here's a list of rep ranges - each of which has different effects on the body.
This is where the part that makes sense comes in
That’s all fine and dandy but, the only issue is that you can’t really lift heavy weights for muscle growth because of the lack of time under tension that they allow. What we do then (powerlifters usually. Bodybuilders can lift in a higher rep range). For our assistance and hypertrophy work, we can stay in that sweet spot for strength. So, instead of hitting weight for the 1-5 repetition usual we’ll hit weights for 6-8 reps for a few sets.
Why does this work? Well, if you and I do sets of assistance exercises in that rep range we’ll be able to work on the parts of movements that we’re weak in and well as cause a muscle to grow so that it can handle more weight. Even though the main focus of powerlifting isn’t to gain muscle it happens so that we can get better at our sport and have longer careers (since having more muscle mass allows us to support our joints and protect them from the excess damage that comes with lifting heavy weights).
Conclusion
There we have it, the vast majority of the information I’ve gained on gaining muscle mass and being a powerlifter. I’ve included some of the research I did on the topic (even though I can tell you from experience that it’s possible to do so). Let’s also not forget the idea of “Powerbuilding” which essentially helps you gain muscle and strength at the same time.
Resources:
https://www.livestrong.com/article/375823-will-lifting-heavy-weights-make-you-grow-bigger/
https://www.genesishealthclubs.com/blog/fitness/building-muscle-mass-more-weight-or-more-reps.html
https://livehealthy.chron.com/can-increase-muscle-powerlifting-2387.html
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-013-0017-1
https://europepmc.org/abstract/med/2691829