Conditioning for Powerlifters – EliteFTS

One of the most overlooked aspects of powerlifting today is conditioning. Unfortunately, many people don’t understand why they need it and don’t do it; this is a huge mistake, as it will inevitably lead to sub-optimal performance. Below we’ll discuss the whys and hows of conditioning for powerlifters.

Many people take the stance that powerlifting is about being as big and strong as possible and that any kind of cardiovascular work detracts from those goals as it burns calories and thus energy. And this is patently false. Conditioning is crucial for improving one’s work capacity. As you progress in your powerlifting career, you will have to do more work than you did previously to make gains; we know this as the law of accommodation. 

This may mean you need more volume, frequency, intensity, or even different exercise selections to change the stimulus. But there is only one way to continually add to your program and continue making progress, and that is recovery. Your work capacity largely dictates your ability to recover.

You also need conditioning to make it through meets and perform at your best. I cannot tell you how often I’ve seen people peter out at meets as the day progresses. They become tired and weak as they fatigue, often bombing out, getting hurt, or at the very least, not performing nearly as well as they had hoped. 

I once did a pro meet in Tennessee with around twenty-five lifters. The meet started at 10 am and was done by 2 pm. By the time we made it to deadlifts, the two flights had turned into one, and only ten people had made it to the deadlift. These were pros, and they couldn’t take the pace. What happens if you’re a beginner or intermediate and experience the same kind of day? 

I’ve also been to meets where I squatted at 9 am and deadlifted at midnight; not an easy day to make it through for various reasons, but it still requires the ability to recover, which is accumulated through conditioning.