I compete in powerlifting. Not surprisingly, many common folks believe powerlifters are fat, slow, have terrible conditioning, but possess great strength. To a varying degree, this is true. What more, in the past, it was probably even more true. Granted, the greatest powerlifters of all time (Coan, Captain Kirk, Dan Austin, Kuc) had great conditioning. After all, powerlifting competitions can last anywhere from 6-12 hours depending on how many are competing. The problem with the sport was the leverages mattered. Meaning, if you were a lard with a big ass gut, your bench had a shorter range of motion than a leaner person. Some of these tub-o-fats were successful, but most weren't. But now, even lower caliber powerlifters are becoming better powerlifters because they are focusing on their conditioning more. Yet, you will still see behemoth powerlifters whose bellies are bigger than their bellow.
Capt Kirk, before Photoshop was conceived. Courtesy of T-Nation
Louis Simmons, founder and owner of Westside Barbell and probably the greatest multi-ply powerlifting coach of all time, is a huge proponent of proper conditioning for his athletes. He believes that conditioning not only improves strength, but also improves recovery because it assists in working neglected muscle groups during powerlifting specific training. I agree. How can I not? This fellow has churned out more 1,000 pound squatters than any other person in history.
Though I do not compete geared (single and multi-ply), conditioning strategies are one and the same with raw competitors. And to tell you the truth, I feel that everyone should work on their conditioning. If you have a protruding gut and have a hard time walking up a couple flight of stairs, my finger is pointed at you. If your goal is to be healthy and strong (which it should be), then you want to condition and strengthen at the same time. Certainly, this is relative. If you are an elite powerlifter, then you will need to focus on your actual sport more than conditioning. Likewise, if you are a novice lifter looking to just get into shape, you can get away with conditioning and strength training and see results.
In future posts, I will also talk about how you can improve fat-loss results while also improving your conditioning. Don't expect miracles, though, and don't expect to become stronger with just conditioning compared to dedicated strength training.
My Three P's: Performance. Progressive. Preventative.
Asides from actual state of lifting, you should LOOK like you lift, or at the very least, exercise. All too many times, you have people brag about how they did this or that in the gym yet have nothing on their bodies to show for it. How does someone slave away at the cardio machines and not see any changes? Simple. Their bodies are used to it. Look to perform.
Yet another caveat arises. How do you want to perform? But because my target audience of this blog are those who wish to get healthier, stronger, leaner, and more muscular, I will be talking about gaining muscle, losing fat, and being a general athletic bad ass.
Yet another caveat arises. How do you want to perform? But because my target audience of this blog are those who wish to get healthier, stronger, leaner, and more muscular, I will be talking about gaining muscle, losing fat, and being a general athletic bad ass.
Don't ask how old Mark is. He is older than you. Source
And this guy. Think he performs? Source.
Performance is the name of the game. In order to see results, you MUST perform well. In anything you want to see results in, you MUST perform well. Then, after performing well, you must perform even better than well. But what does performing well mean? Every person has a different definition for each term in fitness and sometimes it drives me nuts. Note, I don't get upset necessarily, just have an impulse to face palm. Performing well in my book means that you can run, lift, jump, and sprawl on demand and execute activities of daily living (ADL) with the least amount of hassle. In extreme words, you should be in shape enough to fight in a war tomorrow if you got drafted yesterday. Performing well also extends beyond physical capabilities. Are you MENTALLY prepared to perform? Can you handle daily tasks thrown at you that require the use of your brain? Are you challenging your mind with various tasks or are you living a mundane life? Can you shrug off a noisy and ignorant boss who uses people as tools and discards them when they are no longer useful?
Progressive is the second name of the game, because in order to perform well, you must progress from not performing well. But here's the thing, you can perform without progressing beyond a certain point which is a disincentive for betterment . Look at all the people in 30-person, 1-hour group exercise classes. They look and perform the same day-in and day-out. Some have nice bodies, most don't. Many of them can perform ADLs, so in this regard, they can perform. But put them into a situation where they have to call forth physical and mental fortitude. Many of them will crumble underneath the weight of the task. EVERY single HEALTHY person should be able to squat with an appreciable external weight (half of their bodyweight), do a single chin-up, jump up a 2-foot box, sprint, crawl, and do a few push-ups. These same people who are doing 1-hour of push-ups can't do a single GOOD push-up if their lives depended on it. These people need to get with the program and progress.
Most group exercise classes suck. Source
Preventative. "Let food by thy medicine and medicine by thy food", said the famous Hippocrates. Prevention is the third point on my P-triangle. To prevent is to prevent injuries, prevent disease, and prevent weakness from emerging. Of course, you can't prevent any of these with absolute certainty, but the key here is to reduce the risk. Lifting reduces the risk of injuries, diseases, and both physical and mental weakness. Eating well does the same. Not surprisingly, certain foods increase the risk of injury. I will delve into this more in the future, but some foods cause inflammation which then increase the risk of injury.
Does having the ability to lift heavy things make you more confident? Does it improve your physical and mental conditioning? Do you see lifting a certain amount of weight a goal or would you rather be stuck lifting 2# pink dumbbells in a group exercise class?
Drop a line.
SBL,
David
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