Powerlifting and cardio?

[Walrus]

Hey there. Just a little curious about if cardio is good to do with a poewrlifting routine? I like to do sprints, some guerilla cardio/tabatas, high intensity stuff. I'm just wondering if I'll be able to do this with a powerlifting routine. I don't want to overtrain. Anyway...anybody's thoughts on cardio + powerlifting?

[RipStone]

IMO doin cardio on days you dont lift is a good idea if you wanna do cardio.
As far as how much cardio and what kind, this really depends on the person and their goals. If you wanna build muscle/gain strength, then if you are eating enough calories to make up for those cals bruned while doing cardio, then yea, you can do cardio, but it still might hinder muscle building/strength goals. A good guideline is 1-3x a week of HIIT cardio or walking. But you have to expierement as see what works best for you as far as gaining mass and muscle while keepin fat in check.

Also, a lot of PLers will do GPP instead of cardio. GPP is stuff like sled-draggin, farmers walks and just strongman kind of stuff. IMO a mix between some light cardio and GPP is your best option.

[jeremi]

Good post. I have also been wondering about this. I am going to Mexico this summer with my wife and another couple and dont want to look like a blob in the mid section. But on the other hand I want as much strength as I can get. I would choose the strengh and ditch my abs in a heartbeat......for now. Please, it would be nice to see some others opinions.

[Wombl]

I've only once tried combining significant amounts of cardio training with powerlifting, and it didn't really work! Last may and june I was training for rowing which involved cardio 5 days a week (three 2hr sessions on the water, 30min and 60min sessions on the ergs indoors). I managed to keep lifting 3 days a week, and was still eating loads and taking my protein shakes

I didn't lose a whole lot of strength, if any, but I certainly didn't gain any either. My assistance exercises were dropping a bit, and I reckon if I'd tried to keep it up any longer I'd have probably seen drops in my maxes on the 3 lifts as well.

Currently I'm playing mixed lacrosse, which involves 3 training sessions a week. Although it's not specifically cardio (some skills training), it definitely gets your heartbeat up and gets a sweat going! I'm finally getting some more strength gains though, and it's helping me to keep my weight down below 70kg.

Bottom line, it's probably different for most people, so just try varying the amount of cardio you do and see what your body can take. If you start feeling weak and lacking energy during your weights sessions, slack off on the cardio a bit

[powerwrestler]

I lift 4 times a week, and do sprints and plyometrics 2 times a week and i've had good success with it.

[Malodrax]

its best to do high intesity stuff ie sprints on the days that you lift, since they're high on ur cns and you don't want to have to many high cns stressors back to back,

[Andrew Smith]

I'd have to agree with Ripstone, that if you are powerlifting, you really don't need cardio per se, but you need to improve your work capacity and aerobic pathways. I would stick to sled dragging, strongman type work, and/or kettlebell work (no eccentric portion, i.e. swings, etc). If you are going to do cardio, like Malodrax pointed out, you don't want back to back CNS draining sessions, I'd stick to moderate intensity cardio (jog, biking, etc) for 2 or 3 sessions of 30-45 minutes.
Just my ideas,

-Andrew

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[raffiki]

Powerlifting is cardio. Body fat is all about diet.

[Animalwannabe]

its best to do high intesity stuff ie sprints on the days that you lift, since they're high on ur cns and you don't want to have to many high cns stressors back to back,

Don't do cardio the same day if you're powerlifting, your body needs all it can get.

[Walrus]

I'm not really trying to get hardcore into powerlifting. I'd be willing to sacrifice some strength gains for the extra fat burn. I like the learn, hard look. The big box like look of what I think of when I think of powerlifters isn't really for me.

Reason I wanted to get into it was because I want to get stronger, basically. My weightlifting focus has mostly been bodybuilding, and I want to kind of balance it with more strength work.

I do some GPP on my conditioning days. Unweighted stuff like burpees and bear crawl and whatnot. Are you saying I should do the GPP after powerlifting workouts and not on off days? I don't like to take off days, I'd rather at least do some light abs or a 30 min jog through the neighborhood.

[RipStone]

I'm not really trying to get hardcore into powerlifting. I'd be willing to sacrifice some strength gains for the extra fat burn. I like the learn, hard look. The big box like look of what I think of when I think of powerlifters isn't really for me.

Reason I wanted to get into it was because I want to get stronger, basically. My weightlifting focus has mostly been bodybuilding, and I want to kind of balance it with more strength work.

I do some GPP on my conditioning days. Unweighted stuff like burpees and bear crawl and whatnot. Are you saying I should do the GPP after powerlifting workouts and not on off days? I don't like to take off days, I'd rather at least do some light abs or a 30 min jog through the neighborhood.

Best to do GPP on days that you dont lift. Just make sure that the GPP work doesnt intefer with your lifting(ie; shouldnt cause DOMs or take away from your strength).