I was looking for a form of cardio that would be best for powerlifting. I’ve made a lot of progress over the past 6 months or so and I don’t want to damage my strength gains but I realized I should probably loose 20lbs or so for overall health. What would be the best option? Prowler work? Sprints? Bike riding? I’m open for suggestions
Good old Low Intensity steady state for 20-40 minutes a few days a week works great.
You can throw in some sled work, stair mill, etc
@bigtom91 personally, I like to use HIIT cardio 2-3 times a week to cut fat and maintain muscle. I’ll usually rotate between two workouts. One is a circuit of hammer swings(hitting the shit out of a tractor tire w/ a 12lb sledge), KB swings with a 55lb KB, and burpees, all done for 1 minute a piece, resting while my partner does his set. Repeat 3-5 times. The other is sprints, mixing 200s, 100s, and 50s for a total of 800m. Sometimes I’ll substitute one of these w/ circuit lifting. Mine consists of deadlift, dip, power clean, pull up 6-8 reps for each. I always finish my HIIT workouts with a brisk 2 mile walk to cool down and burn some extra calories while my metabolism and Har are still jacked up.
@BigTom that is your cardio in addition to powerlifting? I thought HIIT training and powerlifting was almost contradictory? are you doing these workouts after ur powerlifting routine or offdays?
@corstijeir that is what I was recommended by a coach. I don’t do cardio at all normally but the topic came up when I asked about weight class selection going down the road. I was advised to mix in light cardio 3-4 days per week in order to regulate body composition as I gain weight. I was surprised as I see higher intensity “conditioning” type exercises are usually recommended for powerlifters. I have a meet in 2 weeks so will not change my training at this point but am considering following this advice in my next training cycle.
Conditioning vs cardio, read any of the books by Jim Wendler.