Hey. Just wondering what sort of conditioning you guys find good for powerlifting? I’m aiming to get my heart rate up around 120 - 130 for 30 mins or so. Does it matter how I do that? I see people saying that you shouldn’t run because it works against strength, but does it?
I have been using weighted vest walks, but I find it hard to get my heart rate up to 120 and above now. I sort of look like the Bushwackers in their prime out on my vested walks now, and only hitting around 110 bpm. Running ought to get me to the right range.
I know cycling is good, but the roads are dangerous where I live. Hard to keep a steady pace to keep HR up.
For powerlifting purposes…minimal lel. Enough to meet the cardio component of powerlifting. Any more is just using up recovery resources that should be going to lifting. For other goals e.g. multi sport athletes, health etc. I dunno much about that so I won’t say anything.
When I do cardio it’s stationary bike. Low joint stress/impact, studies show it interferes with lifting less vs walking/running due to joint angle specificity or some shit and most importantly I can put on a TV show and 30mins to an hour goes by in an enjoyable flash.
Seriously though, you either have an extremely strong heart or just walk way too slow. If your heart rate stays that low while walking fast with a weighted vest then you probably don’t need to worry about increasing your aerobic capacity. Greg Nuckols said something a while back that basically if your resting HR (ideally you would measure this as soon as you wake up) should be in the low 60’s, if it’s higher then cardio can help you.
If you train in a gym then incline walking on a treadmill on riding a stationary bike are options. Running is hard on your joints, when I first started training for PL I was doing sprints twice a week but it started bothering my ankles, if you can run on grass it would be better.
Strange thing is, while I find it hard to get my heart rate up on the walks, my resting heart rate has been getting higher. I used have a resting heart rate in the high 50’s, whereas its over 70 some days now.
I’ve literally done nothing but weighted vest walks for cardio, twice a week, for months. I think that I’ve just become really efficient at walking with the vest, and that it’s somehow not actually improving my fitness any more. I used to see something similar when I was boxing. I could box three hard rounds without much of an issue, but if I had to run to catch a bus I’d be gassed. Strange.
If it’s not always over 70 then what is it on other days?
What are you actually training for? For powerlifting you don’t need some sort of insane aerobic capacity, it sounds like what you are doing is just fine since you are maintaining your level of fitness. Doing excessive cardio is counterproductive to building strength and muscle.
My major training goal is powerlifting. That’s what I compete at, and my chief focus is on that. The cardio work, I just want to get a healthy minimum level of fitness, mainly for general health. There have been family heart troubles and stuff like that. My concern is that my cardio fitness is actually slipping, with the resting heart rate slowly going up.
I’d never do cardio sessions longer than 30mins, and I’d only do that twice a week. I definitely don’t need to be running marathons. I think two sessions of 20 - 30mins, hr 120 - 140 should be okay? Not as optimal as avoiding cardio, but I do want that base level of general fitness.
More or less, although based on what other people have said it sound like 20 minutes is pretty much the limit. For heart rate, unless you know your actually HRMax then estimate it (220 - age) and stay in the range of 60-70%. Going over that is going to cause more fatigue.
If you are really into this conditioning thing then you could do HIIT once a week, like prowler or sled work or sprints, just don’t push it too hard and don’t do it when you are getting close to a meet. That would be better than extra long LISS and might increase your cardio/aerobic capacity.
I used to do the prowler and hill sprints. They are excellent for conditioning, but I had different goals back then. I used to box, I combined one hill sprint session, one long slow run, and three lifting sessions with my club training. I was conditioned as hell!
But now that I’m aiming for strength above all else, I find that higher intensity work hurts my recovery more than low intensity.
