Cardio & General Advice For First Meet

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
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Hello,

I have two questions for this post.

  1. What kind of cardio are you doing and at what intensity in order to maintain general health but not eat in to strength gains? I’m currently incorporating sleds and farmers walks for cross-over benefit but am curious about steady state for longer periods of time. Air bike, jogging et cetera. I’ve read various commentary online, any personal insight?

  2. Any general advice for a first meet?

For background, I got in to weight training as a kid. Dad bought me some dumbbells and little barbell in 5th grade that I used to mess around with in the garage. I played UIL sports as early as possible in 7th grade and the coaches had us on a lifting program in place of general PE class. I kept this up through high school.

Not a college athlete, I went to an academically strong school instead of chasing dreams on a tier 3 team, which is likely where I would’ve found a spot, but I kept up with weight training, and for me cross training cardio was always part of it. Sprints, bleachers, box jumps, jump rope et cetera.

I’ve lifted all my adult life save a couple years following a major accident and surgeries and I’m not a stranger to the weight room.

I’ve run various push/pull splits, upper/lower, full body routines and a few powerlifting inspired programs like 5/3/1 variations and Stonglifts.

After a hiatus mentioned above, I decided to train for a powerlifting meet to rebuild strength. The team environment at my gym has been fun and motivating while getting back on track.

The meet is in November, hence my questions. I’m conservatively aiming for a 1350 total which I’m confident I’ll hit and maybe 1450 or a little higher.

Long term plans are to get back to general lifting and cardio in nearly equal parts, maybe try Thibs’ “Fire, ready, strong”.

But for now, any tips or advice leading in to Nov will be much appreciated. I want to be as strong as possible but like the feeling I have when my cardio is solid too.

Unfortunately the decades old wrestling singlet no longer fits, so singlet recommendations are welcome as well. Something grippy on a bench, somewhat compressive et cetera. I’ve heard good things about Titan.

If you’re still reading, thanks in advance.

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1 - sometimes my reps go over 8+

2 - pick openers you know you can hit

  • don’t cut weight for first few meets
  • practice commands
  • use lifting cast to see how the meet is moving to figure out when to hit each warm up
  • train on the same spec equipment you’ll be using in the meet.
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  1. any thing and everything, sandbags, burpees, row, bike, farmers, weight vest walks, log, WOD’s… As long as you aren’t stupid a couple of hard conditioning sessions a week and a couple of easy ones aren’t going to rob you of gains.

  • Read the rules, make sure you understand them.
  • Be nice to people (aka dont be a dick), support other lifters and just enjoy your first comp
  • wear your comp gear before the comp and get used to how it feels for the 3 lifts
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I’ll have to revisit burpees, thanks.

I used to run through a series of jump roping, burpees and box jumps with a short rest between. It didn’t take long to get what I needed out of it and I don’t remember needing additional recovery time.

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I just bookmarked liftingcast. Thanks for the tip. If these meets are anything like old wrestling meets with multiple events spread across multiple locations, Im sure it will be very helpful.

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For cardio, I’d avoid anything that is going to potentially tax your joints. Steady state on an exercise bike, air bike or incline treadmill walking is what I’d pick. I’d avoid hard conditioning sessions on top of your powerlifting training and would stick with longer steady state sessions a few times per week. If you really want to do a hard conditioning session that gets your heart rate up, pick something like the rower that isn’t going to beat you up too much.

As far as first meet advice goes, consider taking your openers (with commands) 7-10 days out and doing them all on the same day. If you aren’t presently training more than one competition lift per day you might be surprised how squatting first impacts your bench and how squatting and benching impacts your deadlift. Or it might not have any impact at all. But you’ll learn that by doing openers all on the same day.

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I would second the comment that you don’t want to do cardio that could add extra taxing on your joints. If you aren’t wanting to consider strong man and stuff like that, you could just end up injuring yourself for no reason.

I jog for cardio, but I do it because I like it and it’s something I do with my wife. It’s definitely not optimal for powerlifting.

Most experts would tell you that your cardio should just be high rep sets and not resting too long in between sets. But I think you are smart to consider cardio. It’s a long day and if you are out of shape, you are going to be dying by deadlift time.

That first meet day, you’ll probably be running on adrenaline, but you’ll be more tired and sore than you’ve ever been the next day haha

As far as meet day… just enjoy yourself. Everyone’s going to be super supportive and you’ll probably make a lot of friends. It’s a motivating environment and there’s no reason to put a ton of pressure on yourself. Choose easy openers so you can focus on the cues and once you have weight on the board, you’ll feel way more confident on your second and third attempts.

Oh, and if you miss and attempt, stay calm, and try it again. Do not try and go up again.

Happy to answer any other questions you may have. I’m no expert but I’ve done I think 5 local/regional meets.

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