CF with Powerlifting?

Hi, I'm a competing powerlifter (only one comp but enjoyed). I don't have a competition this year till July and am hoping / trying to lose some lbs while still building my strength. I realise this won't increase dramatically while I'm losing weight but would really like to shift 14-28lb of stubborn weight.. I've been within 3-6lb of my current weight for nearly a year now.

I was talking to someone this morning local to me that does cross fit and reckons it would be great for burning fat and mixing it up a bit for my body in the next few months.

Has anyone got any experience of strength going into CF and wihether I'd lose some of my strength now or if it would just increase form here on in still?

I'm 41, 80kg and currently lifting deadlift 100kg (not quite PL clean as I hitch a bit), bench 40kg and squatting 70kg (I'm slow to gain on the later two and have had a shoulder injury that is getting better now). I've spent a fair bit of time getting flexibility for squats as I've been riding horses for years and also have worked my way down from 220 odd lbs so my weight / fitness is an ongoing process.

I love the look of crossfit and it might be that it's more suitable for me personally - the shorter workouts really do appeal as I'm lifting for up to 2 hours some days between compounds, assisstance and cardio at the end.

Thanks,

Replies

Z_I_L_L_A

I do 3 days of crossfit and 3 days of power lifting. My strength has gone up since starting crossfit.

porffor

I do 3 days of crossfit and 3 days of power lifting. My strength has gone up since starting crossfit.

That is the type of answer I wanted!

Brilliant, thanks.

What sort of stuff do you do in your crossfit? I'm thinking of helping my hammies / abs and general back / overhead strength. Hoping to help all three lifts. There is a box about 20 miles from me but I have a pretty good gym at my disposal - sadly they don't do crossfit but we have a lot of supplementary equipment. Also have a tyre I can flip at my horse yard (looking at your pic). lol

kkenny0146

Check out the programming of the box you are looking at going to, as well as other boxes in the area. At my box, we usually do oly 3 days a week where we work from 70-85% of our 1RM. I don't think you would lose strength from doing crossfit.

porffor

Thanks will do

To be honest I think a lot of it would be solo WOD style stuff but maybe more geared towards PL. I don't have the time or finances to be going through to either of our closest boxes and with my gym membership and owning a horse I'd be stuck for the cash to join it on a monthly basis.

are there any workouts / lifts you'd recommend ?

Nataliaho

I've done both together successfully for a fair while. The most important thing is programming, the right hand needs to do what the left hand is doing. e.g. you don't want to be hitting your 1rm week of a PL cycle and get a squat heavy WOD the day before. In my case my CF trainer is a powerlifter too and we trained together with the same strength coach. They could make sure that didn't hinder each other.

Z_I_L_L_A

I do everything any other crossfitter would do. What I've noticed is the core strength and lower back strength has shot my deads up 90 lbs. in 3 months. As for the other lifts are doing well too. I should have a 500 lbs. squat and deadlift in a month or so. The bench is right at 400 lbs. Strict overhead press is at 225 lbs, incline bench is at 350 lbs. The flexibility improvement from crossfit has helped me too.

Charles4Jesus

Does the local box have a website? If so, check it out. They most likely post their WOD on it. I use my local box's as well as Crossfit Mayhem's, Rich Froning's Box(2-time CF Games Champion) he does the programming. He almost always has a strength element before the metcon in the WOD.