1. Do a little high-intensity cardio. I recommend wind sprints up a hill to failure.
  2. Max-effort mobility work. If your major muscle groups aren’t black and blue, you’re not there yet.
  3. Cheat on your diet. And not a little bit. More like this:

    “For dinner you're gonna order an extra-large pizza with everything on it. Literally everything. If you don't like sardines, don't put 'em on, but anything else that you like you have to load it on there. After you pay the delivery guy, I want you to take the pie to your coffee table, open that fucker up, and grab a bottle of oil. It can be olive oil, canola oil, whatever. Anything but motor oil. And I want you to pour that shit over the pie until half of the bottle is gone. Just soak the shit out of it."

  4. Don't eat at all. "But I'm intermittent fasting, bro!" No, you're being stupid.
  5. Don’t take rest days. Someone out there is working harder than you. Off days are for pussies. Take more preworkout and get your ass in the gym.

Let's Be Serious

As you can probably tell by now, the secret to nearly everything in powerlifting is balance. I know how cliché that sounds, and I know it’s something I harp on over, and over, and over again — but the truth is that most powerlifters lack balance. If you want to improve, you have to recognize your weaknesses, and then improve on them.

Look, cardio can be great for powerlifters… if you’re doing 20-30 minutes of low intensity, low impact work, 2 or 3 times a week. If you’re going balls to the wall on hill sprints or on the Prowler, then your performance in the weight room is going to suffer a little (or maybe a lot). There’s no way around that.

Mobility is great, too. It’s a really important component of injury prevention, technique optimization, and general improvement in quality of life. But if you’re spending hours and hours rolling on a lacrosse ball, you’re at best wasting your time, and at worst causing more harm than good.

Cheating on your diet is fine. Diet isn’t going to make or break most powerlifters, and eating junk food once in a while is a nice mental break from the drudgery of a strict plan, no matter what your goals are. If you’re stuffing your gullet full of shit like McDonald’s and pizza, all day long, then you might not perform like shit, but you won’t perform optimally, either.

And, last, active rest is hugely beneficial. Sitting on your ass on your off days won’t do as much to decrease soreness and improve recovery as will some very light movement. But training every day will burn you out faster than almost anything else. Chill the fuck out, take a step back, and relax a little. Your gains aren’t going anywhere.