I’ve had this conversation over the years many times and it is fresh in my mind so it bears discussion.

Can you serve two masters?

The Samurai say no.
They say to focus on one thing and do it completely.
I tend to agree with that.
Let me explain.
I see this and get asked about it all the time as a coach.
There are quite a few things to compete in nowadays:

 

  • Strongman
  • Powerlifting
  • Crossfit
  • Olympic Weightlifting
  • Fitness/Bodybuilding
  • Something else I haven’t heard of yet or will come out next week.

Many people want to try everything and that is good.
But what if you want to succeed at something?

EliteFTS, C.J. Murphy, Murph, Total Performance Sports, TPS
What if you want to be the best at it?

Let’s look at the casual lifter (if that exists).
This is the person new to strength and competition and does not know what they want to do or if they are any good at it.
To them I say give it a try and see what you like.
At TPS we have a TON of people come in, many already serious lifters and many new to training, new to our lifestyle, and they want to do something.

They just don’t know what.
This is the ideal person to try a few disciplines out and see what they prefer.
As an example, in the TPS Method, our group personal training program, we focus on strength and a high level of conditioning.

When I say strength I mean it.
We have a kid who is 148 and has pulled almost 600 pounds. We have many ladies who pull almost 300 pounds or more and they do not train like powerlifters.
We’ve got plenty with big squats and presses, and they all are in great shape.
We’ve had quite a few who wanted to try Powerlifting. That’s one of the reasons we created the TPS Method for Powerlifting. We had about 10 ladies who wanted to try powerlifting.
Great idea!
We got them on a program that worked and they all did well at their first meet and the second.
After the second meet, a few decided that competition was not for them.

That is ok!
They tried it, were not crazy about it and stopped.
We also had some stick with it and they are now committed to it. They found what they liked.
We also had two who wanted to do something else.
One wanted to do figure and one wanted to do Strongman.
Of course I support them doing both of these disciplines.

HOWEVER: I advised them that serving two masters is not in their best interest.

Why can’t you do both at the same time?
Well, this is easy.
All of these have different goal, energy pathways and caloric requirements.
Let’s look at figure or bodybuilding first.
For figure/bodybuilding you need to be as lean as possible and this requires a caloric deficit to get ripped. Training for Powerlifting usually requires a caloric surplus, unless you need to be in a lower weight class, or have to stay in a weight class.
Even then, the caloric deficit is not as severe as the cutting phase of the figure contest.
If you were to try and train for a figure show and a Powerlifting meet at the same time, you would not do well at one of them as the calories required to get strong are different than those required to get ripped. This will cause a loss of strength at least temporarily and will invite injury.
The training is going to be different too to a degree too.
Let’s jump over to Strongman.

EliteFTS, C.J. Murphy, Murph, Total Performance Sports, TPS

 

One of our ladies wanted to switch from Powerlifting to Strongman. She was getting pretty good at Powerlifting and was very dedicated to it.
It seems the fire for that faded and a new one lit up.
Powerlifting and Strongman have totally different training requirements and energy pathways to improve at.
To make this easy:

 

  • Powerlifting does not require you to be in great shape or have much local muscular endurance.
  • Strongman does.
  • They both require a tremendous amount of limit strength.
  • They both require lots of calories.
  • The Bench Press takes a lot of work, as in my opinion, it is the most technical lift of all. It also has very little carryover to Strongman.
  • Strongman has a virtually unlimited amount of variables for events and weight used.
  • Powerlifting is the opposite. There are three lifts and they are always the same.

So, if we look at these factors and evaluate them objectively, not emotionally, you can see that to be good at one, the other will suffer.
Why do something if you can’t be your best at it?
Now, let’s switch gears and look at the serious lifter who has been competing for a while.
How often do you see a really good lifter who is also winning Strongman shows?
How often do you see a really good Strongman, or Strongwoman who is winning Powerlifting meets?
Almost never.
As an example, with the exception of Bo Jackson, how often do you see a Professional athlete or a D1 athlete play more than one sport and be at the top of the game?
Never? Almost never at least.
Why?
You can’t serve two masters.
One will always be in some form of conflict with the other.
So what do we do if we want to try a bunch of strength sports?
My answer is if you are new, go ahead and dedicate a few training cycles to one, then switch gears and try the other.

You’ll find out which one you like better.
As a newjack, you’ll also find that the training from one will most likely help the other.
This is because you are new.

You’ll be developing new strengths and not getting overuse injuries.
It’s like with kids: the best way to make a better football player is to have them play other sports in the off season. This goes for all sports.
Kids do not need to specialize in one sport, they need to develop all of their athletic attributes and cross training by playing other sports develops them into a better athlete.
As an adult new to strength, you should see the same type of carry over.

Find the sport you like and dedicate the time you need I order to be your best at it.
This is what the ISSA calls the Guided Discovery phase of training.

You are new and everything is exciting, you need to figure out what you like and what you don’t like. As a coach it is our job to help you figure out what is best for you and how to make you succeed.

EliteFTS, C.J. Murphy, Murph, Total Performance Sports, TPS
What about this?
Many lifters want to try something new right?
You want to try out a Strongman show instead of doing a meet, or, you want to do a meet instead of a Strongman show.
What’s wrong with that?
Nothing.
Just realize that you can’t do both at the same time in the same

training cycle.
You will need to dedicate time to prepping for the next show and if you are a serious lifter, make sure you do the other one at a time that is “off season”.
Don’t pick a Strongman show that is 8 weeks away from your next or last meet.
You need time to prepare or recover.
Look at your annual calendar for meets/shows and if this sounds like something you want to do, go for it.
For example:
You are a Powerlifter and want to try Strongman.
You have a meet in January, May and October.
There is probably not enough time in the calendar to dedicate a true training cycle for a Strongman show. Maybe drop the May meet and spend some time training for a Strongman show in May or June.
Your limit strength will most likely not go down (much) if you train right and you’ll still have time to rest, recover and prep for the next meet.
This is just an example but it can be applied to anything I have listed.

Don’t serve two masters. Pick one and do it completely.

If you need a break and feel the need to try something else, be smart.
Set yourself up for success!

 

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Vincere vel mori

 

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