Powerlifting is a sport that requires brute strength, perseverance, and high pain tolerance but does not require a lot of athleticism. The latter is one of the reasons that high mass and body fat content are so prevalent although powerlifting can have a positive effect on obesity if mindful eating practices and long-term health is of priority. It is a question for another paper whether powerlifters become fat, or if those who carry more fat and body mass are simply drawn to the sport for their ability to more easily partake in this sport than others with high-level dynamic performance parameters. Powerlifting does have a fairly high caloric need or at least makes you feel like you do, but the culture does not often approach this need in a healthful or periodized fashion. Both anecdotal and empirical evidence highlights that the practice of powerlifting can be helpful for health by building functional muscle mass if hunger is managed, but it also has shown that there is a prevalence of encouragement of poor eating habits within the culture.

While powerlifting meets have a periodized approach to training, the off-season is often when athletes are at a greater risk of cardiometabolic issues as this aspect of the macrocycle often involves little to no cardiovascular exercise in order to theoretically avoid any strength decrements and an increase in food is consumed to conceptually build more muscle mass. The more educated and new-school participants of powerlifters appreciate the value of proper nutritional intake for better system recovery, prevention of obesity and its comorbidities i.e. diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and benefits to performance during competition. Unfortunately, there are still pervading myths and misunderstandings amongst powerlifters on how they should eat for optimal performance, injury prevention, and treatment of injuries. The focus will be on preventative strategies of over-fatness in powerlifting athletes, as well as non-invasive methods of managing obesity and over-fatness if and when it occurs to prevent clinical health issues from arising.

Prevention and Rehabilitation Strategies

The primary means of prevention come from the inclusion of some cardiorespiratory exercise and diligence to quality and quantity of food intake. Neither strategy is often utilized and the simplicity of adding these methods can have a huge effect on the athlete’s career longevity and overall long-term quality of life. Below are more of the prevention strategy but these methods can also be used if athletes have already begun a state where secondary and possibly tertiary prevention strategies are needed.