Ask yourself: Are you in a position to practice the powerlifts with a high frequency? Or can you perform other exercises and round out your athletic abilities while still achieving similar progress?

Just like how athletes must be fit and strong enough to play their sport, powerlifters must be fit and mobile enough to perform the powerlifts. Many times, I see beginner powerlifters neglect all forms of general physical preparation - cardio, intervals, core work, improving overall movement quality, etc. Only until the novices have run Sheiko or Smolov, do they realize they're not cut out for highly-specific work just yet.

While I'm aware that trainees must practice the powerlifts frequently to become a better powerlifter, I'm a big believer in cross-training and including training variation when needed. The skill requirements for raw powerlifting are relatively low, compared to other strength sports such as Strongman events or Olympic weightlifting. Paired with the fact that there are many exercises that can mimic the powerlifting movement patterns, training variation can be very useful.

My clients who have had a history of playing multiple sports or clients who perform a wider variety of training (cardio, unilateral training, core training) in the off-season have been able to become more resilient to injuries, as well as be more successful when it comes to physical performance and mental health on the powerlifting platform.

Mental health and training monotony are big concerns in powerlifting as doing the same exercise over and over again can mentally bog down a trainee. If training isn't fun, why train?

In the last couple of months, I've seen powerlifters wanting to branch out and try different training modalities like Olympic weightlifting and calisthenics, its a great thing to see. Athletes almost always gain some perspective and learn a few things to apply to their own powerlifting training.

Offering some solutions