Conditioning for Oly Lifters

Conditioning for Olympic lifters, sounds pretty crazy, right? Consider this scenario: At your gym, you have a 77kg (170lb) lifter who trains at 82kg (180lb) but has trouble staying at this weight. A few times he has failed to cut down in time for a meet and was forced to compete in the 85kg (187lb) weight class. An easy way to accelerate the cutting process is conditioning. There are many different ways to condition an athlete. When being used to cut, conditioning should be not viewed as a high intensity endeavor. For example: a medium pace for 20 minutes on a bike. This will not put your athlete dying on the floor and out of breath, but it will cause him to burn more calories. Also, when going at a medium, talk-able pace the body is typically in a more aerobic state. This means the body will be burning more fat than carbohydrates, which is ideal for a lifter trying to cut down. Consider 2-3 times a week for 6-8 weeks leading up to the competition. The last 5-7 days before a competition the conditioning should be cut, as they should be much closer to their weigh in weight at this point.