A Call for General Readiness (Even for Specific Goals)

There’s a phrase we often use in the ‘Intro Session’ that is worth revisiting that describes the value of General Physical Preparedness (GPP). We like to say that “any physical pursuit will either be supported or hindered by one’s GPP readiness.”

Even the masters powerlifter, for example, who cares only to compete in “Bench Only” competitions in order to break the California state record will be supported by his/her general capacities like cardiovascular endurance and flexibility.

Don’t see how?

Firstly, this competitor can only train the reps and sets that his/her cardio ability allows him/ her to and when you can’t recover you can’t train as hard. When you need to rest longer than your opponents between training sets, you don’t benefit from the muscle damage and hypertrophic benefit from training as much as you could if you were more cardiovascularly proficient.

Second, even as specific as the bench press event is, if the lifter doesn’t have the mobility to press overhead in training he/she is limited to the numbers of exercises and adaptations available to support the bench. A lifter who can overhead press and train numerous more variations of pressing in different ranges of motion has a unique advantage to the lifter who’s flexibility limits these options.

While this bench press competitor is just one specific example, the message remains: not even specific goals are justification enough to be unprepared in a General Physical Preparedness (GPP) context. Rock climbers, cyclists, windsurfers, architects, and single parents all share the same truth: