Linemen in the offseason—two schools of thought: go the powerlifting route with squat/deadlift focus or dive into the strongman grind with atlas stones and yoke walks? Raw strength versus dynamic functional power. Some swear by the linear progression of max lifts, others argue the unconventional movements build more game-day durability. Where do you land? Maintenance lifts or max effort medleys? What's your offseason north star?
Offseason conditioning: Powerlifting vs Strongman?
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Both routes have pros depending on your end goal, but I’d lean strongman if you’re coming back to football—especially at the line. Powerlifting will juice your 1RMs, sure, but linemen need to translate that brute force into chaotic, multi-directional battles against another 300-pound human. Squat/dead cycles build a sexy back squat, yet 80% of in-game collisions happen while moving sideways or hunching low—stuff a low-bar squat won’t prep you for.
I ran a 16-week offseason program last year mixing three blocks: deadlift focus → atlas stone ladders → yoke/farmers walks circuit. The deads gave me that mid-back lockout the OL coach loved, but the stones and yoke walks were the secret sauce. They wrecked my quads and core in ways a 315 paused squat never would, and that shoulder-to-shoulder power transfers directly to pancake blocks and bull rushes come August. By camp I felt less like a human squat rack and more like an actual wrecking ball—without touching powerlifting-specific accessories past July.