Blog | Training Why Strength Athletes Need Aerobic Conditioning

Author / John

3 - 5 minutes read

During my NFL career, I dismissed the aerobic system. I believed that lifting heavy and moving fast was all that mattered. As an offensive lineman, I trained like a battering ram—focused on maximal strength and short bursts of explosive output. After all, football is played in five to seven-second intervals. Why would I need endurance?

But I was wrong.

It took years of training, competing, and coaching younger pros before I realized what I’d been missing. Aerobic conditioning wasn’t the enemy of size and speed—it was the secret weapon behind performance sustainability. You can have all the horsepower in the world, but if your engine overheats, you’re cooked.

Aerobic Training Isn’t Just for Skinny Guys

Let’s get something straight: carrying a ton of lean mass while staying fast and explosive isn’t easy. It demands more than a barbell and protein shake. You need sleep. You need nutrient timing. And you need an aerobic system that lets you recover like a machine.

Most big athletes fear aerobic work will make them slow or small. That’s fiction. Aerobic capacity actually preserves your output by clearing fatigue between efforts. Whether you’re an O-lineman anchoring the pocket or a D-end chasing QBs for four quarters, your ability to maintain intensity hinges on aerobic efficiency.

Power Output Relies on Recovery Between Plays

The game doesn’t stop. A 60-minute clock stretches across three-plus hours, packed with violent collisions and repeated accelerations. Without a solid aerobic foundation, your performance fades as the game wears on. And when fatigue creeps in, technique breaks down, bad decisions follow, and injuries happen.

I’ve watched elite athletes crumble in the fourth quarter—not from lack of skill, but from a lack of gas.

A properly conditioned aerobic system turns you into a diesel truck: hard to stop and built to last.

Aerobic Work Fuels Offseason Gains and Game-Day Readiness

Aerobic capacity isn’t just about in-game performance—it dictates how fast you bounce back. Post-game recovery. Offseason hypertrophy. Even how hard you can push in training. The better your aerobic base, the more quality work you can handle, day after day.

At Power Athlete, we hammer this home with our programs. Want to chase higher strength and power numbers without burning out? You need aerobic work in the weekly plan. And no, that doesn’t mean distance running—it means zone-based conditioning tailored to your demands as a power athlete.

Check out HAMR – our protocol for holistic athlete movement readiness – designed to build capacity without compromising size or speed.

Father Time Doesn’t Lose

Once I hit 30, things changed. My recovery slowed. My joints barked louder. And suddenly, every rep felt heavier than the last. That’s not just aging—that’s a loss in mitochondrial density, a slow erosion of the aerobic engine under the hood.

The smart players—the ones who stick around—adjust their training. They stop trying to out-grind the clock and start investing in longevity. For me, that meant layering in smart aerobic work and respecting the systems that keep you in the game.

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The Takeaway

Aerobic training isn’t optional—it’s foundational. If you want to dominate on game day, train hard in the off-season, and recover like a savage, then build the base. The old school belief that cardio kills gains? Dead wrong.

Modern strength athletes know better.

Whether you’re in the league, chasing it, or just playing the long game in life, don’t overlook the system that fuels everything else. Train it. Build it. Own it.

Level up your capacity with Field Strong – our proven strength and conditioning program that integrates aerobic development for real-world performance.

John

John Welbourn is CEO of Power Athlete and host of Power Athlete Radio. He is a 9 year starter and veteran of the NFL. John was drafted with the 97th pick in 1999 NFL Draft and went on to be a starter for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2003, appearing in 3 NFC Championship games, and for starter for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2004-2007. In 2008, he played with the New England Patriots until an injury ended his season early with him retiring in 2009. Over the course of his career, John has started over 100 games and has 10 play-off appearances. He was a four year lettermen while playing football at the University of California at Berkeley. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Rhetoric in 1998. John has worked with the MLB, NFL, NHL, Olympic athletes and Military. He travels the world lecturing on performance and nutrition and records his podcast, Power Athlete Radio, every week with over 800 episodes spanning 13 years. You can catch up with John as his personal blog, Talk To Me Johnnie, on social media @johnwelbourn or at Power Athlete Radio.