Strength Training and Martial Arts - Changing up my Fitness Routine
After a hard weight training strength session and a hard grappling session last week, I was pretty freaking sore. While I was able to do an auxiliary weight training workout with no problem, grappling again that day would have been too much. My abs, ribs, and lower back were just too sore for rolling. This made me reassess my current fitness plan. Dealing with injuries and COVID-19 shut downs, I have been focusing on building strength over martial arts. I have made significant strength gains in the weight room. As of this morning, I weight 194.2lbs (picture at the top). Within the last few weeks, I have lifted: Bench pressed 325lbs 1.67xBodyweightSquat of 345lbs for 2 reps (estimated 1 rep max of 370lbs for 1.89xBW)Dead lift of 405lbs for 2 reps (estimated 1 rep max of 430lbs for 2.2xBW) In my Costa Rica BJJ Camp, one of my students had put me on to Juggernaut Training Systems. The head coach, Chad Wesley Smith, is a power lifter and strength coach to some of the top grapplers in the world, such as Romulo Barral and Otavio Sousa. He also is a BJJ Blue Belt, so he has a better understanding of the strength and conditioning needs of a martial artist. The programs I have been doing for the past 1.5 years were more for body building, but I followed protocols for strength and power mainly. So when I was doing 5-6 days a week in the weight room at 2-3 hours at a time, it was brutal but effective for what the program was designed to do. Read the full article