routine tips

[Shadow]

Hey,

I'm cutting down weightlifting to 2 days a week for now to focus more on martial arts, and I wanted to get some thoughts on my ideas.

What I'm thinking so far is to have a basic full body routine that changes only slightly between day 1 and day 2. The goal being to make strength gains.


day 1:

squats (heavy)
back extensions or rdl (medium)
press (heavy)
Bench (medium)
Chins (weighted)

day 2:

squats (med/light)
deadlift (heavy)
bench (heavy)
press (medium)
Chins (bodyweight)

Will probably stick to 2-5 reps for all except chins and back extensions. Haven't worked it all out yet.

Was thinking to drop rdl's for back extensions, since my back seems to have been getting over taxed the last few months. Or just keep the rdl's light. Not sure though..

As for chin ups..going to try marginally upping the weighted chins weekly using 5rm as a basis, and on body weight days just try to up the total amount of reps done, trying to do max reps each set. So say one week 30 reps, next week 32 reps. I figure when I get stuck I'll just switch it up and build up a different chin/pullup variation.

any input is appreciated.

[Sean S]

I think a whole-body two day program would be good if you are focused on martial arts training. Depending on how you progress and recover, I think you could cut back even further. You could something like SQ, back raise, bench, chins on Day 1 and do DL, press, and chins on Day 2. You just may have to see how your routine goes and then adjust if needed.

[Goll65]

This is something i thought up i havent tried it yet, i am guessing youll have 2-3 days rest inbetween sessions?

Day 1: Strength day- simple pl workout
squat
bench
dl

Day 2: Explosive- Olympic and assistance
Clean & jerk
snatch
assisstance exercises

If your doing martial arts you really should have some olympic lifts for that real quick explosive power. Like i said havent got a chance to try this yet but i think it should be good

[Shadow]

Thanks for the feedback.

Goll,

Ya I wish I could still do some olympic lifts, but theres no way it's gonna happen at my gym. But ya, I would weightlift monday and thursday.

Sean,

thanks again. You've been giving me some sound advice since I started posting 6 months ago.


I guess I'll go with what I got then and see what kind of progress I make. I noticed both of you guys didn't seem to take to the idea of doing bench and press on both days, with alternating intensity. Any reason?

[Sean S]

I just think with all the other activities you have to recover from, one pushing movement per workout is enough. With that said, if you choose to do both each workout just make sure the one that is "medium" is truly medium or even light. To me this means a lighter weight and making it relatively easy. I see too many people do something "light" by choosing a lighter weight and doing a ton of volume and going to failure. This defeats the purpose of a "light" workout since it still makes a significant inroads into your recovery ability.

[Shadow]

ya I see what you mean.

When I'm saying light I mean like 70% 3 sets of 5. I'll start like that and see how it goes.

[Goll65]

No purpose it wouldnt really translate to mma
an idea might be like a db bench with one db at time that would really engage your core and should give you good torque on your punches

Maybe on day 2 do strongman type stuff instead of olympic if you have the equipment