Strength and Endurance Returns.
 

After taking some time off and getting life together, I'm back and ready to get going.

This journal is a continuation of what I did before but with some tweaks that I thought would be needed.
The old journal: http://www.bodybuilding.net/personal...n-me-5442.html

First off, those that don't know what I do, I compete in BJJ and submission grappling and I'm hoping to make the transition to MMA soon. I've tried to mix Bill Starr's Advance 5x5 with my MMA training and it has been an up hill battle. I train in MMA on average 2-3 hours a day, 3-4 times a week. This on top of the advanced 5x5 was a lot to do and I was getting burnt out. Then, with the help of a few on the board, I started a cycle of workouts, 2 weeks of the Advanced 5x5, then 2 weeks of strait Strength Endurance training, then 2 weeks of KB and GPP training. This did lead to some results but my strength just hovered a little too much and I wasn't seeing improvements in Strength Endurance as I hoped.
Live and learn, that's what life and lifting is about.

So after about a couple of months thinking about my training and looking at others that train MMA and also lift, I've realized that they do strength training all the time with GPP and other types of strength endurance movements every week, and not like the cycles I've been doing.

So, on to the plan. I'm going to be using Bill Starr's Intermediate 5x5 program on Mondays and Fridays. If you look at the program you can see that Mondays and Fridays depend on each other more than Wednesdays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be cardio, core and light KB training. Wednesday's are going to be strength and strength endurance. I'm still working the kinks out and will let you know how I feel in the weeks into the program. If I come up to a competition, most likely I'll be changing things up and working on more endurance training.

Good luck, Dave :)

Monday's Workout

Squat: 180, 210, 240, 270, 300
BB Bench: 145, 170, 200, 220, 245
BB Cleans: 105, 125, 140, 160, 175

Core:
Crunches 4x20
Leg lifts 3x15
Side to side crunches 3x15 @ 12lbs.
KB Windmills 3x8 @ 24lbs.

OVERVIEW
Trying to get back into the swing of things and it was a very tough start. Worked out in the morning and did ok. My back always feels a little weird when I start working out again but it only lasts for a couple of days. KB day is next. can't wait.

Not a bad start at all Dave, good luck on the training, I'll be keeping on eye on this, cant wait to see how it all goes.

yup. great start dave. great to see you get a journal back up

Nice starting numbers man , can't wait to see how you go about everything. I couldn't imagine training that much - sure shows how much dedication you have to the sport.

BTW what are your stats now ?

enjoyed your last journal a great deal :)

Awesome brother! It was only a few years back when we were competing with each other's olympic squats, remember?! I think you got all the way up to 405 x 5 rock bottom, so you and I both know that's entirely possible!

Thanks, man... as for my stats.
(as of the beginning of the month)
height: 5'11"
weight: 213.5
BF% ~14% with a 3 point measurement, so normally if I did a 7 point test, for me, that is a -1 to -2. So I'm most likely 13%ish

I would like to get down to 195ish and see how I compete at that weight.

aaahh the good old days.. when I would say to you that your squat will get there soon... lol :biglaugh:

My numbers have always flip flopped, I'd go from being stronger then my strength would go down but my endurance would go up. Hopefully with this new routine I'll be able to work on both a little more efficiently.

Well I'm suffering from some serious DOMs and I think I tweaked my back a little which made me abandon the KBs and only do the elliptical machine, with a twist.

So Yesterday, I did 30 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical and 30 sec. fast 1 minute medium but during my "rest" time I grabbed my 250 hand grippers and did a set of 5 with each hand. I would also switch it up and try to do a 10 second static squeeze with each hand. Was fun and definitely made the time go by.

My back still feels a little funny so I don't know what I'm going to do. I might wait it out and workout on Thursday. We'll see.

Update.
 

Well my back is doing better and feels up to 95%. Since Tuesday, I've done nothing but use the elliptical and my hand grippers doing HIIT. I'm going on vacation next week and bringing my kettlebells along for the ride. So, all my workouts for the next week are going to involve the beach, KBs with some jump rope and maybe some bands. I might try and get a vid up but I cant find my cord to connect my camera to my PC, so we'll see.

enjoy the beach man :)

Beach Day 1

This might be and only day of this week I'll be able to post unless the local coffee shop has free WiFi. I'm at my mother's house right now visiting, she's 45 min. from where my and my woman's family is staying, and I'm able to get an internet connection and telework for a little bit.

So...
My second day on the beach was yesterday and I decided that this was my first day to workout. My brother came by and he really wanted to workout with me and the kettlebells. He's a personal trainer and loves working out. He just got into KB so I'm trying to show him some stuff. Only problem he is the smaller more cut up version of me and can't do some of the 52lbs. KB stuff.
So I went down to the local ACE hardware shop and bought 12 ft. of rope at about a .25 inch thick. We grabbed my two 52lbs. KB, the rope and headed to the beach. At this time it's about 1:00 pm and the sun is hot and the beach is full. With Sun block and hats, we got to work.

I figured that the best thing to do was KB drags on the beach. The soft sand that is at the top of the beach was brutal trying to walk through and the KB would sink in the sand and we would have extra resistance when dragging them. I had the rope cut into two 6 ft. long strips and I tied each one to a KB. We started out with dragging 1 arm rows for a little over 20 yds. We each had one KB and would alternate arms with each drag. This was KILLER. I didn't realize the sand was going to add so much weight.

Right after we did one I looked around and everybody was looking at us. They all had the look of, "What the hell are they doing?" Some girls were looking but I think they were looking at my bro because he is the smaller more cut up version of me, the guy seems like he is always at 7% BF or less.

Right after that we turned right around and did a regular drag back to the other side. We did that for 2 sets. Next, I grabbed both KB and did normal Drags and then handed them back to my Brother to do a set then I grabbed them right back and did reverse drags back and then he did the same. We did this for 2. The sand was very unforgiving and each KB seems to get heavier as it would dig itself deeper into the ground with every set. By this time we are both huffing it and the sun was getting very hot. We did one more drag movement where we did a front raise "type " drag. We faced the KBs grabbed the rope and would pull the KBs to us by doing a front raise movement people would do with DBs. We only did this for half the distance and back switching in-between for two times and then dragged them again for half the distance for two more times but tried to sprint. I was so drained after dragging 105lbs. +. It was a great start for a beach workout. The only thing I would have done differently is alternate between using 2 at the same time and 1 more often. Today I'm just going to ride a bike around and give my legs a rest. Tomorrow will be Cleans and snatches maybe with some jump rope.

See you later.

that sounds awesome Dave, not just the beach workout, but also getting to workout with your brother. My brother wants nothing to do with lifting/training, sounds like you guys had a great workout that was fun too.

Working out on the beach sounds like a recipe for sweat burning my eyes. lol

Sounds like alot of fun.

IronWorker

Sounds like a lot of fun on the beach bro!

yeah........i bet that is killer. it would be so good to live close ot a beach and be able to run on it on a daily basis.

Beach Days 2 - 4

Day 2: Yoga type stretches and high steps and kicking waves, yeah I know sounds very karate kid but that shit is hard.

Day 3: Yoga type stretches and took the day off. My lower back was acting up and I wanted to rest it up.

Day 4: Yoga type stretches.
KB High pulls 5 sets of 5
KB squats 5x5
KB rows 5x5
KB clean and press 5x5 ( did left side first and right).
Ab work.

My back is felling very weird. I don't know what I did but it only hurts a specific angles, i.e., I cant' do any twisting movements like windmills. I'll be working on more stretching to losen it up and see what happens.

Hope your back stays healthy. Take care of yourself. :)

yeah. make sure you take care of that dave. trying getting a couple massages to. that should help out

I'm having a similar problem, it seems to tighten up randomly on me. Stay well dave, i hope the stretching helps.

Yoga should be a great help.

man i want to get into yoga. it looks really good. i luv that stretching stuff

Well I saw the doctor the other day, my future sister-in-law is graduating med. school, and said that I over worked my lower back and that it's very tight and neads to be stretched more and rested. So, I've been resting and I'm going to do very light weight and cardio and try to get some yoga stretches in there to help out.
Right now it's still tight so I'm taking today off and will work out on Tuesday, very light KB work.

Update.
 

Well. I went to Submission wrestling the other day for about an hour and my back handled it pretty well. The tightness in my back wasn't as bad and drilling a little bit helped loosen it up a lot. Didn't get a chance to spar since I wanted to baby my back a little just so I didn't re-injure myself by accident. I'm going to go running today and maybe some KBs, we'll see.

good luck with your back. that shit sucks

Thanks man. I'm going to stick with KB work for a couple of weeks, just to get my core a little stronger and flexable.

Back in action.
 

Monday's Workout

BB Burpee Clean and Press: 2 sets of 10 @ 135, 3 sets of 10 @ 95
1 minute rest between sets.
Dips: 3x8 @ body+45
KB Halos: 2x10 @ 24lbs.

Core:
Crunches 4x20
Leg lifts 3x15
Side to side crunches 3x15 @ 12lbs.
KB Windmills 3x8 @ 24lbs.

OVERVIEW
This is what the Burpee Clean looks like. I just added a press movement at the end.
*edit* I found this clip on youtube incase anybody wanted to know what I am talking about.

I know I said I would do more KB work but when I went to the gym the aerobics room was in use and that is where the KBs are stored. So I did another cardio workout and like always, I think I can start where I left off after being hurt. At the second set I realized I was not going to be able to do 135 at the cardio pace I wanted to so I dropped it down and really worked on keeping the form and heart rate up. After I was done the room opened up and I finished with some core work. My shoulders are feeling it today and it feels great to get back into it.

Looking good Dave, bangin out the burpees dude.

Nice garage btw, I'm diggin the kegs in the back ahhaha.

oops.. :banghead: forgot to mention. that's not me. Although he does kinda look like me. I found the youtube clip to show others what the movement looks like.

Good work man. Those look hard and wearing , might try them just so I know how you feel , but I wouldn't add them to an everyday thing.:biglaugh:

I looked back through the journal, Dave, wondering about your back. You said you tweaked you back at one point and then your lower back was acting/up or tightening up. Is this related?

Well anyway, the stretching should help but you know when something is tightening up stretching is more a palliative thing rather than a cure. In other words it doesn't adress WHY it's doing that. When I had a similar problem with my back I figured it was a case of simple fatigue (from an endurance standpoint). What I would recommend is more core statics and things that will address endurance in the lower back. As well as the stretching to loosen it up, of course.

Great stuff and I hope the back feels better.

Yeah, I know it's a core problem. I'm making sure that the next two weeks are going to address that in my workouts with more core and KB work. But I'm feeling much better and from the stretching, KB mobility work and not squatting real heavy, I'm giving myself a chance to heal up and work more efficiently, i.e., less injuries.

Tuesday's Workout

35 minute HIIT Run:

Core:
Crunches 3x20
Leg lifts 3x15
Crunch Twists 3x15

PM Training:
1.5 hours of Submission Wrestling

OVERVIEW
My back is feeling tons better but my cardio sucks. :arg: Got schooled in class last night by one of the guys I use to be equally matched with. Goes to show what persistence will get you.. Class was great but I couldn't finish the last 2 rounds of sparring out of 6, so I have something to shoot for, note each round is 5-6 minutes. Diet is getting better so I'm getting excited about that. Everything is going well. I'm going to start Yoga again but I need the funds for it, so that will be in a couple of weeks.

Funny story. I just got done class and I'm beat. I go into the lobby of the gym and I see this hot chick come in and she glances over and looks at me for a while. Then she gives me this smile and I'm thinking, "Hell yeah, she hot and she digs me. Ego is feeling good." Then I look over at a window that looks out onto the street and I see my reflection... Yeah... I F'in looked like Will Ferrel in Zoolander, Mugatu, my hair was all standing up on end. Damn, she was laughing at my hair... Ego is now way down.. Oh well.

Wednesday's Workout

DB Bench: 5x5 @ 80, 85, 90, 95, 100


KB rounds:
Snatch, KB high pulls, Cleans, Swings 3x5 @ 16kg.

1 minute break

Medicine Ball Core twists: 3x20 @ 12lbs.
Jump Rope: 1 min.

1 min. break, then start back at KB rounds. I'll explain.


Core:
Crunches 3x20
KB Windmills 3x5 @ 16kg.


OVERVIEW
I wanted to do something different so I did DB bench, which I can't even tell you the last time I did that, and a drill my brother told me about but I made it a little harder.

So what I did was place two kettlebells about 25 ft. apart from each other. I would start at one side, lets say the right, and do KB Snatches with that arm for a set of 5. Then place it down and side step as fast as I could all the way to the other kettlebell and do that side for a set of 5. Then go back and do KB high pulls, then go back and forth till I got all the KB exercises done, i.e., No rest. After I got all the KB exercises done, I would rest for a minute and then start the medicine ball twists, going from left to right would count as 1. After I got done one set of that I would jump rope for a minute, rest a minute and repeat for 2 more sets.

I was so dead after this I had problems keeping my form on the windmills but was at least able to get some done.
Great workout, and I jacked my heart rate up, my monitor said I averaged 160 with a max of 200. I made sure I cooled down by taking a couple laps around the room I was in and stretching out. I feel good and the diet is doing well.

damn. that seems like a killer work out. i bet you felt like passin gout when you were done. shit i would have passed out lol

Yeah... when I was laying down stretching my back, I made sure to stay down for just a bit longer.:biglaugh:

what all do you do for back stretching?

mostly, when laying down, pulling my knees into my chest and pulling my knee across my body and having it touch the floor while I try and keep my upper and mid back flat on the ground. Also, hanging from a pull-up bar, touching your toes and pulling on a door nob will your back curled in, I don't know how else to explain it.