Strength Training: 5/3/1/ for Jiu-Jitsu

Starting in 2018, I'm going to leverage the 5/3/1 protocol from Jim Wendler for my strength training. As I'm nearing "advanced beginner/intermediate" level strength thanks to StrongLifts, I want to dial back the volume a bit. At the same time, since I'll still only do resistance training twice a week, I won't have to spend a week deloading. So rather than a daily progression with StrongLifts or a 4-week/monthly progression with regular 5/3/1 4x/week training, I'll have a three-week cycle before bumping up the weight.

I'll still follow the Duck Season/Rabbit Season template: OHP and deadlift on Monday Wednesday, squat and bench on Wednesday Monday, with Friday reserved as a makeup day. Not going to miss the bent over rows one bit.

I'm doing the FSL 5x10 for the first half of the assistance work - something I really like about 5/3/1. For the second half, I'm doing a metabolic finisher of four 500m row sprints on the ergometer, trying to average less than 2:15 min per sprint (1:1 work/rest ratio). In addition to giving me a little extra conditioning work, it will also help increase the amount of horizontal pulling I do relative to vertical pulling. Update: 1/8: In the interest of keeping the workout to 45 minutes, I'm keeping the FSL but no row sprints, which would add another 15 minutes to the workout. 

My goal is to make 5/3/1 my regular year-around program for strength training. I think it strikes a good balance between training modalities - focus on a minimal possible number of movements, a heavy weight/max rep element, and a high-rep muscle endurance component - that I believe will serve me well as someone whose primary interest in being stronger is to support athletic output. It also seems to fold in well with my jiu-jitsu schedule when modified as a 2x/week instead of a 4x/week program.

Conditioning in a Time of Strength-Building

I've been lifting weights twice a week since the beginning of September - Rabbit Season on Mondays and Duck Season on Wednesdays. And while I've certainly gotten stronger, am getting back to where I was at my strongest this spring, and am on track toward my goal of reaching "good" levels of strength by April 1st, it's worth noting that there has been no beneficial transfer over to my jiu-jitsu that I can identify.

Mostly that's because getting stronger is taking the place of improving conditioning. While it is true that it is preferable to get your conditioning on the mat if your primary activity is jiu-jitsu, it is also true that if you aren't getting to the academy as frequently as you'd prefer (i.e., 3-4 times a week), then relying on training to improve your conditioning is a recipe for frustration and failure.

The wife of one of my teammates - the rare teammate who is older, smaller, and senior in rank to me - once gave me a great piece of advice I've been resisting ever since. She said, essentially, that at our age (meaning my age and her husband's) we need to train for jiu-jitsu, instead of treating jiu-jitsu as training.

This means, without making too much of it, we need to treat everyday training with a mindset - and skillset and bodyset - not too unlike that of a competitor.  At least if we're planning on jumping in the "everybody grab a partner" deep water of 30+ minute Live Training or Open Mat. Again, I don't want to overstate it. But I do want to focus on what works for those in a situation that may be similar to mine: a sea turtle swimming with the tiger sharks.

More on what this means later. For now, I'm adding a post-training conditioning routine that's served me well in the past. I'm trying to work up to the equivalent of at least 120 minutes of cardio spread out over three or four days each week in addition to the strength training (live jiu-jitsu will count here BTW). This is what Joel Jamieson of 8 Weeks Out categorizes as the minimum for high-level maintenance conditioning when trying to improve strength. This post-training conditioning routine, plus 90-minutes of LSD/treadmill work at my gym down the street, should do the trick.

So here's the program. Repeat as a circuit three to five times after Live Training/Open Mat.

20 hipscapes

5 pullups

10 weighted hip thrusts

10 tempo pushups

5 weighted jump squats

Training for Type

Introduction to Neurotyping: The Type 3 Profile

Neurotyping: Nutrition for Type 3

Neurotyping: Training for Type 3