Backing Off to Twice a Week

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
21

[quote]T-man21 wrote:
I am okay with maintaining my muscle mass, I figured I would not be able to add mass or anything while training this way. But, will my strength maintain as well, or can I still make gains there? I am trying to get stronger in the bench, deadlift and squat.[/quote]
Individual forums, people. This is why we have them. Dude, if you posted this same question in the Strength Sports forum, or even the Combat Sports forum, you would have a bunch of more useful advice by now.

Sure you can… eventually… but it will take a long time, especially if you don’t follow a solid program specifically designed to build strength.

[quote]Day 1 is Bench 225, Pull Ups with a 45lb weight, lunges with 55s, with as many sets as reps allow (if I can get 1 rep then 5 sets but once I hit 3-5 down to 3 sets up until I can get 10 reps for 3 sets, rest also varies with reps) then 2 sets of an auxillary/single joint exercise, like 90lb ez bar curls
…
Day two is a squat 275/deadlift 315, 135 military press, 135 Bent Over Rows[/quote]
Here’s a tip about designing a productive routine: The weight you’ll use is one of the last things you determine. First you figure out your goal (which you did), then you determine your general rep range, then you’ll know about how many sets you’ll need. You only pick the actual weight that goes on the bar the moment you step into the gym that day.

Part of me wants to know what this is supposed to mean and part of me really kinda doesn’t.

22

[quote]Professor X wrote:
If you want to go one on one about bodybuilding trivia, you may want to pick someone else to play with.[/quote]
LOL, awesome. I’d read that thread.

True or false: Vince Taylor would drink Coca-Cola during his pre-contest workouts. :wink:

23

[quote]Chris Colucci wrote:
Professor X wrote:
If you want to go one on one about bodybuilding trivia, you may want to pick someone else to play with.
LOL, awesome. I’d read that thread.

True or false: Vince Taylor would drink Coca-Cola during his pre-contest workouts. ;)[/quote]

Vince Taylor hurt his foot:

  1. Playing basketball on the streets of New York
  2. Kicking the ass of Youngblood who beat him at the Master’s Olympia
  3. Trying to chase a cat out of his front yard.

Coke is great, by the way, but I prefer root beer.

24

if he lived in New York he didnt have a front yard.

25

[quote]T-man21 wrote:
After having been out of fight sports for ten years I realize that even though I may look like I can kick somebody’s ass, I probably no longer could. I don’t like this. So I am starting to get back into martial art training two days a week. [/quote]

Firstly, how old are you and why are you worried about kicking people’s ass?

Secondly, having trained muay thai and bjj (but never mma which his a different sport altogether) at different points in my life I will say that training martial arts twice per week, like you planned, is like weight training twice per week - in other words you’ll “maintain” your current level of skills, but it will be hard to advance.

Essentially you’ll become a weekend warrior at lifting and martial arts.

Thirdly, if you’re only worried about kicking regular joe-bum’s ass then being big/strong/well-conditioned is probably sufficient to handle the situation. If you’re worried about taking out a well trained fighter then you really are wasting your time training martial arts 2 x per week.

Few of us have the luxury of training like full time athletes… which means if you want to excel at something you really have to narrow down what you want to do and dedicate all your free time to it (which probably isn’t that much time if you have a career and family).

Of course, this is just my opinion… I simply have never met anyone who excelled at anything by putting in so little time. Today’s snake oil salesmen will have you believe that if you can train “smart” you won’t have to train long and hard. This is compete and utter bullshit because there are people out there who train “smart” and also put in the time. You’ll never be able to compete with them.

I know when I tried to go 50/50 between martial art training that my sparring partners began to pull away in terms of skill and I wasn’t really advancing much in weight lifting.

All this to say - unless you’re a full time athlete, or can arrange to train like one despite other obligations - pick a single hobby and put in all your efforts. Trying to do both is like trying to add muscle and lose fat at the same time. Sure, I guess it can technically be done but you won’t advance in either goal at the same rate as if you attacked each separately.

Sorry for the ramble… I’m tired and my attention span is nil right now.

26

[quote]Professor X wrote:
slimthugger wrote:
Professor X wrote:
slimthugger wrote:
Professor X wrote:
FormerlyTexasGuy wrote:
Yeah, intensity will be key.

You won’t get the gains you are used to but you can still gain on two days per week.

You will have to be much more careful with your diet though.

Who the hell makes significant gains on only two days a week especially when the rest of that time is spent training for fighting?

This is why pics need to be in everyone’s profile because I am betting the people saying you can still gain like that are making little progress themselves.

Pick a goal and go for it, but don’t expect your body to still grow muscle mass like a weight lifter/bodybuilder when you are training it like a fighter.

Unless he was lying Roy Calendar only trained ONE day per week hitting the whole body, and he didn’t look to shabby. So that’s who the hell makes those kind of gains.

Roy Calendar trained more than one day a week when he was competing and was well known for insane training sessions that involved more sets and reps than most pros at the time could ever perform. The man was a genetic freak among genetic freaks. If you want to go one on one about bodybuilding trivia, you may want to pick someone else to play with.

There was a time in his career when he ‘got by’ doing one day per week workouts. It in the first edition of the Arnold encyclopedia. (yellow cover) One thing you are correct on- only somebody with superior genetics can pull that off.

Roy also had a regular job like many other pros back then. That is what makes those guys even more impressive. They worked long hours and still worked out to achieve those looks. He did not build the majority of his size only training one day a week and he did NOT get ready for contests only traioning one day a week.

Phil Hill stated he NEVER trained legs until right before a contest…however, you would have to be one serious dumbass to think he BUILT that size by doing the same.

You can MAINTAIN the muscle you have by training less often than it takes to build it in the first place. [/quote]

Very well put. I forgot about the “job” factor. There weren’t alot of sponsorships back then huh?. Very interesting how far the sport has come. Do pros today make enough to not work? Just curious.

27

[quote]slimthugger wrote:

Very well put. I forgot about the “job” factor. There weren’t alot of sponsorships back then huh?. Very interesting how far the sport has come. Do pros today make enough to not work? Just curious.[/quote]

Pros today will spend huge amounts just on their drug supplementation. So unless you’re one of the top 3 guys with multiple contracts, I doubt you’re making enough from selling gear on the side to not have some sort of ‘real’ job.

S

28

[quote]T-man21 wrote:
T-Nation,
I have decided to back the weights off to two days a week for a while. Let me explain. After having been out of fight sports for ten years I realize that even though I may look like I can kick somebody’s ass, I probably no longer could. I don’t like this. So I am starting to get back into martial art training two days a week. I also am adding back in my cardio day which is a run to the gym, some jumprope body weight work, then a run home.

As far as the weights go I am going in and hitting the big exercises. Day 1 is Bench 225, Pull Ups with a 45lb weight, lunges with 55s, with as many sets as reps allow (if I can get 1 rep then 5 sets but once I hit 3-5 down to 3 sets up until I can get 10 reps for 3 sets, rest also varies with reps) then 2 sets of an auxillary/single joint exercise, like 90lb ez bar curls, or single leg deadlifts then 1 set of an ab oriented exercise, leg raises, v-sits.

Day two is a squat 275/deadlift 315, 135 military press, 135 Bent Over Rows (with good form), in the same manner as Day 1 then 2 sets the single joint/aux lift dips with 45s or single leg squat or calf raises and 1 set abs. Will this work, to A make me stronger in all these lifts and B keep my muscle I have built up?[/quote]

Can you get by…yes
Can you maintain …yes
Can you gain… maybe.
But you look like you have an imbalance in strength, 225bench vs 135 BB row, you might want to balance you strength.
One option might be to devote blocks of training where emphasis is put on MA training alternated with blocks emphasising strength, 6 weeks each?

29

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
slimthugger wrote:

Very well put. I forgot about the “job” factor. There weren’t alot of sponsorships back then huh?. Very interesting how far the sport has come. Do pros today make enough to not work? Just curious.

Pros today will spend huge amounts just on their drug supplementation. So unless you’re one of the top 3 guys with multiple contracts, I doubt you’re making enough from selling gear on the side to not have some sort of ‘real’ job.

S
[/quote]

True, but there are also quite a few who simply work as “personal trainers” so they stay in the gym regardless and I have no doubt there is some “private posing” going on to make ends meet. There are far fewer Porter Cottrells (firefighter) or Ronnie Colemans (police officer) that actually work more regimented jobs that require you to focus on something completely different than lifting while also competing.

Exotic dancing doesn’t count.

Jay Cutler owns a business but his usual day involves mostly eating, sleeping, tanning, lifting…and eating.

30

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
slimthugger wrote:

Very well put. I forgot about the “job” factor. There weren’t alot of sponsorships back then huh?. Very interesting how far the sport has come. Do pros today make enough to not work? Just curious.

Pros today will spend huge amounts just on their drug supplementation. So unless you’re one of the top 3 guys with multiple contracts, I doubt you’re making enough from selling gear on the side to not have some sort of ‘real’ job.

S
[/quote]

Interesting. I wasn’t sure how much they got paid via sponsors. Also ,glad somebody can mention drug use here without getting flamed.

31

First off, what do you plan on training in? There is a huge difference in the recovery needed for wrestling than say, kung fu. You aren’t going to accomplish much by only training your MA/fight sport 2x/week. I would drop the cardio and add another two days of training your sport.

As for the weights, you are going to have to eat an incredible amount of food and get 9 hours of sleep if you want to make any strength gains. I don’t know many people that have made significant gains in strength and size (unless they were tiny to begin with) while training a combat sport/MA/whatever you want to call it.

32

Has a good two day a week program: