I would like to post my routine I’m on and see what you think. I have a few goals in mind and I’ve ironed out this routine over the years with a few big setbacks ( knee surgery from a child hood injury never fixed and elbow surgery due to a torn triceps tendon I didn’t let heal) before my surgery I was doing 5x5 stronglift program a b day. I was up to about 350 squat, 285 bench, and 385 deadlift, 165 ovhd, and about 225 b.o.r. I was also cardio and skill training with Muay Thai and Jujitsu. I felt during that program that I was starting to cheat my form to get that extra 5 on the bar. Squats were questionably parallel and using more and more lower back. Bench was okay but stalled several times, deadlift was great, overhead press I never had great gains. I also felt fat and lazy. My goal after elbow surgery was to start light again, perfect my form, rehab and focus on both strength training and higher rep training to compliment MMA goals. My squats I now go as low as possible for this reason and I now mix one or two heavy 3x5 or 5x5 sets with auxiliary lifts at 2 or 3 x10-12. I also switched to a push pull legs routine. Here is where I am at right now:
I am 5’4" 170 fight at 145lbs Push: 3x5 flat bench 280lbs about stalled here AMRAP last set, 3x10-12Ovhd press seated (my ceiling is super low!) 135, 2x 10-12Incline flys 45lbs, 2x 10-12 Flat flys 45lbs, 2x10 weighted dips 75lbs 1 set no weight AMRAP, 2x10 dumbbell pullover, 3x10-12 dumbbell skull crushers 20lbs.
Pull: 5x5 deadlift 305 and progressing weekly 10lbs still nicely, 3x5 weighted pull ups 30lbs and 1 set AMRAP, 3x5 barbell rows 190, 3x10 dumbbell row 95lbs, 3x10 shrugs 305, 3x10 dumbbell facepulls,
Legs: simple but ass kicking 255lbs 1 repemom 25 minutes (still progressing 5lbs a week nicely but tough) close to ass to grass form the single rep i notice is helping me keep good form. Last set i do AMRAP and got 2 reps out today. 135 5reps emom 10 minutes
I split this routine MWF and do some cardio and soon mma training again on TTR
Opinions.
25 pounds above your weight class is already pretty big. Are you still trying to grow more muscles?
What about strength? Are other dudes in your weight class over-powering you? Strong is awesome, but how much strength do you need?
If your goal is to compliment MMA, maybe your routine could focus on other things, instead of pushing weight for reps. Like more of a conditioning focus so you don’t have to waste more time with cardio.
I really love EMOMs and I think they are a great fit with sports. They are awesome Power and Conditioning, and with low reps and crisp technique you are less likely to get hurt. I also like the rows and face pulls.
I think AMRAPs and skullcrushers and flies are less good for athletics. More likely to be sloppy or hurt your elbows or shoulders. Also I think squatting as low as possible is a bad idea. You’re trying to be the champ of fighting not the champ of lowness of squat.
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Awesome advice thanks! I agreed with everything you said. Sometimes just need to hear it from another to pay attention. To respond to some of questions, at 145 if say I’m quite strong being that I’m only 5’4" and thus far haven’t fought anyone under 5’9 and knowing how to get in quick I was able to use that strength to impose my will pretty easily. I’m a bit if a chunky 170 right now though so it’s not a tough cut once I get diet in check. Im going to get my shit together soon now that im healthy and picking up more consistent training so getting down to a lean 155 is a good goal. I guess with the strength training it’s a mental battle of comparing myself to others and wanting to be the best at everything, but I know I need to focus more on training that compliments other mma aspects not just being the strongest, pretty useless if I can squat 400lbs once but not last 5 minutes…glad you like the emom, I’ve been sticking to the program for now and I get a decent cardio element to the heavy lifts with it. My main reason for the low squats is, being that wrestling is a big part of my background it just makes sense to have a lot of power coming out of that deep position and ever since I started my legs and joints have never felt so good. I’d like to get more explosive work in like power cleans too. Since you took the time here is a vid of one of my fights if you are interested, a while ago before knee problem, stronger now though ! https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DTnwLra64lw8&ved=0ahUKEwiW_KiMuebeAhXWFzQIHQ_UA2AQo7QBCC4wBA&usg=AOvVaw0mlMX-NF8Ey30FXZG8cKIa
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Nice job taking care of business! Great wrestling. I like all the different finishes to the double leg, (even a nice fireman’s carry) and the slick re-roll of dude’s hip toss. How is your single leg? Can you work on some angles and keep your head inside to stay out of all those stupid guilotines?
Low squats: If you like them, thats cool. Just be careful if you feel yourself using “too much back.” Maybe rotate in the front squat for variety of you get bored.
Power Cleans: They are cool too. Maybe try them EMOM style too?
Thanks! I do have a good single leg and other strategies I can use if needed, mostly just go with what my opponent feels like, in this case it was easy to just do that leg sweep/double variation. My base is so low didn’t even have to drop down to his legs. I like that cuz I end up in mount quite often. Those guillotine attempts probably look worse than they were, I was never concerned just relaxed and let them tire themself out. I train with that in mind too. The fireman carry was my go to move in wrestling lol.
With the low squat I know what you mean, when I started taking squats seriously I started with the ss 5x5 program and as i went up in weight i noticed id lean forward way more to try to get the bar to hit my safety bars at the bottom of the lift, to the point I was doing more of a good morning lol. I decided to drop way down and make sure i wasn’t coming forward at all. I’m not doing as much weight as quick but my legs are way more powerful feeling and looking. I should do front squats, they make sense, I just hate them lol.probably why I should do them!
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