Post Your Training Questions/Philosophies

So many people are posting their training ideas- or asking how to train.

If you want help or want to argue thats ok, just keep it in one thread and not
repeat the same basic questions.

Lets lay some ground rules

  • you need to state how long you have been training, both in the weight room, and the mat,
    ring etc

  • you need to state if you are a beginner its OK everyone needs to start somewhere

  • listing some very basic goals would be nice too, like I do this for fun 2x a week or
    I am training for my 1st,2nd3rd what ever match, tournament, fight ect.

  • stating whom or where you train or have trained or what dicipline is a good start,
    how long etc.

  • Basic facts about yourself- like common lifting stats, whether they are things like the
    Big three, or cleans , the frequency of which you train etc would be nice.

  • If you give out advice that reeks of Bullshit or misinformation you will get called on it,
    We are not talking about shit you heard or read, or what you read that such and such
    pro fighter trains on TUF youll get called on bullshit too. But training you have done
    or have found that works.

see there you have it. not too hard to do.
you can bust balls but lets try to keep it fucking civil

kmc

Here Ill start

Im 37 and have trained for ? a number of years.

Judo- HS wrestling- DIV3 college- Div1 college

trained at the Olympic training center prior to the games in 1992
wrestled internationally after that for some decent clubs.

trained a little in a few different countries, both in europe and
South America.

I have competed in wrestling with people who went on to win
NCAAA ,pan am games for greco, worlds for greco and people who went to the Olympic games.
some of the people I competed against in Judo or wrestling do MMA
or Did MMA and have competed in smaller shows, UFC and pride.

After wrestling picked up Judo again did some small local tournaments for fun.
Thinking about doing some mastes stuff if my neck can hold out.
Last Time I competed was 2004 in Open Judo BB tournament.

Took some time off for some injuries but have been training again pretty steadily for 2 years
But can not play or roll as much due to some serious neck health issues.

currently I am doing Eric Cressey maximum strength I keep a log here you can find it in the over 35.

I teach the odd judo course maybe 2 times a month and roll BJJ or judo with about that much frequency
cause thats what my neck can do.
I have trained at some of the better Judo or BJ schools here in NYC.

I went to many wrestling clinics, and still do, so I have spent some time with good coaches
took a massage license and take the odd classes for that too.

currently I am mostly strength training, when this program is finished Ill start something new
I want to try some different ideas about conditioning I have.

id like to get back to competing, but that might not happen.

see not so hard.
kmc

Dunno if I’m actually going to contribute to this thread, but I don’t want to leave kmc floating out there all by himself.

I wrestled in high school, did 5th string honors at Northern Colorado for a year. Joined the Army, got out.

I’ve lifted weights for about 15 years (started in high school.) Not always doing the best workouts, but lots of trial and error. Luckily Muscle Media 2000 and Poliquin came around right when I was getting serious about it. Not so luckily I bought all the bs: HMB, Betagen, sugar/creatine mixes, CLA…if it had an acronym, we were checking it out. Those stupid ass creatine candies, ‘gems’ were the dumbest fucking supplement ever invented, or at least the shittiest one I ever bought.

BJJ under Relson Gracie. 5 years. Purple.

Wanted to get into the MMA thing and I realized I had zero striking background so I started training with a local club, progressed to an actual team doing the 2-3 practice/day with the morning workout thrown in…then got super busy with work and school and had to make a choice, and, well, you won’t be seeing me in the UFC anytime soon, but I still get the itch every time I watch one of my friends in an ammy event so who knows.

I don’t lift heavy anymore, I just lift to maintain a certain strength level and protect my joints a bit. Recovery versus stress is always a balancing act as I love to train.
Max lifts right now = 315 bench, 315 x 8 squats, 405x6 deadlift…my main lift is pullups though, I thought 100 lbs x 6 was pretty good until I started hearing how GSP went from like a bodyweight pullup to 120x6 or something ridiculous.

I’ll probably never be spectacular at it, but it has gotten more and more fun the more I’ve gotten into it. But grappling is #1 for me, I try to compete in every local tourney that I can, eventually I will compete in worlds and the Pan ams when I have finished school and found a solid job.

23 years old, been lifting for a year an a half and went from 120 to 140lbs (yes i know that sucks for my height). Want to start training in MA just as a hobby and to learn Self Defence (not sure how many days i should do this a week) and continue weight lifting to gain another 20 pounds.I bench 66Kgs for 6 reps, squat 74kg (thats the max amout of weight i have at my home gym) for 8 reps, deadlift 74kg for 8 reps, i can do 10 wide grip pullps with bodyweight. Currently working out 4 times a week (posted w.o at end)

Gaining mass while staying lean has been my primary goal so i wanted to know how many days i should practice MA and what diet would be appropriate. I’m currently consuming 3000cal on a high protein/moderate fat/ low carb diet. Most of the meals have the macronutirent contents of 6oz chicken 24 almonds and a cup of steamed vegetables. 50gram protein, 20 gram fat and carbs come from veggies. I figure i should be eating carbs before my MA workouts. Any advice would be appreciated.

Chest+Shoulder
Bench Press
Incline DB Press
Dips
Military or DB Press
DB Side Lateral

Back+Traps
Deadlift
Pull-Up
Bent Over Row
BB Shrug
DB Shrug

Legs
Squats
Stiff Leg Deadlift
Leg Extension
Leg Curl
Lunges

Arms+Calves
BB Curl
Close Grip Bench
Skull Crusher
DB Curl
Standing Calf Raise
Seated Calf Raise

Good idea for a thread kmc- it covers alot of what the sticky does, and also MMA Training Hub,
But that sticky has become quite bloated, and I believe this should take it’s place, it’s nice to have a fresh start-
And MMA training hub could be left to list only what you are doing, to inspire the rest of us, but general questions could be kept at a minimum.

Where-as here, we can post out our current routines/stats/info, our specific questions and hopefully get some really good responses.

To u.p.- welcome to the forum, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before…

Any idea what kind of MA you are looking to get into?

My suggestions/advice-
Shop around at all the self defence/ma places around, most would or should let you take a class for free. Watch a class if you can, then try it out.
To start with 2-3 lessons a week, and see how you like it.
Up until today I would have suggested dropping down to 2x wk strength, adding cardio or complexes etc…
but kmc said something quite profound- along the lines of- “keep doing what you’re doing until it stops working, then change it up.” So on that note, your strength training looks decent. Although I would consider buying more weights- as soon you will be forced into >8 rep ranges, which probably won’t suit your goals so well.

I think that adding carbs will help you out, especially if you want to continue to add weight. Pre-workout would probably be best. Just play around abit, get your carb intake high enough to give you enough energy, but low enough so that you can stay lean.
Adding 20lbs over a year and a half is slow going- good going, but slow- and it will only get slower, especially if you add something like MA to your training schedule. I won’t preach the “bulk then cut, fukc BF% and hawt abz” rhetoric, each to their own, but I would suggest upping the calories by small increments- adding 1/2lb of lean bw a week is not an unrealistic target. Carbs can be your friend, used at the appropriate times- I like to take mine in first thing in the morning (I train mornings, btw), and take in a moderate amount soon after training.

Hope this was helpful.

Slim thanks for the solid…

Judo I have competed at the black belt level for a number of years.
but sat at brown for like 6 years.

I guess I neglected to talk about weight training.
I competed at 119 and 126 and 132 in HS, and sadly 118 in college and 130 .
Post college I competed about 140ish.

Lifting since HS but nothing to serious, In college not so much either.
At a weight of 134 at the OTC
I snatched 100kg,or 225, cleaned something like 120 kg or 265 and squatted 225 30 times.

Since then I never really lifted heavy- right now I am dabbling with that.

  • Started out training judo & karate when I was 19.
    -quite karate cause not enough sparing,stuck with judo for 5 years-
  • quit judo because to many knee & neck injurys,
    -took up BJJ & muay thai then mma about 2 years ago.
    -just recently added boxing
    -lifting since about 13, did some competitive power lifting at 18-20yrs old, quite cause of neck & back pain while overhead pressing 225.
  • about 15yrs of weight training, & overall 10 years of Martial arts.

  • I train 6 days a week
    M-No gi BJJ & Thai
    T- Lifting/conditioning & thai
    W-No gi BJJ & thai
    T-gi bjj,thai & mma
    F-drink beer
    S-lifting/conditiong
    S-MMA, lifting/conditiong

I plan on staying injury free & competing amateur mma every 2 months to help me go pro.

  • I was very competitive in Judo, I used to compete pretty much every Sunday. I wish I can go back but it was to hard on my body. I rather get punched in a face and go back and fight rather than get slammed on the mat,stand up & fight again.

  • I know for my weight class (170’s) as far as lifting goes, I’m not strong. I feel that is one huge obsticale holding me back. Doing WS4SB,wiggy’s workout #1,5x5 helped me bust through lifting plateaus. Now I just started 5/3/1 & I’m looking forward to it.

  • I’ve gotten in the best shape of my life while eating 3 big meals(breakfast,lunch & post workout) & sipping water/BCAA + banana during training. I belive it’s cause my body wasn’t riding an insulin roller coaster. Any time I broke down the meals in to 6-7, I always had a hard time losing weight. Doing a ton of rolling,shark tank, hard sparring with full gear on also helped me get into shape fast.

kmc