I recently joined a new gym where I have access to reverse hypers, glute-ham raises, tires, sleds, weighted vests, stones, bands, boxes and the like. my question is how can I incorporate all the new lifts I am able to do into one solid program? I am thinking that I could do tire flips and sled dragging on what would be Lower Body DE days, but that’s about as far as I could get on my own.
Also, I am a boxer, so I don’t want to burn out by lifting too much, but I would appreciate any suggestions on how best to structure my workouts.
Dude… the strongman stuff will burn you out faster than anything so be careful. It is extremely taxing on the CNS. As a boxer you would be best served by training 2 days a week. This will allow for a lot of flexibility in your training and prevent you from getting messed up. Here’s how I’d schedule it.
Day 1
Strongman Event
Lower Body DE
Upper Body ME
Assistance Exercises
Day 2
Strongman Event
Upper Body DE
Lower Body ME
Assistance Exercises (do them in a circuit fashion to save time and cut the fluff)
Here’s how I’d put together an assistance circuit. This allows you to have NO REST between exercises. I recommend alternating between isolation and compound exercises at first so cardio doesn’t become a factor. Also alternate between lower and upper body exercises.
A1) Single Leg Squats
A2) Chest Supported Row
A3) Reverse Hypers
A4) Side Lying External Rotation
2-3 Circuits is a good place to start. The rep range and other methods are left up to you.
Oh… I almost forgot to mention. Do NOT do 10 sets of dynamic bench. For DE limit yourself to 5 sets until you figure out the volumes you can handle (after about a month on the program). I also wouldn’t work up to a MAX on ME day. I would workup to a triple that you could do 4-5 times and do 2-3 sets with that. Make sure to adjust your volumes to prevent CNS burnout.
i don’t have anything relevant to say, i just wanted to say you’ve got the coldest name on the forum. my father used to fight, and his mentor had trained off and on with dempsey when he was older.good luck on your training
Narked is right man. I’d say two days a week for weights is optimal, especially if you’re in hard sport-specific training. MAYBE do your Westside training on 2 separate days and strongman exercises on another day as GPP. I think you’re on the right track with the strongman/Westside training though. Just cut out all the fluff and concentrate on multi-joint exercises to teach your muscles to work together. Good luck!
I use strongman events every once in a while as my 2nd movement…the 2 i like are tire flips on leg days and log press on bench days…I usually keep the sets to around 3 and the reps medium to high…i dont think of the sled as a strongman activity its main use should be resortation…bm
IT depends on your goals and weaknesses, it would be unwise to clump all those together with out a plan of attack. Do a need analyses to find out your strength and weaknesses (by the way here is another meaning of the word weakness ?chink in somebody’s armor? it fits here doesn?t it?). Work on you weaknesses (whether its speed-strength, strength-speed, strength, ext., ext). A good athlete compensate for his weaknesses, a great athlete eliminates his weaknesses.
box squats with bands: 8x3
weighted box crossovers: 3x30 seconds
glute-ham raise:3x12
reverse hypers:3x12
sled cariocas
grip and ab work
Sat: DE Upper Body
speed bench w/bands: 8x3
pushdowns: 4x6
bent rows: 3x8
scapular pulldowns:3x12
side raises:2x12
how does this look? I tried to keep the volume down as low as possible, and to work up to only triples instead of singles on max effort days for the sake of my CNS.
what if i made it an 8 or 9 day split, instead of 7 days, waiting 72 hours between workouts? Is it the volume per workout that is too much, or the number of workouts per week? Thanks for your patience.
The program you’ve designed is intended for someone who only lifts weights. The muscular and neural fatigue you will endure from that program will be too much along with your fight training. If you turned it into an 8 or 9 day split it might go good. But the more conservative way is to start out low on the volume side and work your way up. Remember… you can take just about any volume for a week. But for a month? Or 4 months? Later is when we get the severe CNS burnout and tendon/ligament injuries that linger around for a long time. My advice is to be conservative starting out and see what your body says. I can’t design a training program for someone over the internet. Too many variables.
Only YOU will know what your work capacity is. The better shape you are in, the higher volume you will be able to tolerate. That being said, always err on the side of caution, as it is better to undertrain than overtrain in my opinion. Also, every 4th week, schedule a back off week, where you do half the volume of your biggest volume week. This has worked incredibly well for the Russians in their weightlifting training, and I know a powerlifter who uses it regularly with much success. That back-off week will let your CNS recover and get ready for hard training again. I am willing to bet that if you are drug-free it will work sespecially well for you. Also keep in mind that lifestyle plays a huge factor on your training frequency, do you have a physical job? How much sleep do you get? What is your nutrition like? Supplements? etc… There are a lot of factors to consider but for now try working in that back-off week and see how that works. Let me know if I can be of further help. Good luck!