Trying to maintain strength while training jujitsu

[nodgodbod]

Hey all,
I've just taken up grappling - 3 x two and a half hour sessions a week - and I'm looking for a weight routine that TRY to help maintain my strength. The last 3 months I have been doing a 5 session per week rountine - using 5x5 for the compound lifts (bench, squat, deadlift, olympic cleans, shoulder press, row) and some higher rep work for biceps/triceps. I was able to dedicate a single day of the week to chest, back, legs, shoulders etc. - the gains in strength were good.
Obviously 5 days weights and 3 days jujitsu cannot be done by a mortal like myself.
I was thinking the following:

Tuesday:

5x5 flat bench
3x8 weighted dips
5x5 barbell row
5x5 cleans


Thursday:

5x5 olympic squats
5x5 cleans
3x8 deadlifts/good mornings using light weight

Friday:

5x5 shoulder press
5x5 weighted pullups
3x8 lying tricep exts.
3x8 barbell curls

Jujitsu training takes care of cardio and is on monday, wed, sat - and my gym is closed on sunday. Diet wise - I'm still on the Bobo ultra clean low GI diet and I'll need to modify it with more cals (probably extra flax and skim milk) to make up for my extra energy expenditure.

Please criticise as you see fit.
Thanks

[warriorway]

Are you lifting weights at the gym where you train jujitsu? I've been doing kickboxing myself 3 days per week and lifting the other four. I've been doing this for about 5 months now. But if you want to lift 3 days per week thats fine. There is a couple things in your routine that I wouldn't do like doing back stuff on both tuesday and thursday. Take a look at my routine. I've maintained my strength well. All my form is spot on using the max contraction at the top of the lift for a second.

Sunday-legs. I used to do the full array of leg exercises now I just ride my bike to the gym do 5-9 sets of squats with all sets in the 12 rep range. If I don't feel the energy for high rep I'll go heavy with low reps. But I also got kind of hurt doing that. OK 9 sets of squats, work the heavy bag with 50 round house kicks with each leg. Then work on any other kicks I think need work. Then I Jump rope for 30 minutes, for endurance which I try to do 3 times a week.

Tuesday- Chest& Triceps. I'm vain and want to bring up my upper chest so I do. Incline DB press 4 sets 12 reps. I think I work up to 80pnd db's
Dips-4 sets of 12. Sometimes 30 reps though.
Then either machine fly's or cable crossovers 4x 12 or 30
Skull crushers 3-4x12
cable pressdowns 3-4x12

Thursday-Back@biceps. Warm up with 1 set of lat pulldowns.
4 sets of widegrip pullups to failure
1 set of lat pulldowns 30 reps
DB rows 4x12 I do db because bb rows cause back injuries
cable row 1x30
EZ bar curl 4x12
concentration curl 4x12

Saturday- Delts & traps my favorite!
DB shoulder press 4x12 working up to 65#db's
DB lateral raise alternate with rear delt fly 4x15 each
upright row(roman lift?) 4x12
Then I do a circuit of 3 rotator cuff exercises 3x15 each. Ill post pics.

So If you try my routine but only have 3 days to lift try and lift one day after your jujitsu class. If it's to hard though just try and do the first 3 workouts and the fourth on the first day next week.

[warriorway]

Some rotator cuff exercises. Strong rotators are good for striking. Good luck with the jujitsu!!

[nodgodbod]

Cheers I appreciate the rotator info - I'll need it for the grappling - my elbow joints are already shot from the amount of armbars I'm having done on me by the more experienced students - unfortunately my gmy is closed sundays - so the most I could manage would be some dumbell exercises at home.

[Kristopher]

Im not sure how hard you are training, but from experience i had a hard time lifting and training at the same time. Not only does grappling with sore shoulders/arms/legs suck, i started to feel overtrained after a little while.

Right now im starting a fight prep (mma fighting) and will be lifting 2x a week and training mma 4x a week, with cardio probably 5x a week. I will be taking a ton of supps for muscle preservation, but by the end of it i will be overtrained for sure.

In the future i was planning on only lifting 2x a week even if i was just doing grappling 2-3 times a week, i just feel way to burnt out if i lift more.

anyways, thats just me, try your schedule and see how it works, listen to your body, if you need to slow down and eliminate some of the training, dont worry too much about it, it will help in the long run.

ps rotator cuff excersises are hugely important for striking and grappling, i do them religiously

[warriorway]

Yeah that would probably suck to grapple with a sore body. I think he should just train to maintain. Stick with the level your at or even back off a little, then you shouldn't be too sore. Listening to your body is key but it's hard to know when your over stepping too far. By pushing yourself a little harder each time you train you should be safe.

[exnihilo]

IMO, if you only do grappling twice a week, you should be ok. Just remember to lower your volume of weight training exercises.

[alvin]

Just for comparison. I have Rugby Tuesday and Thursday, and Jiu Jitsu Monday and Wednesday. I only lift on Friday for the entire body. One heavy exercise set per body part for three sets. Keeps my maintenance strength up. I have rugby games Saturday so I can't move on Sunday. I don't get stronger, but I don't lose any strength.

I do

Close Grip Bench 3x10,8,6

Dumbbell side rows 3x10,8,6

Barbell Shoulder press (you guessed it)

Barbell curls (ditto)

skull crushers (ditto)

hang cleans 3x8

deadlifts from time to time

I get plenty of abs and leg workouts from rugby.

[Kaboju]

www.mmaathletes.com

[warriorway]

Have you been maintaining your strength pretty decent?

[alvin]

Yeah. Pretty much. I did hang cleans for a set of 15 with 185 the other day. My bench is still around 315 for 6. The biggest difference I have seen is in the sets after my first big one. My third set used to be about 5-6 for 315. Now it's more like 2-3. I don't do legs during playing seasons. Really no point. My dumbell side rows have increases to 130 for 10 reps for 3 sets. Rugby and BJJ take a lot of arm strength, so I attribute gain to those sports. I have really good genetics on my fathers side. I was able to BP 250 when I was 14 with no training, so I'd say I'm lucky with the strength training.

[nodgodbod]

my strength took a significant drop the first few weeks - but now I'm maintaining strength in most lifts and gaining a little in some - im listening carefully to my body - I'm using the program I outlined in the start of the thread. I'm tweaking it here and there to see what works and I've added the rotator work. I also added a hiit style hill running session on Sunday to help my endurance. I've also changed from 6 meals to 7 meals per day. Cheers for the advice.

[KD1]

When I trained I couldent maintain my gym strength because of sore joints. If I were you I would invest some time/research into supps that may help your joints recover faster.