Fantastic article on Training for Athletes

Hey Guys,

Today I wanted to share with you an article that covers lots of amazing points for athletes and their training.

When you're an athlete that is training in a particular sport it is always hard to know what applies to you and what doesn't. There is so much information out there that even seasoned pro athletes get confused. Personally I always think that it is best to use a professional when you get stuck (I use this guy). this can be your coach, a specialised coach or someone on the internet that has gotten repeated great results with clients.

In THIS ARTICLE Jim Wendler covers a lot of peoples questions including how to structure training for adding size (great for any Physique athletes or people looking to move up a weight class). In fact the full series is a Gold mine for those who train for strength, athletic purposes or just to be a bad ass.

Give it a read and let me know what you think!

Stay Healthy,

Mike

I'm Back!

Hey Guys,

Well in back from the honeymoon!

I would like to tell you that I stuck too the plan, trained while I was away and stayed in shape. The truth of the matter is that the food was to good and I relaxed to much which resulted in me putting on a few KG, losing fitness and a bit of muscle.

So do I regret it?

Not at all.

It was my honeymoon and I'm only human. I enjoyed great food, walks on the beach was my only daily exercise and I sat at the bar in the afternoons watching thunder storms and drinking bourbon with my wife. I would happily do that again :)

However now that I'm back I'm jumping right back into training. I have a few things that i want to implement and try while using some basics to get me back to my original shape. These include,

• Keeping going with Wendlers 531. I love this programme as it is based on progression while being flexible enough to be swapped around depending on my goals. At the moment it will to aid grappling.
• Grappling 4-6 times a week. because of this I am going to limit weight training to twice a week to give me the time to do this.
• I will also do conditioning twice a week. This will be either kettle bells of the conditioning workouts from the new Upgraded Grappler programme (coming soon). Conditioning is something that I have avoided in the past as its not really fun and I thought grappling was enough. I was wrong. It needs to be done for me to get the best results.
• As my metabolism is running a bit higher than normal due to the added food intake I hope to keep that going while getting into my previous shape.

Updates to follow!

If you have any questions about this or anything else, feel free to use the free Q&A on the website

Stay healthy,

Mike

Awesome Interview with Jim Wendler! - Video

Hey Guys,

As most of you will know, I am a massive fan of Jim Wendlers 5/3/1 programme.

Recently he did a fantastic interview in which he talks about,

• His training
• training athletes
• Recovering from injury
• What he thinks of the fitness industry
• A new 30 week programme he is bringing out.
• Plus loads more!

Here is the video,

I for one can't wait to see the new programme.

Stay healthy,

Mike

Bit of a Catch Up

Hey Guys,

Today I wanted to just ramble on about what I have been up to recently.

Lately work has taken over a little bit so training has been on the back burner. I've been getting in 3-4 weight sessions a week, and 2-3 BJJ sessions. While this is a lot lower than I would like (especially on the BJJ end) it is still allowing me to move towards my goals (just a bit slower).

Training wise, over this last year or so my main goal is to get stronger. I'm more than happy with what I have achieved and hope to fit the following lifts in the next 2-3 months;

• 3x body weight DL
• 2.5 body weight squat
• 1.5 body weight bench
• Just under a 1.5 body weight Over head press.

These aren't amazing numbers, however I am over the moon with them considering where I was a year ago. I've done this with Jim Wendlers 5/3/1 and I will continue to run this, probably till the end of time. Over the next few months I will be concentrating on adding more volume in to get ready for the wedding/photo shoot/honey moon in September. I know that's vain, but at least I'm honest about it...

BJJ wise my progress has slowed to a crawl. The reason behind this is simply the amount of work I am putting in. While some people can make progress on 2-3 times a week I know that I need at least double that to feel as though I am progressing at a good rate. Unfortunately I need to prioritise my time at the moment and this is the thing that is taking the hit. This sucks a little bit, but as I look at my training and goals over the course of YEARS this isn't really such a big deal to me.

Nutrition wise things are going great. The main goal for the last 6 months has been to support training and improve my metabolism. Hopefully over the next 3 weeks I will hit the 3000 cals a day mark before I start a slow recomp. Yes my abs have pretty much gone and I am a few KG over my weight class (3kg to be exact) but this is worth it in the short term for the metabolism and strength benefits. Remember, we are thinking long term here, not some 6 weeks to super hero bullshit.

I will be updating things every couple of weeks pr so, but if anyone has any direct questions, just let me know.

Stay Healthy,

Mike

BJJ Training Plan

Hey Guys,

Today I want to share with you a little something.

As readers will know I love supplementing my BJJ training with strength training. Not only do I think that it helps you be better on the mats but it slap makes me feel better.

As I have talked about it in the past people have often messaged me to ask what specific workout plan that I follow.

The main answer is that I follow Jim Wendlers 5/3/1 and add in my own accessory work to complement BJJ. While I am not a Strength and Conditioning Coach or even remotely qualified in that area, I have seen very good results using the following plan.

With that in mind I thought I would share with you a small snippet of what I am currently doing. The main movements stay the same and I change the accessory exercises every 4 weeks or so.

If you don't know what Jim Wendlers 5/3/1 is I recommend you get it as it is awesome. I'm not going togo into the details of what it is if you don't know as I'm not going to rob a coach of his plan. Just buy the ebook!

Again this isn't my area at all and this is just works FOR ME. Please speak to your coach and doctor before undertaking any kind of exercise plan.

If you don't like this or think it is rubbish (plenty will) then don't do it. As always comments and constructive feedback is appreciated but being a dick isn't.

Ok, so here is the plan! Main movements in bold.

5 rep week on 5/3/1

Day 1

Bench from Pins

Incline Dumbell speed press (10x3) - Press the weight as fast as possible. Speed is what we are after, light weights so no grinding reps. You should feel as though you could throw the dumbbells on each rep (but don't...)

Rear delt DB raise (5x10) 

Plyo jump from knees (5x5)

Hyper extension (4x8)

Weighted twists (3x10)

Day 2

Deadlift

Explosive pull up (5x5) - No weights. Try to get your hands to leave the bar

SLDL (5x8) 

Incline row to neck - 5 sets max reps

Split Squat (10x3) - Press the weight as fast as possible. Speed is what we are after, light weights so no grinding reps. You should feel as though you could jump on each rep.

Scissor jump (6x3) – again these are to be done as explosively as possible. No weight to be added.

Day 3

Squat 

Seated Jumps (5x5) - Set up a bench. Sit down on the bench like you were doing a box squat. As soon as your arse hits the seat, do an explosive jump as far as you can.

abductor machine (4x8) - 

100 chins (33 reps in variations)

Hyper extensions (3x10)

Weighted Crunches (3x10)

3 rep week on 5/3/1 

Day 1

Bench from Pins 

Incline Dumbbell speed press (10x3) - Press the weight as fast as possible. Speed is what we are after, light weights so no grinding reps. You should feel as though you could throw the dumbbells on each rep.

Rear delt DB raise (5x10) 

Plyo jump from knees (5x5)

Hyper extension (4x8)

Weighted twists (3x10)

Day 2

DL 

Explosive pull up (5x5) - No weights. Try to get your hands to leave the bar

SLDL (5x8) 

Incline row to neck - 5 sets max reps

Split Squat (10x3) - Press the weight as fast as possible. Speed is what we are after, light weights so no grinding reps. You should feel as though you could jump on each rep.

Scissor jump (5x5)

Day 3

Squat 

Seated Jumps (5x5) - Set up a bench. Sit down on the bench like you were doing a box squat. As soon as your arse hits the seat, do an explosive jump as far as you can.

abductor machine (4x8) - 

100 chins (33 reps in variations)

Hyper extensions (3x10)

Weighted Crunches (3x10) 

(5/3/1)

Day 1

Bench from Pins 

Incline Dumbbell speed press (10x3) - Press the weight as fast as possible. Speed is what we are after, light weights so no grinding reps. You should feel as though you could throw the dumbbells on each rep.

Rear delt DB raise (5x10) 

Plyo jump from knees (5x5)

Hyper extension (4x8)

Weighted twists (3x10)

Day 2

DL 

Explosive pull up (5x5) - No weights. Try to get your hands to leave the bar

SLDL (5x8) 

Incline row to neck - 5 sets max reps

Split Squat (10x3) - Press the weight as fast as possible. Speed is what we are after, light weights so no grinding reps. You should feel as though you could jump on each rep.

Scissor jump (5x5)

Day 3

Squat 

Seated Jumps (5x5) - Set up a bench. Sit down on the bench like you were doing a box squat. As soon as your arse hits the seat, do an explosive jump as far as you can.

abductor machine (4x8) - 

100 chins (33 reps in variations)

Hyper extensions (3x10)

Weighted Crunches (3x10) 

Deload on the fourth week (just BJJ training).

There we go. Really simple and short but gets me great results. If you have annoy thoughts on this or any other strength routine, let me know in the comments section :)

Stay healthy,

Mike

Update from me

Hey Guys,

Today I just wanted to give you a quick update with what I'm doing bat the moment and the adjustments that I'm making.

Firstly training is going awesome. Still getting plenty of mat time and strength is continuing to increase. I have to point out again what an awesome system that Wendlers 5/3/1 is! As it is so flexible it is easy to programme to aid in any sport, plus the results are brilliant! Last week I managed to hit my previous maxes just on my joker sets. Definitely looking forward to re testing my true maxes in a couple of months!

Couple of observations I have made recently,

• I personally must do the deloads. If I don't I just get beat up and run down will the BJJ training. I week off the programme really helps me focus on mobility and come back stronger every cycle.
• Ab and lower back work is great when done every session. This is something that I neglected for years and only now I can see how it held me back.
• The more mobility work I do the, the better I feel (duh...)

As far as nutrition goes I am constantly hitting the top weight range that I am comfortable with (71kg) so I am not going to be introducing any more calories for the next few weeks. Instead I am going to play around with my marcos in an aid to still increase my carbs. I want to hitting over 100g per day with fats at the same level before I increase.

That's it for now but I will keep updating as I go!

Stay Healthy,

Mike