Aspiring MMA figher been running WSBB type routine, might switch to SS.

[Hardworker]

Warning: English is not myfirst language so sorry if I make any mistakes, I did proofread the text with a dictionary and took me very long to write it but you never know. If anything is unclear or requires clarification please let me know, thank you.

First of all, I would like to clarify that I train purely for performance, I am not interested in bodybuilding or mass-gaining or looking good even, I only want to gain the mass that would aid me in improving my performance. My background is I'm a 17 year old boy, have played sports all my life, specifically rugby. I played wing/full-back and I ran a sub 12 seconds 100 metres. I've always been into sports and athletics, but only started lifting 2 years ago, and seriously about 3 months ago (before that I was doing misguided body-part splits and such). Recently I decided to get into MMA, and have been doing it 3x a week, it is the sport I wish to dedicate myself to for the foreseeable future. Performance wise, my aims are to improve my strength, but also to gain power/explosivity (cardio/conditioning is not included in these aims because I will get that from my sport). This is why, after much research, I decided to run aWestside barbell training with a split consisting of Max effort upper body, max effort lower body, dynamic effort upper body, dynamic effort lower body. I focus on the compound lifts, and on ME days I lift heavy in a powerlifting style while on DE days I focus mostly on explosivity with less weight and moving weight explosively as well as box jumps/medicine ball slams and such. An average ME lower body will probably consist of max effort squats, max effort deadlifts, then good mornings and that's it. An average ME upper body will probably consist of ME bench press, rows, military press, pullups, and that's it. My bodyweight is 77kg(170lbs)My 1rm for bench press is 100kg(220lbs), for squat it's 120kg(265lbs) and for DL 140kg(308lbs)Now, I have started to do MMA 3 times a week, and it's kinda tough with my 4 day split to keep the MMA going as I have no rest days. Not only this, but I've heard that WSBB is too advanced for someone as weak as me, and I should be doing linear periodization and lifting heavy more often to increase gains. So I'm wondering if I should somehow reduce volume or perhaps change to a SS like routine, I was thinking of switching to the advanced novice program, something like this:

Workout A
Squats - 3x5
Bench - 3x5
Deadlift - 1x5
DIPS - 2 x 8-12

Workout B
Squats - 3x5
Standing Press - 3x5
Pull from floor (rows 3x5 or cleans 5x3)
PULLUPS/CHINS - 2 x 8-12 - (3 sets of pullups/chins can be done if you do the cleans instead of the rows)


However I am very concerned with losing the explosivity that the DE days of the westside barbell template provides (is this a big deal? I've heard that at my strength levels DE days will give me minimal explosivity, and I should just focus on getting strong),as an experienced coach of kids I'd really appreciate your opinion? Also, what do you think of my westide barbell type routine? I've seen remarkable results with it in a short amount of time but it might just be nooby gains that I would've had on any routine and a lot of people seem to think it's only for advanced trainees. So, would very much appreciate your thoughts on this and how it compares to the SS workout linked above. I've also considered doing SS as a 2-day split, and adding an extra day of explosivity work where I do speed bench, speed box squat, medicine ball slams and box jumps. If you think all of this is retarded and I should do something else entirely, I'd appreciate that too. Thanks a lot in advance for your time and attention.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

Couple of brief points, Hardworker:

1) Plyo's, medicine ball work, etc is not needed if you aren't very strong. If you squat 135x5 then you aren't going to be very explosive no matter how much plyometric work you do.

2) A very basic routine like SS is the best way to go for a beginner. I say "like" SS because for athletes that are training in demanding sports I like to break the workouts up in the same fashion that Crossfit Football does. Mon/Thurs is Squat/Press or Squat/Bench Press. Tues/Fri is Deads or Cleans and Chins. I think the two exercises per day is easier to recover from and easier to do when you are spending valuable energy sparring, grappling, etc.

3) Once you top out on a program like this (will likely be a while), then I think a program like Westside is good for MMA. The max effort/dynamic effort cycle is a great way to increase strength and power without growing out of your weight class (likely not a concern for you yet).