Strength Training for Martial Arts

[Gwyn Brookes]

11/20/14

Squat (medium)
up to 160x5x3 @ 7, 7, 8

Deadlift
95x5
135x3
185x3
235x5
247.5x5
260x5
247.5x5
235x5

Chins
3x5
5x3

Off anti-inflammatories for 2 days, and while I still have a little joint pain, I think I'm pretty much recovered.

[Gwyn Brookes]

11/22/14

Squat (super light)
up to 135x5x2

Bench
45x5x2
75x5
105x3
115x2
125x1
130x1
135x1
140x1
135x1
130x1

Press
45x5x5

So today I was fried; I train Saturday mornings for a few (3 to 4) hours and today I got a lot of great work done in sword class. By the time I got to bench 105x3 I thought whoops, I'm under-recovered, let's play it by ear. 135x1 was a bit of a struggle and I almost decided to stay there, but 140 is my bench PR and I wanted it. I actually said out loud to my spotter "I probably won't make this." Then I got as tight as possible and as aggressive as possible and it went up faster than 135 had. So cool. After that my singles did get a bit slower. By press time I just did not want to lift anything else overhead, so I kept it as light as possible and just kept working on getting tighter and more aggressive.

[Gwyn Brookes]

11/24/14

Squat
45x5x3
95x5
135x3
155x2
170x3
180x3
190x3
180x3
170x3

Bench (medium)
up to 115x5x3 @ 8, 8, 8

skipped power clean - not enough time

[Gwyn Brookes]

11/28/14

Thursday's and Saturday's main lifts:

Press
45x5x2
55x5
65x3
72.5x5
77.5x5
82.5x5
77.5x5
72.5x5

Deadlift
95x5
135x5
185x3
225x2
255x2
270x1
285x1
300x0 failed 2" off the floor
285x0 failed just below the knee
270x1

Well, shit. I had a feeling this would happen today. But I went for it anyway. I need to get my triples and fives up a bit.

[Gwyn Brookes]

12/2/14
Bench
45x5x3
75x5
105x3
115x2
120x3
125x3
130x3
125x3
120x3

Squat
Up to 150x5x3 @ 8, 8, 8

[Gwyn Brookes]

12/4/14

Squat
45x5x5
95x5
135x3
150x2
160x5
170x5
180x5*
170x5
160x5

*As I was unloading the 180, I suddenly noticed I was holding a five in my hands. The other side had a 45, 2 10s and a 2.5 on it, which should have been 180 had both sides bee loaded that way. It's quite possible that in a fog, I misloaded that set with an extra five on the left side and it was actually 185x5. I really have no idea.

Bench
up to 110x5x3 @ 8, 8, 8

I felt tired and mushy today.

[Gwyn Brookes]

12/6/14

Squat (light)
up to 135x5x2

Press - should have been heavy singles but
33x5x2
45x5x2
55x5
65x3x3
75x1x3
80x1x3
65x3x2

Because I strained my anterior delts on both shoulders. Right arm especially is really iffy, and my sword test is in a week. Drawing and sheathing hurt the most. I am hoping that a bunch of sub maximal work in the press and a layoff from benching plus anti-inflammatories and not training with pain will get me to my test.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Balance, Gwynn. It's hard to excel in everything.

[Gwyn Brookes]

Balance, Gwynn. It's hard to excel in everything.

Definitely! So far, I'm very happy with the recent adjustments I made to my programming and my day off every week. It feels sustainable. However, injuries and overuse can happen no matter what you do, so accommodation to that has to be part of any plan.

Feeling sore today instead of injured. I will definitely press again this week instead of bench.

[Gwyn Brookes]

12/9/14

Squat (medium)
up to 155x5x3

Deadlift
95x5
135x3
185x3
225x2
255x3
265x3
275x2 failed rep 3 - lost tightness and failed at mid-shin
275x1
260x3
245x3

Chins
3x5, 5, 4, 3x2

Adding a lighter assistance DL back in on squat days, I think it's necessary.