Novice/Intermediate introducing Martial Arts

[hellca]

Hi

I have been training for about 22 months and have made some progress, although I never did the program as prescribed... At the moment I am training three days a week, mucking about to be honest... depending on how I am eating I seem to be able to continue on a novice linear progression, or when I am dieting more strictly need to scale it back...

Anyhow, I am probably going to Thailand in a months time to train Muay Thai, I am looking for programming suggestions on how to keep getting stronger while training a martial art 5 days a week.

My idea is to do two days of strength training and split it thus -

A

Squats
OHP
Power Clean

B

Deadlift
Bench Press

I also will focus on heavy singles rather than 3 x 5.

I would love to get some input from more experienced people. My lifts for reference are:

Squat 155kg x 5 (175 x 1)
Deadlift 180kg x 3
Bench 97.5kg x 5
Press 67.5kg x 5 (75 x 1)
Power Clean 75kg x 3 (started training them today).

5'10 97kg bodyweight, approx 22-24% body fat, 27 years old.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[veryhrm]

From what little i know about it.... those guys are huge on conditioning and the usual old world work 'till you puke kind of mentality. I doubt you'll be able to get stronger while you're training that way (or even really maintain). your split is ok. Though i'd prob. at least work to a set of 5. or at least 3s rather than singles.

(btw, if i may ask... is there some good reason why you're doing this? i.e. are you already a competitive MMA guy or martial artist? Those muai thai guys start as kids and it's overall a pretty brutal thing and i think they're already broken and retired by their late 20s. )

[Kazzin]

Add a light squat (say 2 sets of 5 at 75% of workout A's weight), and do sets of 5, not singles.

[hellca]

From what little i know about it.... those guys are huge on conditioning and the usual old world work 'till you puke kind of mentality. I doubt you'll be able to get stronger while you're training that way (or even really maintain). your split is ok. Though i'd prob. at least work to a set of 5. or at least 3s rather than singles.

(btw, if i may ask... is there some good reason why you're doing this? i.e. are you already a competitive MMA guy or martial artist? Those muai thai guys start as kids and it's overall a pretty brutal thing and i think they're already broken and retired by their late 20s. )

I have a purple belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, Judo and Karate experience.

I am in a weird situation where I earn money working two days per week online, have a $1450 plane ticket credit, and am single, that is: no attachments.

Can you explain why 3 or 5 rep sets?

[hellca]

To grease the groove? edit: @ Kazzin.

[Gerald Boggs]

Cool that you've going. With that, remember you're going to Thailand, the hell with strength training. Enjoy the Muay Thai, enjoy Thailand, the weights will still be here when you get back. When you get back, really do the program, you won't regret it :-)

[mattypee]

Hi dude!
I should warn you about gym facilities in Thailand, they will have weights, but the barbells will be light, and they might give you grief over lifting heavy weight.
Paying to go to the thai gym, and then also travelling to a separate facility will be weird, and will really put a downer on the muay-thai-holiday aspect of things.

If you're going to stay at a gym, I would recommend just joining in on the classes 2x a day, and really concentrate on your skills and gass.

If you try to squat, and then do a sparring or skills session within a day or so, you're going to get leg kicked so much you may never want to squat again, hahaha.

Given that at home you can train with weights any time, but do not necessarily have access to all-day training stateside(assuming you're american), I would just devote all recovery and rest ability to the classes.

They WONT let you skip kicking the heavy bag 300 times just because you already did a strength session. The thai trainers see Farangs come and go who cant take it, and they can become a little uncaring unless you devote yourself to their training and try very, very hard to earn their respect.

[mattypee]

if you're only going for a few months, I don't think you'll be coming back with stick legs even if you dont touch a heavy weight at all.

Also there may be an S&C coach where you're going, if you go to tiger or PTT.
I'd just do what he says.