Changing gears

Following some unforeseen developments, I won't be competing in an O-lifting meet in January, so for the rest of December I'll be working on transitioning over to BJJ strength and conditioning and writing out my programming for the Pan-American games in early April. Because of the nature of my work I'll be considering entering the CF games sectionals for my area, as its timing and style should be a fairly good test for the success of my workouts.

My goals for the first couple months will be strength maintenance/endurance after which point I'll introduce more high-pace metcons. In reading through Gambetta and other authors I've come to realize that typical BJJ matches are more about using strength through a wide range of motion and for an extended period of time - not so much about moving at the blistering pace of standard couplet or triplet metcons a la CF. While having the ability to burst from time to time is absolutely crucial, I'm starting to believe that its more beneficial to be able to maintain a good pace for longer periods of time (>30 min). Although individual matches are never longer than 10 minutes, in the tournament setting having that "big tank" separates golds from silvers from bronzes from runner-ups. Explosive power and strength in the lower body is useful in the stand-up (which usually only lasts a minute or so) and from certain positions, but I want to focus on developing upper-body strength this time around - specifically pulling and grip strength.

Unfortunately it seems that my mass gain program has finally started working, and I'll have to start taking that off again. Near-strict Paleo will be the strategy, hopefully without costing me my post-workout refueling.