Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Strength/transition period

Currently starting a Bulgarian strength cycle right now, although BJJ "season" is coming in a few months and I have to start gearing up for that...

Still trying to work out a 5 day schedule - for a Bulgarian cycle I may be looking at a 2-on, 1-off, 2-0n cycle. However, once Balance Crossfit opens up I might be able to go in on Sundays and push the first series to a 3-on schedule. Right now I'm looking at light/heavy couplets (mon/tues and thurs/fri, respectively), although I know I'll be skipping in the max day normally scheduled for a 5-day workweek. I'll have to make a decision soon whether to make that up or not.

As far as BJJ goes, attending academy classes are pretty much a given whenever they're available, and at the same time I'll start adding in metcons on light lifting days. Workouts so far this week:

Monday:
Power Snatch - 140 - 1x10, 1 min rest
High-hang C&J - 135 - 1x10, 1 min rest
Front Squat - 185 - 1, working on speed up.

20-15-10
Box Jumps (above knee)
Pull-ups

BJJ - 1.5 hrs

Tuesday:
Snatch - Heavy single (165), 125 - 1x5
Clean - Heavy single (205), 155 - 1x5
Front Squat - Heavy single (265), 225, 2x2

BJJ - 1.5 hrs

Wednesday:
BJJ - 1.5 hrs

The first day gave me fairly strong DOMS, which I'm still feeling now. Just a needed adaptation to the new volume. Thursday and Friday will be lifting only days, and Saturday will be BJJ only. I've also gone off the main diet and am transitioning to a Paleo diet; just one big jug of eggnog to finish off and I'll be clear. Still hoping that there will be an Olympic meet in January, although if all else fails there are a couple BJJ tournaments in January and then of course Pan Ams in March. By late December/January I'll be moving from Olympic Lifting workouts to a mix of strength endurance/powerlifting/metcon to have me tuned up by February. Only 20 pounds to lose by then...

9 comments:

Armando said...

Is your programming pretty much ad-hoc? How do you decide how long to train in a given modality before switching to a different one for competition readiness? At that point, what do you give greater focus to (with BJJ), strength/explosiveness/metcon? Why powerlifting before the comp and o-lifting in the "off-season"?

What is the method behind your madness??

Bin said...

Pan Ams is the big BJJ comp for me, and I figure it'll take approx 3 months for me to get my conditioning back (approx 12 weeks - remember 10 weeks is as long as you can push someone, and I'll need a ramp-up period so it won't be full intensity the whole time).

How long I'm in modalities is dictated by when my competitions are - I'm looking for an o-lifting meet in January and have been in a hypertrophy cycle for 3 months previously; I should be able to do two short strength cycles before the meet.

Doing lots of strength endurance and short metcon work is going to take away my absolute strength somewhat. That coupled with my need to cut weight means that I'll likely lose some muscle mass. I'm hoping that by adding in sporadic, heavy lifts I'll be able to force my body to maintain some of that muscle.

Armando said...

That's interesting. Seems pretty logical, except for the 10-week metcon period. How did you arrive at this number?

Bin said...

It was the number given at our O-lifting cert, that 10 weeks was how long they've been able to push athletes before they break down. It's a number that I chalk up to experience on their part, and pretty common for fight training as well.

Courtney said...

What is Balance CrossFit?

Details please! I like the direction you are going with your training. One thing I have been struggling with as of late is figuring out a schedule that fits with my life. the 2 or 3 on 1 off approach seems nice, but inevitably stuff comes up. Good luck Bin!

Bin said...

It's a Crossfit gym that's about to open a second location in DC. It's going to be run by Danielle Dionne - placed in last year's mid-atlantic qualifier and competed at the games.

Courtney said...

I don't understand. What's your affiliation with that gym?

Bin said...

I've worked out with Danielle before, and we were both at the Olympic cert. She's invited me to come in and work out, and I'm going to see if there's a way to fit it in.

Courtney said...

Sweet! Sounds fun!