Grip, BW, and weight lifting stuff for Wrestling/BJJ

[Diligent]

Age - 20
Height - 5' 8"
Weight - 150ish

Training for UTA wrestling team and Star Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Rather than setting one day of each week aside for doing all of my body-weight stuff and weight lifting stuff in complexes, I have decided to spread all of my exercises throughout the entire week.

In my last thread, I began doing complexes for my strength training, but mainly just for conditioning. After doing this for quite some time, it has really come to my mind that ... well, regardless of how hard I work my complexes or running ... it will never come close to actual grappling (conditioning wise).

I found that doing ALL of my bw and weight lifting exercises on one day (even on the same day of grappling) was taking too much of a toll on my body and was often times putting me out so to speak for my next grappling session, which was usually the next day. I have decided to spread all of my exercises for strength training throughout each week to 'pace' myself. I will not be doing those mega-complexes anymore, since I will still be getting my strength training in, and I will be getting my real conditioning in as I am grappling. Since I will either be doing collegiate wrestling or BJJ at least 4 times a week, I will certainly be getting my proper conditioning in. On the days that I am not grappling, I may run or do the stationary bike ... along with my grip exercises. I feel that this routine will give my body more of a set pace rather than sporatic training days where I go all out and am hindered the next day for grappling.

I WILL be doing grip exercises nearly every day, though.

My schedule revolves around wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and will look something like this:

Lord's Day: Wrestling take-down class + (situps, back and side neck bridges )

Monday: Lifting (weighted pullups, military press, squats, bent-over barbell rows, Rolling Thunder, 3 inch wide PVC pipe holds, and front and side neck bridges)

Tuesday: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class + (situps + Rolling Thunder)

Wednesday: n/a

Thursday: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class + lifting (deadlifts, close-grip dumbbell bench press, back and side neck bridges, Rolling Thunder, and 3 inch wide PVC pipe holds)

Friday: n/a

Saturday: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class + (pushups, situps, CoC grippers)

 

[Diligent]

Saturday:

Well, one of my grandmothers passed away 2 days ago :icon_cry2 , and the memorial was today, so I wasn't able to make it to BJJ, for obvious reasons. But later on today, I did have time to get some exercise in. I did:

Thick bar singles (2.5 inch wide handles)

3 mile run

 

[Diligent]

Lord's Day:

Wrestling takedown class from 1 - 2:30. Went well, I kinda hurt my neck, though ... but it's feeling better already.

After warmups, takedwon drills/moves, and live matches, we also did pushups and situps.

Afterwards: thickbar (2.5 inch thick handles) timed holds.

 

[Diligent]

Monday:

Rolling Thunder singles (heavy day: up to 130lbs)

25 minutes on stationary bike.

My neck is still hurt from wrestling, but it does feel better. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to BJJ practice tomorrow!

 

[Diligent]

Tuesday:

My neck still hurts, but not as much. I think tomorrow it will be fully healed, hopefully. No grappling today (neck). I will get some exercise in tomorrow, though.

I start school tomorrow.

 

[Duncon76]

yeahhhh, school ....wooohoooo )))))

 

[bacon]

I'm not sure what your running days look like, but for wrestling I recommend the following.
In this order:

Before you hit the mat:

1) Run stairs (hit every stair, don't skip) for 8- 10 minutes. A three story stairwell works great. Run for 20-30 seconds, walk for 15-20 seconds for the entire duration.

2) Mile sprints for time. You're trying to break records here. The HS I coached at had a box shaped school so I made them run the halls. They went down one hall, up a flight of stairs, around the corner and down another hall, down a flight of stairs and return to the starting point. 4 laps was just a little under a mile. We usually did 3-4 miles with the hole team. I'd hold one of the fastest guys for 30 seconds to a minute and then send him after the pack. If he got back before anyone else, we kept running. Try to break your record every day.

At the end of practice:

1) Wind sprints length wise across the gym/mats. Start with 6 down and backs, then 5, 4 etc. It helps if you have someone time you.

2) Bear walks, crab walks, drop steps length wise across the gym. Same as above.

This was the daily routine I went through in HS and this is what I put my wrestlers through. We didn't win EVERY match, but we never lost because we were out of shape. Good Luck

 

[Diligent]

yeahhhh, school ....wooohoooo )))))

Yeah, I'm actually glad to get back into the groove of things, believe it or not ... except for that whole "homework" thing ... :icon_chee

 

[Diligent]

I'm not sure what your running days look like, but for wrestling I recommend the following.
In this order:

Before you hit the mat:

1) Run stairs (hit every stair, don't skip) for 8- 10 minutes. A three story stairwell works great. Run for 20-30 seconds, walk for 15-20 seconds for the entire duration.

2) Mile sprints for time. You're trying to break records here. The HS I coached at had a box shaped school so I made them run the halls. They went down one hall, up a flight of stairs, around the corner and down another hall, down a flight of stairs and return to the starting point. 4 laps was just a little under a mile. We usually did 3-4 miles with the hole team. I'd hold one of the fastest guys for 30 seconds to a minute and then send him after the pack. If he got back before anyone else, we kept running. Try to break your record every day.

At the end of practice:

1) Wind sprints length wise across the gym/mats. Start with 6 down and backs, then 5, 4 etc. It helps if you have someone time you.

2) Bear walks, crab walks, drop steps length wise across the gym. Same as above.

This was the daily routine I went through in HS and this is what I put my wrestlers through. We didn't win EVERY match, but we never lost because we were out of shape. Good Luck

Very good advice. Thank you. I actually used to do mile sprints for time by myself. I stopped doing them ... I don't know why ... I should really start those back up. I'm quite interested to see what my time would be right now since I haven't been doing them. Maybe I'll try it out Friday!

And I remember I did the stairs at the UTA stadium once (which is very tall) back and forth for a few minutes, and all I remember was that it was an awesome workout ... I should get back into THAT, too.

Regarding the wind sprints and bear walks and such, Coach Yousef at Star Jiu-Jitsu almost always makes us do those after practice, which is killer. I should do them outside of class, too. Thanks for the reminders, bro.

 

[Diligent]

Wednesday:

Bodyweight = 149lbs

OK, neck feels pretty good, now. I went to the UTA gym and did:

Handstand pushups - 3 sets (10,9,8)

Barbell Bent-Over Rows w/ 185lbs - 3 sets of 6

Pullups - 3 sets of 10

Rolling Thunder timed singles (light day, w/ 90lbs)

Front and side neck bridges

Nothing too hard today, as I do have wrestling tomorrow. Everything felt good. Tomorrow will be rough.

 

[3rdEchelon]

Please take my advice with a grain of salt--you might even purposefully avoiding it to avoid over fatigue of your legs-- but I feel that adding some leg work would do a great deal of good for your overall power in wresting/BJJ. There is such a great deal of driving in all directions from the legs and hips that I feel adding leg work would be of more value than all the situps you are doing.

That brings me to another opinion. Some lower back work would definitely help because of all this situps you are doing. You will eventually develop an imbalance of your hip flexors with your lower back and that may lead to problems. It is along the same lines as working your back as you work your chests (not necessarily same workout) and how a strong back is important for a strong bench.

Again... grain of salt this stuff...

Happy training

 

[rickdog]

90 lbs on your rolling thunder? So, you're going heavy again?

 

[bacon]

Please take my advice with a grain of salt--you might even purposefully avoiding it to avoid over fatigue of your legs-- but I feel that adding some leg work would do a great deal of good for your overall power in wresting/BJJ. There is such a great deal of driving in all directions from the legs and hips that I feel adding leg work would be of more value than all the situps you are doing.

That brings me to another opinion. Some lower back work would definitely help because of all this situps you are doing. You will eventually develop an imbalance of your hip flexors with your lower back and that may lead to problems. It is along the same lines as working your back as you work your chests (not necessarily same workout) and how a strong back is important for a strong bench.

Again... grain of salt this stuff...

Happy training

Agreed. DL's, Good Mornings and Squats! Lower body and back strength will transform your doubleleg into a force of nature.

 

[Diligent]

90 lbs on your rolling thunder? So, you're going heavy again?

"Oh, HO, HOHOHO!!!! You made me mad n' I almost liked it!!!!!" - guy from Dumb&Dumber at the phone booth

 

[Diligent]

Please take my advice with a grain of salt--you might even purposefully avoiding it to avoid over fatigue of your legs-- but I feel that adding some leg work would do a great deal of good for your overall power in wresting/BJJ. There is such a great deal of driving in all directions from the legs and hips that I feel adding leg work would be of more value than all the situps you are doing.

That brings me to another opinion. Some lower back work would definitely help because of all this situps you are doing. You will eventually develop an imbalance of your hip flexors with your lower back and that may lead to problems. It is along the same lines as working your back as you work your chests (not necessarily same workout) and how a strong back is important for a strong bench.

Again... grain of salt this stuff...

Happy training

I see what you and bacon are talking about ... I think it is a good idea. Doing squats and deadlifts are probably something I should try to work in ... I'm not sure when though ... I'll try to work atleast some squats in on Saturday. Thanks for the insight.

About the sit-ups, as you can see from my schedule, the only time I do them is during a BJJ or wrestling practice ... and that's 'cause the coaches make us do those ... not that that is a bad thing ....

 

[Duncon76]

ahh, just Deadlift )

 

[Diligent]

ahh, just Deadlift )

Alright, I'm goin', I'm goin'!

 

[Diligent]

UPDATE:

Well, with school going on, my work, my mom's inability to drive (as of now, due to her recovery), church and my church life with the brothers/sisters, and my athletics, I am going to have to choose between BJJ and wrestling.

I have been dwelling over this for the past couple of months, and due to my schedule and higher priorities (higher than my workouts/training) like my church life, I have decided to choose to train one regularly and stop training the other so much.

I choose Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It's kind of ironic ... I chose to start going to Star Jiu-Jitsu ONLY because the instructor is an unbelievable, successful wrestler (3 time Greco-Roman and freestyle National Iranian champion, and a 2-time world Sambo champ, I might add ). I wanted to start wrestling, and since UTA didn't have a team at the time, I thought it would be cool to join and also learn some BJJ on the side. But since then, I've fallen in love with BJJ and the 'finishing' of one's opponent aspect. I still love the takedown aspect of wrestling, but once we hit the ground, I am just totally NOT digging the wrestling ground game. I am not interested at all in rolling somebody or pinning them on their back ... but I am interested in finishing my opponent.

Since I have chosen to stick with the BJJ, the beautiful thing about it is, I can still attend my BJJ coach's wrestling take-down classes that he runs ... so I can still train my favorite part of wresting and work my takedowns on the side while I do BJJ full-time. I am probably going to tell my wrestling coach next Monday at practice. Hopefully I'll still be able to work out with them during the summer when I don't have school, because I would still definitely be interested in training with them ... it is just that now is not the time, and I DO prefer submission grappling to just wrestling.

I will be altering my schedule (in my first post in here) a bit in a minute. I don't really WANT to stop with the UTA wrestling team, but the Lord and my church life, my school, and my work come before training. I feel at peace with this decision, although it won't be easy to tell my wrestling coach.

EDIT: I'll be doing squats and deadlifts on Saturdays, 3 seperate timed mile sprints on Mondays, and also Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu on Thursdays instead of wrestling. (see schedule in first post)

 

[Diligent]

Alright, rather than doing squats tomorrow, I figured I'd go ahead and do them today to give myself an extra day of rest, cause I'm sure my legs will need it.

This is the first time I have done squats in ... ummm, about a year .... I still had surprisingly good form, though. I read A LOT about westside and their method of squating and I believe I have very good form. My knees and hips felt great.

Squats (going below parallel):

45lbs x 10
95lbs x 10
135lbs x 10
155lbs x 8
175lbs x 6
185lbs x 4

3 sets of 50 bodyweight squats

A couple of sets of lunges and shots

1 mile run @ 8.0 speed

Rolling Thunder singles (up to 135lbs) NEW PR!!!!!!!! 135lbs with my left hand!!! I almost got 140lbs with my right. I'm almost there.

 

[Diligent]

Saturday:

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class from 1:00 - 2:30 today.

Class went well, and I was able to submit a couple of different people a few times. I had an interesting experience of this black guy in my class who is pretty new, but he goes ALL OUT when we go live ... meh, I key-locked him and arm-barred him. It was really annoying, though, 'cause right when I was about to get him on some submissions, he'd just give up and be like, "ok, I know you're gonna get me" ... I was annoyed by that in a sense that I didn't get to really practice finishing as much, but meh ....

Sprints

Pushups and situps


After class, I did:

Thick-bar single holds (2.5 inch thick handles)

PS: One guy in my class kept complaining about not being to be able to get out of my grip and started getting kind of frustrated. He started flailing his arms everywhere really fast like to try and escape, but to no avail! ha!