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After a 2 year hiatus, I've decided to make a return to the S+C forum. This log will cover my day-day strength and conditioning training as well as any Jiu Jitsu or grappling competitions I enter. I'm currently on Candito's 6 week strength program.
Bodyweight: 215
BF%: 12-13
Squat: 430 low-bar 345x5 high-bar
Low-bar gave me a bad bone spur in my shoulder and made pressing impossible. I've since switched to high-bar.
Deadlift: 530 w/belt 475x5 no belt
Bench: 255x5
Incline: 185x5
OHP: 140x5
Brown belt from Paragon BJJ in Santa Barbara
Currently training under Nino Schembri in Lawndale, CA
Long term goals:
-500 lb Squat
-600 lb Deadlift
-315 lb Bench
-225 lb OHP
-Fight MMA at least once
-Earn my black belt
Here's the link to my old log: http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f49/chucknates-5-3-1-grappling-log-2111699/
A bit of background about myself:
I'm a 24 year old Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and medical device representative. I got my start in weight training while I was a competitive swimmer and water polo player in high school, first starting with a completely asinine program of doing every single machine, every single day, after my morning swim workout.
I discovered stronglifts 5x5 in my senior year and was immediately hooked, even to a fault. I gained a ton of strength(relatively) in the offseason between water polo and swim season and didn't understand the concept of fatigue at all. One day I had a stroke of genius and decided to try and squat the same weight I was squatting in the offseason... after 10,000 yards of swimming. I badly injured my lower back and that put my lifting career on hold for a couple years.
I was first exposed to jiu jitsu in 2007 when a guy at my gym suggested I try a class at the Gracie academy in Torrance. I enjoyed it, but the class structure wasn't really appealing to me (no sparring) and the cost was prohibitive to a 16 year old kid. It wasn't until 2009 that I started really training when a family friend, who was a brown belt, opened up a strong man gym and taught a couple Jiu Jitsu classes there. I fell in love on day one. I loved the training and it was one of the few things I could do, with some exceptions, without my back hurting.
I ultimately made the decision to go to UC Santa Barbara for college with the intention of training at Paragon bjj. I trained non stop for 4 years, ended up working at the gym and received my brown belt around the end of my college career. I moved to Los Angeles in June 2013 for work and have been training at Nino Schembri's gym in Lawndale since. I don't compete as often as I'd like to any more, due to my work schedule, but I still train regularly and compete when I can.
My lower back injury ultimately ended up resolving itself around a year after it originally occurred. However, I was scared of re-injuring myself and didn't resume lifting until another year later. In the two years off from lifting, I gradually shrunk from a reasonably strong 200 lb athlete, to a 170 lb, gangly thin, weak and odd-looking Jiu Jitsu nerd. I'd often find myself overpowered by the guys in my division and was forced to get crafty to find a way to win. This worked for a while, but I eventually got frustrated and decided to build myself back up from square one. I started with stronglifts again and worked my way up from there. I've since moved up three weight classes: from middleweight to super-heavyweight and the benefits to my Grappling have been astronomical; I have gone from being slow, weak and clumsy, to explosive, strong and agile.
Athletic training and biomechanics are a passion of mine and I've spent a lot of time studying various methods of training. I'm by no means an expert in the field, but I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out the optimal method of strength training for grappling and intend to continue to do so.
Programs I've done:
Stronglifts 5x5
Greyskull
Madcow 5x5
Cube method
Paul Carter's Base-Building
Texas Method
5/3/1
Pyramid Training
It's hard to manage recovery and fatigue when your concurrently training Jiu Jitsu and lifting. From my experience, a moderate-high intensity, moderate frequency and lower volume program seems to work the best. I've had the most success with stronglifts when I first restarted and madcow since I've gotten stronger.
As far as diet goes, a caloric surplus definitely makes recovery easier, but it's important to make sure you're not overdoing it, as Jiu Jitsu is a weight class delineated sport. Any attempt to count calories has seemed futile as it's incredibly hard to quantify how many calories you burn in a sparring session.
Bodyweight: 215
BF%: 12-13
Squat: 430 low-bar 345x5 high-bar
Low-bar gave me a bad bone spur in my shoulder and made pressing impossible. I've since switched to high-bar.
Deadlift: 530 w/belt 475x5 no belt
Bench: 255x5
Incline: 185x5
OHP: 140x5
Brown belt from Paragon BJJ in Santa Barbara
Currently training under Nino Schembri in Lawndale, CA
Long term goals:
-500 lb Squat
-600 lb Deadlift
-315 lb Bench
-225 lb OHP
-Fight MMA at least once
-Earn my black belt
Here's the link to my old log: http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f49/chucknates-5-3-1-grappling-log-2111699/
A bit of background about myself:
I'm a 24 year old Brown Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and medical device representative. I got my start in weight training while I was a competitive swimmer and water polo player in high school, first starting with a completely asinine program of doing every single machine, every single day, after my morning swim workout.
I discovered stronglifts 5x5 in my senior year and was immediately hooked, even to a fault. I gained a ton of strength(relatively) in the offseason between water polo and swim season and didn't understand the concept of fatigue at all. One day I had a stroke of genius and decided to try and squat the same weight I was squatting in the offseason... after 10,000 yards of swimming. I badly injured my lower back and that put my lifting career on hold for a couple years.
I was first exposed to jiu jitsu in 2007 when a guy at my gym suggested I try a class at the Gracie academy in Torrance. I enjoyed it, but the class structure wasn't really appealing to me (no sparring) and the cost was prohibitive to a 16 year old kid. It wasn't until 2009 that I started really training when a family friend, who was a brown belt, opened up a strong man gym and taught a couple Jiu Jitsu classes there. I fell in love on day one. I loved the training and it was one of the few things I could do, with some exceptions, without my back hurting.
I ultimately made the decision to go to UC Santa Barbara for college with the intention of training at Paragon bjj. I trained non stop for 4 years, ended up working at the gym and received my brown belt around the end of my college career. I moved to Los Angeles in June 2013 for work and have been training at Nino Schembri's gym in Lawndale since. I don't compete as often as I'd like to any more, due to my work schedule, but I still train regularly and compete when I can.
My lower back injury ultimately ended up resolving itself around a year after it originally occurred. However, I was scared of re-injuring myself and didn't resume lifting until another year later. In the two years off from lifting, I gradually shrunk from a reasonably strong 200 lb athlete, to a 170 lb, gangly thin, weak and odd-looking Jiu Jitsu nerd. I'd often find myself overpowered by the guys in my division and was forced to get crafty to find a way to win. This worked for a while, but I eventually got frustrated and decided to build myself back up from square one. I started with stronglifts again and worked my way up from there. I've since moved up three weight classes: from middleweight to super-heavyweight and the benefits to my Grappling have been astronomical; I have gone from being slow, weak and clumsy, to explosive, strong and agile.
Athletic training and biomechanics are a passion of mine and I've spent a lot of time studying various methods of training. I'm by no means an expert in the field, but I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out the optimal method of strength training for grappling and intend to continue to do so.
Programs I've done:
Stronglifts 5x5
Greyskull
Madcow 5x5
Cube method
Paul Carter's Base-Building
Texas Method
5/3/1
Pyramid Training
It's hard to manage recovery and fatigue when your concurrently training Jiu Jitsu and lifting. From my experience, a moderate-high intensity, moderate frequency and lower volume program seems to work the best. I've had the most success with stronglifts when I first restarted and madcow since I've gotten stronger.
As far as diet goes, a caloric surplus definitely makes recovery easier, but it's important to make sure you're not overdoing it, as Jiu Jitsu is a weight class delineated sport. Any attempt to count calories has seemed futile as it's incredibly hard to quantify how many calories you burn in a sparring session.
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