Professional Strength and Conditioning for Jits: My personal journey

[Chad C.]

I'm pretty excited for this. I'm in school now and hope to be a strength and conditioning coach in the future.

Just wondering what's your training philosophy? Do you follow any specific training "style" (HIT, Block Periodization, Conjugate Periodization, Linear Progression)?

[RichardC]

I'm pretty excited for this. I'm in school now and hope to be a strength and conditioning coach in the future.

Just wondering what's your training philosophy? Do you follow any specific training "style" (HIT, Block Periodization, Conjugate Periodization, Linear Progression)?

I know you're not asking me, but this is just my .02...

I use a non-linear progression with most of my guys now, because they are able to progress in strength and sport-specific skills, but the activities aren't horribly repetitious or boring.

When I'm able to work one-on-one with a fighter or grappler who has an event coming up, I use a blend of block periodization and a straight linear progression, kind of like the Sheiko program (but obviously the lifts and activities are different).

Personally, I use conjugate periodization, but I'm a much more advanced lifter than the majority of guys that I train. My body is used to it. And I'm a little skeptical about how the conjugate method applies to sport-specific training, at least as it is outlined by Westside, et al.

[Karim Graham]

translation pleeez?

[RichardC]

translation pleeez?

A non-linear progression loosely means that you are performing different exercises every workout, at a different number of sets and reps, and at different intensities. It allows you to be very creative. I went to a seminar by the Kansas basketball strength coach, and she uses a non-linear progression with her basketball guys, and they consistently outperform most other teams yearly.

Block periodization is usually used for contest preparation, broken up into 3 or more "blocks" of time. Typically, the first month or so is foundational lifting, the second is strength development, and the third is sport-specific with a tapering down of weight. Boris Sheiko used a method like this.

Linear progression roughly means that once you can lift x amount of weight for 3 sets of 5, then you increase the weight.

Conjugate periodization is much more complex, but when someone uses this term, they usually mean combining a "maximum effort" day with a "dynamic effort" day during the week. Rather than explain it all, I would say just do a search of "Westside Barbell".

[Chad C.]

I know you're not asking me, but this is just my .02...

I use a non-linear progression with most of my guys now, because they are able to progress in strength and sport-specific skills, but the activities aren't horribly repetitious or boring.

When I'm able to work one-on-one with a fighter or grappler who has an event coming up, I use a blend of block periodization and a straight linear progression, kind of like the Sheiko program (but obviously the lifts and activities are different).

Personally, I use conjugate periodization, but I'm a much more advanced lifter than the majority of guys that I train. My body is used to it. And I'm a little skeptical about how the conjugate method applies to sport-specific training, at least as it is outlined by Westside, et al.

I only have experience with training football players, most who are lower level athletes and relatively new to training. Recently I've been using a modified Jim Wendler 5/3/1 program with them and have seen a lot of success. In the past I've tried Westside styled training but I found it to be too taxing on their CNS which took away from their ability to perform their sport.

I'm interested in how you structure you training. I have a few friends who box and compete in mma who've asked me to help with their training.

[Kelly L.]

Can't wait to read about your progress, Neale. See ya in a couple of weeks!

[Neale Hoerle]

Ok guys and Gals. Here we go...

Mouser Strength Dynamics - Week 1-2

"We started Neale's journey with a few weeks of anatomical adaptation. This phase of training is used to prepare an athlete for the demands that come with strength/conditioning. Not only do I use this time to prepare the athlete's tendons and ligaments and increase neuromuscular recruitment, but it is an excellent time to teach proper technique on the lifts. Normally the time period for this is planned out, however since it has been one-on-one training, I simply watched Neale and moved him out of this phase when I could see that he was ready." - John Mouser

My translation... This is the BLAH guys. Once I decided to do this I wanted to crush weight, get strong, kick ass! Well, just like with Jits ya gotta crawl before you can walk or run. With John's blessing we decided that since I grapple a minimum of 5 days a week (sometimes 2-a-days) it was good to hit strength on Monday and Friday only. Later we agreed to move to 3 days a week which is where we are now, but the decision was based on my current activity level and RECOVERY. Anatomical adaptation, to me, is similar to the BASICS of Jits. You cant throw some cat in a Twist-o-plata or hit a flying arm-lock if you cant even rep the move. In similar fashion you sure as hell can't hang clean 165lb for 8 reps if you cant do the movement with an empty bar or 65lb of total weight. In a word, NECESSARY. In another word, BORING. In a general sense I enjoyed it because I know the power of 'REPS'. Just like I tell all of my students REPS are the most boring part of Jits. Everyone LOVES to roll live casue it a shit ton of fun but you'll never get any better if you dont put in the REPS. Im being told (By my trainer) that I did a great job and I have good form. I can feel that this has paid of in week 5 because I am moving weight now.

My trainer and I are HUGE believers in dynamic stretching. Each session begins with a short dynamic stretching regimen followed directly by lifts. I have names for the things we do, but you may not understand what they are. Follow up with questions and John or I can add details.

Dynamic warm-up:

INCH WORMS
KICK BACKS
HIGH KNEES
KARAOKE
KNEE HIKES
SIDE KNEE HIKE KICK OUTS
SUPERMAN QUAD STRETCH
CHORUS LINE KICKS
SUPER TWIST

Current weight: 160 lbs
Appetite: Normal
Diet: Good to better (I eat fairly clean)

Exercises:

SQUATS
HANG CLEANS
PUSH PRESS
HIGH PULLS
RENEGADE ROWS
PULL UPS
STRICT PRESS
RDL'S
DIPS
PULL-UPS

Directly after each session (or most. we do change it up a bit) John PNF stretches me. In Laymen's terms... He tries to break my ass in half. John is going to have to follow up here as I cannot even pronounce what PNF stands for but I DO know that all Pro Athelets use PNF. IT HURTS

Post workout: Protein and carb drink. Im sponsored by Marijuana Muscle soooo I dont think I need to stress that Im ingesting their Hemp protein and my carbs come from a Gatorade Post workout recovery drink w/ Carbs and protein.

IMPACT ON MY JITS GAME: At this point, little to none

Please respond to this post and ask me or my trainer questions. Also suggestions or comments on the format. I would like this to be as informative as possible as well as user friendly.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS Welcome
KILL

[Jason_C]

this should totally be a separate section on this website perhaps? this info will get buried when the page counts on this thread start to get high.

[Neale Hoerle]

STICKY? Admins? Can we keep it at the top? I suppose it's up to powers greater than me to decide. For now, ttt

[Chad C.]

What did your conditioning look like during this first phase of training? Or do you not condition as much because of how much time you spend on the mat?