After a little prodding from @tlgains in my 5/3/1 forum post I’ve decided to start a log here of my current journey with BJJ and 5/3/1 training
Background
I’m a 45 (will be 46 this week) who’s been a long time member of the T-Nation forums (I joined in 2002) but I’ve been inactive for the last 10ish years. I built a good foundation of strength and health in my 20s and proceeded to piss that away in my 30s as my life and career took off. When I turned 40 I gave myself the gift of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for my 40th birthday and it’s changed my life. I’ve struggled to get back to the iron and haven’t found a good program that I can incorporate with BJJ and my life that doesn’t leave me absolutely wasted. I’ll start a program and make good gains for about 2 week and then I just can’t keep up the output. I have a full time job that includes travel, a 5 acre compound with 2 horses, and my wife’s active equestrian activities, in addition to my BJJ and any extra training. I was looking for BJJ related weight training plans and 5/3/1 kept coming up. I ordered the 5/3/1 and 5/3/1 Forever from Wendler’s website and the “busy guy” program seemed like it would fit the bill.
I’m currently a one stripe blue belt in BJJ with ~4.5 years of training under my belt.
Current Challenges
As noted, working weight training back into my program is the biggest issue. I’m also fairly weak, from a weight training perspective. In my 20’s I had a 300lb squat and a 325ish deadlift, but upper body was always my weakness. I figured out how to overcome some shoulder issues and I’m looking forward to making some progress on my bench.
I had total ACL reconstruction in 2019 on my right knee and had an umbilical hernia repair June of this year
Schedule
Current Training Schedule is as follows
Tuesday
AM - 5/3/1
PM - BJJ
Thursday
PM - BJJ
Friday
AM - 5/3/1
Sunday
AM - BJJ
Tuesday BJJ is advanced class and Thursday is all belt levels. I’m an assistant coach/Uki for our two kids classes on Tues/Thrus, so i’m on the mats for ~3.5 hours those days. Sunday is our coffee and chokes early AM drill class, which I run with a team mate. There’s also a Saturday NoGi class which I haven’t been attending, but I need to get back to soon.
On all other days I do something else physical. Rucking, Yoga, ect. I also have some CoC grippers I’m working with for grip strength.
Goals
My current goals are to get back under the iron and build some strength and stay consistent with my weight training. I’m looking to start competing this year in BJJ and i’m at the top of my weight class, so i’m looking to cut some fat and gain some muscle without going into the next weight bracket. I may look at going up a weight class later or cutting weight, but I want to hit my first couple of tournaments at walking weight.
Setup
I used the first two weeks of the program to find my working weights and get used to the accessory work. I followed the program, but did triples to failure, then used the equations to find my 1RM for each of the four lifts.
Calculated 1RMs
Bench - 149
Deadlift - 205
Press - 95
Squat - 185
Using Wendler’s equations that gave me a working 1RM for each lift of:
Bench - 135
Deadlift - 200
Press - 95
Squat - 180
A note on Squat - When I was working my triples to find my 1RM I felt really good and had a number in mind, but I lost my brace in the bottom at 185 and got stuck. I think I could have gotten over 200, but I figured I failed there for a reason so I kept that as my max
I’ll update tomorrow with the first cycles progress
La’
