Greetings, I have been reading some of the articles and such on this site but because of my schedule I have not been able to implement the different workouts that may or may not work for me. BAsically, I am training for core power, speed and power in punches and kicks, and reaction times. I am 170 lbs and I have 13% body fat. suggestions would be appreciated.
thanx in advance
So I presume you do some kind of martial art, ey? For punching you can do all the things that boxers do. Now, since this is a strength and hypertrophy based site you may not get as many responses as other beginners, but still listen to peoples advice because MOSt people know what they’re saying.
For starters you could pick up a cycle between a beginner’s strength program and a power/speed program. e.g.
Because you are a beginner stick to only a few sets per body part, remember we expect you to be using weight lol.
Cycle 1
Bench press 5x3
Squat 5x3
Clean 5x3
This you would do as heavy as you can, as fast as you can, no stopping between sets, and push through any pain or slowing down.
Then cycle 2 would look like
Throwing Bench Press 3x?* (this can be dangerous if you are an idiot, no more than a few millimeter’s, if you are able to chuck it higher put more weight on the bar.)
Verticle Jump 3x?* (use your arms and whole body to get as high as you can. If you can put a weight belt on, do that, though ONLY if you are strong enough to not have changed the speed at which you rise)
Snatch 5x3 (keep a managable weight, but do it as explosively as you can!)
*This program you would use about half the weight you used for your strength program, but you would instantly stop the moment you started to loose speed or power. REMEMBER, for cycle 2 you are not trying to hit failure, you are training your muscles to USE the strength you gained from cycle 1 FAST, which will create power.
Do a week of cycle one 3 times a week, then a week of the cycle two 3 times a week.
But remember, eating healthy is the most important factor, even if you are not trying to get bigger (hypertrophy). Read the health articles in the Beginner’s sticky. I remember when I first started weightlifting my benchpress shot up 20 pounds in 2 weeks, just from changing my diet I had more energy to fulfill my strength potential.
^^^thanx alot,Im new to all of this. some of the stuff (ie snatch,throwing bench press) i have never heard of. By 5x3 you mean three sets of five or five sets of three?
Five sets of three. Cycle one is a variant of Rippetoes Starting Strength Program. You can buy his book, which has many useful tips on how to optimize you’re gym time, your diet and instructions on how to do weightlifting technique perfectly.
Cycle two is called the Dynamic Effort Method… wait a second. Lol, here, even though I haven’t come across this before, I was browsing using the search function whilst I am writing this and came across this article which is actually talking about EXactly what I am talking about.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459306
It is totally relevant to you, and also it is a bit of inspiration because it is a true story.
Basically you can copy the included program, just change the excercises. e.g.
Monday - Max effort squat and clean day
Wednesday - Max effort bench day
Friday - Dynamic effort squat/verticle jump day and snatch day
Saturday - Dynamic effort bench day
When I say ‘throw the bench press’ I dont really mean chuck it into the air, I just want you to be doing your bench press as EXPLOSIVELY as you can. If you do it right you will probably just end up having the bar a few millimeter’s from your hand lol.
Week one: 8 sets of 2 reps with 50%
Week two: 8 sets of 2 reps with 55%
Week three: 8 sets of 2 reps with 60%
The entire way in which weightlifting works is that you move up weight each week, otherwise there is no point doing weightlifting, right?
Johnathan was a powerlifter, and you may say you are a martial artist, but you would be surprised at how little difference there is in the end.
This is a snatch: start off at a low enough weight that you don’t have to do a crouch when ‘receiving’. Save that for later when you are comfortable with the movement and are moving up weight. It will help with your punches and lateral kicks.
This is bench press. Do it correctly or you may get shoulder problems and/or elbow problems. I would suggest moving your elbows even closer to your sides than the video shows, because of natural shoulder movement.
Johnathan does more sets than you because he is in an article. He has perfect diet and has a personal trainer lol. Don’t start doing more sets until you have perfected your diet or you may just burn yourself out.
Check out the beginner sticky at the top of the Beginner’s forum before you start training. Are you a Beginner? has great information for people like you like “7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs” “Massive Eating: I, Caloric Needs” and “Massive Eating: II, Meal Combinations and Individual Differences”.
Trust me, reading all this may take you an hour or two, but its worth the time.
Hope this helps!
[quote]forevernade wrote:
Five sets of three. Cycle one is a variant of Rippetoes Starting Strength Program. You can buy his book, which has many useful tips on how to optimize you’re gym time, your diet and instructions on how to do weightlifting technique perfectly.
Cycle two is called the Dynamic Effort Method… wait a second. Lol, here, even though I haven’t come across this before, I was browsing using the search function whilst I am writing this and came across this article which is actually talking about EXactly what I am talking about.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459306
It is totally relevant to you, and also it is a bit of inspiration because it is a true story.
Basically you can copy the included program, just change the excercises. e.g.
Monday - Max effort squat and clean day
Wednesday - Max effort bench day
Friday - Dynamic effort squat/verticle jump day and snatch day
Saturday - Dynamic effort bench day
When I say ‘throw the bench press’ I dont really mean chuck it into the air, I just want you to be doing your bench press as EXPLOSIVELY as you can. If you do it right you will probably just end up having the bar a few millimeter’s from your hand lol.
Week one: 8 sets of 2 reps with 50%
Week two: 8 sets of 2 reps with 55%
Week three: 8 sets of 2 reps with 60%
The entire way in which weightlifting works is that you move up weight each week, otherwise there is no point doing weightlifting, right?
Johnathan was a powerlifter, and you may say you are a martial artist, but you would be surprised at how little difference there is in the end.
This is a snatch: start off at a low enough weight that you don’t have to do a crouch when ‘receiving’. Save that for later when you are comfortable with the movement and are moving up weight. It will help with your punches and lateral kicks.
This is bench press. Do it correctly or you may get shoulder problems and/or elbow problems. I would suggest moving your elbows even closer to your sides than the video shows, because of natural shoulder movement.
Johnathan does more sets than you because he is in an article. He has perfect diet and has a personal trainer lol. Don’t start doing more sets until you have perfected your diet or you may just burn yourself out.
Check out the beginner sticky at the top of the Beginner’s forum before you start training. Are you a Beginner? has great information for people like you like “7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs” “Massive Eating: I, Caloric Needs” and “Massive Eating: II, Meal Combinations and Individual Differences”.
Trust me, reading all this may take you an hour or two, but its worth the time.
Hope this helps![/quote]
If he’s going to do a throwing bench press he might as well do it right, on sadly a smitch machine. If he keeps his fingers around the bar (safety duh) it shouldn’t even move a milimeter out of his grip, and will get the same benefits minus the added injury. Also the deload of the bar jumping and hitting your hards coming back down may lead to shoulder/wrist problems I would think.
Instead of throwing bench press, why not clap push ups?
Yeah, throwing bench press could be disastrous. Umm, well I am presuming he can do clapping push-ups for reps of more than 30-40, like most weightlifters, but seen as this is his first two posts we cant presume anything can we? lool.
Well, MP, if you can do more than 20 clap pushups, do bench. Otherwise clap pushups are the way to go for you.
And yeah ‘If he keeps his fingers around the bar (safety duh) it shouldn’t even move a millimeter out of his grip’. Though, he doesn’t want to be stopping the bar from flying out of his hands either, because that is wasted super-extended energy he could be spending on finishing the set.
If you don’t mind being a git like me, you can just do normal bench at 1/2 to 2/3 your max day’s weight, and scream and yell every time you push the bar, I find it helps me do it faster. lol.
Any other opinions on the dynamic effort bench day?
I’m surprised nobody mentioned cleans and snatches yet. It gives you the need to be strong and explosive, or else you fail the lift.
Kinda surprised nobody has mentioned the Hammer down program directly yet.
[quote]undeadlift wrote:
I’m surprised nobody mentioned cleans and snatches yet. It gives you the need to be strong and explosive, or else you fail the lift.[/quote]
-_-
[quote] forevernade wrote:
Cycle 1
Bench press 5x3
Squat 5x3
Clean 5x3
This you would do as heavy as you can, as fast as you can, no stopping between sets, and push through any pain or slowing down.
Then cycle 2 would look like
Throwing Bench Press 3x?* (this can be dangerous if you are an idiot, no more than a few millimeter’s, if you are able to chuck it higher put more weight on the bar.)
Verticle Jump 3x?* (use your arms and whole body to get as high as you can. If you can put a weight belt on, do that, though ONLY if you are strong enough to not have changed the speed at which you rise)
Snatch 5x3 (keep a managable weight, but do it as explosively as you can!)
*This program you would use about half the weight you used for your strength program, but you would instantly stop the moment you started to loose speed or power. REMEMBER, for cycle 2 you are not trying to hit failure, you are training your muscles to USE the strength you gained from cycle 1 FAST, which will create power. [/quote]
Yes it is messy, so I will re-write it clearly.
Cycle 1 - maximum weight
Bench press 5x3
Squat 5x3
Clean 5x3
- speed of the rep does not matter,just heave
Cycle 2 - half(50%) maximum weight
Clap pushups 3x(max power)
Verticle Jump or Jumping Squat 3x(max power)
Snatch 5x3
- Instantly stop the set the moment you start to loose speed or power.
Do one week of one, then one week of the other. Three times a week. Repeat.