Started Judo, Struggling with Lifting

Bigger Stronger Leaner
1

hey everyone i’ve just started judo recently 3 months ago and am enjoying it alot, but the thing is i’ve been having trouble being consistent with my lifting because I don’t really have a clear goal in mind anymore. I want to do judo and progress but at the same time i want to work on being bigger and stronger, so basically what i’m saying is how can i strike a balance between the two activities.

Currently I just want to do judo just for self defense and conditioning purposes and am not really interested in competing until i get to a higher rank (maybe green), thing is my stamina sucks hard when we get to newaza and it drains all the energy out of me leaving me gassed for the rest of class(we have classes twice a week for 1.5 hr).

When it comes to weight training i’m still in the middle of a cut and trying to hold onto strength, so far I’ve lost 12 lbs and still need to lose another 25 or so. So with all this being said, how would you recommend i structure my training plan based on me being a beginner in judo and a guy looking to lose weight at the moment before going on another bulk eventually. should i continue to focus on a bodybuilding split, or should i do some kind of upper lower split to hold onto muscle mass while focusing on the compound lifts to aid in judo. Do you think i should do any conditioning work or rely on judo to boost my stamina eventually.

2

Ok I’m guessing I haven’t gotten any replies because no one knows wtf i’m going on about, so I’ll rephrase. Should I keep bodybuilding 4 days a week while doing judo twice a week, or should I switch over to a 3 day full body split at this current beginner stage?? I want to be able to maintain and build muscle/strength while getting the most out of my judo classes which is why i’m asking for some advice here. As I go up in rank I’m willing to eventually sacrifice the days I weight lift for more judo, but at this stage is it a good idea to just keep doing what I’m doing, keeping in mind i gas out horribly during newaza?? or should i focus on a specific routine?

3

This being my first post under my new name (having been away from these boards for a bit), I don’t want to be overly critical/harsh, so here’s my advice;

I think you really summed up your problem in your first sentance, “I don’t really have a clear goal in mind anymore.”

It is very difficult to chase several goals all at once, you can’t get leaner, fitter, stronger and better at judo all at the same time. Sit and think about your priorities, think about what it is that you are trying to achieve with your training, not just a vauge idea of becomming a ripped martial artist who may compete one day.

Post more detailed information about yourself, age, weight, strength stats, how long you’ve been training, what your current program is, goals (weight/strength whatever), progress you’ve been making towards your goals, etc.

This will help us to help you.

In my experience, you would also get a better response from some the “veterans” for this board if you;

  1. Change your user name
  2. Use better punctuation and sentance structure.
  3. Have a clearly defined question or topic for discussion, that couldn’t be answered by either lurking more, going through old threads, or general research.

Oh and in response to your rephrased question,
No, a 4 day “bodybuilder” routine is almost def. not optimal for you.
A 3 day full body may be better, it might be even worse, who knows without knowing more specific information?
Gassing out in newaza is probably just a lack of experience, as you get to learn to relax, use technique rather than strength etc. this will probably improve. But then, who knows, do you also get gassed walking up stairs?
There are of course things you can do to improve your energy systems, but again, this requires you to focus on it, and it doesn’t sound like that is your main goal at the moment.

Hope this was somewhat helpful.

4

[quote]WWEAttitude wrote:
Ok I’m guessing I haven’t gotten any replies because no one knows wtf i’m going on about, so I’ll rephrase. Should I keep bodybuilding 4 days a week while doing judo twice a week, or should I switch over to a 3 day full body split at this current beginner stage?? I want to be able to maintain and build muscle/strength while getting the most out of my judo classes which is why i’m asking for some advice here. As I go up in rank I’m willing to eventually sacrifice the days I weight lift for more judo, but at this stage is it a good idea to just keep doing what I’m doing, keeping in mind i gas out horribly during newaza?? or should i focus on a specific routine?[/quote]

well, i think you, like many of us, get wrapped up in doing all at once…

when you’re learning a new skill, your body is challenged a little more from a recovery standpoint (CNS, mainly)…your recovery is gonna decrease in general. additionally, bodybuilding style workouts are really gonna help you a lot in judo…

granted, added strength and weight will help you push people around, but in combat sports you really wanna worry about strength-weight ratios…

i think if you want to maintain strength, then i’d back off to 2-3 days of week of full-body style workouts (like you suggested). if you really wanna shed weight, then i’d suggest looking at complexes, HIIT, etc…

good luck!

5

[quote]cycobushmaster wrote:

[quote]WWEAttitude wrote:
Ok I’m guessing I haven’t gotten any replies because no one knows wtf i’m going on about, so I’ll rephrase. Should I keep bodybuilding 4 days a week while doing judo twice a week, or should I switch over to a 3 day full body split at this current beginner stage?? I want to be able to maintain and build muscle/strength while getting the most out of my judo classes which is why i’m asking for some advice here. As I go up in rank I’m willing to eventually sacrifice the days I weight lift for more judo, but at this stage is it a good idea to just keep doing what I’m doing, keeping in mind i gas out horribly during newaza?? or should i focus on a specific routine?[/quote]

well, i think you, like many of us, get wrapped up in doing all at once…

when you’re learning a new skill, your body is challenged a little more from a recovery standpoint (CNS, mainly)…your recovery is gonna decrease in general. additionally, bodybuilding style workouts are really gonna help you a lot in judo…

granted, added strength and weight will help you push people around, but in combat sports you really wanna worry about strength-weight ratios…

i think if you want to maintain strength, then i’d back off to 2-3 days of week of full-body style workouts (like you suggested). if you really wanna shed weight, then i’d suggest looking at complexes, HIIT, etc…

good luck![/quote]

I think a major problem with me is that i can’t seem to build strength-weight ratio no matter how hard I try. I’ve been training for roughly 2 years seriously and everytime I add in cardio to try and lose weight I seem to shrink but not get any leaner and my strength starts to fall, which leads to me cutting out cardio out of fear of muscle loss/strength. 3 days of full body training doesn’t seem to do it for me because of this problem. I was thinking about doing a 4 day push/pull split with 15-20 min of cardio afterwards 1-2 times a week, would that be better then a bodybuilding routine? Like I said, I’m just doing both of these as hobbies and may get serious in judo after a year, but in the meantime I don’t want recovery to become an issue.

I’ve thought about my goal and have decided that I just want to lose weight and get leaner while building my strength. My cardio isn’t terrible that i struggle to walk a flight of stairs or anything, but during judo I sweat alot more compared to others.

6

The cardio for Judo is tougher and different from anything I’ve ever done. It’ll come in time. I sat and prayed for death just doing uchikomi my first few months, let alone randori. Just keep going.

As a bonus, if you keep doing it I guarantee you that you’ll lose weight. Judo will get you in shape if you watch your diet a bit and work at it. But Judo is hard on the body especially in the beginning. But Judo is awesome.

Bodybuilding routines and Judo don’t mix.

Your goals are contradictory. If I were you, I’d train for Judo. That’s your goal. Strength, power, speed and cardio. Pulling power. The complexes for cardio/fat loss suggestion was a good one. As are 2-3 days/week of strength/power training.

I find that the better my cardio gets, the better my Judo gets. I can do more randori, can learn more technique, and execute technique better.

7

If you are trying to do weightlifting, and any other physically demanding activity at the same time either one or both will suffer to some degree. After I started training to fight I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to make the strength gains and may even lose some strength at the expense of high volume technique training.

Personally I had to drop weightlifting to two days a week, still following an upper lower split with some supplementary posterior chain work on the upper body day.

As far as your cardio, You might want to take 4 weeks and dedicated at least two sessions a week to some really hard hill sprints. I say this because I have noticed that as my cardio has gotten better my sessions in the gym have become easier to complete, and less taxing to my boxy overall. Not only do I get more out of the session, but I also recover quicker.

8

can someone tell me what would be best?? upper/lower over 3 days or a push/pull/legs for 3 days of strength training?? i really want to know because i’m going to be doing judo mon,tues,wed. so i want to strength train thurs,fri,sat.

9

I had the exact same problem when i first started judo. we had practice tues, thurs, and sunday. I thought that 45 mins of working on technique followed by 45 minutes of tough randori was just as difficult as any workout i’ve had at the gym. But during the week i had way less time to lift, almost no recovery days, and was definitely more tired in the gym. What really helped me keep gaining strength was actually cutting down how much i lifted. For the three non judo days a week i would just focus on one or maybe two for upper body compound lifts each day (squats/deads/weights pullups/weighted dips/bench/ military press/ etc) and then do one or two sensible supplement exercises with less weight (bw pull ups/ bw dips/ pushups/ pistols/ sprints/ box jumps / lunges/ rowing machine etc). Its really similiar to the 5 /3 /1 workout, but maybe a little more condensed/ less lifting. i didnt follow his weight progression exactly but the idea is the same. I was able to keep my workouts really short (< 45 mins), pushing really hard in usually 3, sometimes 4 exercises each day . Idk if this helps, but it worked for me, ive been able to slowly progress in all my lifts because i stopped destroying my body quite so much, but kept doing the important compound lifts.

10

[quote]WWEAttitude wrote:
can someone tell me what would be best?? upper/lower over 3 days or a push/pull/legs for 3 days of strength training?? i really want to know because i’m going to be doing judo mon,tues,wed. so i want to strength train thurs,fri,sat.[/quote]

You’re probably going to burn out with that schedule.

11

[quote]WWEAttitude wrote:
hey everyone i’ve just started judo recently 3 months ago and am enjoying it alot, but the thing is i’ve been having trouble being consistent with my lifting because I don’t really have a clear goal in mind anymore. I want to do judo and progress but at the same time i want to work on being bigger and stronger, so basically what i’m saying is how can i strike a balance between the two activities.

Currently I just want to do judo just for self defense and conditioning purposes and am not really interested in competing until i get to a higher rank (maybe green), thing is my stamina sucks hard when we get to newaza and it drains all the energy out of me leaving me gassed for the rest of class(we have classes twice a week for 1.5 hr).

When it comes to weight training i’m still in the middle of a cut and trying to hold onto strength, so far I’ve lost 12 lbs and still need to lose another 25 or so. So with all this being said, how would you recommend i structure my training plan based on me being a beginner in judo and a guy looking to lose weight at the moment before going on another bulk eventually. should i continue to focus on a bodybuilding split, or should i do some kind of upper lower split to hold onto muscle mass while focusing on the compound lifts to aid in judo. Do you think i should do any conditioning work or rely on judo to boost my stamina eventually.[/quote]
buy jim wendlers 5/3/1 and follow the 2 0r 3 day program, follow it and youll see the gains you want. you could also follow a 3 day a week progam that has a max effort lower day, max effort upper day and a total body day. focus on heavy weight on core lifts and keep extra stuff to a minimum. the judo will also tax your strength so dont worry about not using the same weights for a while, they will bounce back. judo will help you conditioning if you want to do more you can also run hill sprints, prowler pushes, sled drags and farmer walks. good luck