Powerlifting + BJJ = My Way

Barbarian

New Member
Greetings to all

I've never blogged (except for the videos I post on instagram), I've almost never sat on forums, but now I've decided to try to highlight my workouts here. For some time I have accumulated quite a lot of useful information that I want to share with you. I am sure that someone will find what I do interesting. I feel like the desire to share is beginning to burst me, and I am ready to give all the information that I myself am guided by, especially since I understand that it is very difficult to find information in such a narrow area.

I'll start with a short story about myself.
At the moment I am 34. years old. Since 2009 I have been training in the gym and since 2012 my goal has been to train in powerlifting. Since 2016, I started combining my training with martial arts (boxing, freestyle wrestling and mma) and in 2019 I focused on BJJ/grappling training, which I am doing now.

As for the use of pharmacology, I have been taking TRT for more than 7 years + I use other anabolic steroids and drugs.

By mixing different types of training, I have always wanted to preserve my strength, and if possible, continue to increase my results, and I succeed.

I want to convey to everyone who is interested in this topic that it is quite possible to combine training of different directions effectively. Many people think that this is not so, however, I also once thought so.

I have quite a lot of thoughts about the training process, about how to engage in martial arts and at the same time maintain strength, good visual form and achieve a significant result in the business started, as well as not to go into overtraining and not lose motivation. How to properly build a training process, recover, having 5-9 workouts a week, learn to remove excess in the training process, and of course share his experience in
the reasonable reception of pharmacology.
I want to tell you about all this, without secrets and omissions, everything is as it is, based on my experience, the experience of other people.

I am open to any questions that will help you. Perhaps some of you are unsuccessfully trying to do the same, or are planning, but do not know where to start. I have something to tell you. I'm sure it will be interesting and useful for someone.

This is a small introduction. I will continue. I will be glad to receive feedback from you! Maybe you have questions, suggestions for the disclosure of any topics. Write, it will help me to be more useful on this platform!

I apologize in advance for my English

Have a nice day, everyone.
 
Nice mate, nice. Good deadlifting there - I am guessing your 1 RM is around 300kg is it? I have a little experience at trying to do this but not much, I attended a few beginners classes at the local MMA gym where they teach a combination of Thai Boxing and BJJ/groundwork in their classes so in a sense I was completely unconditioned although have been powerlifting for quite a few years now. The problems that I had was apart from my cardio and fitness being bad, my flexibility was horrendous in areas like my hamstrings and glutes which meant doing forward kicks and groundwork were extremely difficult! lol Doing any kind of movement on the floor was extremely awkward. Also all of the sparring and elbow strikes we did made my front delts very sore for 4 or 5 days after making any kind of heavy benching impossible too. I am sure if I had done more classes my body would climatize more to these sessions and recovery rates would get quicker though.

The problem is that the fighting side relies heavily on physical fitness and endurance, where as the powerlifting is purely intense fast twitch muscle contractions which last a few seconds if that especially in maxes. They are both great sports and have interests in both, but I think you will always find that one will suffer as a result of the other depending largely on which you concentrate most on. You can always be strong especially with a heavy set build like yourself, but you will not reach your absolute peak strength whilst you practise BJJ at the same time. I am sure the reverse is true too where if you did less powerlifting you would ultimately be lighter and fitter and excel at BJJ more. BUT at the same time it must be awesome to be able to fight like that whilst also have a tonne of strength and power at your disposal - I cannot imagine someone being able to get out of one of your arm bars too easily!!! LMAO I would just stick to the way things you are doing things already, powerlifting can get pretty boring after a while especially if you are finding it harder and harder to hit PR's as you get older.
 
Nice mate, nice. Good deadlifting there - I am guessing your 1 RM is around 300kg is it? I have a little experience at trying to do this but not much, I attended a few beginners classes at the local MMA gym where they teach a combination of Thai Boxing and BJJ/groundwork in their classes so in a sense I was completely unconditioned although have been powerlifting for quite a few years now. The problems that I had was apart from my cardio and fitness being bad, my flexibility was horrendous in areas like my hamstrings and glutes which meant doing forward kicks and groundwork were extremely difficult! lol Doing any kind of movement on the floor was extremely awkward. Also all of the sparring and elbow strikes we did made my front delts very sore for 4 or 5 days after making any kind of heavy benching impossible too. I am sure if I had done more classes my body would climatize more to these sessions and recovery rates would get quicker though.

The problem is that the fighting side relies heavily on physical fitness and endurance, where as the powerlifting is purely intense fast twitch muscle contractions which last a few seconds if that especially in maxes. They are both great sports and have interests in both, but I think you will always find that one will suffer as a result of the other depending largely on which you concentrate most on. You can always be strong especially with a heavy set build like yourself, but you will not reach your absolute peak strength whilst you practise BJJ at the same time. I am sure the reverse is true too where if you did less powerlifting you would ultimately be lighter and fitter and excel at BJJ more. BUT at the same time it must be awesome to be able to fight like that whilst also have a tonne of strength and power at your disposal - I cannot imagine someone being able to get out of one of your arm bars too easily!!! LMAO I would just stick to the way things you are doing things already, powerlifting can get pretty boring after a while especially if you are finding it harder and harder to hit PR's as you get older.
That's right, friend, I think my deadlift is about 300 kg, but I hope it will get bigger because now I'm back to heavy weights. For a long time I did only the upper body.

If we talk about deltas, then they consist almost all of fast-rotating fibers, whereas in order to keep your hands at your head, you need a lot of slow fibers. That's why your deltas got tired very quickly. After about two years, these problems would disappear. Adaptation happens over time, as you wrote.

As for the fact that one type of activity interferes with the development of another - I used to think so too, but my personal experience and practice have shown a slightly different result. Now I am sure that it is possible to have good results here and there, it's just that few people really did it.

Most often, the problem of powerlifters and bodybuilders who come to martial arts is that they try to train like everyone else, but this is fundamentally not true. An individual approach is important here and gradually adapting to a new type of load
 
That's right, friend, I think my deadlift is about 300 kg, but I hope it will get bigger because now I'm back to heavy weights. For a long time I did only the upper body.

If we talk about deltas, then they consist almost all of fast-rotating fibers, whereas in order to keep your hands at your head, you need a lot of slow fibers. That's why your deltas got tired very quickly. After about two years, these problems would disappear. Adaptation happens over time, as you wrote.

As for the fact that one type of activity interferes with the development of another - I used to think so too, but my personal experience and practice have shown a slightly different result. Now I am sure that it is possible to have good results here and there, it's just that few people really did it.

Most often, the problem of powerlifters and bodybuilders who come to martial arts is that they try to train like everyone else, but this is fundamentally not true. An individual approach is important here and gradually adapting to a new type of load
Aah thats very interesting about the Delts!!! Thats why is it as I noticed after just a few minutes of holding up my fists constantly and striking they were extremely tired, I guess this is why. Its funny as my first lesson in there I was extremely intimidated at first before going in, but I said to myself who in there can lift what I can I'd knock any one of them out!!! LMAO All the guys in there were lean or skinny but I realised how wrong my assumption was - Within 5 minutes of attempting it myself and watching others around me I realised even that even the guys who appeared to be amateurs could knock me out within 2 minutes due to skill and fitness levels HAHAHA I keep meaning to go back as it was when Covid hit us and the gym closed for a year.
 
That's right, friend, I think my deadlift is about 300 kg, but I hope it will get bigger because now I'm back to heavy weights. For a long time I did only the upper body.

If we talk about deltas, then they consist almost all of fast-rotating fibers, whereas in order to keep your hands at your head, you need a lot of slow fibers. That's why your deltas got tired very quickly. After about two years, these problems would disappear. Adaptation happens over time, as you wrote.

As for the fact that one type of activity interferes with the development of another - I used to think so too, but my personal experience and practice have shown a slightly different result. Now I am sure that it is possible to have good results here and there, it's just that few people really did it.

Most often, the problem of powerlifters and bodybuilders who come to martial arts is that they try to train like everyone else, but this is fundamentally not true. An individual approach is important here and gradually adapting to a new type of load
It is true that you should not rush, time, consistency and adaptation. This is a very true remark.
 
Aah thats very interesting about the Delts!!! Thats why is it as I noticed after just a few minutes of holding up my fists constantly and striking they were extremely tired, I guess this is why. Its funny as my first lesson in there I was extremely intimidated at first before going in, but I said to myself who in there can lift what I can I'd knock any one of them out!!! LMAO All the guys in there were lean or skinny but I realised how wrong my assumption was - Within 5 minutes of attempting it myself and watching others around me I realised even that even the guys who appeared to be amateurs could knock me out within 2 minutes due to skill and fitness levels HAHAHA I keep meaning to go back as it was when Covid hit us and the gym closed for a year.
The problem with deltas haunts all beginners, especially if you have big and heavy hands. Also, all powerlifters and bodybuilders are the type of athletes who, because of their specific work, are able to strain well but relax badly. And in martial arts, both one and the second are important. This is a skill that also does not come immediately.

As a result, after some time, classes become more effective because the overall endurance increases, local endurance (in working muscles) and the relaxation skill also comes. That is, the fighter should be relaxed most of the time, using the minimum amount of energy per unit of time and create explosive short movements. This is the concept of energy conservation.

While the level of endurance and this skill is too low, it is very difficult to study the technique, because you are constantly tired, especially some muscles that are more involved in the work (for example, deltas, quadriceps and calf muscles). That is why BB and PL athletes need an introductory period and an individual approach.

Yes, at first glance it seems that guys weighing 70 kg will fall from your punches, but it turns out that while you are trying to get in, you miss so many punches that you turn out to be the loser. The same is true in the fight in the ground. It's a shame to lose to some skinny guys, but this is an objective reality. But after some time, when your coordination and understanding of the fight become close in level, the picture changes.

If you're going to go again, I can try to help you with tips that may be useful to you, because while I've found ways to progress, I've been through a lot of shit))
 
Low bar squat 200 kg

Heeeeyyyy!!!!! You have the same Strength shop belt I use Lol

Are you in the UK also then with Strength shop being UK?

I have the 13mm version with the Quick release Prong/buckle on it - they only made these for a limit time for some reason but work really well, not tried with the actual locking buckle on it.
 
Heeeeyyyy!!!!! You have the same Strength shop belt I use Lol

Are you in the UK also then with Strength shop being UK?

I have the 13mm version with the Quick release Prong/buckle on it - they only made these for a limit time for some reason but work really well, not tried with the actual locking buckle on it.
I am from the Baltic States brother, but I ordered the belt from the UK back in 2013 when this brand was not so popular yet. A great belt, it served me for a very long time.

The story of this belt is very interesting. In 2018, I lost it and couldn't figure out where it had gone. Then it turned out that I left it in the gym where I was trainingat that time. I discovered this only a few years later, but decided that since it happened, it means his place is there. Now I come to this gym once a week on Tuesdays and this belt kindly protects me=).
 
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