12 week strength/conditioning programme needed

[spirez]

I'm starting a 12 week personal training course on Monday and i get to use all of the facilities at the gym. Since it's an intensive course that requires a fair bit of home study my martial arts training is going to be pretty limited so i want to use my time at the gym to focus on my conditioning and strength.

Can anybody make some suggestions as to the sort of exercises/lifts that would be most beneficial to me over this 12 week period. I want to improve strength, speed and explosiveness as well as my cardio. I'm guessing a lot of compund exercises would be good including squats, deadlifts, cleans etc. What sort of reps/sets should i be looking at?

I'm looking at being able to fit in a 40 minute workout in the morning and a 30-40 minute workout at lunchtime too. I'll be there monday to friday.

I'll have access to all the usual weights and cardio equipment, plus a 25m pool and also a rock climbing machine, which is like a large vertical treadmill with the rubber blocks that you use to climb. I thought that could come in quite handy as an unorthodox training method.

I haven't lifted weights in over 8 months.

[MartinM]

Bit off topic but who are you doing the course with and how much is it costing you if oyu dont mind me asking?

[spirez]

It's with www.premierglobal.co.uk and cost £4k

Expensive but i like the way it's all laid out and taught and for me personally, i find it the best way to learn as i am useless at reading my books on ym own, hence why i didn't go for a paper based course.

The personal training course on its own is just under £2k.

I'm doing what they call the premier diploma which includes level 2 gym instruction, level 3 PT, nutritional advice and the sports massage therapy course

[James Copping]

Plenty of powercleans, cleans, snatches, squats deads bench press rows, all performed explosively. Maybe pick 1 lift a day, do 8x3(8 sets of 3 reps) on it and then some assistance:

Mon-
Powercleans 8x3
Overhead press 3x10-12(3sets of 10-12reps)
Tricep work 3x10-12

Tue
Barbell row 8x3
DB bench 3x10-12
Bicep work 3x10-12

Wed
Squat 8x3
Calf work 3x10-12

Thu
Snatch 8x3
Bench 8x3

Fri
Deadlift 8x3
pullups 3x10-12

I'm just throwing ideas around. Have a play and see what suits you.

[MartinM]

What is your MAIN goal, what do you want to be able to do?

[hailtotheking]

Quote

Plenty of powercleans, cleans, snatches, squats deads bench press rows, all performed explosively. Maybe pick 1 lift a day, do 8x3(8 sets of 3 reps) on it and then some assistance:

Mon-
Powercleans 8x3
Overhead press 3x10-12(3sets of 10-12reps)
Tricep work 3x10-12

Tue
Barbell row 8x3
DB bench 3x10-12
Bicep work 3x10-12

Wed
Squat 8x3
Calf work 3x10-12

Thu
Snatch 8x3
Bench 8x3

Fri
Deadlift 8x3
pullups 3x10-12

I'm just throwing ideas around. Have a play and see what suits you.

Looks good to me. On Monday, i'd make the triceps work parallel bar Dips.

Also, i'd replace the biceps work on Tuesday with high pulls.

Some unilateral work would be good as well to strengthen the core and develop co-ordination - e.g with the DB bench on Tuesday you could do 1-arm DB bench, and instead of calf raises on weds (the calves will get hammered with the oly lifts anyway), i'd do some unilateral leg work, like weighted lunges, step ups, King deadlifts, etc.

[spirez]

Cheers guys. I'll need some instruction on the oly lifts so will probably start these after a few days when i get chance to learn the correct technique.

The main goal really is to develop strength and power for my Muay Thai and grappling martial arts so all round strength ie pushing/pulling power and stronger kicks/punches. Don't want to put on too much weight as i'm roughly 70kg/155lb at the moment and will be fighting around this weight.

Are there any specific exercises that are really good for grip and wrist strength?

Cheers

[spirez]

After a bit of reading and lots of confusion, i'm wondering if the Bill Starr 5x5 program would be something that i could work with?

However, does this program totally rinse you out as from the sites i've seen it seems that it was originated for american footballers to train strength/power in the 'off-sesaon' period.

As a martial artist i don't have the luxury of an off season and will be training my sport-specific sessions 3-4 times per week (usually monday, tuesday, thursday, saturday). These sessions can be pretty intense and last up to 2 hours per night so i cannot be totally drained or even risk total burnout.

Also, how much gain do people make in size/weight with the 5x5 program? I'm currently weighing around 70kg and want to stay around this weight as it's my natural fighting weight so can probably safely go up to around 73kg.

The sort of program i've been looking at goes a bit like this:

Quote

WEEK 1

Format - Weights x reps x sets

Workout 1 (monday) rest at least 5 min in-between squat and row sets.

Bench: 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, 60x5, 65x5

Squat: 80x5x5 (warmup 45x5)

Row: 90x5x5 (no warmup since rows follow squats) - again, we are practicing form here

Workout 2 (wednesday)

Deadlift: 140x5x5

Squat: 65x5x5

Military press: 55x5x4 (4 sets)

Pullups: Bodyweight x5x5

Workout 3 (friday)

Bench: 60x5x5

Squat: 45x5, 55x5, 65x5, 75x5, 95x5

Row: 95x5x5 (again no warmup) - here we just added 5lbs since we are practicing the form with rubber bumper plates.

From this link:

http://www.eclipsegym.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=57

Cheers

[King]

I've heard some people saying they've had some good results from this (it seems similar to the Rippetoes programme) i'm not 100% sure if i'm right on this but I think they're begginer programmes (i'm not sure if your a begginer or not). I like the look of meats programme tho, seems like it could be a pretty interesting routine and the kinda thing i'd like to move on to in the future.

[Gareth83]

that's because Ripptoe has helped developed the Bill Starr programme along with Glenn Pendlay.

I am currently following teh advanced version, although I personally think you will be doing too much with this and the 3-4 sessions a week of MA.

I'm only doing this programme as the football season has finished and I can ensure I can put 100% into each workout.