[JayElliott]

I've posted questions on these forums before, and I've found that as my knowledge increases, my questions increase as well. Perhaps that's a good thing.

I began at 340lbs a year ago, lost 52 of it, then gave my body a rest to settle (which began in April). Since that time, I went back up from 288 to about 293, and two weeks ago I began the second cut (trying to work down to 240). Today I'm walking around at 278 and dropping - I do progressive LSD five days a week, do a hard weight routine (using supersets) three days a week, and am about to add HIIT sprints to the mix (for three mornings a week). Okay, enough background and bragging, here are my questions.

I intend to fight at the beginning of 2009, and am planning a basic 'fight prep routine' (to begin 8-10 weeks out from the fight). So far, it is as follows (the following only contains strength/conditioning, not technical workouts):

Monday/Thursday:

Morning - HIIT sprints, stretch

Afternoon - high-intensity machine weights routine (similar to Rich Franklin's old routine with high weight and low reps), stretch

Tuesday/Friday:

Morning - medium intensity treadmill runs, 5x5minutes (increasing incline and speed), stretch

Afternoon - strength session including bodyweight exercises, a possible dumbbell complex, sandbag cleaning (also currently looking at other exercises based on the gym I have available), stretch

Wednesday/Saturday:

Morning - (what I consider a) plyometric routine based on Sean Sherk's "Caveman" training, consisting of 5-minute rounds of burpees, flipping a 300-lb tire, sledgehammering the tire, punching and kicking with resistance bands, shooting with resistance bands, stretch

Afternoon - REST

Sunday:

REST

Question I have is, is the "Caveman" routine more strength-based than plyo-based, and moreso, is this too much for strength and explosiveness training?

Any other critique is greatly welcome, as always.

[juanlawnmower]

Your routine looks good, though I don't like that you do a machine workout. You would do better to have a solid 2 day split of compound movemnts on your Tuesday/Friday day.

The "caveman" thing is GPP.

[JayElliott]

Thanks for the response!

Originally Posted by juanlawnmower

You would do better to have a solid 2 day split of compound movemnts on your Tuesday/Friday day.The "caveman" thing is GPP.

Can you elaborate further on this, please?

Originally Posted by juanlawnmower

The "caveman" thing is GPP.

What is GPP?

[juanlawnmower]

General Physical Preparedness. Basically, non-specific movements in the intention of getting you better physically prepared for anything.






This is what I mean for your weightlifting days:

Tuesday:
Squat
Push Press
BOR

Friday:
Deadlift/Cleans
Bench
Weighted Chinups/Pullups

Do those movements instead of using machines. Also, use a rep range of 3-5. A rule that Ross Enamait advocates that I like: 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps for 3-5 exercises.

[JayElliott]

Do the exercises I've listed in my version of the 'Caveman' (what you refer to as GPP) have overall (applicable) explosive/plyometric value, or strength?

[C.Beeby]

Absolutely. The caveman GPP should be more frequent IMO, because it's VERY high instense anaerobic work, etc.

[Urban]

Originally Posted by JayElliott

Do the exercises I've listed in my version of the 'Caveman' (what you refer to as GPP) have overall (applicable) explosive/plyometric value, or strength?

Yes. GPP is actually very usefull for increasing work capacity and conditioning to apply your strength, technique and cardio development to more specific tasks (like actually fighting).

I think you should be aware of the purpose of striking and shooting with resistance bands. this should be submaximal effort, and not an all out grind on these exercises. Since you're incorporating it into a conditioning session, I suppose there's little risk of you loading these up to the 5 rep max range, but still we get assholes on here that think punching with 100lbs worth of bands or 35lb dumbells is going to make them strike like they have bricks in their hands, and it probably won't. Techniques with excessive added resistance change the technique potentially causing improper training, so as long as you keep it relatively light and keep conditioning in mind, you should be fine.

You may want to pick up a book called "infinite intensity" by Ross Enamait to get some good GPP ideas and their applicability to athletics.

[JayElliott]

Thanks for the responses. I've two more questions, if I'm not being too much of a newb with this...

Firstly, does the Caveman routine apply to strength as much as it does conditioning and explosiveness?

And secondly, my other routine option was strength training w/sprints Mon, Wed, Fri, with the Caveman on Tue and Thu. Will this work as well?

[C.Beeby]

Since you have over a year, you should try the two day split in the FAQ. If you do well enough with you you may find yourself stronger for your fight in 09. Do LSD more than sprints while you're trying to lose fat, and go to the D&S forums and http://johnberardi.com/ and read everything. Once you get to the weight you are happy at, do more sprints than LSD.

As for the "Caveman" (Strongman) workouts, it will focus on more strength if it's difficult to do a rep, more conditioning if you have to do a bunch of reps in succession, and explosiveness if you focus on doing each rep as fast as possible. You have more potential for explosiveness based on maximal strength, and more conditioning based on the weight you use.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?!?!?!?!

[Dan's Knuckles]

Seriously, the advice given in this thread was solid. The only thing that I would say is add in Oly lifting such as the power clean and other explosive and plyometric activities to truly capitalize on developing explosive power.