Help me out, comrades.

[Stanislovas]

I'm a 21 year old male, who weighs 132 lbs. and is in pretty good shape. I know my routine isn't the best, and that's why I'm here.

Plan 1
3 x 20 incline pushups, arms perpendicular to the ground.
4 x 50 bicycle crunches.
3 x 20 incline pushups, arms spread.
4 x 50 bicycle crunches.

Plan 2
BJJ class (1 hour)
Jump rope, 3 x 2 minutes (working my way up to 5 minutes)


I have BJJ class on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, so I alternate these routines, with a rest day on Sunday. The thing is, I believe I've pla-toed, as I feel I am no longer making progress, especially with my pushups. Also, the financial troubles I've found myself in are about to lighten up considerably, so I am definently purchasing a heavy bag and a bicycle in the near future. (I used to do long-distance running, but ankle troubles have put an end to that.)

So now I turn to you. My goal is to increase striking and kicking power, and to keep up a level of general fitness. What would you recommend?

[slipthejab]

For starters... you want to ad:

Horizontal pulls (to balance out your pushups)
Reverse Lunges (to work your glutes and hams)
Prisoner Squats (hands on head spine straight - hands on head)
Crunches (work them abs)
Alternating Crunches (opposite knee to opposite elbow)
Burpees (just plain old ass kickers)

all of which will help your BJJ efforts. Note those are all without weights and can be done bodyweight only. So many simple, effective variations on those to improve you current state. If you can get access to dumbbells so much the better.

[locust]

For starters... you want to ad:

Horizontal pulls (to balance out your pushups)
Reverse Lunges (to work your glutes and hams)
Prisoner Squats (hands on head spine straight - hands on head)
Crunches (work them abs)
Alternating Crunches (opposite knee to opposite elbow)
Burpees (just plain old ass kickers)

all of which will help your BJJ efforts. Note those are all without weights and can be done bodyweight only. So many simple, effective variations on those to improve you current state. If you can get access to dumbbells so much the better.

Throw 3-5 sets of 20 of these excercises in to your routine and i'd be surprised if you did'nt notice results in a few weeks once you get used to them
(and the relatively small amounts of pain go away)

[slipthejab]

Yep yep.. on the conditioning side 3-5 sets of 20-25 reps is a great way to go. I usually go for the hundreds ... that is 4 sets of 25 reps.

Most people will see a physical difference from just that in relatively short order... those with more set conditioning routines might not see as much. But overall it's a good place to start.

If that set rep range is too much for people... halve it and start from there. No excuses not to do it.

[Stanislovas]

Thank you both for the advice. That is one thing that I forgot to add; I do all of my workouts at home, so these excercises will be very helpful. I'm going to see if I can get a weight bar from one of my weightlifting friends, so I can start on some horizontal pulls. Should these be done on the same day as push-ups?

[liero]

same session for all the exercises if you can manage:)

[slipthejab]

Stanislovas - just so you know with the exception of my weights workouts I workout down at the shipping docks or in the park. In some crazy heat and humidity. Rain or shine. Typhoon warning signal or no. No excuses.

So yes all of these can be done at home. With a bit of impov you can rig up a bar to do horizontal pulls at home. A thicker broom stick between two chairs works. A long length of pipe works as well. Use a bit of imagination.

I generally will go through these in one workout... the point is whole body conditioning and an intense workout. I don't want to spend hours and hours working out.. so if you look at my journal here at MAP:

http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/journal.php?do=showjournal&j=92

I get all of that done in approx. one hour... give or take a few minutes.

[Stanislovas]

Alright then. Expect to hear from me in a couple of weeks.

[Van Zandt]

My goal is to increase striking and kicking power

Including kicking in your workouts would help ;)

Here is a great home workout to improve your kicks:

YouTube - Superfoot Wallace training for high kick with the chair

[mun3t]

You should involve more leg exercise, you only do rope skipping.

Squats
Lunges
Step-Ups

Very effective!

Don't just do Incline Push-Ups. You should mix your push-up plan to hit different spots.

Ex.

Diamond Push-Ups (Triceps)
Wide Push-Ups (Lats, and Chest)
Clap Push-Ups (Explosive)
Explosive Push-Ups (Explosive)

Do the same with the abs plan;

Sit-Ups
Side Bend
Elbow-to-Knee Crunch
Leg Raise

Just so you know, the abs is low rep muscles not high reps (They are type II muscles.)
The Rep range for the stomach: 15-20 reps of 4-6 sets

For Power you should do Plyometrics;

Explosive Push-Ups
Clap Push-Ups
Jumping Squat
Jumping Lunge
Ankle Hops (can be a problem if you still got ankle trouble)
Rope Skipping
Box Jump
180 Degrees Jump
Depth Jump (Advanced)

For your push-ups problem, do about 20-50% of the max rep you can do,

Ex.

If you can do 50 push-Ups, you should do 10-25 Push-Ups with 45-90 sec rest, and if this doesn't work put some weight on your back!