Time to revamp my training and take things to the next level. A little more accountability never hurt, so I'm starting a log.
Goals:
Muay Thai 3 x week. I was doing it only 2 x week regularly.
Switching from SS to Tactical Barbell. TB has a two day periodized 'Fighter' template which looks perfect for what I want. SS was good, but heavy lifting three days a week cuts into muay for me. I get way more benefit from MT than hitting the weights to be honest, so have to readjust my priorities accordingly. From here on in MT's the priority.
Conditioning - majority will come from MT, but I may do an extra HIIT session or steady state long run once a week or so.
Intermittent Fasting - will continue as normal. Break fast at 1pm. Train at around 5. Stop eating at around 9.
My Week:
Day 1: MT
Day 2: Tactical Barbell
Day 3: MT
Day 4: Extra HITT/Conditioning/Kettlebells/calisthenics OR Extra Rest Day
Day 5: Tactical Barbell
Day 6: MT
Day 7: Rest
I'll be using the 'Fighter' template from TB, with a 'Heavy cluster'. I was torn between a 'standard cluster' (only three lifts) vs the heavy which consists of four. Decided to go with the heavy since I'm only doing a two day template, and not a three. The one I chose has me doing:
Bench/ Squats/Weighted pull ups/Deads
Tomorrow, will be Test Day. I'll do all my 1rm's for the above lifts, so I have the numbers for the template I'm using.
G
So after 9 weeks of following the above fairly regularly I'm going to assess my progress and move forward, tweak as necessary.
My overall goal as stated above was to focus on MT. In the past I was averaging two days a week in part due to extra strength and conditioning, life's obligations, and general tiredness/laziness kicking in. I had stopped enjoying MT classes and found I was going through the motions more than anything and my progress was sorta stalled.
My specific goals to achieve the above were to drop my strength training from the 3 x week Starting Strength I'd been doing to a 2 x week strength template. And to increase my Muay Thai to a minimum of 3 training sessions a week come rain or shine. I would have one optional extra conditioning day a week, depending on my energy levels.
For my strength program I was debating between doing a 531 2 x week variation or the Tactical Barbell Fighter template. I ended up going with TB at the suggestion of my brother in law who spent 6 years in special forces and who more importantly also trains MMA hard, and used to do a little boxing in the past. This guy is one of those guys that's always ahead of the curve, played with intermittent fasting back when it was unheard of for example.
So 9 weeks later. My MT skills have increased substantially. Adding in that extra day a week has really taken my game up a notch. Whereas in the past I was in the middle of the pack, now I'm definitely in the top third of my class. My stamina and fluidity has increased. I was concerned that not doing extra cardio would have a negative impact. Turns out I was getting all the conditioning I needed from MT. In hindsight it makes sense. 3 days of sport specific/MT training vs a couple days of sprints and interval training, duh - to get better at MT do more MT! Before this I was getting that lead-leg heavy feeling during training. Zombie mode I call it. Now I feel far lighter, fresher, and I have my head in the game and 'present'. I push now instead of just going through the motions.
Strength portion. Before and after one repetition maximums (9 weeks/twice a week):
Squat 260 / 295
Bench 205 / 225
Deadlift 270 / 310 (PR)
Set a new PR for deadlift. Past PR was 300. Keep in mind this was done while training MT three times a week. So I'll be sticking with Tactical Barbell. Starting Strength was good, but lifting 3 x week was not working out for me. And SS focuses a lot on being well fed, well rested, and gaining weight. As a fighter who also works full time that ain't happening. Plus I see tons of examples in real life of athletes and regular joes getting much stronger without drinking gallons of milk or turning into fatties. Obviously there are other avenues of gaining strength for weight class category athletes. Enter TB. I really liked TB's approach to the weights, slower incremental increases, lots of eastern bloc based periodization, more of staying with the same weight for a while before increases - but bigger jumps. PRs are done only during testing days at the beginning and end of your strength phase.
Another thing I noticed in the whole 'doing less is more' approach was I performed even better when I used my optional rest day instead of doing more cardio or conditioning. Two days of rest seemed ideal.
Looks for the vain: I haven't changed drastically physique wise - I'm a lot leaner/ripped with the extra MT, and my muscles are slightly denser. But nothing drastic.
Negatives? I'm reaching here, but I occasionally miss fooling around in the gym with new workouts, conditioning stuff, kettlebells etc. But again I do have that optional day if I get really bored, or a bad case of fuck-around-itis.
So in conclusion I'll be sticking with my program. I might experiment with a different TB template down the road, but for now I don't want to fix what ain't broken. Three days of MT with only two days of weights is the ticket for me.
