Civilian training log [BJJ & SE]

[Northerner]

Block is finished, evaluation of goals:

Rehab knee further: It's starting to feel better now. I've kept up the rehab and I'm improving on the exercises, I've added some extra stretching, mobility and hip strength work. I tried Fobbits with running but it did hurt a little and felt like it might exacerbate things so I aborted. Looking just at strength and mobility my knees are now better than they were before my injury. But it still feels fragile.

Keep increasing strength: Going okay. Best lifts this block was bench 102.5kg x 2, WPU 3 reps with +25kg, TPDL 140 x 3. Hypertrophy ranges went well and I didn't miss any reps there.

Reintroduce conditioning 3x/week: I failed this mostly on account of my knee, since running is still out of the option. I tried some additional light 30min rucks which seemed fine. Got lazy with the HICS I suppose.

I gained 1kg or so and I'm up at 88kg.

[Northerner]

For the next block I will keep the same OP/Pro cluster, sticking with the hypertrophy ranges for the secondary lifts. Five sets for bench press and WPU, three sets for TPDL.

Bench press TM 102.5kg (+2.5kg)
TPDL TM: 135kg (+5kg)
WPU: 0x10 | +7.5kg x 8 |+12.5kg x 6

Rehab will continue the same.

I have a very special plan for my cardio for this block. I will be doing BJJ solo drils. This if for multiple reasons; first to see how the movements affect my knee, second to increase ground athleticism in preparation for my return to BJJ and third to increase cardio. I'll keep my heartrate monitor on and add some KB swings, burpees and bear crawls if my HR goes too low or just gets too damn boring.

I also have a tiny glimmer of hope for returning to BJJ during this block but I won't rush it, it all depends on how the solo drills go.

Goals:
1) Rehab knee further.
2) Keep increasing strength.
3) Increase ground athlethicism .
4) Possibly return to BJJ.

Mon: OP/Pro + ATG Zero
Tue: Solo Drills Cardio
Wed: OP/Pro + ATG Zero
Thur: Solo Drills Cardio
Fri: OP/Pro + ATG Zero
Sat: Solo Drills Cardio
Sat: Rest

[Northerner]

Block finished, evaluation:
Goals were:
1) Rehab knee further. <- Doing well, increased strenght and ROM yet again. Both knee are feeling better but not 100%, I'm not ready to start running just yet
2) Keep increasing strength. <- No great breakthroughs here, but I only missed some reps on WPU.
3) Increase ground athlethicism . <- I've done BJJ solo drills and gotten some back for sure
4) Possibly return to BJJ. <- Last night I went to my first BJJ class in 6 months and the knee held up! Very happy about this and I believe I can start training again

I now longer consider this a rehab journal and this is again a training journal! It's been 6 months but I'm very proud that I've done rehab every other day this entire time. Hopefully it'll be a while before I get injured again, even though its unavoidable in the long term.

[Northerner]

New block:
So my plans for the next block is 6 weeks long. The main focus is BJJ, rehab and injury mitigation.

I've slowly reintroduced regular back squats at low weights. The difference now being that the squats serve the function of increasing hip and knee ability for BJJ and everyday life, not for the purpose of chasing higher weights. So the weights will be kept low initially with a focus on form and pain free execution then slowly increasing.

Max strength
Operator 3 days a week with the regular cluster, weights used:
Bench press: 100kg x 2
WPU: 110kg x 3
Squat 60kg x 1
TPDL (once a week for 3 sets): 140kg x 3

Extra
Purpose to help BJJ and mitigate injury, all or some of these are performed after operator when I have the energy:
Neck training
Wrist roller
Core
Arms

Rehab
3 days a week of knees over toes and myrtl routine, usually done before/during operator.

Conditioning
3 days a week, in order of priority:
1) BJJ 90min classes, whenever I can't make it
2) Solo drills combined with cardio like KB swings, bear crawls, burpees for 30-60min
3) Regular cardio in some fashion like rucking or meat eater


So in summary: goals for end of july and august
1) Keep going to BJJ
2) 6 weeks of operator with easy squats
3) Keep up rehab
4) Body weight is inconsequential

[Northerner]

Mid block evaulation, goals were:
1) Keep going to BJJ
This is going well

2) 6 weeks of operator with easy squats
Went decent, but I've noticed some slight elbow pain on bench press over 90%

3) Keep up rehab
Going well, knee is feeling fine in squats and BJJ

4) Body weight is inconsequential
I've dropped weight down to 85kg, while I feel and look fine I do think it would be helpful to really up my calorie intake right now

Since BJJ is my main priority now I don't want to increase risk of injury in the gym but I want to decrease it. So more focus on prehab, rehab and lighter weights:
MS training
Zulu/HT with standard cluster and quite conservative training maxes,
OHP - 50kg
TPDL - 120kg
Squat - 60kg
Bench Press - 95kg

As finishers 3 extra exercises focusing on prehab/rehab and muscle gain: neck, shoulders, abs, grip, biceps and triceps

Conditioning
2-3 90min BJJ classes / week

Extra
ATG zero rehab during MS training
Stretching/Yoga with focus on neck, upper back, hips

Goals:
1) Keep going to BJJ
3) 3 weeks of Zulu/HT
3) Keep up my rehab, up my prehab
4) Daily surplus of decent food, gain 1-2kg bodyweight

[Northerner]

Short evaluation
So after just one week of this setup I've reached the conclusion that I bit off more than I can chew.
When it was just max strength, LSS and even HICs at my own set tempo I felt pretty in tune with my recovery. BJJ seems like a completely different beast.
This week I did 3 x 90 min classes of BJJ with 30+30+45min hard sparring, then 4 MS workouts like I had planned, and lots of yoga, rehab, prehab. It's been too much and I don't think I'll be able to progress MS like this. I feel fine during sparring, both cardio and strength wise, but my gym sessions seem to not be going very well. Maybe when I'm more techincally skilled this could work, who knows.

But for now BJJ is the main priority, and with that comes a high priority of injury mitigation. So I'm gonna take one step back and switch yet again, from zulu/ht to fighter/ht.

Upcoming block: Fighter/HT
Cluster will be the standard BP,SQ,TPDL. I added 5kg to each from my previous conservative TM, mainly so I could get some nice even numbers. I think this will work since I'm pretty far from my real maxes and Fighter/HT being easier than Zulu/HT:
TPDL: 125kg
SQ: 65kg
BP: 100kg

I also need to get the ATG zero rehab in 3 times a week and I also think the prehab high rep work has been benificial. I'll keep those in as finishers. That's high reps far from failure for neck, shoulders, trapz, biceps and triceps. Also yoga and mobility, since it's not very taxing, will be added in whenever I can. But always some knee, hip and neck mobility before BJJ.

So a typical week will hopefully look like this from now on. Sometimes MS and BJJ will fall on the same day and some other day will be a full rest day instead.

Sun: BP/SQ + ATG zero and neck
Mon: Yoga and mobility
Tue: Yoga and mobility, BJJ
Wed: BP/SQ + ATG zero and neck
Thu: Yoga and mobility, BJJ
Fri: DL + ATG zero and upper back, elbows
Sat: BJJ, Yoga and mobility

My plan is to try this for three weeks. If I feel like I'm recovering fine then I might slowly add more; first and foremost pull up finishers. If even this is too much I'll revert to regular fighter capped at 2 MS / week.

[Northerner]

Evaulation
Goals were:
1) Keep going to BJJ <- Success
3) 3 weeks of Fighter/HT <- Success (with some caveats)
3) Keep up my rehab, up my prehab <- Successs
4) Daily surplus of decent food, gain 1-2kg bodyweight <- Failed, I haven't weighed myself but my diet has been very poor

Volume wise Fighter was fine. However my knee felt a bit funny during week 2, like a 0.5/10 pain.
I still went to BJJ but I didn't spar during week 2. I Sparred again week 3 and it went well.

I skipped squats during week 3. While filming my squats I noticed a pretty big shifting towards one side. Also during mobility work I noticed a big difference in hip mobility on the right versus left side. This could very well be a culprit in my knee issues and I have to adjust.

Upcoming block: OP/IA
Following a tip I read from K.B I will move on to OP/IA from TB1. Sort of like a mix between fighter and operator. On weeks when BJJ is very tough I will rest an extra day. Some weeks I can only make it to BJJ twice and I will instead go harder on OP.

I will however not continue with loaded squats but instead do more TPDL. I will keep up the various mobility work and do bodyweight banded squats as part of my knee rehab work to see if I can improve my form. Since I still haven't really found my groove with MS since my injury I will keep TMs from last block. I think the key to increasing this is in my diet.
Set ranges 3-10 for BP and WPU and 1-10 for TPDL

Cluster and TM:
TPDL: 125kg
WPU: 120kg/BW+34kg
BP: 100kg

Goals for the next block in order of importance:

1) Eat more and better - no strict limitations, increased portion sizes, more frequent meals, more protein
2) BJJ 2-3 times / week
3) OP/IA 2-3 times / week
4) Keep up knee rehab, neck elbow and shoulder prehab, mobility work and yoga

Plan
Can't really lay out a weekly plan since it's a floating schedule but something in the way of:

D1: OP + ATG zero + Neck/Shoulders/Curls/Grip
D2: Yoga + BJJ
D3: Potential rest day or move to D4
D4: OP + ATG zero + Neck/Triceps/Grip
D5: Yoga + BJJ
D6: OP + ATG Zero + Neck/Trapz/Shoulders
D7: Yoga + BJJ (or move to D8)
D8: rest

[Northerner]

Block finished finally, I got pretty sick right in the middle so it ended up being 1.5 week on, 2.5 week off, 1.5 week on.

Evaluation:
Goals were:
1) Eat more and better - no strict limitations, increased portion sizes, more frequent meals, more protein <- Medium success. However when I was sick my diet was crap and I was completely sedentary, that'ts probably when I gained most weight haha. I did gain about 2kg and I'm at 89.5kg now
2) BJJ 2-3 times / week <- Success, and it's going well
3) OP/IA 2-3 times / week <- Success, missed a couple of reps on WPU but nothing alarming
4) Keep up knee rehab, neck elbow and shoulder prehab, mobility work and yoga <- Success, I've upped the yoga, downed the knee rehab a bit but not stopped it completely. Knee hasn't been giving me trouble this block.

Next block:
Next block will simply be a repeat with increased TMs, same goals and two minor changes:
1) I will add bulgarian split squats as an accessory once a week and remove one of the neck training workouts because it's been a bit too much.
2) I'm gassing a bit in BJJ and it feels like i've lost a fair bit of aerobic conditioning. I don't want to risk my knee by running again so I'll try and see if I can get 60-90min powerwalk in / week at 130-150bpm.
3) For knee rehab I'm not doing the full ATG zero program every time, just the backwards sled and split squats most of the time.

Plan:
D1: OP + Knee rehab + Neck/Shoulders/Curls/Grip
D2: Yoga + BJJ
D3: Power walk or rest or move to D4
D4: OP + Knee rehab + BSS/Triceps/Grip
D5: Yoga + BJJ
D6: OP + Knee rehab + Neck/Trapz/Shoulders
D7: Yoga + BJJ (or move to D8)
D8: rest

Cluster and TM
TPDL: 130kg (+5kg)
WPU: 122.5kg/BW+33kg (+2.5kg)
BP: 102.5kg (+2.5kg)

[Northerner]

Slight change of plans. I've been feeling pretty banged up the last couple of weeks. Especially in my knee and elbow joints and the muscles in my upper back, neck and hips. I even skipped BJJ training yesterday due to this. So I'll instead do a 3 week SE block as I feel this "lubricates" everything really well. I'll use the 2 day template from green protocol. Previous goals are the same still. Yoga, Prehab, Rehab exercised are not planned, but performed basically every day.

Mon: SE
Tue: BJJ
Wed: 60-90min powerwalk
Thu: BJJ
Fri: SE
Sat: BJJ
Sun: Rest


Cluster: exercise, weight and [tested max reps]
Landmine Press 10kg (53)
Swinging lying leg and hip raise (30)
Landmine Row 10kg (38)
Backwards sled (no rep max, just do 6x10m pulls every circuit and increase weight slightly each week)
Kettlebell swing 20kg (62)

[Northerner]

Block finished, evaluation: two steps back two steps forward.

1) Eat more and better - no strict limitations, increased portion sizes, more frequent meals, more protein <- This goal was tweaked mid block to: Stop eating added sugar. About two months ago I quit nicotine, instead I started substituting with copious amounts of candy. Since I've had a lot of joint pain lately I decided to see if cutting sugar would allievate it. I've now gone two weeks with no added sugar. Not sure bout the joint pain, but overall I feel much better with more even energy levels. I'm not nitpicking, like avoiding ketchup, but I stopped eating any candy, cakes, jams, ice cream and sugary drinks. Haven't weighed myself in a while but I think my weight is probably unchanged.

2) BJJ 2-3 times / week <- Failure. My knee started bothering me more before I started block and it's been keeping me from going to almost all the BJJ classes out of fear of injury. Hope to be back in a couple of days as I'm now feeling better.

3) SE training 2x / week<- Success. Finished all the workouts. Didn't retest but I'll go back to this same cluster whenever I feel SE is needed.

4) Keep up knee rehab, neck elbow and shoulder prehab, mobility work and yoga <- Success/Changed, I've switched from yoga to GMB elements which is a movement/mobility program focused on animal locomotion, lots of fun and hopefully good for me.

New block: Operator I/A like I had previously planned for this last block.

Goals:
1) No added sugar
2) BJJ 2-3 days /week
3) OP/IA 2-3 days /week
4) GMB elements (animal locomotion) 3 days/week

Plan:
D1: OP + Sled drags + Neck/Shoulders/Curls/Grip
D2: Animal locomotion + BJJ
D3: Power walk or rest or move to D4
D4: OP + Sled drags + BSS/Triceps/Grip
D5: Animal locomotion + BJJ
D6: OP + Sled drags + Neck/Trapz/Shoulders
D7: Animal locomotion + BJJ (or move to D8)
D8: rest

Cluster and TM
TPDL: 130kg (+5kg)
WPU: 122.5kg/BW+33kg (+2.5kg)
BP: 102.5kg (+2.5kg)