TacticalBarbell.com

I've posted here sporadically in the past, but it's been a while. I started BJJ last spring, cancelled my old gym membership to pay for that, and have been doing various kettlebell and bodyweight workouts at home, along with mostly LSS running off and on. I also broke my hand and took a couple months off upper body completely, ran a pretty awful sprint triathlon, and sprained my knee which put me out for a few weeks as well. BJJ has been great, but I've definitely lost some strength the past few months, and my waking HR has crept above 60 a few times, for the first time since my first basebuilding block, whenever TBII first came out. That tells me it's time to basebuild again.

I'm going to try and mesh it with BJJ 2+ times a week, so it might not be as strictly by the book as it could be. What I'll be running is something between the original TB basebuild and the Ageless Athlete version(30 min LSS, tango SE). The first five weeks will be LSS for 30+ minutes, mostly running or hiking. I'll push the duration higher if I feel like it; I think I can recover from 45 minute easy runs once I get back in a little better shape. My tango circuit is pushups, chins(various grips), goblet squats(35lb), and KB snatches(35lb). 1 minute on, 1 minute off, 2-3 min between circuits, compressing rest as needed. Some of my 'weeks' may be 8 or 9 days, depending on how many BJJ sessions I do, or how much rest I think I need. I may chop goblets from my SE cluster and tack the SE cluster to before or after my BJJ sessions if time becomes an issue. I'll post up the last week of workouts soon, then try to update this a couple times a week at least to keep me on task.

Basebuilding started for me last Saturday, 9/24/17. I'm using a Garmin Vivoactive HR for distances, times, and HRs, so it may be 100% accurate, but hopefully it'll be consistent

9/24 Saturday: 5 mile hike on the Appalachian trail in 3 hours, with about a ten pound backpack. Knee was still weird, so used hiking poles, but my average HR was 133 bpm, so I'm counting it as LSS.

9/25 Monday: 1 hour BJJ fundamentals class. All drilling, no rolling. I didn't stay for the open class after, so I'm counting this as a recovery day.

9/26 Tuesday: Tango SE-2 rounds. Pushups-24,27. Chins-16,14(done in smaller sets of 2-3, mixed grips). Goblet squats to a chair(going easy on knee)- 35x18,16. KB snatch-35x16,14. 3 minute RI between sets. I haven't done many snatches, so still working on technique.

-Immediately after: LSS run: 2.07 miles in 30:48 @ 14:53 min/mile pace, average HR 134bpm. This was a horrible feeling run for all sorts of reasons(preceded by SE, haven't ran in a while, hot out, acid reflux, bad sleep, sore calves from hike) so I'm not too disturbed by the horrible time.

9/27 Wednesday : 2.5 hours BJJ-Fundamentals plus open rank plus rolling.

9/28 Thursday: LSS run-2.48 miles in 31:30 @ 12:43 min/mile pace, avg HR 137 bpm. Felt much better than last time. Legs still feeling heavy and cramped from the hike, but overally felt much better.

9/29 Friday: Tango SE-2 rounds. Pushups-37,32. Chins-19,12. Goblets-35x18,17. Snatch-35x18, 16. 3 minute RI between circuits.

I leave for Florida tomorrow for a 5 day vacation, so that will probably be my off day. Shouldn't be too hard to keep up with LSS and SE while I'm there, but I'm not gonna sweat it if I have to extend next week by a couple days to fit everything in.

9/30/17-up at 4am to travel, spent the day flying, napping, and drinking

10/1/17-LSS run 2.3 miles in 30:50 @ 13:15 min/mile pace, avg HR 134 bpm
-hot, humid, and hungover, so not the best run, but still go it in

As usual I've been horrible at keeping up with this log, but I have been relatively consistent with basebuilding. I've just about completed the first 5 weeks(3 LSS, 2 bodyweight exercise days per week). I have one more LSS to finish out week 5, which I'll probably do tomorrow.

A couple changes:
-About halfway through I stopped doing SE Tango sessions in favor of a progressive bodyweight movement program call Armor of War by Tom Furman. It's a good, simple series of progressions towards 1 arm pushups, pistols, and one arm chins. I'm not really close to any of the goals, but it was a good way to mix things up and didn't take too long. I also did 10x10 1H swings after, ala Simple and Sinister, hitting around 5:30 with 53lbs without much straining now. Could definitely do it well under 5:00.
-I've been having weird esophagus/stomach issues lately(nothing new for me, I've got a hiatal hernia, just gotten slightly worse lately) so I haven't been going to BJJ the past couple weeks. Kind of a bummer, but made basebuilding simpler. Seeing the doctor next week, hopefully will get everything cleared up, then back to BJJ

My last LSS run was 3.1 miles in 37:32 @12:42 min/mile pace. Slow but felt good and an improvement over my first run.
I'll have to start a new gym membership for the MS days coming up. I haven't belonged to one since July. There's some cheap options in inconvenient spots and expensive ones in more expensive spots, so I'll figure something out. Looking forward to hitting the weights again.

I'm not really sure what I'd like to do post basebuilding. I'd like to bring my strength back up, since I've felt myself getting weaker lately. I'd like to hit BJJ 2x/week at least, ideally more. But I'd also like to hike or backpack on the weekends, run hills, and take the occasional long slow run. I'm thinking Figher or Op I/A with one E(hiking or run) and one HIC(hills or fast-five) along with BJJ. That's already 6 days a week minimum, so I may have to pull some double workouts in a day if I end up doing more BJJ. Or just drop the HIC or E depending on how the BJJ felt.

hey, fellow bjj guy... long time blue belt here.

I basically try a program that is roughly:
(++) MON: 1315 BJJ
(+) TUE: Weights
(+++) WED: 1315 BJJ + Randori
(=/+) THU: 1400 10th planet (OPTION)
(+) FRI: Weights
(=) SAT: Rest
(+) SUN: Endurance (LSS)
The number of + signs approximate how tough the day is meant to be. Effectively I am running a Fighter (2 day prog with 2-3 lifts, deadlifts = 2 lifts; if I am doing squat instead I will do 3 lifts) with 2-3 days of BJJ. I skip the 10th Planet nogi class if I get too beat. And like you I enjoy long LSS, whether it's a run or a hike thru the hills so that is actually the 1 non-negotiable I leave in the program.

I reckon E training takes a bit less out of you if you want to combine with BJJ. That has been my experience so far; having said that it certainly isn't the way to get stronger!