I have talked at length about the benefits of strength training for BJJ:

• Improve your performance on the mats
• Recover better, so you can train more and acquire skills faster
• Avoid major injuries

In this podcast, I talk about how to strength train for BJJ and the 3 critical things you should focus on to see the best gains

Check it out here

How Many Days Should You Strength Train For BJJ?, so you can get the benefits without beating yourself up.

If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that I’m a big fan of strength training.

But, as a brown belt who trains 6-9 sessions every week, I know the importance of strength training.

Not only, will it improve your performance on the mats, but how it keeps you on the mats longer, without getting banged up.

Or even just feeling sore from your rolls all the time

I go over this in detail, in this article

But, today I want to answer the question, How Many Days Should You Strength Train For BJJ? and some things related to this as well.

How Many Days Should You Strength Train For BJJ?

Recovery from life stress

Before we can talk about How Many Days Should You Strength Train For BJJ?, we need to talk about stress

One of the most important factors to consider is stress, not just the stress of BJJ but the stress of your entire life.

What matters the most is not what you do, but what you can actually recover from.

The more stress you have to recover from, the more benefits you’ll see from less training and less training volume.

The more our body and mind have to recover from other areas of life, the less recovery ability we will have for our training

Let’s talk about what I mean by stress

• How are you sleeping? How many hours? Is it restful? 
• Is there a lot of stress in your relationships, significant others, kids, mom, and dad etc?
• How is your job? Do you love it or do you hate it? Does it tax you physically or mentally? Do you work overtime?
• How is your eating? Do you eat mostly junk food or is a diet full of protein, fruits, and veggies as well as healthy carbs?
• How many days do you train BJJ?
• What belt are you or what skill level are you? A white belt is going to create a lot more fatigue than a higher belt in most cases.

If most or all of these situations are high-stress to you, start by easing your way into strength training, with just 2 days, and start with easy workouts.

Increase intensity over time.

It may be wise to monitor your recovery as well, here are a few ways to do this

-Check your heart rate when you wake up daily.  Sudden changes can mean you’re under recovering.

-How do you feel, do you feel more tired than usual?

-Does your cardio on the mat seem worse all of a sudden?

-Are you getting banged up more than usual?

-Are your strength numbers at the gym going down?

These can be all signs of under recovering.

When you first start incorporating some strength work, you may be more sore than usual, that is normal but give it a week or two.

This should improve.

If it doesn’t, change things up.

This is where having a coach may help you, it is not always knowing what to do, 

But what small adjustments to make to continue to see progress?

Start with 2 days -low volume

This would really depend, but if you are like most guys hitting 3 + BJJ sessions per week, and you never lifted before.

Or it has been a long time.

It is best to avoid a ton of fatigue by starting with 2 days and keeping the set and reps on the low side, with plenty of rest.

Then over time increase the number of sets and reps you do and maybe add a third day down the road.

Here are some guidelines to get started

Workout twice a week

For each workout do a 

• 1-2 lower body exercises
• 2 upper body exercises, an upper push and upper pull
• If you have time add an ab or core exercise

Do 1-2 sets of each exercise, but before you do those, I would do 1-2 lighter sets.

For example, say you’re doing a squat, and a hard set squat for you is 50lbs.

You could do a bodyweight set, then a set of 25 lbs before you do that hard set for 1-2 sets.

Rest 60s to 2 minutes between sets, remember we are building strength, don’t neglect the rest.

Form and control before heavier weight or harder exercises.

Here are some sample workouts

Workout  1

• Warm up first.
• KB squat 2x 10
• DB RDL 2x 8
• Slight incline DB press 2x 10
• Ring rows 2x 15
• 1 Arm farmer walk 2x 40s per arm
• Cool down

Workout  2

• Warm up first.
• Reverse lunge  2x 10/ side
• Trap bar deadlift 2x 5
• Ring push-ups 2x max reps or stop 1-3 reps shy of failure 
• Seated Row 2x 15 
• 1 Arm farmer walks 2x 40s per arm
• Cool down

Joint friendly exercises

Exercise selection is always important but even more so as we get older.

We really need to be selective in our exercises.

What exercise has the most upside, with the least downside?

Deadlifting from the floor can be great exercise, but it also has a lot of risks.

To me, smart exercises are usually the variants that 

• Don’t compress your spine too much
• Mostly neutral grip pressing and rowing
• Where your core is involved, to help protect your spine.
• Non or little overhead movement, to avoid beating up your shoulders

Here is a list of exercises,  I find most people can tolerate and build some serious gains 

Hip hinge

• KB deadlift
• Trap bar deadlift
• DB RDL
• Hip thruster
• KB Swing

Squat

• Goblet Squat
• Safety bar squat
• Zercher squat
• Barbell front squat

Upper push

• weighted push ups
• Ring push ups
• Incline or decline DB bench press
• Landmine pressing

Upper Pull

• Seated rows
• Ring rows
• 1 arm DB or cable rows
• Jacknife chin up up
• Neutral grip lat pulldown

Single leg

• Sled push or drag 
• Elevated split squats
• Step ups
• Reverse lunge

This is not an exhaustive list but are some exercise variation that works with most of my clients.

Strategically scheduling lifting sessions for enhanced recovery

This won’t work for everyone, but placing your strength work on the same days your do BJJ can improve recovery.

By doing this you create a true rest day, where your body can recover better.

Compared to doing a heavy lift on one day, then BJJ on the next day. Your body never really gets a true break.

An example of this might be lifting on Monday and Friday

Then you might try to do BJJ on Mon, Weds and Friday, this allows complete recovery days 4x per week. Which will help you get injured less and perform better on the mat.

Again this won’t be ideal for everyone.

Hope this was helpful and taught you How Many Days Should You Strength Train For BJJ?

By the way, If you would  like more sample training programs, you can download it, here 

Follow me on IG for daily tips to get strong for BJJ

Client Spot Light

Mandy Cusick has been a long-time client, I first started training her, early in my personal training career, and she has come back a few years back.

With the goal of building muscle and getting strong, as well as feeling better.

She has done an amazing job.

Super consistent, with her workouts and always pushing the weights.

She regularly squats and deadlifts her own body weight and more, which is very impressive.

She sees me 3x a week, and I design a custom strength program for her, to reach her goals.

Want to learn How To Eat More Protein . Sometimes, knowing something isn’t enough.

We might know that getting more protein will drive better outcomes, with almost any goal.

But, we actually try to do it in our life.

We drop the ball.

Here is 5 step process on How To Eat More Protein

#1 3 protein-based meals

#2 Track your protein-dense foods in a tracker to see, where you’re at

#3 Eat bigger portions

#4 Add 1-2 protein snacks between meals

#5 Remember you’ll get 10-30g of trace protein from the carb and fat based food you already eat.

Check out this video, where I break it down for you

Bobby here! Today I’m going to over a few Muscle & Strength building workout plan. That anyone can use to start seeing strength and muscle gains they want

Muscle & Strength Building Workout Plan

The foundation of a great workout

Today I’m going to teach you three of my favorite workout routines, to get strong, build lean muscle, and help support long-term fat loss.

You can swipe these and make some major upgrades to your body and health

But, before we get into the workouts. Let’s talk about what makes a great workout.

Strength training

The best Muscle & Strength building workout plan is going to be around a strength-based workout. That means trying to build strength week to week.

This is going to build lean muscle, which will drive better health, strength, and fat loss due to muscle, increasing the calories your body burns each day.

Remember, muscle is what gives our body the shape we want.

If you’re looking for toning or getting jacked.

These are just different levels of building muscle. To be honest, getting jacked tasks takes a lot of work and time.

So, ladies, this is not going to happen by accident.

Don’t be afraid of lifting or resistance training.

I am not talking about HIT classes or circuits that use strength exercises. That is not strength training.

Strength training is focused on great form, hard sets, and enough rest to repeat those hard sets.

With the intention of getting stronger each week by:

• Doing more weight
• Doing more reps 
• Improving your form

Fundamental movement patterns

The majority of the exercises in your workouts should be the fundamental movement patterns.

These are going to give you the best bang for your buck.

They are

• Squats
• Hip hinge aka deadlift or hip thrust
• Upper push aka push-ups or press
• Upper pull aka rows, chin ups, pulldowns
• Single leg exercises aka step-ups, split squats, lunges

We should all be training these each week, trying to hit each movement at a minimum, of 2x  each week with great form and control.

Now the variation, that we choose should depend on our fitness level and limitation

A beginner might be doing bodyweight squats and someone with 3 years under their belt might do a barbell front squat.

Warm up

The warm-up is part of the workout, that too many skip it.

Warm-up will allow you to move better, train harder, and get hurt less.

I find people either warm up too long or not at all.

I like to get a quick warm-up and then train hard.

This should take you 10-12 minutes

I follow the 6 phases warm-up sequence I got John Rusin from the PPSC certification.

It goes like this

• Foam rolling 60s per 
• Stretch 60s
• T-spine rotation or core exercises 1x 10-20 reps
• Upper back activation or glute activation drills 1x 15-30 reps
• Light movements we will do in the workout 3x 3
• Power 3×3 of jumps or throws or even KB swings

Here is a sample of one

1. Roll out your hamstring 60s
2. lying dynamic hamstring stretch 15 per side
3. ½ kneeling rotation 15/ side
4. Bridges 30 reps + banded pull aparts 30 reps
5. Air squat + push-ups 3x 3 10s rest
6. Box jumps 3x 3 60s rest (focus on max power for each reps)

At first, it might take like 15-20 minutes but once you get going, it should only take about 10 minutes.

Ramp up sets

Ramp-up sets are lighter sets before the working sets, which I will prescribe in the workouts.

The idea is to practice good form, with lighter weights before we go heavy and hard for our working sets. As well as help us select the right weight for our working sets.

Too often people don’t do warm-up sets, so they end up doing 3-4 sets, but only the last set is anywhere close to an actual hard and productive set.

Usually, the stronger you are the more ramp-up sets you’ll want to use.

This is because if you are weak it takes fewer bumps in weight, to get to a weight that is hard for you.

Ramp-up sets will take you from lighter weight to your first hard set

Here is an example

Say today you have squats for 4x 6

A heavy weight for 6 reps for you is 200lbs

You may do 2-4 ramp-up sets before you do those 4 sets of 6.

You might do it like this

• Ramp up set 1 50lbs
• Ramp up set 2 135lbs
• Ramp up set 3 185 lbs
• 1st working set 200lbs
• 2nd working set 210lbs
• 3rd working set 225 lbs
• 4th working set 230lbs

Note -When you get to your working sets, you might add weight a little as you go or keep the same weight through all the sets. 

Hard sets

There is a recent study that says rep ranges are less important as long as your sets are intense.

Intense sets, are sets that you go to 1-3 reps shy of failure.

Failure is the point when you can’t do another good rep, without altering your form

This is what is called a hard set.

You want 6-10 hard sets per body part per week to see gains.

At first hard sets can be tough for newbies, because they really don’t know what that level of intensity feels like.

Often when they think they have 2-3 reps in the tank, it is really 6-10.

Over time, you’ll get better after this.

As much as it is important to do hard sets if you’re a complete beginner. You may need to spend some time learning how to move well before we add those hard sets. 

For beginners focus on form for the first 2-6 weeks.

Some common ways to gauge hard sets in your workouts are:

RPE and RIR

RPE stands for the rate of perceived effort. How hard a set felt to you.

You want your working set to feel like 7-9 on a scale 1-10.

RIR stands for reps in reserve. Which is how many more reps, you could have done, if you kept going at that weight.

This you want to be at 1-3.

Use these to record your workouts with the weights and reps you did.

This will help you gauge how hard you went and will allow you to make better decisions the following workout.

One of the major principles of seeing gains is trying to push more weight or reps each week, these scales will help with that.

Fat loss workouts

Fat loss workouts are a bit of a myth.

Fat loss happens when you take in fewer calories than you burn.

You can do this through diet and exercise or a combination of both. But, often it is best to do it through diet.

As long as you’re in a deficit, that is really what’s going to drive fat loss.

But, if we look at strength training and building muscle. We know that people who have more lean tissue or more muscle. 

Will have an easier time getting lean and staying lean. This is due to lean tissue driving a faster metabolism, meaning you’ll burn more calories at rest.

As far as exercise goes and long-term fat loss, strength training might be the best option.

But, with that said cardio workouts will burn more calories, thus making it a better option for fat loss in the short term. But a few things to think about with this

• Workouts usually burn a very little amount of calories, the difference you may see might be very small.
• Doing cardio for health benefits is better a idea.
• Too much cardio, especially high intensity, can actually make you hungrier, so if you are thinking you can out cardio a bad diet. This usually always backfires 🙁

For fat loss I prefer 

• Strength training
• Get more steps
• Do cardio for the heart health benefits, if you have time

Focus on these diet tips to shed fat

• Eat fewer calories than you burn
• Eat 1 g of protein per pound of body weight
• Eat 3-5 servings of fruit and veggies a day
• Drink 60-100 oz water
• Don’t forget to sleep, that aids in fat loss too

Walking or steps

I just reference steps.

For most people trying to get more steps through the day, is a better option than doing hours of cardio in the gym for fat loss.

The reason is walking is a low-intensity form of cardio, that has great health benefits but does not stress the body like cardio.

You get the extra calorie burn without the increased hunger of doing a bunch of cardio.

A good starting point is 7500 steps per day

The workouts

Here are my favorite Muscle & Strength building workout plan to program for my clients and I.

One is not better than the others.

Whatever you choose to do,  don’t neglect the basics or you won’t see results

• Stick with each program for 9-12 weeks
• Use great form 
• Do hard sets
• Rest properly, usually 60-120s after each hard set or circuit.
• Allows 1-2 days in between workouts if you can
• Make sure you fuel and eat enough calories and get your protein

Workout 1

Let’s get started. This one is pretty common in the fitness industry.

For good reason, it is simple, time efficient, and covers all the bases.

We are going to do two supersets, which is when we go back and forth between two exercises.

Then we are going to finish with what you want to develop, this is a perfect time to work on areas, that you want to develop, doing specific exercises for those areas like

• Abs
• Glutes
• Calves
• Shoulders
• Even doing interval finisher for 2-5 minutes

Superset 1

• Quad dominant lower body exercises like squat or lunge etc
• Upper pull exercises like row, chin up or lat pulldown
• 2-4 working sets of 6-12 reps and rest 2 minutes after you do both or another option is 1 minute between each exercise.

Superset 2

• Hip or hamstring dominant exercise like a deadlift, hip thruster, back extension or leg curl
• Upper body push like chest press, push up or shoulder press
• 2-4 working sets of 6-12 reps and rest 2 minutes after you do both or another option is 1 minute between each exercise.

Now, pick 1-2 exercises to work on the area, you want to develop , do 10-20 reps with 30-60s rest

Here is an arm example

12 bicep curl

20 tricep pushdowns

You would do this workout 2-3x a week, each day of the week picking different exercises variation.

Then repeat those for 3-4 weeks before you change them

Need exercise ideas, check out my exercise library

Workout 2

This is one of my favorite programs to run, you get a mix of it all.

I think it is a blast.

You start by lifting heavy for low reps and long rest to build strength.

Then you do higher reps with less rest in a circuit to focus more on building muscle and training capacity.

Finally, you finish with a couple of exercises, of what you want to grow like glutes, abs arms etc

Heavy lift

Do 2-5 reps of 6-7 sets with 90s- 3 minutes of res

I like heavy deadlifts, squats, split squats, pressing, and even chin ups here.

We are focused on lifting heavy but with good form, so we can really push the intensity, that is why the rest is long

Strength circuit

I like 3 exercises here. If my heavy lift was a lower exercise, I will do an upper body-focused circuit like

Upper body push like push up or press

Lower body working opposite movements I did with heavy lift, so if I deadlift heavy I might do high reps squat

Upper body pull like row, pulldown or chin up

Do reps 8-15 with 90 sec rest after you do all 3, for 2-4 rounds

Now, pick 1-2 exercises to work on , that you want to develop , do 10-20 reps with 30-60s rest

Here is an arm example

Banded hip thruster 20

Side to sideband walk 20 in each direction

2 sets

You would do this workout 2-3x a week, each day of the week picking different exercises variation.

Then repeat those 3-4 weeks before you change them

Need exercise ideas, check out my exercise library

Workout 3

This one is really great for time efficiency and although it is fast-paced, it is still great for building strength and muscle.

Your gonna do 4 exercises in a circuit

• Quad dominant exercise, remember that is a squat or some type of lunge/split squat
• Upper push like push up or press
• Hamstring hip dominant exercises like leg curl, deadlift or hip thruster
• Upper pull like row or chin ups

The first exercise one is for strength, so we want to do 3-5 reps

The rest should be hypertrophy rep range which is 6-12

Rest for 30-60s between each exercise.

This allows us to get through a lot of work quickly but we are still getting 2-4 minutes of rest before we hit the same move again, this allows better strength and muscle-building gains

Here is an example

Trap deadlift for 5 reps rest 60s

Incline DB Press 8 reps rest 60s

1 arm cable row 12 reps per side rest 60s

KB Goblet squat 10 rest for 60s

4-5 rounds

I like to use the first 1-2 rounds to go lighter and warm up and then go pretty heavy the last 2-3 sets.

After you are done if you have time, you can add some extra work on areas you like arms, shoulders, glutes or abs

You would do this workout 2-3x a week, each day of the week picking different exercises variation.

Then repeat those 3-4 weeks before you change them

Need exercise ideas, check out my exercise library

Wrapping It up

I wanted to give you the basics of training for massive results, plus give 3 options for organizing your training.

Here are training examples of those 3 workouts splits :

If you have any questions let me know, I got your back