Strength and Conditioning in BJJ - Wed Workout

This is the second post titled "Strength and Conditioning in BJJ - Wed Workout." I don't just workout on Wednesdays, that's just the day this workout happened this week.

5 minutes medicine ball (15 lbs) throws with a partner
20 Kettlebell swings (16 kg)
20 Kettlebell clean and press (16 kg each hand)
20 Kettlebell bentover rows (16 kg)
20 Air squats

This workout was a light "all rounder" before class. I normally like to end a workout with ballistic or plyometric exercises like the medicine ball throws but I decided to grab a partner before they could run and hide :-).

For the throws start about 6 feet apart and use a two-handed "chest pass" to throw the medicine ball back and forth with your partner. Approximately every 5th pass - back up one step. When you reach the limits of how far you can "chest pass" with control on both the throw and the catch, come back to the 6 ft. mark and start again with a two-handed "overhead pass." Continue swapping between chest and overhead passing until the 5 minutes is up.

If you don't have a partner you can throw the ball "overhand" straight up and alternate it with "underhand" throws catching it yourself.

The rest of the workout is fairly self explanatory. You can do this workout for time, but I prefer to make sure I always keep kettlebell exercises under control and don't try to rush anything. On the air squats you can use the kettlebells in a "clean position" for extra resistance or add a jump at the top of each squat. For me, I was concentrating on getting my rear down as low as possible and making sure I had a good "stretch" through my knees and hips.

This weekend I should have a deadlift day which in and of itself is pretty boring so I probably won't blog anything about it. I'm saying something about it here so that you know it is important. If you can only do one "barbell" exercise it should be deadlifts. Also note if you are rolling a lot (1hr or more 3 or more days a week) or doing a lot of "conditioning" oriented exercises you won't be able to lift as heavy as when you are only training for strength. For example, right now with all the rolling I am doing I would  be lucky to pull a max over 300 lbs. but if I was just strength training I should be able to pull over 400.