Strength and Conditioning for BJJ - Friday Workout (Christmas Eve)

Here is my Christmas Eve workout. I wanted to get something quick in dirty in knowing that I would be taking Christmas day completely off.

Note: Lately I've noticed some serious imbalances, basic problems, and weak points and will be adjusting my workouts accordingly.  Here is Friday's workout and the logic behind some of the specific exercise choices as an example of how to listen to your body and adjust accordingly:

Squat/Plyo Box Jump Complex
    Squat 135 x 8
      Plyo Box Jump bodyweight x 8 (jump down from a  12" box and then up to a 24" box)
    Squat 165 x 5
      Plyo Box Jump bodyweight x 8
    Squat 185 x 5
      Plyo Box Jump bodyweight x 8
    Squat 205 x 5
      Plyo Box Jump bodyweight x 8

This complex was the "heavy" portion of the workout. Approximately 2 minutes of rest between sets and no rest between squats and the box jumps.

For awhile I had been working on stretching and trying to squat as deep as possible - way below parallel butt to ground.   While I was getting the depth under decent, not maximal, load, I was noticing serious rounding of the lower back starting just under parallel (not just bad form but dangerous). Analysis with another trainer indicated that it was not a flexibility issue but rather an anatomical "impossibility" based on my personal body geometry (where the bar properly rests across my traps, length of spine, length of upper and lower leg) and keeping the weight balanced and centered. I could switch to high-bar squats, but that aggravates an old injury - so no more going super-deep, just strict form to parallel.


I am also working on lower body "power" - hence the combination of squats and plyo box jumps as a complex. I often do box jumps with additional weight (20-50 lbs) - I have noticed a lot of knee irritation when I do this, not from the jump up, but from the jump down. In response, I will not be doing "plyo" jumps off a low box up to a high box under additional weight and will be "stepping" off the high box rather than jumping back down. 


The "lighter" conditioning portion of the workout consisted of:
2 Rounds (no rest between exercises 1 minute between rounds)
   45lbs x 20(each arm) One-armed Kettlebell Swings
   bodyweight x 5 "rollouts" on suspension trainer
   45lbs x 20(each arm) One-armed Bent Over Rows
   bodyweight x 20 deep squats (assisted by suspension trainer)
   bodyweight x 5 Gymnastics "skin the cat" on suspension trainer
   30 seconds of "stir the pot" using suspension trainer

Approximately 5 minutes of continuous "wrestler's bridge" neck work

In the lighter portion of the workout I am using deep squats with the suspension trainer because it lets me go deep in an anatomically correct way. Also I will be adding neck work consistently as this is an essential area for grappler's that is currently lagging for me and gets almost no work unless specifically targeted.