Strength and Conditioning for BJJ - Assessment - Basic Strength (part 3 of ?)

Ok, I know you guys have all been waiting on this post in the series to answer the age old question - "am I strong enough." Now we all know "enough" is a relative term, but there is answer. The answer is - NO, you are never strong enough, but for our assessment we want to know if you have enough Basic Strength where it would be advantageous to include Explosive Power work in your training.

What do we mean by "basic strength" and "explosive power." In a very leave out all the details definition, basic strength is the ability to move heavy things while explosive power is the ability to move heavy things very quickly.

Leo Morton also has a good series on what we are talking about here over on Inside BJJ. Here are the pertinent links: Strength & Conditioning for Jiu-Jitsu Part II, and Strength & Conditioning for Jiu-Jitsu Part III. Go ahead, give them a read. I'll still be here when you get back.

Leo uses a chart which is a subset of a chart presented by Tim Henriques over on T-Nation (Are You Strong). I have no problem with either of these charts for determining if you are "gym strong," but for our assessment in BJJ (and to give us an indication of whether we should add Explosive Power work) they are a little high (and Leo also states this).

Remember, this series is for the Average Joe who has a day job who wants to improve his BJJ game. If you are in the Good/Great range for all these benchmarks, it is time to find a good S and C coach who can work with you one-on-one.

Here is the chart I like to use:
EXERCISE    ADEQUATE      GOOD         GREAT

DEADLIFT    1.5 x BW          2 x BW          2.5 x BW

SQUAT         1.25 x BW        1.75 x BW     2.25 x BW

BENCH         1.00 x BW        1.25 x BW     1.75x BW

MILITARY
PRESS           .60 x BW         .80 x BW        1.25 x BW

If you are somewhere between Adequate and Good, it is time to start thinking about adding some Power work into your routine. If you are in the Good to Great range you should definitely be doing Power work.

So now we have a quick and dirty idea of where we stand on our cardio/conditioning and our basic strength. In the next post in this series we will use this information to determine some priorities and next steps.

And if you are just now joining us - the series so far:
Strength and Conditioning in BJJ (intro)
Strength and Conditioning for BJJ - Assessment (part 1 of ?)
Strength and Conditioning for BJJ - Assessment - Cardio (part 2 of ?)
...