Training help/advice

[Cipher]

In my current situation I am thinking about going to the gym at work maybe 2-3 days a week and only lift weights. I will be doing martial arts stuff at night.

My question is will lifting weights 2 days a week for about 45m-1hr be enough to make a difference? This would be done along with pushups every day and the variouse MA excersises.

[SevenStar]

I would say yes. If I was only going twice a week though, I would probably be doing full body workouts as opposed to splitting it up, which is what I do now. That's just me though. There are people that only work their chest, legs, etc. once a week. I already have tree trunk legs, so I only work them in the gym once a week, which has been sufficient for me. the rest of the week my legs get their workout from kicks, stance training and grappling drills and plyometric exercises.

[Cipher]

I agree. I'll probably do mostly upper body work outs with the weights. The MA training between kicking the bag and stances, forms, drills, sparing ect. ect. should give my legs a good work out.

What I may do is lift Tue. and Thur. and go with a certain routine for awhile that works the major groups and then after a month or so change to a different set of upper body lifts.

[dragontounge2]

you only need to go twice a week for muscle gain.
what are your goals?

Do, squats, concentration curls, bench press, standing barbell curls, preacher curls, inclined dumbell curls, and hammer curls.
And static weight training are all great for MA.

[Merryprankster]

Dragon--you really like your biceps, don't you?

I personally like:

Bench
Deadlift
Squat
Bent-Over row or pullups.

In and out in 30-45 minutes.

[dragontounge2]

I sure does.

[Cipher]

I would like to mostly concentrate on chest, shoulders, back, and tries and forarm and bicept. For striking power. I really like working the tries.

For my legs I am going to count on MA to build that up. I have really strong legs anyways so the develop pretty good with MA.

[Lung Hu Pai]

hey merryprankster, I remember you said that you had a background in o-lifting, do you still include them in your weight training?
Sorry to hijack your thread a little, Cipher. An exercise that you might like to try are weighted dips. Just my two cents.

[Merryprankster]

Lung,

I used to be a thrower (shot, discus, hammer) and did a lot of o-lifts.

I don't actually lift anymore. I train BJJ and Boxing just about every day, and the wear and tear got to be too much--especially since I sometimes cut weight--plus, I blew my back out about a year ago with an improper deadlift (this doesn't mean it's dangerous--it's like anything else--do it right or pay the price) and haven't bothered to get back into it.

[SevenStar]

why so much bicep work? that's great for show, but what's it doing for functionality? between a few sets of curls and back exercises, your bis get plenty of work. I'm more concerned with my chest, shoulders, back and legs. I work my bis and tris, but they are not a focus, plus they get extra work from push ups, bench, rows, etc.

[Cipher]

Do you guys know what the best set of muscles are to build up for striking power? I know the shoulders play a role in it, really just about the entire body from the feet up affect punching power but in general what are the main muscles? I would say the shoulders and tries are the main ones.

For grapling how big of a help is it to have strong arms and strong forearms? Again there are many many different factors but I would think having a strong grip would be helpfull.

Lung Hu Pai,
No problem, it's all good info:)

[SevenStar]

for grappling, I would say the back plays a huge role as do the legs. grip is something that will be developed over time while you grapple.

[PLCrane]

Originally posted by Cipher
Do you guys know what the best set of muscles are to build up for striking power? I know the shoulders play a role in it, really just about the entire body from the feet up affect punching power but in general what are the main muscles? I would say the shoulders and tries are the main ones.

Off the top of my head, I'd list triceps, pectoralis, abdominals, quads, hams and glutes as the main ones. I would think that it would be better to practice using these all at once, by striking. The power comes from gettting them to work together, not from individual muscles being strong.