Need help developing strength training routine

[Opedus]

I've been doing kung fu for about 3 years now and will have to start fighting in the advanced division this spring for continuous sparring and possibly my first Lei Tai fight in the fall. I know there is no universal solution for strength training but I need some help developing a weight training routine to add some extra strength in. I am currently 5' 6" 158 lbs. I'm not uncomfortable fighting at this weight but I am also not lean. I plan to supplement the strength training with daily runs that alternate between HIIT sprints and LSB type runs. I was a power lifter for a short time in high school so I'm comfortable in the weight room, just need some guidance from some experienced members to get a routine together so that I am not training the completely wrong way.

[sanjuro_ronin]

What do you want to develop?
How much time do you have to strength train?
Where will you be training and with what equipment?
Do you have any health issues ?


Got to be honest, 5'6 and 158 is probably "lean enough", what division do you WANT to fight in?
What is your natural weight?

[Opedus]

What do you want to develop?
I need to be able to strike harder and not get muscled around so much mainly. Being short and stocky throws me in there with larger guys usually.

How much time do you have to strength train?
I can do about 30 minutes a day 6 days a week.

Where will you be training and with what equipment?
Full gym - free weights, machines, the normal range of cardio equipment and an open area with heavy bags.

Do you have any health issues ?
Asthmatic but it is seasonal; not exercise induced. Have a weak knee due to a football injury. The knee is more of an endurance issue than a strength issue. IE long periods of horse stance and not like a weighted squat.

Got to be honest, 5'6 and 158 is probably "lean enough", what division do you WANT to fight in?
Either Middle A which is upper limit 0f 154.3 lbs or Heavy C which is upper limit of 167.6 Lbs. I could get away with the heavyweight division but would like to put on a few more lbs to be closer to the top of that weight class if I do that division.

What is your natural weight?
Right around 152 seems to be where i stabilize if watch my diet and don't exercise too intensely.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Getting strong without adding weight is not that hard, addition of weigth comes from diet.
BUT, you will have to feed your new muscles the protein they need, but that shouldn't equal too much weight gain.
You don't need to train 6 days a week but what I need to know is how many days a week do you do of MA training?
You do NOT want to do both ST and MA in the same day unless the MA is very light and ideally you want to have a day off somewhere so, typically I suggest for most people in MA and ST:
Mon: MA
Tues: ST
Wed: OFF or light MA
Thurs: MA
Fri: ST
Sat: Light MA or off
Sun: Off
Doing ST and then doing a hard MA workout the next day will cut into your recovery time and MAY nullif whatever strength gains you may have gotten from the ST workout.
BUT every is different.
You may want to priortize your ST over your MA for a few weeks, to get stronger, faster, or you may not want to do that, that is up to you.
IF you want to prioritize your ST over your MA for 6-8 weeks I can suggest:

Mon: ST
Tuesday:OFF
Wed: MA
Thursday: ST
Friday Off or light MA.
Saturday: ST
Sunday: off

[Opedus]

Typically the MA training is light. Mostly forms and basic conditioning. Wednesday is sparring night so ideally I wouldn't train anything that day. I'm at the point now where I am detailing stuff and helping teach more than I am working out as my Sifu is trying to groom me to be a jr instructor. So class and strength training is usually not an issue with the exception of Wednesday. The 6 days a week thing is available basically b/c I am using my lunch break to train so I may have to break it into muscle groups on different days. Basically I can hammer out 25-30 minutes of strength training and grab a lean sandwhich and a protein muffin at the gym type thing.

[sanjuro_ronin]

For the building of "pure strength, breaking into "muscle groups" is not a good idea.
Ok, so WED is THE day you don' wanna skip, so:

Mon: ST
Tues: MA
WED: Sparring
Thursday: ST
Fri: MA
Saturday ST

I would suggest you focus on the compounds that make for the biggest overall strength gains:
Squats
Deadlifts
Bench press
Chins
Dips

All of these exercises are compound and all can and will increase your strength and explosive power (typically).

Have you ever done any of them before and if so, what kind of numbers have you done?

[Opedus]

I have done all of those before during powerlifting, but that was about 7 years ago so numbers mean almost nothing at this point. When I was powerlifting I was 137 lbs. Should I be doing something similar to the pyramid scheme I used to lift with. Or should I be concentrating on higher rep lower weight?

[sanjuro_ronin]

I have done all of those before during powerlifting, but that was about 7 years ago so numbers mean almost nothing at this point. When I was powerlifting I was 137 lbs. Should I be doing something similar to the pyramid scheme I used to lift with. Or should I be concentrating on higher rep lower weight?

TO be honest, if you are looking for pure strength, you wouldn't find much better routines than powerlifiting.
If that protocol ( pyramiding) worked for you then use it again.
Typically PL means : Squat, DL and Bench Press, so I would suggest just adding some over head pressing ( dumbells) and some curls ( dumbells) or chins.

[Opedus]

Basically the pyramid was 6 at 50%, 4 at 70%, 2 at 90%. Our PL coach had us do a lot of what he called supplemental lifts to strengthen the minor groups for better overall stabilization. He was the offensive coordinator for the football team and most of his lifters were also in FB.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Basically the pyramid was 6 at 50%, 4 at 70%, 2 at 90%. Our PL coach had us do a lot of what he called supplemental lifts to strengthen the minor groups for better overall stabilization. He was the offensive coordinator for the football team and most of his lifters were also in FB.

One set of each?
Sounds like a good, solid, basic way of doing it.

[Opedus]

If I remember correctly we did bench, squat, DL, military press, and leg press on that circuit. Every once in a while we would do like tricep extensions or standard curls, but he always said that was more for injury prevention than anything else.

[sanjuro_ronin]

If I remember correctly we did bench, squat, DL, military press, and leg press on that circuit. Every once in a while we would do like tricep extensions or standard curls, but he always said that was more for injury prevention than anything else.

I would add curls or chins simply because they are every day moves that we use and being strong in them is a good thing, know what I mean?

[Opedus]

Definitely. Do you recommend barbell or dumbell curls?

[sanjuro_ronin]

Definitely. Do you recommend barbell or dumbell curls?

To be honest, with all the barbell work you will be doing, dumbells for curls and even for over head presses would be the way to go.

[Opedus]

Awesome. I actually got a hold of my old coach he told me I missed phase one in the pyramid description. Supposed to be 8 with the bar for warmup, 6 @ 50%, 4 @70%, and 2@90%. Your advice has been extremely helpful. Thank you very much!

[sanjuro_ronin]

Awesome. I actually got a hold of my old coach he told me I missed phase one in the pyramid description. Supposed to be 8 with the bar for warmup, 6 @ 50%, 4 @70%, and 2@90%. Your advice has been extremely helpful. Thank you very much!

Well, to be honest I don't think I gave you any, LOL !
You already had the core going in, I think the only thing you and other MA need to do is to realize what your priority in training is going to be and schedule your ST around that.
Once that is done and you have concrete goals, the rest is easy :)

[Opedus]

On a side note my Sifu suggested doing my forms with a light dumbell, 10 lbs or less in each hand to help develop explosiveness. Any thoughts on that?

[sanjuro_ronin]

On a side note my Sifu suggested doing my forms with a light dumbell, 10 lbs or less in each hand to help develop explosiveness. Any thoughts on that?

Won't help explosivness and MAY only work on muscle endurance but it won't be directly related since the weight is "pushing down" on your techniques and not "against" them, know what I mean?

You get explosive by being explosive, so that means doing the techniques in as explosive a manner as possible, just make sure you do them against some resistance ( bag,pads, person) or you will hurt yourself.
Doing explosive push ups for example, work the fast twitch fibers really well.
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_neural_exercise/neural_charge_exercise_plyo_pushup

[Frost]

On a side note my Sifu suggested doing my forms with a light dumbell, 10 lbs or less in each hand to help develop explosiveness. Any thoughts on that?

ronin has given some really good advice on strength work, and you seem to know what you are doing, but i wouldn't touch these exercised with a barge pole, they wont teach explosiveness and will teach you incoprrect movement patterns

If you want to be explosive keep it simple, long jumps or box jumps or bounds are perfect for lower body and whole body explosiveness, just keep the sets short (under 10 seconds) and the rest periods long 3 minutes or so

[Opedus]

Noted. Thanks again for the advice.