Seba - Bronze medal, European BJJ Championships 2012, Lisbon
This is a big shout out to our boy Seba, a more humble and dedicated an athlete you’d be hard pushed to find.
Seba joined the Wild Geese BJJ class around a year and half ago, he immediately impressed his coaches with his work ethic and humility. He’s since become a near permanent fixture at the gym.
A few months ago Seba came to me and asked for help in preparation for the European BJJ Championships in Lisbon, Portugal.
This was to be his first major competition outside of the Irish leagues. Talk about jumping in with both feet.
We immediately put him on the WMD program, three sessions per week, 1 x strength, 1 x cardio and 1 x conditioning workout through the week. two cycles of this and already his work capacity in the punishing Jiu Jitsu training was improving.
Seba was already strong, so after the first 8 weeks we began to concentrate more on his explosive power, speed and recovery times.
We did this by switching the strength day to a strength/power contrast workout.
This was based on the Power Clean and the Deadlift.
Strength/power contrast training is not for beginners, but as already mentioned, Seba has a good level of strength from his previous gym training. I don’t recommend these type of workouts for people with less than a 1.5 x bodyweight Squat and Deadlift.
Our workout (yes, I trained with him and made great progress myself!) went as follows:
1: Power Clean 3 x 3, increase weight each set, 2min rest between sets
2A: Deadlift 3 x 5
2B: Broad Jump 3 x 4
Increase weight on the bar each set, rest approx 90sec between A & B
3A: 1 Arm Floor Press 3 x 5L/R
3B: Plyo Medicine Ball Push Up 3 x 4
Increase weight on the floor press each set, rest approx 90sec between A & B
4A: HtH Kettlebell Swing 32kg
4B: Sledgehammer Slam
Alternate between A & B, 20ses work : 10sec rest for 7 minutes
This entire workout should take approx 45 mins to complete. Don’t be worries about maxing out on the weights, go heavy but maintain a fast bar speed, we are looking to create as much explosive power as possible. The plyometric drills should be terminated as soon as either the desired reps are reached or speed slows below an acceptable level.
As mentioned, this type of training is for experienced athletes, if you’re new to strength training, stick to standard strength workouts.
Cardio day was switched from the usual grind to agility based Minute Drill workouts and on the third day we hit Squats and a variety of conditioning drills including Burpee to Pull Up, Farmers Walks and Bodyweight drills. Although we varied the exercises and played with the work:rest ratios, these were always short and intense.
He soaked it up, week in week out. all the time I had him he was also going through punishing BJJ training and working a full time job. in less than 18 months he has gone from unknown to the third best in his weight category in Europe
It all goes to show that with the right attitude, some determination, drive and little support from those around you, anything is possible.
Dare to live it
Regards
Dave
www.wg-fit.com
