So after I’ve had the active rest split I’ll be tweaking it to follow this schedule:

• My Ju Jutsu class happens twice per week but thats in addition to this programme.
• I’ll attempt to do the secondary parts in the morning and primary in the evening.

• Shoulders – Press, clean and press, push ups.
• Biceps – Pull ups, chin ups, dumb bell curls, band pulls
• Triceps – Push ups, dumb bell rows, .
• Forearms – Wrist twists, dumb bell wrist curls, wrist roller.
• Chest (this hasn’t had ANY strength training so far!) -
• Calves – Calf raise.
• Quadriceps – Squat, squat jump.
• Hamstrings – Hamstring curl.
• Upper Back – Pull ups.

I’ve also tacked this to the wall to remind me to go through each muscle group.

• 10 Burpees.
• 10 Chinnies
• 10 Squats
• 10 Push Ups

Repeat until 20 mins is up.  My arms packed up part way through so my burpees became squat thrusts.  Not long after my quads died and I had to do grass hoppers instead.

Either way this makes an important point:  Just because a muscle packs up doesn’t mean you cancel the entire circuit.  Adapt to the change in your body and carry on.

There’s no shame in switching from burpees to squat-thrusts because your legs are giving way.  There IS shame if you give up half-way through.

Anyway – back to what we’re here for: My Programme!

Having done 5 days of workouts so far; testing my limits, fitting around my existing schedule, seeing what fits, I can feel a programme forming from the fog of unknowing.

I’m going to do a 6-day split with a single day dedicated to complete rest and one day dedicated to just core and isometrics.  This programme will likely change and morph as I’m going through it and its for precisely that reason that I want to get something down here and now so I don’t go off course!

One sec – Before I begin I wanted to say that I couldn’t have put this programme together without Ross Enamait’s books. I’d spent literally hours looking for programmes, workouts, etc. I’d even contemplated steroids as a quick fix. Looked on every forum, blog, website known to man but it was only having seen repeated recommendations for Ross’ stuff that I visited his site. Eventually I was persuaded to buy the three books – Infinite Intensity, Never Gymless and Full Throttle Conditioning. Eureka moment!! They had everything – absolutely bloody everything! It showed just what was possible and shed light on so many untruths and bullshit out there. It was like having my eyes opened. This blog is mainly so I can track my progress – its not to give people a programme because as Ross say’s everyone is different with different needs. So I’d recommend getting his books and making your own program.

Anyway – enough of that. Onto my new programme and some extra notes!

One thing I was very conscious of when reading Never Gymless (not read all of II yet) was all the areas people miss.  You never think of the hamstrings, neck, forearm, calf, back, etc.  Or at least I didn’t!!  So what I wanted to do in all of this is add mini-workouts that hit some of these key areas if they weren’t being caught as part of the main set above.  I’ve put those into the extra columns and thoguht I’d give an explanation here:

Forearms (2x per split)

I love my forearm killer (aka: wrist roller).  It just FEELS so damn effective.  The burn from it is immense and just 3 sets ruins me.  I’m going to enjoy pushing this one hard.

• Forearm Killer: 2 reps x 3 sets
• Wrist Twists: 8 reps x 3 sets

Fingers/Hand/Wrist (2x per split)

Very important for grip strength which there’s a lot of in ju jutsu!

• Gripper Thing: Hold to failure x 3 for each hand (continue trying to hold for longer periods over time)
• Knuckle Pushups: 10 reps x 3 sets (low reps because I already do a lot of similar strength work and here I’m concentrating on my wrists and hands – not the tri!)

Neck (2x per split)

One of these will be isometric (day 3) and the other using a resistance band.  I reckon neck exercises are pretty damn important for my ju jutsu training.  Weak necks = easily choked/strangled + poor break falling.

Calf (gets enough)

This is another body part I enjoy working on simply because they can burn like hell but it feels damn good when they do.  This won’t be getting any extra work for now as I put them through their paces during explosive, ICT, EIT and strength.  In fact there’s not many days they have off.

Upper Back

Still thinking how and where I can do this but it does get some work when I do pullups on the strength day (2).

• Standard pull ups (band assisted): 2 reps x 4 sets
• Hamstring curls: 20 reps x 3 sets
• One-leg dumbell calf raises: 10 reps x 3 sets (I reckon this is gonna help balance to as I was hopping and falling over lots! )
• Forearm weighted bar: 2 + 1 + 1/2 reps