I've recently started doing some bodyweight strength training to supplement my judo training. I'd like to get in the habit of doing a workout every morning, but I'm told that 2-3 workouts/week is optimal for building strength. Is this true?
One option I'm considering is alternating strength days and flexibility days... or maybe strength and cardio. Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks!
dude i'm a judoka too. i've been lurking on S&C forever and BIG THANKS to all the experts here who opened my eyes.
basically i do 1 set of everything, every day. i weighed 189 in june, after xmas dinner i weighed 222. LOL some of it is fat.
somebody here mentioned hypertrophyspecific.com. basically they advocate 1 set of every exercise for the whole body, 3 times a week. then i found this same advice in a book "strength training for wrestling" by Princeton wrestling coach Matt Bryzcki. it's ideal for wrestlers and judokas because your muscles don't get too tired from 1 set. and if you do the exercises as fast as you can, you get a kind of cardio workout too, and your workout gets done in like 30 minutes. and if you use a gym, you can just go to whatever equipment is not busy for 1 set and move on. it's sooo efficient.
but seriously, my results really started to accelerate when i did the workout every day instead of 3 times a week. i didn't feel tired or overtrained.
BUT. I was taking time off from judo during most of this. when i was doing hard randori 3 times a week, there's no way i could do this every day!
that's my experience!
I train everyday. This means that no day passes without me doing some exercise in one form or another, it does not mean that i do a hardcore strength/conditioning workout everyday or sparring everyday.
I like to train hard but I also listen to my body and think about the bigger picture, in the range of 2 weeks before and 2 weeks in the future from now. When I have a little injury or something that bothers me, I'll adapt and restructure my plans accordingly, also taking into account rest times. My ultimate advice is: listen to your body and gut instinct.
There was a similar thread some weeks ago when someone had a really huge schedule for the whole week. Bottom line was: if you can do it and don't feel any negative effects like overtraining and injury cycles, then do it :)
Thanks for the info, guys. It sounds like a person has to do a little fine tuning to find the balance of training and rest time that best suits their schedule and level of fitness.