Adding More Cardio to GPP Template for LEO

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hey BBM,

I have a question regarding cardio for the 3 day template. I like the GPP II Template due to it’s ability to accommodate 2-3 days a week of BJJ training. I’m usually doing BJJ 2 times a week. I’m wondering if adding sprint HIIT work and distance runs up to 2 miles before BJJ would be appropriate? Would it be better to spread the template to a week 1 a and b, week 2 c and a, week 3 b and c, and so on? Would you change the structure of the weekly workouts by combining the three days into two days in some way? Is it foolish to add more stress so I should take a BJJ day out of the week and do one running day for the week instead?

I haven’t trained running in 5 years and during my strength training, I let BJJ be my cardio. I recently started running to train for a 5k and realized my locomotion is atrocious haha. I work in law enforcement. I think BJJ and running is important for the job, I just prioritize BJJ over running. Once I get off work, I have an hour and a half before BJJ class starts. I’m thinking that adding running would tire me before class and my BJJ sparring would be forced to focus on technique, rather than powering through and forcing a technique that wouldn’t work if I was already tired. It seems like sound reasoning to me. I wonder if you guys agree or if it would be too much weekly stress.

My current weekly structure has me training 5 days in a row.
​​Monday - BJJ
Tuesday - Strength training
Wednesday - Strength training
Thursday - BJJ
Friday - Strength training
Saturday - REST / BJJ Open Mat (if my body is feeling good)
Sunday - REST

I find I have the best time and progress when doing 3 day programming. Adding running would add to the stress on my body. I’m worried inserting running into my current weekly structure is a recipe for patellar tendonitis, bursitis, and all the other fun stuff that can come up from training to be more likely. Switching to 2 days gives me a day to work only on my running and my weekly fatigue from strength training is lowered.

If it would be beneficial, my idea for combining the 3 days into 2 involves breaking up the lifts of day two. Move the Main Horizontal Press to day 1. Move the Main Horizontal Pull and Supplemental Squat to day 3. Take accessories out and do Nordic Hamstring Curls at the end of my workouts. I think it lowers my weekly fatigue by taking out accessories, but not to the degree of going to week 1 a and b, week 2 c and a.

My Current Lifting Profile
Age - 30
Bodyweight - Between 195lbs and 200lbs throughout the year
Bench - 305 lbs
Squat - 415 lbs
Deadlift - 525 lbs
OHP - 185 lbs

Your insight is greatly appreciated and I hope I’ve included all necessary information you need for my questions. I feel like I’ve asked a lot. Thank you for your time and let me know if you need anymore information. Please point me to a forum post if this type of question has been asked before. Cheers!

2

Paul,

Thanks for the post. Lot’s of questions here, but I’ll try and be direct.

I don’t know what the GPP II template is, but I think this may be one of our older programs from ~ 2017 or so. If you were open to a new training template that really was well suited to a sport like BJJ and included ample conditioning, it’d be the 3-day version of General Strength and Conditioning II Template. On second thought, this may be what you’re referring to now that I type it out loud.

Here’s the template: General Strength & Conditioning Template - Barbell Medicine

To your questions:

I have a question regarding cardio for the 3 day template. I like the GPP II Template due to it’s ability to accommodate 2-3 days a week of BJJ training. I’m usually doing BJJ 2 times a week. I’m wondering if adding sprint HIIT work and distance runs up to 2 miles before BJJ would be appropriate? Would it be better to spread the template to a week 1 a and b, week 2 c and a, week 3 b and c, and so on? Would you change the structure of the weekly workouts by combining the three days into two days in some way? Is it foolish to add more stress so I should take a BJJ day out of the week and do one running day for the week instead?

I would not add any conditioning to the Gen S/C II template, as it is already programmed appropriately in my opinion. If it’s a different template, I would be doing ~ 150 minutes of steady state cardio per week split up into 3-4 days. I would not do sprints, nor would I split the training week up for any particular reason.

-Jordan

3

My mistake, yes I was referring to the GS&C II in my original post. Do you have a template/programming tip that would be better suited for someone interested in improving these types of cardio concurrently? I’d still like to improve my sprinting/running ability and not regress on my BJJ work.

4

Paul,

I think the conditioning in the General S/C II template is exactly what I’d program for someone who wants to improve their running. I do not think you’d benefit much from training sprinting directly right now, though after a run or two through the Gen S/C template, I’d be amenable to including sprint training. A flawed (but maybe useful) analogy would be comparing sprints to single-rep efforts. Yes, you can train either when relatively untrained, but there’s not a lot of upside to it without a good base of training being built. Just my 0.02

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