Introdcution and advice

Training Q&A [Moderated]
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Hi BarbellMedicine crew,

First of all I would like to thank you guys for all the info available on the site, Youtube, etc.

Since I am new to the forum I would like to introduce myself.
I am a 34year old male, 188 cm and 88,7 kg (16%BF according to the navy method) and living in Belgium so pardon me if my English isn’t that good.
I started lifting quite some time ago but I always combined it with other sports (BJJ, wrestling, …), so it was never my main focus. I only started lifting more seriously roughly 2 years ago and even then still made some crucial mistakes.
Due to some changes in my daily life (birth of a second son) I stopped training BJJ 5 months ago. I could not put in the same amount of time as before and after ten years I decided to put BJJ on hold for a while.
So now I am (temporarily) only focused on lifting weights and gaining some muscle.
I already ran the SSLP in the past, then did some Texas Method always in combination with BJJ (still training 6-8 hours of BJJ a week).

5 months ago I decided to do Candito Lineair program and made some progress with this template.
My estimated maxes after 4 months were:
Squat - 188 kg
Deadlift - 195 kg (I’ve had some back problems holding me down mentally)
Bench - 125 kg
Press - 74 kg

I recently was looking for something new to do and come across Ben Pollack’s program (unfuck your program) which I am running at the moment.

Nutrition wise I started tracking kcals a few months ago with the Fitnesspal, I started at 86 kg in the beginning of January, so I gained 2,7 kg. My weight a year ago was around 84 kg when I was still doing tons of BJJ.
My macros now are 25/50/25. Before I used to follow a high protein high fat diet but didn’t really measure my food.

I have a garage gym and the time to train up to 4 times a week.

Hopefully that’s enough info to answer some of my questions.

  1. What kind of program would you advise me to do? To gain strength and muscle. And maybe something I can still follow while picking up BJJ again in a few months.
  2. I have the idea that I gained quite some BF lately although it’s only based on the view in the mirror since I didn’t take any measurements when I started using Fitnesspal

But I know my waste was 84 cm roughly a year ago. I ate as much as much as 3700 kcals lately since I had the idea I wasn’t gaining fast enough but now I am back at 3300-3400 kcals.
3. Should I still just gain weight and stop minding the BF or would a lower BF be beneficial (since I often read you only should be bulking with a 10% BF)

Many thanks in advance for all the help.

Kind regards
Thomas

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Hey Thomas,

Thanks for the post and it’s great to have you here.

  1. I don’t have any real opinion of what you should do right now, as I am unfamiliar with the two programs you’ve previously run and your current needs as a lifter. I think most good strength programs have a good amount of hypertrophy work, but returning to BJJ would challenge the efficacy of nearly any program. That all being said, you could do a lot worse than the Bridge or one of our GPP plans.

2 and 3 ) You’re quite underweight for a strength athlete. I wouldn’t recommend losing weight at this time. Rather, I would gain weight slowly over time.

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Hi Jordan,

Thanks for your quick reply and honest answer.

The 2 programs have a decent amount of hypertrophy work as well as some strength work. I would like to finish this one first before jumping to the Bridge for example.
But I’ve already read it and really like the idea, also the conditioning part is very appealing to me.

I will try to keep gaining weight slowly in the meantime.

Is my struggle to combine BJJ and lifting weights (in the near future) something you guys deal with through private counseling? I am really interested in some guidance since I don’t want to “waste any time”. Or do you guys don’t handle this since it’s not your core business.

Thanks again!

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This definitely is a good area for future BBM content. BJJ and other martial arts are increasing in popularity and it would be nice to see some programming address optimal strength training around it–optimal as in “these are the gainzZz you can expect rolling around on the floor in your PJs,” not optimal like these are the best gainzZz possible for strength. Just a thought.

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That’s exactly what I am talking about.
I am also aware of the fact that I don’t have to expect insane gains while training BJJ 3 times a week. But I would like to combine both and progress in both. I really have difficulties chosonh one or the other. Chosing is losing I guess.
I ask it here because I have the idea you guys are honest in your answers.

1 Like