A looooong time ago – some 20 odd years – one of my main teachers by the name of Poliquin designed a lifting program for the Canadian national Judo team.
Here is the story:
When the team members saw the program as written on paper, they kind of laughed, scoffed at it. Probably because of the simplicity. And it’s true: this workout is very simple. But… remember: ‘simple’ does NOT always mean ‘easy’!
So then, apparently, Poliquin challenged them to do just 3 circuits, and see for themselves how hard it was. Story goes, they managed just 2 circuits before they all turned green in the face and wanted to spew.
It is a high lactic acid whole body routine, which is very practical for the Judo player, since you can lift just twice a week and still get the full benefits.
As we all know, Judo takes up most of the training time and energy, so any additional work – like weights – must be finely balanced with the rest of the training… in other words: always consider total workload, or else you may suffer from overtraining.
So with this Canadian National Judo Team System, you can lift just twice a week – it’s even possible to train after a Judo practice if you must – and still build up impressive strength, size and an increase lactic acid tolerance levels.
OK so here is the workout, with explanations following. And please don’t make the same mistake as the players of the Canadian national team! As simple as it is, this program is… really hard!Just try it for yourself and you’ll see…
Fat grip chinups are great for Judoka
Exercise 1: Fat Grip Shoulder Width Chin Ups*, 3x12rm, 30X0, 60s.
ExerciseÂ2: Full Olympic Back Squats, 3x12rm, 30X0, 60s.
Exercise3: Parallel Bench Press, 3x12rm, 30X0, 60s.
ExerciseÂ4: Deadlifts, 3x12rm, 30X0, 180s.
*you can use ordinary grip if you don’t have fat grips available, but they’re better for Judo Players
Explanation:
ExerciseÂ1 andExerciseÂ2, simply means you do one exercise after the other, as in a circuit. So first the chin ups, then the squats, then bench press, finally deadlift. Take a break and repeat the circuit.
3x12rm means 3 sets of 12 rep max. And ‘rep max’ means you should not be able to do, say, 14 reps with that weight. That would be too light and cheating! Try and find a weight that you can just manage for 12 reps, (this may take some trial and error).
A 12 rep max weight is 70% of your 1RM (YOUR 1 REP MAX, OR THE HEAVIEST YOU CAN DO WITH STRICT FORM ON THE GIVEN EXERCISE. Also called a PB, or PR for Personal Best or Personal Record). This goes for about 75% of the training population.
30X0is the lifting tempo and it means you lower the weight for the count of three, then explode up, repeat (on deadlifts only explode up from the knees, NOT from the floor!)
And, finally, 60s. means you rest 60 seconds before going to the next exercise (180 seconds between circuits).
So, in one go:
Do 12 reps of fat grip chins with 70% of your 1RM. Lower yourself for 3 seconds, then explode up. Take exactly 60 seconds before starting out on the full squats, 12 reps with 70% of the 1 RM, lower for 3 seconds, explode up. 60 seconds later do the bench presses with parallel grip (relatively close grip, parallel arms) and finally finish up with the deadlifts.
Then take exactly 3 minutes – not more, not less – and repeat for 2 more circuits, making it 3 circuits in total.
Notes: If you don’t know your percentages or your max, just test it. It’s crucial to use exactly the right amount of weight. Otherwise you’re short-changing yourself. The same goes for the rest periods: take too much and your cheating, the effectiveness will be compromised. The devil IS in the detail here.
I can promise you this: if you stick to all loading parameters with precision and like glue, then by the 2nd circuit you’ll be panting like after a few good sprint intervals. And by the time you finished the 3rd round – IF you finish, that is! – You should feel nauseated.
That means high lactate, which in turn spells high HGH and high lactic acid tolerance: an extra bonus for the Judo player.
OK that’s all folks, if you have any questions or run into any problems with this, please email me any time and I will do my best to help you out: mark@markkislich.com
And if you like this and want more of the same, swing by my site any time at http://www.markkislich.com/ and http://www.judoperformance.com
