postworkout recovery

[Givnal]

Ah, very good. Im staying away from Creatine also these days although for me it worked very well and I did notice a good increase in sustained energy. It is expensive and I figure I dont need all that these days, besides I was always dehydrated. I was going to mention vitamins also but you sound like you have a pretty good head about what you are doing. Make sure to check back in and let us know how the new routine is going.

[Daisho]

actually, i'm a bit torn between switching over to a H.I.I.T. method, to increase the durability/utility of the muscles i've been hitting.

a 3 day split of more compund movements (romanian deadlifts, clean and jerk presses, weighted walking squats) to take my latest gains, and use them to increase my range of motion, strength and explosiveness

or a 3 day split of super-set training. Maybe mixing each set between a push and pull of the same targeted muscle group to increase power.

the last one was the way i was originally leaning, but since I'm kinda stuck on a bit of a plateau, it may just get caught in that stagnation as well.

I guess the question is, after a pretty steady routine of maximum overload training, should i next focus on utility and durability of the muscles? strength and explosiveness? or raw power and endurance?

[Givnal]

Its pretty rough on a body to go high intensity/heavy lifting for a sustained time, although Im of the opinion that heavy lifting does increase speed as well as power. Endurance would likley increase with lighter weights and more reps. Switching up light and heavy routines every week might be good for muscle confusion. Basicly HIIT. Just run your normal schedual going 6-7reps 4 sets at your highest weight one week and the next dropping a bunch of weight til you can get 15-16 reps on your sets. Switching body part training every couple weeks could be beneficial for the same reasons.

You can also do some isometric type lifting where you work half muscles like Schwartzneger's 21s for biceps where you go 7-7-7. Your reps per set would be 21, curls- 7 from the top to midway, 7 from the bottom to midway and 7 full reps. Those were always killer. There are other ways to train other bodyparts similarly. Youre right about the compound moves, big core excersizes like that are bread and butter but remember that your MA training is going to take alot out of you and thats probably why your having trouble recouping some. Football linemen and boxers train differently so I guess it depends on what your after in the end.

That said, at 40, now I could never keep up with a schedual like I used to. Shoot, even when I was 30 and lifting heavy I doubt I could have thrown in 3 days of karate training and the 3-4 days of lifting. Just too much, the muscles wouldnt have enough time to heal. More is less sometimes, but the good thing about training is that you can switch routines and mix things up all you want, as long as youre keeping to a routine and you are enjoying yourself you'll keep progressing .