Deadlifts, Squats, & Bench (and some other stuff) help needed

[IXthLMNT]

Long story short, I need to add at least Deadlifts and Squats to my training. The main question is, how can i do it correctly with the aim of not messing up my martial arts. I dont really know much about weight lifting so I figured that listing my goals may help.

main goal for both (Deadlifts and Squats):

gain strength + explosive power without ruining my flexibility. I mainly dont want to do something that will maximize my growth too fast because I'd rather gain mass slow so I can keep training my martial arts techniques and syncing them with my body as it grows. the way I train, gaining too much mass at once will just leave me dead during martial arts training and will also leave my constantly retraining/"recalibrating" myself to adapt to my bigger size.

With that goal in mind, is there any advice on how I should start as someone who's 160lbs (in terms of recommended amount of weight to start w/, reps, sets)

Bench:

For me it's really important that i can keep my elbows in the center of my body where my sternum is. for this reason I've never benched before. I've heard that it has benefits for strikers but maintaining my centerline is most important. Any tips on how I can train this (rate of progression is not a problem, im in no hurry) without losing that flexibility? Or should I just stay away from it?

Also, does anyone have tips on what to add to my diet, including supplements (nothing risky or too crazy/abnormal though) that would speed up my muscle recovery/repair?

I know that's a shit-ton of questions, but any help would be appreciated!

[Echelon]

A lot of powerlifters squat/dead regularly. I'm talkin every 2nd day or every other session (dead-lift). Usually to gain strength you put on muscle mass, but you may also lose fat as well in the process (especially when you squat you're building up your legs, you increase weight, more likely to lose fat quicker because you are heavier). You actually need to have good flexibility to squat/dead with proper form. If you have issues with flexibility, keep testing it, every now and then.
You gotta be prepared to put on weight though, maybe even a bit of fat, as you increase your calorie intake. 68kg in most circles is skinny for your height, you want to aim at around 165 pounds at least, and in order to do that you need to up your intake of protein/carbs/fats(good).
As for your bench press issue...you can do a few exercises to make your chest wider, I suppose.. but if I was you I'd just bench press and trial your "flexibility" and see if it is being affected.

Compound workouts are good.....but you need to realise symmetry not just for aesthetics but for form and posture.

[Echelon]

A lot of powerlifters squat/dead regularly. I'm talkin every 2nd day or every other session (dead-lift). Usually to gain strength you put on muscle mass, but you may also lose fat as well in the process (especially when you squat you're building up your legs, you increase weight, more likely to lose fat quicker because you are heavier). You actually need to have good flexibility to squat/dead with proper form. If you have issues with flexibility, keep testing it, every now and then.
You gotta be prepared to put on weight though, maybe even a bit of fat, as you increase your calorie intake. 68kg in most circles is skinny for your height, you want to aim at around 165 pounds at least, and in order to do that you need to up your intake of protein/carbs/fats(good).
As for your bench press issue...you can do a few exercises to make your chest wider, I suppose.. but if I was you I'd just bench press and trial your "flexibility" and see if it is being affected.

Compound workouts are good.....but you need to realise symmetry not just for aesthetics but for form and posture.

[IXthLMNT]

Originally Posted by Echelon

A lot of powerlifters squat/dead regularly. I'm talkin every 2nd day or every other session (dead-lift). Usually to gain strength you put on muscle mass, but you may also lose fat as well in the process (especially when you squat you're building up your legs, you increase weight, more likely to lose fat quicker because you are heavier). You actually need to have good flexibility to squat/dead with proper form. If you have issues with flexibility, keep testing it, every now and then.
You gotta be prepared to put on weight though, maybe even a bit of fat, as you increase your calorie intake. 68kg in most circles is skinny for your height, you want to aim at around 165 pounds at least, and in order to do that you need to up your intake of protein/carbs/fats(good).
As for your bench press issue...you can do a few exercises to make your chest wider, I suppose.. but if I was you I'd just bench press and trial your "flexibility" and see if it is being affected.

Compound workouts are good.....but you need to realise symmetry not just for aesthetics but for form and posture.

Yea, I realized that gaining mass would be inevitable from these exercises. Testing things out does seem like my safest bet. From the stuff I read up, i noticed there were different types of routines for the deadlifts. The first thing that seemed to be necessary was figuring out the max weight you can lift once and then doing setos of reps with varying percentages of that weight. Normally I'd guess that more weight = more focus on getting big (but i'd rather just focus on strength over size) but I can't tell because most articles talks about weightlifting in a weight I never even knew about. They keep saying that deadlifting is a hardcore cardio exercise at higher weights and that it also has a lot to do with mental state and releasing hormones and such.

For now I've been doing jumping squats instead of weighted squats, I'm wondering if pushup work would be a good primer for benching, especially since it'll probably be better for retaining flexiblity.

And yea, I'm actually more concerned with the form and posture training aspect of it rather than the aesthetics.

[Echelon]

Go read up billstarr 5x5

[IXthLMNT]

Originally Posted by Echelon

Go read up billstarr 5x5

Nice, I actually just got off of a good 2 week span of researching this stuff pretty well. Looked into the Stronglifts 5x5, Bill Star 5x5, and have been reading this book called "Starting Strength."

as a thread update:

I got hold of a barbell (the 45 lb one) and about 200 lbs of weights in various sized plates. At the moment I dont have a rack for squats or bench so I'm going to be doing my squats with lighter weight (well im starting all exercises w/ the bar alone first)

Right now, by the main things I'll be training at home are

1. Lighter weight squats
2. Deadlifts
3. Power Cleans
4. Overhead press
5. Barbell Rows

Since I dont yet have all the stuff to do the exact 5x5 programs I've seen, can i still follow a similar order of adding weight while doing these exercises?

Also, when doing something like a 5x5 program, is it okay to train other stuff on that day? Is it also okay for me to do other exercises w/ the barbell? I figured that my non-weight days would be the harder focus on martial arts training. Is this okay or is there anything i should do to make sure my muscles recover well with the workouts added? If anyone can answer any of these questions, help a brotha out.

[IXthLMNT]

Fitness thread dead? Then it's my duty to post here, my duty as RD Savior and all ^^

anyways, still didn't get the bench and rack. Been doing my own training lately of

(not including warmups)
5x5 Squat
5x5 Clean and Press
3x5 Deadlift

i figure this is good training till i get the other equipment because it has squats and deadlifts and the clean and press is pretty much like the powerclean + an overhead press, at least from what i know so far.

any comments? any other good things to train. As soon as i get the rack and bench ill be able to squat more and start benching. Guess I could add barbell rows. Just realized i forgot those. Is it bad to train randomly throughout the day? I mean, not the big core exercises, but like may bicep/tricep curls and stuff?

[chunky]

Originally Posted by IXthLMNT

Fitness thread dead? Then it's my duty to post here, my duty as RD Savior and all ^^

anyways, still didn't get the bench and rack. Been doing my own training lately of

(not including warmups)
5x5 Squat
5x5 Clean and Press
3x5 Deadlift

i figure this is good training till i get the other equipment because it has squats and deadlifts and the clean and press is pretty much like the powerclean + an overhead press, at least from what i know so far.

any comments? any other good things to train. As soon as i get the rack and bench ill be able to squat more and start benching. Guess I could add barbell rows. Just realized i forgot those. Is it bad to train randomly throughout the day? I mean, not the big core exercises, but like may bicep/tricep curls and stuff?

clean & press is great. I recently started doing more kettlebell training. I love me some kettlebell snatches.

[brappp]

I tried kettle bells for while but i got scared dont wanna get muscles just tone up dont wanna look like chyna from wrestling

[IXthLMNT]

Originally Posted by chunky

clean & press is great. I recently started doing more kettlebell training. I love me some kettlebell snatches.

Damn, Kettlebells are where it's at. I remember once reading about how the US govt incorporated it into training after they went into russia and saw that they had some freakishly strong soldiers. Sounds like its true!

I always wondered, what kind of weight do people eventually work up to with the clean and press?

Also, when you do a set of lets say, 5 clean and presses, do you always just drop/bring the bar down past the knees and continue the next rep from there? That's one of the things that confused me.

[chunky]

Originally Posted by IXthLMNT

Damn, Kettlebells are where it's at. I remember once reading about how the US govt incorporated it into training after they went into russia and saw that they had some freakishly strong soldiers. Sounds like its true!

I always wondered, what kind of weight do people eventually work up to with the clean and press?

Also, when you do a set of lets say, 5 clean and presses, do you always just drop/bring the bar down past the knees and continue the next rep from there? That's one of the things that confused me.

If you're talking about kettle bell clean& press, it's not really done for max weight. You tend to do a lot of reps with kettle bells, but still at a fairly high weight.

When I do a barbell clean & press, the rep always starts from the floor. If you don't lower the weights all the way to the floor, it's known as a hanging clean & press.

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