Who is Joel Jamieson
Joel Jamieson is the founder of 8weeksout and widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost authorities on strength and conditioning for combat sports. He has more than 7 years experience working with many of the top athletes in the sport and has trained over 30 of the biggest names in MMA, including 7 world champions. He formerly served as the Director of Strength & Conditioning for Pride FC and currently works in a similar capacity for Dream.

Prior to his work in MMA and combat sports, he spent time training D-1 football players and worked in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. He has trained countless teams and athletes from the NFL, MLS, NHL and NBA and Olympic competitors from 5 different sports. Joel has been featured in magazines such as Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Health UK, Fighting Fit, Healthy for Men and is a regular contributor to Sherdog’s training section.

In 2009 Jamieson authored Ultimate MMA Conditioning, the definitive guide to getting ready to fight, and it has since gone one to sell more than 3,000 copies in more than 50 countries. Joel owns and operates a gym in the Seattle, WA area and is a frequent presenter at various conferences and workshops around the world.

www.8weeksout.com

To measure how well the muscular endurance program effectively improves your muscular endurance you have to have a standardized assessment that you can use to gauge progress. For the purposes of this program the following two assessments of muscular endurance will be used:

Maximum push-ups: Perform as many push-ups as possible with perfect technique. There is no time limit, simply do as many as you can until you reach muscular failure. Post this number on this board and write it down.

Explosive push-ups: Perform as many explosive push-ups as you can in 20 seconds. Each push up must be off the ground, as soon as you unable to leave the ground your test is complete. Post the number on this board and then write it down.
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Week One Workouts

Postby Joel on Sun Oct 26, 2008 9:54 pm
As promised here are the first two workouts for the Muscular Endurance Program:

Workout One:

Tempo Method Push-ups
4 sets x 8-10 reps,
45 seconds rest
2 series (8-10 minutes active rest between series)

Workout Two (three days after workout one)

Tempo Method Push-ups
5 sets x 8-10 reps
45 seconds rest
1 series

Week One notes:
- 2 series means do 4 sets of 8-10 reps, then actively rest for 8-10 minutes and do another 4 sets of 8-10 reps for a total of 8 sets.
- Active rest can be shadow boxing, jump rope, light bag/pad work, sled dragging, etc.
- If possible, do this workout as a separate workout from your other training activities, but if that's not possible then do at the end of your MMA training.
- Go as close to complete muscular failure on each set as you can, finish them on your knees if you have to in order to finish all the reps. Many people will have to do this at first.
- Make sure to use the 2-2 tempo with no rest pause at top or bottom and DO NOT hold your breath
- If you can get all the sets and reps with no problem then use bench press instead
- If you're going to do lower body instead, replace the tempo push-ups with squats
- Do not rest more than the 45 seconds.
- If you feel an intense burning in your arms, shoulders, and pecs, you are doing it right.
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Week Two Workouts

New postby Joel on Sun Nov 02, 2008 11:08 pm
Here is the 2nd week of the program:

Workout One:

Tempo Method Push-ups
5 sets x 8-10 reps,
40 seconds rest
2 series (8-10 minutes active rest between series)

Workout Two (one to two days after workout one)

Continuous heavy bag work (no rest)
Moderate intensity (HR 120-150) heavy bag/pad work for 15 minutes
Upper body only

Workout Three (three days after workout one)

Tempo Method Push-ups
6 sets x 8-10 reps
40 seconds rest
1 series

Week Two notes:

Notice the decreased rest interval and the extra sets for workouts one and three

For workout two you want to maintain a moderate pace throwing punches with no long rest periods between punches

If you don't train MMA or any stand up you can skip workout two

You can also optionally repeat workout two again after doing workout three

I recommend taking in 20-30g of whey protein isolate prior to the workout if possible.

2 series means do 4 sets of 8-10 reps, then actively rest for 8-10 minutes and do another 4 sets of 8-10 reps for a total of 8 sets.

Active rest can be shadow boxing, jump rope, light bag/pad work, sled dragging, etc.

If possible, do this workout as a separate workout from your other training activities, but if that's not possible then do at the end of your MMA training.

Go as close to complete muscular failure on each set as you can, finish them on your knees if you have to in order to finish all the reps. Many people will have to do this at first.

Make sure to use the 2-2 tempo with no rest pause at top or bottom and DO NOT hold your breath

If you can get all the sets and reps with no problem then use bench press instead

If you're going to do lower body instead, replace the tempo push-ups with squats

Do not rest more than the 40 seconds.

If you feel an intense burning in your arms, shoulders, and pecs, you are doing it right.
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Week Three marks the start of the explosive method instead of the tempo method. Generally, you want to use the tempo method for 2 weeks at a time before an off week. You should feel a different type of fatigue from the explosive method than you did with the tempo method. With that said, here's the workouts:

Workout One

Explosive Push-ups

4 sets x 10 seconds
40 seconds rest
2 series

Workout Two (one to two days after workout one)

Continuous heavy bag work (no rest)
Moderate intensity (HR 120-150) heavy bag/pad work for 20 minutes
Upper body only

Workout Three

Explosive Push-ups
5 sets x 10 seconds
40 seconds rest
1 series

Week Three notes:

Be as explosive as you can for each and every rep, if you can no longer get off the ground then do them off your kness and be as explosive as you can.

Notice the time of work is increased in workout 2 by 5 minutes

If you don't train MMA or any stand up you can skip workout two

You can also optionally repeat workout two again after doing workout three

I recommend taking in 20-30g of whey protein isolate prior to the workout if possible.

2 series means do 4 sets of 8-10 reps, then actively rest for 8-10 minutes and do another 4 sets of 8-10 reps for a total of 8 sets.

Active rest can be shadow boxing, jump rope, light bag/pad work, sled dragging, etc.

If possible, do this workout as a separate workout from your other training activities, but if that's not possible then do at the end of your MMA training.

Go as close to complete muscular failure on each set as you can, finish them on your knees if you have to in order to finish all the reps. Many people will have to do this at first.

Do not rest more than the 40 seconds.
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Week Four is an increase in volume of explosive endurance work along with the return of the Tempo Method for workout #2. You should notice a definite increase in the difficulty of the exmplosive method given the increase in volume and decrease in rest time. Here's the workouts:

Workout One

Explosive Push-ups

6 sets x 12 seconds
35 seconds rest
2 series

Workout Two (one to two days after workout one)

Tempo Method Push-ups
4 sets x 8-10 reps
35 seconds rest between
2 series

Workout Three

Explosive Push-ups
6 sets x 10 seconds
35 seconds rest
1 series

Week Four notes:

Be as explosive as you can for each and every rep, if you can no longer get off the ground then do them off your kness and be as explosive as you can.

Notice the decreased rest intervals and increased reps where noted.

I recommend taking in 20-30g of whey protein isolate prior to the workout if possible.

2 series means do 4 sets of 8-10 reps, then actively rest for 8-10 minutes and do another 4 sets of 8-10 reps for a total of 8 sets.

Active rest can be shadow boxing, jump rope, light bag/pad work, sled dragging, etc.

If possible, do this workout as a separate workout from your other training activities, but if that's not possible then do at the end of your MMA training.

Go as close to complete muscular failure on each set as you can, finish them on your knees if you have to in order to finish all the reps. Many people will have to do this at first.

Do not rest more than the time listed.
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Week Five Workouts

New postby Joel on Mon Nov 24, 2008 1:07 am
Week Five is again an increase in volume of explosive endurance work along with a single workout of the Tempo Method. Here's the workouts:

Workout One

Explosive Push-ups

8 sets x 15 seconds
30 seconds rest
2 series

Workout Two (one to two days after workout one)

Tempo Method Push-ups
5 sets x 8-10 reps
30 seconds rest between
2 series

Workout Three

Explosive Push-ups
6 sets x 12 seconds
30 seconds rest
1 series

Week Five notes:

Be as explosive as you can for each and every rep, if you can no longer get off the ground then do them off your kness and be as explosive as you can.

Notice the decreased rest intervals and increased reps where noted.

I recommend taking in 20-30g of whey protein isolate prior to the workout if possible.

2 series means do 4 sets of 8-10 reps, then actively rest for 8-10 minutes and do another 4 sets of 8-10 reps for a total of 8 sets.

Active rest can be shadow boxing, jump rope, light bag/pad work, sled dragging, etc.

If possible, do this workout as a separate workout from your other training activities, but if that's not possible then do at the end of your MMA training.

Go as close to complete muscular failure on each set as you can, finish them on your knees if you have to in order to finish all the reps. Many people will have to do this at first.

Do not rest more than the time listed.
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Week Six Workouts

New postby Joel on Mon Dec 01, 2008 2:53 am
Week Six marks the end of the road for this program. At the beginning of next week everyone can retest and post their results. Anyone who followed the program exactly as written should see significant improvements in their numbers. Notice the change in volume and rest intervals for this week. There will also be no tempo method this week. Here's the week six workouts:

Workout One

Explosive Push-ups

5 sets x 15 seconds
20 seconds rest
2 series

Workout Two (three days after workout one)

Explosive Push-ups
5 sets x 12 seconds
20 seconds rest
1 series

Week Six notes:

Be as explosive as you can for each and every rep, if you can no longer get off the ground then do them off your kness and be as explosive as you can.

Notice the decreased rest intervals and increased reps where noted.

I recommend taking in 20-30g of whey protein isolate prior to the workout if possible.

2 series means do 4 sets of 8-10 reps, then actively rest for 8-10 minutes and do another 4 sets of 8-10 reps for a total of 8 sets.

Active rest can be shadow boxing, jump rope, light bag/pad work, sled dragging, etc.

If possible, do this workout as a separate workout from your other training activities, but if that's not possible then do at the end of your MMA training.

Go as close to complete muscular failure on each set as you can, finish them on your knees if you have to in order to finish all the reps. Many people will have to do this at first.

Do not rest more than the time listed.