Combative Strength | 14-Week Strength Program for Grapplers

Picture the third round. Your training partner's grips are going soft and his shots have slowed down. You're still squeezing and still chaining attacks, because you built that engine in the gym, weeks before this roll.

Then the scramble. He reverses and you hit the mat, and you're back on top before he can settle. The raw strength and work capacity you trained on purpose are still there when the position turns ugly.

By the end of the night, you're the partner nobody wants to draw. Your grips hold until the timer goes off, and you still have gas when it does.

Declan Moody fighting for position in a standing clinch during a match

Declan Moody attacking a leg lock on the mat during a match

Declan Moody roaring after a match in a white B-Team rashguard

Field Tested on the Mats

This Is What Declan Did to Get Ready for ADCC

Declan Moody has won two ADCC Trials (Asia and Oceania in 2023, then Europe, Africa and Middle East in 2025) and the WNO 30 open weight tournament in 2025, and he has competed at the ADCC World Championship three times.

For his 2026 ADCC camp, Atomic wrote him a strength cycle built around one problem: keeping his grip and pulling strength through match after match on a tournament day.

Tod Moore, who earned his black belt under Declan, rebuilt that cycle for the app as Combative Strength: three programs stacked into 14 weeks, with assessments built in. Atomic's own athletes have run it too, black belts included.

Built for the Fight Game

For Grapplers, Wrestlers, and Fighters

Grapplers rolling on the mats during a training session

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

gi and no-gi, comp prep

Declan Moody flexing after a match at a UFC BJJ event

MMA & Striking

power that survives the cardio

Two grapplers hand-fighting for position on the mats

Wrestling & Grappling

hand fights and scrambles

Why More Rolls Will Not Fix It

Most grapplers try to fix a strength and gas problem on the mat, with extra rounds and every open mat they can make, hoping the engine shows up. What that teaches you is how to roll tired. You drill the bad positions you fall into when you're gassed, and you pick up more injuries doing it.

Strength that lasts deep into a round, the muscle behind your grips and pulls, and top-end strength for scrambles are separate qualities, and rolling alone won't max out any of them. As Tod's program notes put it, grappling conditioning comes from "sequencing adaptations so each one is built on top of the last."

Combative Strength builds all three across its three phases, then tests you before the last phase and again at the finish, so you can see what moved.

Who Built This

Tod Moore

Co-owner, Atomic Athlete · BJJ Black Belt

Tod Moore is the co-owner of Atomic Athlete and a jiu-jitsu black belt under Declan Moody.

With almost 18 years of coaching experience, Uncle Tod has worked with everyone from ADCC competitors and UFC fighters to endurance athletes, Special Forces soldiers, and mountain climbers.

He's also spent his own career running marathons, racing triathlons, training Muay Thai, jiu-jitsu, Olympic lifting, and powerlifting, and has managed to break himself doing every single one of them.

Basically, Tod has made the training mistakes so you don't have to.

When he says something works, it's because he's seen it work repeatedly. When he says something is stupid, there's a good chance he's got the scar to prove it.

If you have something you want to accomplish, Uncle Tod and the Atomic Crew will do everything they can to make sure you're physically and mentally prepared to do it.

Declan Moody stepping onto the mat at a grappling event

3

Programs

2

Assessments

14

Weeks

70

Sessions

1

One-Time Price

Each session lists the lifts, loads, intervals, and rest periods, with instructions and exercise videos. You open the day's session, train, and log your numbers as you go.

One Session From Week 1

Phase 1 · Session 1

From the sample week on the program's TrainHeroic listing

Warm-up, 3 rounds8 bench press, 8 goblet squats, 8 squat jumps, 4 lunges each side, 60 seconds of easy cardio
Slayer bench press2 × 10
Rhino complex3 × 32
Hand-release push-ups
Mastodon complex3 × 32
Dips

Tod's cue for the Slayer lifts: "Smooth on the way down, as deep as you can without relaxing, as fast on the way up as you can without losing control."

What's Inside

What Each Phase Builds

You train five days a week, and each phase has one job.

Phase 1

Declan Moody catching his breath after a match at WNO, water bottle in hand

$39.99 value

Forging Good Steel

Four weeks of foundational strength and conditioning designed to build the foundation to do more work at a higher level.

Upper and lower body complexes to push you past the point of failure in a safe way that always pushes you further
Barbell lifts that get you stronger where you are the weakest, reducing your chance of injury and making you bulletproof
Interval conditioning to build an engine that can support the work

Phase 2

Declan Moody driving a training partner's head down during a hand-fighting drill

$39.99 value

Grinding the Edge

In our second phase we're seeking to get you strong not for a single repetition, but over and over again. Keeping your strength from fading in the later rounds while pushing those through when you're tired.

Strength efforts that find your edge and push you to that edge again and again
Conditioning efforts designed to push fatigued muscle groups to new levels and establish efforts that you can do again and again
Accessory pulling exercises designed to let your opponent know when you get ahold of them, they aren't getting away

Phase 3

Declan Moody roaring with his fists up after a match

$59.99 value

Razor Sharp

During the third phase you'll see us test your strength before the cycle to make sure that you are pushing yourself to the proper level. And then a retest at the end so you can put a number on how much you've improved and it's not just a feeling.

Dedicated strength work individualized to you
High intensity conditioning putting that strength to the test
Longer sustained conditioning blocks for active recovery and to lay the foundation for you to do work on the mats

From Atomic's Athletes

Tested by People Who Get Tested

Athletes who train with Atomic.

Frankie Lopez training no-gi on the mats with a partner

"As a grappler, Atomic has been an invaluable resource in optimizing my sports performance. Tod and the rest of the crew are incredible at what they do, working me to my limit while considering existing injuries and training load.

"The community in the gym is incredible as well, friendly and focused on the task at hand. I'm in the best shape of my life thanks to Atomic, I couldn't be more grateful."

"After 12 years of training Jiu Jitsu, my body was starting to feel completely torn down, and I knew I needed to change the way I approached strength and conditioning. Since joining Atomic Athlete, I've felt stronger, more durable, and better prepared for the demands of hard rounds on the mat. Coach Tod Moore took me under his wing and completely changed the way I look at strength training. I used to hate lifting weights, and now it's one of the most important parts of my training and my life.

"The programming is challenging without feeling repetitive, and every session feels like it has a clear purpose for making you a better grappler. Their 14-week, three-phase program is built specifically to help Jiu Jitsu athletes roll harder and longer, and the results start showing quickly when you commit to the work."

"These guys coach and train and have a combined knowledge of an Einstein and Arnold love child."

"The training is hard, but intelligently designed."

"I am stronger, more confident, and physically a more capable human being because of the programming."

Two athletes drilling an armbar in the grass at an Atomic training event, with a coach guiding the position

Why Strength Matters Late in a Round

By the last minute of a hard round, you're both tired and you both know the position. Whoever still has the stronger grip and pull usually decides whether the submission lands or the position flips.

Get Combative Strength for $49

Priced one at a time, the three programs add up to $139.97. Combative Strength gives you all three for $49.

Why is this only $49? Atomic is betting that once you feel the first phase in your rolling, you'll keep training on its programs for years.

Declan Moody with a championship belt over his shoulder

✓Phase 1: Forging Good Steel$39.99
✓Phase 2: Grinding the Edge$39.99
✓Phase 3: Razor Sharp, with the test and retest$59.99

Total value~~$139.97~~

One-Time Purchase · Lifetime Access

$49

Get Combative Strength

You'll check out on TrainHeroic, the app your program lives in.

🔒 Secure Checkout 30-Day Guarantee All Cards Accepted

What Keeps Grapplers Out of the Weight Room

"I should just roll more." Extra rounds sharpen your technique, and they also add wear to your joints. Gym work builds the strength you carry into those rounds, so the same rounds cost you less.

"I don't have a full gym." A regular commercial gym has everything this program uses, and the FAQ below lists the gear.

"I'm already strong." Then find out how much of that strength survives a long round. Phase 1 is built to show you, because it keeps loading you after the fatigue sets in.

30-Day Guarantee

Train On It for 30 Days

All 14 weeks are in your account the moment you pay. Run the first few weeks and see how they feel on the mat. If it isn't for you, send one email to coach@atomic-athlete.com within 30 days and you'll get your money back. Nobody will ask why.

Before You Check Out

How do I get the program, and when?+

As soon as your payment goes through. You set up a TrainHeroic account during checkout, and Combative Strength shows up in the app on your phone, tablet, or computer, with a video for each exercise.

Will this take away from my mat time?+

It's written to run alongside it. Declan followed the original cycle through an ADCC camp, and about six black belts at Atomic train on this programming around their own rolling.

What equipment do I need?+

Week one uses a barbell with plates, a rack and bench, dumbbells or kettlebells, a pull-up bar, somewhere to do dips, and a rower, an air bike, or room to run shuttles. Most commercial gyms have all of it.

I'm prepping for a competition. When should I start?+

Count back 14 weeks from your event if you can. Declan's original was timed to end at his competition, with the heaviest lifting saved for its final phase.

Is this the same program Declan ran?+

It's built from the same cycle. Declan's loads came from his own maxes, and Tod's app version keeps the Phase 1 complexes, adds a test and a retest, and sets your weights from your test results.

Is this only for BJJ?+

It leans toward grappling, and wrestlers, MMA fighters, and strikers can run it as written, since the lifts and conditioning are the same work their sports ask for.

I'm a white belt. Is this too advanced?+

Your lifting experience matters more than your belt. Week one includes bench press, front squats, hang cleans and Romanian deadlifts, so it helps to be comfortable under a barbell. The Harbinger complex lists Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced loads, and you start at whichever level fits.

Is it a one-time payment?+

You pay $49 once at checkout, plus any sales tax TrainHeroic adds, and the program stays in your account after that.

What if it's not for me?+

Then ask for your money back any time in the first 30 days. The guarantee section above has the email address to use.

Declan Moody gesturing to the crowd after a match, the scoreboard showing his name

Start With Week 1, Session 1

We built this cycle for Declan's ADCC camp. Before it went anywhere near the app, I ran our athletes through it, black belts included.

Run it the way it's written, and bring the numbers from your first test to the retest. If something comes up along the way, write to me at coach@atomic-athlete.com.