bad stamina?

[EasyNow]

I got into a fight recently, the first for a while and didn't realise what bad stamina i had. I train often but i still tired very quickly. So I have started running in the morning, will this help? I run around a grass track in barefeet but my friend was telling me that if i am running in an incorrect way or at an incorrect time that i could do myself more harm than good. is this true? and which way should i be running?????

[12345]

Build up slowly, no need to go every morning, 3 times a week is plenty.

Not sure about bare feet - some people say that they don't get so many injuries in countries where it is common to run barefoot.

Personally I have found proper running shoes better than cheap ones in terms of injury prevention. In most climates running barefoot on grass is not an option all year anyway - play it by ear - if you get injured change. Stretch afterwards, no need to stretch before a jog - that's for sprinters.

Run for about 20 minutes and build up to half an hour - more if you want to but not much less. If you find yourself getting injured think of swimming or cycling. Note though that it often takes time to get used to running - I know lots of people that got lots of niggles for the first 12 months of running - don't run through injury but don't let it stop you all together.

You'll probably hate it at first - but when you reach a certain level you may find it addictive - there is not much better than running for an hour and getting into a rhythm, there is also a certain camradery (spelling?) amongst runners, but you need to persevere to get to the stage where you enjoy it.

Good luck.

[Sleemie]

I'm not really an expert in this area, but from what I've gathered doing long distance running alone is not going to get you the maximum benefits in terms of fighting stamina. Fighting is an anaerobic activity, as is tennis and basketball...where you have short bursts of exertion and then periods of rest or low exertion inbetween. That's why basketball players don't to long distance running as their training, they do high intensity wind sprints, which is more of what they do in an actual game. Given this, I would think the best way to build fighting stamina is to do training that is most similar to fighting, such as high intensity bag work, shadow boxing(sparring), etc. The running would be good, but it won't really get you where you want to be by itself. Throwing punches and kicking exerts an awful lot of energy, and you have to build up your stamina in that area by actually doing those things, and running doesn't do that for you. You take someone who is in excellent running shape and put him in a ring with an experienced boxer or martial artist who is in moderately good shape and they throw a similar amount of punches I'd take the boxer/martial artist to outlast the runner any day.

[Lung Hu Pai]

http://www.trainforstrength.com/Endurance1.shtml

[Sleemie]

wow! maybe I am and expert and didn't even know it...:D

[Kempo Guy]

As Sleemie mentions, fighting is a anaerobic exercise.

Try following a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) program as outline on this website: http://www.straightblastgym.com/endurance.html#endurance This should get you well on the road to anaerobic fitness.

Another exercise you may want to try is Russian Kettlebell exercises. You can find out more at www.dragondoor.com
This is a brutal workout and coupled with some jumprope its a 'hurler'. :D

Of course another thing to take into consideration is the fight/flight syndrome, i.e. your adrenal response. Many people will feel "drained" when confronted with an attacker due to fear/adrenaline even if they are well-conditioned fighters. I would suggest working on drills in order to combat and learn how to channel this response.

Hope this helps.
KG

[12345]

Yes probably good advice to do some anaerobic work. Are you familiar with shuttle runs (?) - very common in soccer training. Difficult to do on your own without looking silly though.

Why not try and hook up with some people and do the bleep test - you know - you get a tape or cd which plays a beep every x seconds, you have to run a set distance (say make the other side of the gym) in that time, and you get faster as the time between the beeps decreases. I'm sure you are familiar with that - you should be able to buy it online and all you need is a portable cd player and either a sports hall or some grass. Very popular to test fitness for soccer or squash (in my experience anyway).
Does anyone on here do this - I might start a new thread on it.

Of course you could work some sprints into your jogging - but unless you are very very fit this is a killer - I find it spoils a good run because it is like torture. You could also try hill sprints, find a steep hill - sprint up it , jog down, sprint up , jog down and so on until you are dead (tip - don't take that literally).

Don's discard running though, boxers do a lot of running , bruce lee used to rate running, but yeah supplement it with some anaerobic stuff and some explosive stuff like bag work.

[popsider]

Not sure about the science but I'd have thought competition fighting was a combination of aerobic and anaerobic - depending on how long the fight lasts, length of rounds etc. Wouldn't being very efficient aerobically also limit the amount of anaerobic energy you had to call on? I might have just shown my ignorance of the way this works but that would seem to make sense to me - as a cyclist once explained it to me - he wants to be able to operate as effectively as possible aerobically because you can only operate anaerobically for very limited periods of time.

Like someone said, professional fighters do use running as part of their training schedules so that would point to it being a worthwhile part of yours. Marathons are probably over the top but 30 minute runs with some sprints worked into them would help imho.

Also I checked out one of the workout routines, good luck to anyone that can get a decent workout on some of those machines he mentions, I would not recommend them.

[lotusleaf]

I think the best way to get stamina is to spar w/ someone. Do 5 rounds of 3 min each and spar. No ref to stop you and no judge. I find this the best way since you can control the cadence and rhythm of the session. You can also try shadow boxing and it's a great way to condition muscles since you are striking air at almost full power. It will train you so that when you miss the opponent, your muscles won't fatigue so much by pulling your arm/leg back to the original position. I find that I have improved most by sparring 2 - 3 times a week w/ a partner and do forms a lot as well. Otherwise, I goto the gym and get on the rowing machine for about an hour.