workouts, science, energy, the human body

[bodhitree]

Okay, so we are all martial artists. We want to be in shape, have strength, power, endurance, flexability, ect. We will all have different goals based on what exactly we are trying to accomplish with our martial arts, if we compete or not and the types of competition, time constraints from life, and the other athletic things we do. I have switched back and forth numerous times in my martial arts life from programs centered around power and strength to programs based on endurance. These different goals involve different energy systems of the body and have different nutritional, rest, and workout needs.


Since it is my personal favorite topic the first thing I want to address is strength and power. I never feel better than when I'm training for strength. I don't know the exact reson but psychologically I feel great when I'm training for strength. It could be because of the rush from the immediate energy system. Strength sports rely on this system for performance. Athletes who are involved in track and field sports, powerlifting, olympic lifting, American football, and other quick explosive sports use primarilly this system. The main sources of energy used in these activities are ATP (adenotriphosfate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate ), creatine phosphate ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine_phosphate ), and water (not directly used for energy, but when the body retrieves creatine phosphate stores it uses 2 parts water for one part creatine). Training for these kind of activities should always be in short bursts and Long Slow Distance (lsd) should not play a very large or important role in this kind of training. That is not to say that 20 minutes on the elliptical machine on an offday from lifting or even 10 minutes before or after a lifting session is forbidden, but too much of this training will retard your strength gains. How do I train strength/power/speed/vertical jumps/athletic abilities you may ask? There are numerous ways. First and foremost (and my personal fav and in my opinion essential) weight training. There can be hundreds of variations on weight programs, but for strength there are a few basic rules: Low reps are better than high. Lifts that involve more than one muscle group (complex lifts) are FAR SUPERIOR to lifts that isolate a muscle. The Big 3 should be a part of most strength and power routines. The big three are the deadlift, the squat, and the bench press. For athletic abilities the deadlift and squat are more important than the bench press (sorry bench press jocks). Other lifts that are great are: different variations of rows (barbell, db, standing), pullups/chins, overhead press (standing of course), incline/decline bench, dips, overhead squats (probably my favorite exercise), front squats, lunges, power cleans (and other clean variations), dumb bell swings, snatches, and I'm sure I missed some. Notice these lifts: 1. use barbell or dumbbell (machines create an unnatural motion and stabilizing muscles are not strengthened which can lead to injury) 2. do not isolate muscles. I'm not saying "never do curls", I am saying don't do them as a primary lift and don't center a day around biceps. If you are a body builder or looking for a great physique than go for it. Routines can be organized with these lifts in many ways. You can do weight workouts 2-4 days a week, I wouldn't recommend going above 4 days a week. The routine I use is Day 1 Pull Day: Deadlifts, rows, pullups. Day 2: Press Day. Bench, overhead, dips. Day 3 Squat day: Back, overhead, and front squats, calf raises, lunges. I do power cleans on the pull day. Some people prefer exercising thier whole body every session. This is fine too. A few basic points: 1. Less can be more. Going way beyond the point of fatigue and spending hours in the gym lifting heavy will burn out your central nervous system and lead to overtraining and slow (if any) gains. 2. Put some more weight on the bar. Even if its the 2 1/2lb plates, its a gain and it will help you to reach bigger goals. 3. Get adequate rest and recovery. Sleep is essential, it is when muscles become bigger and stronger. It is not always easy to get 8 hours of sleep, so take a nap when you can. Other things can assist you in recovery including: massage, contrasting showers (hot and cold), relaxation/adaptagens (ginseng ect), and of course PROPER NUTRITON. To gain strength you need to eat and eat a lot. 4-6 meals a day should be consumed (ideally) and these meals should have lean protein, low gi carbs (brown rice, whole wheat bread, oats, etc), fruits and veggies. Supplements can help you get nutrition that may be missing from you diet. These include protien (whey of course {soy is not a complete protein} , greens, and vitamins. There are other supplements, but they are more for recovery/ performance and not to make up for an incomplete diet. A thread about supplements can be found here: http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/foru...ad.php?t=43123 . To stop the body's catabolism a post workout shake is almost essential. Whey protien is probably the most cost efficient. Carbs (such as dextrose) post workout help the body to absorb protein and resupply the muscles with gycogen depleted during the workout. " All this is great and good but I don't have access to weights?" Well you can still be strong and athletic. High intensity interval training, tabata, and other sprint based activities are for you. The most simple: Go to a track or football field. Jog 40 yards sprint 30 yards jog 30 sprint 30. If you're not to this point you can walk 30 yards sprint 30 yards. The important thing is the sprint. Explode and run as fast as you can. You can do this with various timed intervals and with various exerciese. Jump rope 45 seconds moderate pace and then 30 seconds maximum pace. Repeat this 3 or 4 times take a rest and then repeat the whole process. You can do this on a heavy bag, with bodyweight exercises (pushups, situps, etc.), or in any way your creative little heart desires (as long as the pace is FAST and you are out of breath, this is anaerobic training). Adding jumping exercises can't hurt either.


Flexability and Power
Static stretching is great for after the competion of your workout. I do static stretchin after almost every weight workout. To warm up I usually do dynamic and balistic stretching. A brief warmup before stretching to preven injury is great (jumping jacks or anything else). Then leg swings, arm cirles, and various motion stretches. Yoga on off days is great for recovery. Stength training will help you stretching and vice versa. I you have proplems with hip mobility, try overhead squats.


Now for endurance. LSD can take many forms. Roadwork for boxers, triathelons, cycling, long sweaty grueling martial arts sessions. For martial artists LSD should not be used too often in training. Being able to run a marathon will not help you in competition/fighting. Sport specific/ activity specific cardio is probably the best. Sparring, heavy bag work, thai pads, forms, shadowboxing, rolling, and whatever other activity your particular discipline contains are just fine. Do them untill you sweat and your out of breath and continue to do them. Once you begin doing these longer lasting activities your body begins to use different sources of energy than the immediate energy system. The body uses carbs, fats, and oxygen to power these workouts. Carb-loading is great for this type of workout. Sports drinks are also great for during these grueling workouts to replace glycogen ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycogen ) and electrolytes. To fuel this type of workout you'll want lots of Low Gi carbs, proteins, and fats. Protein post workout is essential (protein is essential for endurance athletes as their body can break down muscle for food). The body will convert muscle into energy if it needs to. Pre workout you will want to load up on simple and complex carbs. This should help to sustain your energy throughout the workout. This is the type of workout I am least familiar with, so any additional information on the topic would be appreciated.


I am no expert on exercise science. I have read plenty and highly recommend Dynamic Nutrition for Maximum Performance by Dr. Fred Hatfield. I like to try and start comprehensive threads about various topics. Please feel free to add any information that I may have missed. Links also welcomed. I know before I started reading I was working out in all of the wrong ways. I read articles on training any time I can, a lot of it is BS, but we have to sift through the info and pick what is best for us. I just want to put together a collection of the small amount of things I know. God bless the internet, we now have so much access to so much information. I just wanted to post my little piece of info.



What Wikipedia has to say:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_stretching
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_stretching
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNF_stretching
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretching
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerlifting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_lifting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-in...erval_training
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_nutrition
other related links
http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/foru...ad.php?t=19757
www.whfoods.com
www.saintwilhelms.org
www.brutestrength.com
www.drsquat.com
www.rosstraining.com

[bodhitree]

I do not know anything about muscular endurance programs, invitation to anyone who would like to enlighten. Also, depending upon one's goals these programs can be combined and changed. Keep in mind your sport and fitness goals.

[Fu-Pow]

I think the best kind of training and the most applicable to martial arts is when you can hit all of your energy systems in one work out. The way you do this is by doing interval training. For example, punctuating a jog with sprint intervals or lifting weights as part of a circuit.

[bodhitree]

CIrcut is good for muscular endurance right? I agree that HIIT is a great way to hit all of the energy systems. I don't think its the end all though. When I was preparing for my sanshou fight earlier this year I quit powerlifting in favor of HIIT and cardio/skillwork. Doing this I certainly lost a lot of strength, which is my primary goal when not training for a contest. Thanks for the reply!

Article: Sprints build endurance: http://cbass.com/Sprintendurance.htm

[yenhoi]

The body adapts quickly and specifically. Change your workout, or at least components of it regularly (or not so regular, but often at least.)

My current weight training routines consist usually of only one basic lift and one or two auxiliary exercises, two or three times a week. I am also a fan of Pavel and his PTP and related programs.

It all depends on your goals. You have to get a very basic routine down and then change up the major elements constantly to make consistent progress. I will pick something specific and a couple not-so-specific elements to work on and then design the bulk of my training around those things for 6-12 weeks.

Rest is very important, both on the day-to-day level and the larger cycle levels.

Stretching is good in the morning, night, and after a workout. Before workouts I prefer something easy and specific to what Im planning to work on. Like before the heavybag, some shadowboxing.

[SevenStar]

I think the best kind of training and the most applicable to martial arts is when you can hit all of your energy systems in one work out. The way you do this is by doing interval training. For example, punctuating a jog with sprint intervals or lifting weights as part of a circuit.

depends on what the martial artist's goal is. If he is trying to gain strength, that's not the best way. Big, coupound lifts are. they still apply, as they involve the body working as one unit.

[bodhitree]

I think the best kind of training and the most applicable to martial arts is when you can hit all of your energy systems in one work out. The way you do this is by doing interval training. For example, punctuating a jog with sprint intervals or lifting weights as part of a circuit.

anaerobic and aerobic at the same time:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/tri...ter-001091.php

There are two basic energy systems you use when training; anaerobic and aerobic. Unfortunately, you can not build both your aerobic and anaerobic systems at the same time very well. The idea behind base training is to train your aerobic energy system specifically and solely. Why is this important? The more work you perform aerobically, or in the presence of oxygen, the more efficient you are. Prolonged aerobic training produces muscular adaptations that improves oxygen transport to the muscles, reduces the rate of lactate formation, improves the rate of lactate removal, and increases energy production and utilization. These adaptations occur slowly over time

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[Ford Prefect]

Hard to say what you missed since that post was hard to read. (paragraph's mother f'er!)

As for that quote about triathalon training, that is really specific to triathalon training. Interval training has been shown to increase VO2 max at the same or better rate than LSD activities (depending on the athlete and prior training) and it has been show to push back the anaerobic threshhold in athletes. In short, you'll be able to go harder for longer when talking about short duration activities like ring and mat sports.

I think a base needs to be built in regular LSD training and that LSD should be incorporated maybe 2 days/week in typical roadwork fashion for no more than 3-5 miles. The bulk of endurance training for a fighter needs to spend doing high intensity intervals and circuit training. These more adequately address the stress placed on the body during a match.