Best workout?

[Drake]

Guys,
In terms of high intensity cardio, what forms, drills, or techniques do you feel really gets that training heart rate up past 80%? I've always found that short drills, or chunks of forms, and especially sparring, tend to work. Most anything that utilizes a lot of kicks tends to get you gasping for air as well, I've noticed.

Thoughts? Opinions? Counterarguments?

[Frost]

are you asking for the best workout, or the hardest...the one that puts you in the right zone for the improvements you want to make or the one which puts your heart rate as high as it can go?

If its the latter then actual sparring, heavy bag work involving lots of kicks (anything you have to lift and move a heavy limb your HR will go through the roof) sets which either involve lots of explosive moves (bake mei for example) or lots of expansive fast swinging moves (CLF) are also good for getting the HR up as well

From a none TCMA point of view, level changings and sprawl drills work well too

[jdhowland]

Three minutes of high intensity freestyle on the heavy bag is a good start.

The more acrobatic leg drills are even better if done for a prolonged period. A lengthy series of aerial kicks, low sweeps and tumbles gets the cardio going quickly because you use the largest muscles in the body to move your entire mass around--harder to do than sustained punching drills and even harder than most sparring for the same amount of time.

[Kellen Bassette]

I think really drilling forms hard, full power, over and over is one of the toughest methods of endurance training, at least with northern stye forms anyway. Rolling is an awesome workout, way more taxing on the cardio than sparring; and of course running up steep hills.

[YouKnowWho]

You can punch on your heavy bag as fast as you can and as hard as you can like a mad man until you can't do it any more. You then rest for 30 seconds and repeat. Oneday that you get into a fight, you will be benefited from this kind of training. If you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone, it's always a good idea.

[Robinhood]

You can punch on your heavy bag as fast as you can and as hard as you can like a mad man until you can't do it any more. You then rest for 30 seconds and repeat. Oneday that you get into a fight, you will be benefited from this kind of training. If you can kill 2 birds with 1 stone, it's always a good idea.

If you have to depend on conditioning to defend yourself, then you do not have much skill, why even call it a MA.

[Drake]

If you have to depend on conditioning to defend yourself, then you do not have much skill, why even call it a MA.

Threadjackers are rude.

[SteveLau]

Any good exercises that are dynamic and of high intensity will do.



KC
Hong Kong

[YouKnowWho]

If you have to depend on conditioning to defend yourself, then you do not have much skill, why even call it a MA.

In the training that I'm talking about, you will develop:

- speed,
- power,
- endurance, and
- tiger spirit.

You are not just develop "condition".

I wish the real world does not require "condition". You stand on the cliff edge. Your opponent attacks you, you just yield and lead him off the cliff and into the emptiness. That will be very nice. We can all keep our body relax and search for "inner peace" all day long. We don't have to work hard and sweet to develop our skill.

[Robinhood]

In the training that I'm talking about, you will develop:

- speed,
- power,
- endurance, and
- tiger spirit.

You are not just develop "condition".

l
.

Sounds like conditioning to me, take those away, and you are left with skill.

[YouKnowWho]

Sounds like conditioning to me, take those away, and you are left with skill.

So what is skill in your definition?

[David Jamieson]

Bag work = 10 x 3minute round of full force is good.
Mitt work = 10 x 3 minute round targeting and moving
Thai pads = 10x 3 minute rounds move and kick

all these = good cardio.

plyometrics are also good as is running either on the street or on a treadmill.

There's lots of stuff you can do. I'd say that the bag work will get yoru breath and blood up faster than running will.

[sanjuro_ronin]

The less rest the more intense, it really is that simple.
Balls to the wall does NOT mean sloppy form, it means as fast and as much weight as you can with correct form.
In short, DON'T Pace your work out.
If you are doing 3 min rounds and you are LASTING those 3 min in every round, that is NOT HIIT, that is moderate ( paced) training that has its place but is not HIIT.
IN a nutshell, you can go long and easy or short and hard but never long and hard, LOL !

Think the 100 meter sprint, that is the perfect example of HIIT.
There is a reason that typical high level HIIT follow the 2:1 ratio (typically 20 seconds on, 10 sec rest) and that is because 20 sec is the max you can go "balls to the wall: before you lose "correct form".

[JAZA]

Running, running running

[YouKnowWho]

Both running and bicycling will make your feet to "float"? Your ability to resist take down will decreased big time after running. If you use running for endurance training, you will need to add "low stance walking" to balance your "floating feet".

The day when you wrestle both a runner and a non-runner, you will feel the difference. The easiest test is the "foot sweep". It's much easier to use your "foot sweep" to take down a runner than to take down a non-runner.

Of course if you just train the striking art and never have to deal with grapplers, or if you just love to play your favor ground game, running should not affect your combat ability at all.