Ask Dave: I Gas Quickly When Drilling Power Punches, How Should I Train Them?

8 05 2013

This question was asked on Sunday at the end of the Basic Self Defence Skills workshop.

I know the asker well. He’s no spring chicken and a lifetime student of the martial arts, a guy who has attended several workshops I’ve either run or hosted on self defence and even attended Wild Geese Martial Arts classes on and off for several years. These days he trains mostly out of his garage.
He’s the kind of guy who has thought long and hard, who has tried and tested, and when he asks a question, he’ll see right through you if you attempt to feed him with bullshit.

He’s my kind of student!

So when he asked the question in the title, I had to turn the answer into a blog post, because, like most of Brians questions, if you haven’t thought about this yet, you will.

So, you’re training to hit with maximal power, yet you find yourself gassing early.

This is problematic, especially for those with a self defence / combatives mindset.
Training for combat sports is very much centred around conditioning, it’s about building up to and peaking for an event where there are a predetermined number of rounds with predetermined work and rest times. Your opponent will be matched as closely as possible to you in terms of weight and experience.
If you stand on the door, work in any field of security/law enforcement or hold down a full time job and have a family you train to protect any time, any where against anyone, it’s a little more tricky to prepare.

That isn’t to say the protocols used by the combat sports athletes aren’t useful to you, they are. They just may not be ideal. So lets look at how we can train with maximal efficiency in minimal time.

Rule 1: Train like a sprinter or Weightlifter

sprint absThis is a debate I’ve had ad-nauseum with several other coaches, but I will stick to my guns here.
I do not, never have, probably never will mix high level skill training with high level conditioning training.
This means that if you’re working to train that perfect punch, you need to prioritise the mechanics of the hips and shoulders as well as the alignment of the skeleton upon impact above all else.
Fatigue will reduce the ability to focus upon and develop quality.

So we take a look at the training undertaken by sprinters and 1 rep max weight lifters.

These guys spend a large part of their training time doing nothing at all, yet they are some of the most powerful people on the planet. Yes, their cardio may not be that of a UFC fighter, but in the combatives world, our job is to end a fight as soon as possible, we’re talking three to five seconds. The longer it goes on, the higher the stakes get.

So, train like them. Short bouts of incredible effort with plenty of rest.
If you’re building pure power into your strikes, do them in sets of 3-5reps. Treat each rep as a single unit rather than a set of 3 reps (think along the lines of rest-pause training), so do one, quick reset, do the next one until the set is done. Then take all the time you need before repeating.
Maybe set a timer, have the buzzer go off on the minute, even every 2 minutes. On the sound, bang out three to five perfect and powerful punches. This goes on until the impact, speed or movement quality begins to break down.

If your happy with the quality and are looking for the ability to hammer in a cluster of strikes, be that a simple repeat of that big right hand or even a more boxing style left right combination, then we do things slightly different.
Set your timer now for 10 seconds work with 1-2 minutes rest.
On the sound, launch into the heavy bag with everything you have. Make it swing away and use your strikes to keep it at that angle until the 10 seconds are up, then rest.

Perform several rounds of this, as many as you can while maintaining quality of work.

Rule 2: Keep You Conditioning Work Short and Sharp

Short, intense bouts of conditioning work are the order of the day here. Simplicity works best, don’t add anything complex to these workouts as you’re looking to improve your power output, power endurance and strengthen movement patterns.
Use whatever equipment you have at hand, but focus on developing hip extension, Core Stability (including the shoulder) and upper body strength.
Train the body as a unit, as a whole.

For this I advocate circuits, especially Power Circuits and / or complexes.
Keep these tight, 20 minutes or even less. Work hard, but maintain quality. If you’re training with and anyone-anytime mindset, you can’t afford injury or burn out. These workouts must support and improve your main training, not hinder it.

Here’s me doing a power circuit:

Rule 3: Every now and then, go fucking nuts!

One of the greatest assets a fighter can develop, any fighter whether their arena is the ring, the octagon, the pavement or the jungle is tenacity.
It’s the will to push and push. To work beyond their physical limitations.

For this I advocate that from time to time, it may be once per month, once per quarter or even once per year, but be sure to take on a challenge that pushes you way out of your comfort zone. Something that leaves you sick in the stomach just thinking about it. The kind of thing that keeps you awake at night.
See it through, no matter how much you want to pull out before hand or how much you want to quit doing it. See it through.

You can make yourself more accountable for these kind of events by using them as charity fundraisers, or you can simply do it for yourself.

It could be entering a competition, be it Kettlebell lifting, Power Lifting, amateur boxing. It could be a marathon or a mile of walking kettlebell swings.
The actual nature of the event is unimportant, it’s the physical, mental and emotional stress it instills that counts.

A training session may look like this (example only):

1: Power emphasis: Rear Cross 10 sets of 3L/R, full bore strikes.

2: Speed / Power Endurance: Repeating Rear Cross (piston style) x 10sec burst x 5rounds L/R

3: General Fitness Power Circuit:
3A: Deadlift x 3-5
3B: Clean & Press x 6-8
3C: Seated Russian Twist x 6-8 L/R
3D: Anything goes bagwork x 30seconds
Repeat for either 3-5 rounds, adding weight to the deadlift each round, or do a 20 minute AMRAP with a set load.

4: Yoga type stretches to cool off.

If you don’t have time for this, separate it into two sessions, combatives specific in one session, circuit in the next.

If you train out of your garage, or even if you are training for general fitness but with a view to being able to protect your family if needs be, try this training template 2-3 days per week and see how you get on.

Regards

Dave
http://www.WG-Fit.com


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Categories : Ask Dave, martial arts, Mental Strength

How to use Bodyweight Training for Athletic Power

26 11 2012

You all know I love bodyweight training.
There’s something special about moving freely powerfully and unheeded by anything external. It’s just you against gravity.

When you train with bodyweight movements it brings about a superior level of body awareness, a level of athleticism and an aspect of playfulness that you just don’t get with other training formats.
Of course, I use kettlebells and barbells, but no matter what I’m working on, or what my clients are working on, there is always a good deal of bodyweight training in our programs.

Considering most of my guys are involved in contact sports, be that the array of martial artists I train, the rugby players or the GAA lads, it’s clear that strength, power, and agility would be priorities. But also my triathletes and runners seriously benefit from the increased agility, core strength and body awareness brought about by moving their own bodies through space in a variety of patterns.

The problem with bodyweight lies in loading. How do we recruit the high threshold muscle fibres, how do we develop real strength and power as opposed to simply doing endless sets of push ups and crunches a la most bodyweight programs?

Well the answer lies in changing the leverage of the body to both increase the workload on the target muscles and also boost the intramuscular coordination as the body struggles even harder to stabilise itself.

Check out this video of an upper body strength set I recently performed after a Kettlebell Pressing set.
In it I use a very tough variation of the one arm push up, starting from the bottom position, each hand change I add an extra rep. Here I do a ladder of 1L/R, 2L/R, 3L/R. That was enough!
In between I do some Lever lifts, a powerful drill for core strength, proprioception, the lats, the serratus and much more.

Here’s the clip:

One arm push ups are a standard for all my fighters. Take another look at my body position during the push up. The slight lateral curve of the spine the drive from the hip, though the torso finishing in a powerful extension of the shoulder and arm. Visualise the same movement but stood up, it’s a punch. A big right cross.

But what about the legs? How do we develop explosive power through the lower body?
Well, my go to drill for this is the Knee Jump, or as we call them, the “Monica” after one of our members (long story..)

The “Monica” starts from a dead stop and relies on a very powerful explosive contraction from our hips to propel us upwards from a kneeling position to our feet. You cannot perform this drill slowly, only genuinely explosive power will get the drill done. And for a contact athlete, thats a vital skill to have.
In this video I show the Monica and how we increase it’s effectiveness by combining it with other jumping and plyometric drills.

Watch the clip below:

 

None of these drills are easy, they don’t suit beginners, but if you train hard and need to bring your athletic performance to the next level, add these in.

I’ll be teaching these and much more during the Bodyweight Training Workshop this Sunday 2nd December.
Places on the workshop are limited, so be absolutely sure to book your place asap:

Event: Bodyweight Workshop – Equipment free strength & fitness from the martial arts and more.
Location: Wild Geese, Magennis Place, Pearse St, D2
Times: 1000 – 1600
Cost: €50pp
To Book: email info@wildgeesema.com

Regards

Dave
http://www.wg-fit.com

 


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Kettlebell Hack Squats for Monster Quads

15 10 2012

Strong legs are a vital requirement for, not only athleticism, but also a happy and healthy life.
As most of you reading this blog will be aware, here at WG-Fit, we train largely using kettlebells. The majority of Kettlebell work involves the posterior chain, the hamstrings, glutes and back.
We swing, we clean, we snatch. We do these with a variety of loads for a variety of rep range. From very heavy double kettlebell work for low reps to lighter single bell work for literally hundreds of reps. Our backsides are pretty well trained.

it’s no secret that for most athletic pursuits, the posterior chain is the key to power generation. we know that for those who spend their days sat behind a desk, it is o the utmost importance that the posterior chain be brought up to scratch. And for these, the kettlebell lifts are an almost foolproof way to go.

But, that leaves a huge chink in the armour. Yes, the posterior chain is vital, yes developing the glutes and hamstrings will increase power output and ward off injury, but we’re missing out one vital aspect of the leg function, knee extension.

So we squat.

But, with kettlebells it can be tricky to get adequate load for the quads. The goblet squat has become something of legend, but let’s be fair, the biggest challenge when the load goes up is holding the damn thing in place. Same with the double kettlebell front squat, we may be able to get rock bottom, but it’s rarely the legs that prevent us coming out of it, it’s the core and upper back that invariably forms the weak point.

So unless we turn to the party trick that is the pistol squat, how do we load the squat and develop the strength of the legs at full flexion?

Well, we have an answer. It’s called the Hack Squat and it is one of the few ways to really max out at full range.
Do we need to max out? well, that’s a loaded question.

I’ll grant you that the Hack Squat can be a Kill or Cure manoeuvre if you have dodgy knees, so exercise common sense before going at it. but if you are involved in the fight game, if you are a BJJ player, Judo-ka, MMA fighter or a martial artists of any ilk, you will need strength in every joint angle, from full flexion to full extension. The chances are, in a bout, even in hard sparring, your body will be put into compromised positions. Positions of extreme mechanical disadvantage. It’s simply the nature of the game.

So if you aren’t looking to develop end range strength, you’re inviting trouble.
The VMO muscles that offer strength and stability to the knee joint are only really stimulated at end range positions. positions that traditional squatting patterns are unlikely to take you without huge stress on the low back, unless of course you have the mobility of a Yogi.

I for one have to be very careful with deep squats due to previous hip and lumbar injuries.

So if we are to develop real strength and stability in our knee joint we need:

  1. Glute Strength
  2. Hamstring Strength
  3. VMO Strength
  4. Adequate mobility in the hip joint.

I’ve covered 1, 2 and 4 several times, I’ll be looking a 4 again later this week, but the following video is directly aimed at no. 3.

Remember, this isn’t for everyone, if you have dodgy knees, find out why and get them sorted before attempting the Hack Squat. If your knees are good, fire away, but ALWAYS pause at the bottom of the rep, ALWAYS.

Or else.

Dave

http://www.wg-fit.com

 


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Renegade Row – Pulling Perfection and Core Control in One Move

5 07 2012

Got Back?

Many years ago one of the lads brought a “fitness” magazine into the martial arts academy where I was training. As usual it was more ads and nonsensical articles than anything useful. Except for one article.

There was one article in it that was worth the price of the magazine, in fact this article formed the cornerstone of my next training phase as I prepared for my Kenpo 2nd dan.

It was a dumbell circuit, this was the time before I found kettlebells, and it was awesome.
It had a few staples, Thrusters, High Pulls, V-Sits etc but there was one drill I’d never seen before. They called it a push up/row.

I’ve since learned it is better known as the Renegade Row.
And I fell in love with it there and then.

The Renegade Row is one of my all time favourite exercises. It is essentially an upper body pull, like any other row except that we perform it in a plank position.
While this may reduce the total weight we are able to use, it does factor in several other issues.

It asks us:

  • How stable is your core?
  • That shoulder, is it stable?
  • How brave are you?

To do this lift you must first be strong enough to hold a one arm plank. That means a torso that is stable enough to hold itself strong and steady in an unstable position. And thats before we add weight.
Once we start adding weight these demands skyrocket.

We must press all our weight through one bell, this requires the shoulder to be properly anchored and stable, it requires a straight wrist and a tight core.
Then we start to pull. Instantly you’ll feel the strain in the abs, you’ll find the weight is distributed diagonally through the supporting arm and the opposite foot, torquing the spine and trying to unbalance us. But no, we are athletes, we train to be able to counter rotation, to maintain balance under load and still perform. These are stresses we enjoy because when we throw a punch or shrug out of a tackle, these are the forces we will likely encounter.

So the renegade has been a staple of my training ever since.

I use it over a variety of rep ranges.
Lighter bells for conditioning, often combined with a push up.
Heavy bells for strength.

Progress into these slowly, but do use them. Rotate them into your pulling workouts on a regular basis and you won’t regret it.

Check the video for more and a full demo:

Regards
Dave
http://www.wg-fit.com


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MMA Cardio

8 03 2012

It seems everyone is talking about MMA these days, slightly fewer people are wearing all the gear (but have no idea), less again are actually practising and a few are genuinely training and competing.

This for the competitors.

The rest of you can read if you want to.

Since the birth of MMA in the 90′s and it’s seemingly unstoppable rise to global domination, more and more people are jumping on the band wagon. At first it was martial arts instructors suddenly billing themselves as MMA coaches. Thankfully most of those have been recognised for what they are. But now the fitness industry is doing the same thing, every second article on the web shows some hair brained workout that is “specific” to MMA.

Lets get some thing straight from the off.

Random training is not good training.
It’s fine for “general” fitness which will suit the “general” population.
For an athlete it sucks.

Most athletes don’t have people trying to punch their lights out or break their arm as they participate in their chosen sport. So a dodgy strength & conditioning program may see them through as long as it doesn’t cause them injury.
But a fighter is different. As technically blessed as they may be, if they gas or run out of strength before the other guy, if they are carrying a training related injury when they step onto the mat. Then they are going to get hurt, and it’s you the coach that is responsible for this.

Perhaps coaches should have a record, same way a fighter does.
“In the blue corner is John with a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss…”
Imagine if that continued with, “…..his Strength & Conditioning coach is Dave, his athletes have a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 32 losses”

Wouldn’t that tell you something?

But anyhow, thats just my rant about the current trend.
Just because you have done a few Jitz classes or have a Karate black belt doesn’t make you and MMA coach. Being able to swing a kettlebell or make pretty waves in a rope, doesn’t make you an MMA Conditioning coach.

Case in point:

Imagine stepping into the ring thinking your hot shit after your coach had put you through all that?
Your opponent would be laughing his way to the after party!

But anyway, back to the title of this post before I go off on a complete rant…

MMA Cardio.
It’s vital!
But what are the best cardio methods for an MMA fighter?

Simple answer, there isn’t one.

What?

That’s right there isn’t ONE, there are many.
And the right one is the one that is right for your particular fighter at that particular stage in his career.

I’ve a fighter who’s requirements were Speed, Explosive Power and Cardio. He was already as strong as an ox, he just wasn’t used to being fast and he often gassed.
So for cardio I utilised this knowledge and built him a solid workout based on explosive power and core strength with short but intense finishers for his cardio. He loved the workouts but lived in fear of the finishers.
This video is an example of one such finisher. It’s two exercises, the Battling Rope which is fast and requires constant power output interspersed with Farmers Walks, ideal for core strength and endurance under load.
Think about this, you’re in the ring, you are locked into a clinch or grapple and both are struggling to negate each other, both looking for the opportunity to explode out. During this time you are under heavy load but not moving much (farmers walk), then an opportunity is presented and you have to burst into a flurry of activity (battling ropes).
Of course these aren’t your only exercise options, these are just the two that best covered this athletes particular needs.

Here’s what it looked like:

We did 5 rounds of this, as soon as the farmers implements are lifted the ropes start and they don’t stop until the implements hit the ground again, immediately swap over, minimal rest. Each week the drill should take less and less time.

Have fun.

Regards

Dave
www.wg-fit.com


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One Arm Push Up – Pressing Perfection

27 02 2012

One Arm Push Up for athletic pressing powerWe all remember the Rocky training montages, the inspiring music, Rocky pushing himself while Mickey or Apollo stand over him shouting and encouraging. By the end of the clip Rocky is the Man, we the viewers are pumped and itching for the finale where he will undoubtedly become victorious.

One of the most iconic moment is the one arm push up sequence.
Put your hands up if you didn’t try to do a one arm push up immediately after watching it. I know I did.

It’s an exercise I didn’t really pursue until many years later when due to injury I was  unable to perform any weight training. I had two consecutive back injuries and was pretty much sidelined, my entire training program consisted of the One Arm Push Up, Pull Ups and a shed load of rehab.
Fast forward to now and it has become a regular feature of not just my own training but many of my martial artists.

Why?

The reasons for the one arm push up are as follows:

  1. It’s cool. No really, it is.
  2. It requires a strong core
  3. It promotes a stable shoulder
  4. It requires concentration
  5. It doesn’t require any kit

It really is functional.

Hang on, did i just say that? I hate the term Functional when it comes to training. But lets just hold on a moment and look at why I feel this drill deserves the title.
The above list is already fairly conclusive, all the points listed are valid. But one thing extra should be said, the one arm push up utilises a force vector that closely matches that of a punch/throw/palm off in sports & martial arts. The force travels from the loaded arm, through the core to the opposite hip and leg, just it does in most sporting actions.

Yes, the iron heads in the audience will talk about load and how maximum strength is better developed with a barbell. But I feel the carry over to your sport is greater with a one arm push up. How often do you really exhibit maximum strength when throwing a punch?
Never, unless your punch is actually a push! And even then, if you’re on your feet you’re limited by the angle of the body and contact with the ground, you’re never anchored into a bench. (don’t read that wrong, I still think benching is a valuable exercise in the right circumstances)

A good one arm push up requires you to eliminate the weaknesses through the torso. If you don’t you’ll end up either face-planting or totally twisted. Your hips and shoulders should stay as close to parallel to the floor as possible, this is only possible if the musculature around your torso is firing properly, including the rotator cuffs and Lats (shoulder stability).

To begin we go though progressions:

  1. Kneeling – both knees on the floor
  2. Half kneeling – take the opposite leg out to the side, as you gain strength move it further and further behind.
  3. Negative only – Lower under control as slowly as possible, have the spare hand ready to catch you and help you back up.
  4. The One Arm Push Up
  5. Feet elevated One Arm Push Up
  6. Alternating hands, changing at the top
  7. Alternating hands, changing at the bottom
  8. Plyo, changing hands in while airborne (jumping)

Here’s a video showing the basic progressions:

Take as long as needed at each stage, perform multiple sets with low reps. Only once technique is mastered should you move to the next stage or increase the reps.
A simple program to use is the Ladder Protocol. This is exactly the way I increased the volume.

Perform 1 rep each arm, then two, then three and so on until you can no longer complete a rep perfectly. At this point return to a single rep.
Start with three rounds up to three reps (1,2,3)(1,2,3)(1,2,3)
Add a round each week until you can complete 5 rounds.
Then start adding reps (1,2,3,4) (1,2,3,4)…….
Eventually you will hit 5 rounds each going up to 5 reps, this is now a good time to increase the difficulty.

If athletic efficiency is your training focus, if you covet the ability to put your entire bodyweight through your arm into your opponent, I highly recommend this drill.

Regards

Dave
http://www.wg-fit.com


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Congrats Seba, you are a W.M.D!

27 01 2012

Seba - Bronze medal, European BJJ Championships 2012, Lisbon

This is a big shout out to our boy Seba, a more humble and dedicated an athlete you’d be hard pushed to find.

Seba joined the Wild Geese BJJ class around a year and half ago, he immediately impressed his coaches with his work ethic and humility. He’s since become a near permanent fixture at the gym.

A few months ago Seba came to me and asked for help in preparation for the European BJJ Championships in Lisbon, Portugal.
This was to be his first major competition outside of the Irish leagues. Talk about jumping in with both feet.

We immediately put him on the WMD program, three sessions per week, 1 x strength, 1 x cardio and 1 x conditioning workout through the week. two cycles of this and already his work capacity in the punishing Jiu Jitsu training was improving.
Seba was already strong, so after the first 8 weeks we began to concentrate more on his explosive power, speed and recovery times.

We did this by switching the strength day to a strength/power contrast workout.
This was based on the Power Clean and the Deadlift.

Strength/power contrast training is not for beginners, but as already mentioned, Seba has a good level of strength from his previous gym training. I don’t recommend these type of workouts for people with less than a 1.5 x bodyweight Squat and Deadlift.

Our workout (yes, I trained with him and made great progress myself!) went as follows:

1: Power Clean 3 x 3, increase weight each set, 2min rest between sets

2A: Deadlift 3 x 5
2B: Broad Jump 3 x 4
Increase weight on the bar each set, rest approx 90sec between A & B

3A: 1 Arm Floor Press 3 x 5L/R
3B: Plyo Medicine Ball Push Up 3 x 4
Increase weight on the floor press each set, rest approx 90sec between A & B

4A: HtH Kettlebell Swing 32kg
4B: Sledgehammer Slam
Alternate between A & B, 20ses work : 10sec rest for 7 minutes

This entire workout should take approx 45 mins to complete. Don’t be worries about maxing out on the weights, go heavy but maintain a fast bar speed, we are looking to create as much explosive power as possible. The plyometric drills should be terminated as soon as either the desired reps are reached or speed slows below an acceptable level.
As mentioned, this type of training is for experienced athletes, if you’re new to strength training, stick to standard strength workouts.

Cardio day was switched from the usual grind to agility based Minute Drill workouts and on the third day we hit Squats and  a variety of conditioning drills including Burpee to Pull Up, Farmers Walks and Bodyweight drills. Although we varied the exercises and played with the work:rest ratios, these were always short and intense.

He soaked it up, week in week out. all the time I had him he was also going through punishing BJJ training and working a full time job. in less than 18 months he has gone from unknown to the third best in his weight category in Europe

It all goes to show that with the right attitude, some determination, drive and little support from those around you, anything is possible.

Dare to live it

Regards

Dave
http://www.wg-fit.com


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Battling Rope Drills for Martial Arts

6 01 2012

Battling Ropes have exploded on the scene of late.

Have to say, when I first started hearing about them I was dubious. Mind you, I was just as dubious about the kettlebell before buying my first one back in 2005/6.
I’m not the type to be taken in by glamour and fads. I don’t like shiny and new.

But I’m not the type to pooh-pooh something untill I have enough info and ideally have tried it for myself.

The turning point for me and the rope was when I heard about John Brookfield who came up with the concept.
John is a world renowned Grip expert. He’s a world, ah fuck it, read this, i just lifted it from his website:

#1 – John just recently pulled a truck weighing 24,000 pounds a distance of one full mile in one hour and 23 minutes. The mile pull was done without the use of any pulling ropes.

#2 – Just recently, John rolled up one-quarter mile of steel nonstop in 59 minutes. The world record was done by using 62 twenty-foot steel bars, which were 9/16″ in diameter. Each bar was laying on the ground and had to be rolled up so tight that they fit into a small suitcase.

#3 – John Brookfield and Jon Bruney pulled a semi-truck weighing slightly over 32,000 pounds a distance of one full mile in one hour and thirty-six minutes. Much of the route had an upgrade.

#4 – John tore 100 decks of plastic-coated poker cards in half in two minutes and fifteen seconds.

#5 – John tore 60 decks of plastic-coated poker cards in half in one minute exactly.

#6 – John performed 1,200 kettlebell snatches in one hour exactly using a 53-pound kettlebell.

For John (left) and his mate, pulling a truck for a mile is just another day out

#7 – John performed 302 kettlebell snatches in ten minutes using a 53-pound kettlebell.

#8 – John bent 520 nails into a U-shape in one hour and forty-two minutes. The nails were 60-penny nails.

#9 – John rolled up a 20-foot, 5/8″ steel bar in 33 seconds so tight it could be placed in an average-sized suitcase.

#10 – John used a 50-pound sledgehammer for one full hour and struck a tire about thirty times a minute non-stop throughout the hour.

(unashamedly stolen from here - http://www.powerropes.com/braboutjohn.html)

So he’s the real deal. If says Battling ropes are good, who am I to argue.

So I started playing and Oh Dear Lord! they are a humbling experience. In a DVD presentation I have of John presenting he talks about the rope being all “output” and he’s not wrong, there is no break, even with the kettlebell swing you get a “break” at the top of the swing, with the rope, there’s nothing.

More recently I was chatting to Mick Coup, in his opinion the battling ropes are about the best single conditioning tool he’s come across. And Mick’s been around.

So here we are, I’m a convert, and I highly recommend you jump on the bandwagon for yourself.

This last few days I’ve been getting creative, thinking about the types of movements my guys need, most of them are involved in martial arts or contact sports in some way. So I grabbed one of our Judo/BJJ boys and spent some time getting creative.
What we found was we could very easily and dynamically load some major movement patterns. This is something you simply can’t do with conventional weights, and is even tricky with Kettlebells and Sandbags.
Traditionally wrestlers have always used sandbags, you can tie a belt to them and work various throws with them, but it’s always a dead weight. The rope by contrast is alive. It’s bucking and kicking and it’s trying to jump away from you, a bit like your next opponent will.
We now have a moving force to deal with, we have windows of opportunity constantly being offered and taken away, so not only are we getting a phenomenal cardio workout, but we have to maintain good timing and balance as well.

Wrestling strength and training protocols are quite well covered, striking on the other hand, that’s always a bit trickier.
Methods for developing punching power are hotly debated, but one thing is for certain, punching is more about body mechanics than brute strength. Although strength helps.
Using the rope and turning to the side I discovered we can replicate punching actions, not an exact replica, but close enough, the force vectors and body mechanics are the same. In order to create a wave powerful enough to travel the length of the rope you must use the whole body, arm punching just aint gonna cut it.
Standing square, we can throw hook or uppercut punches in an alternating fashion, this is as good an abdominal workout as you’re going to get, and once again the whole body is required to get the power from the hand right the way down that rope.

Today I tried putting together several of these drills into a workout to see how it felt. I set a timer to beep every 20 seconds for 3 minutes.
Every 20 seconds I changed drill, but movement was to be continuous for the entire 3 minutes. 2 rounds and I was huffing and puffing like an auld one!

For your entertainment I filmed it.

Over the next few weeks I hope to get out shopping and get us a better rope, the one we have is ok, but for our competitive guys I think a heavier option would be better.

If you haven’t tried the ropes yet for yourself, you’re missing out, they’d be a great addition to any home gym set up.

Pretty soon I will post some Rope hybrid workouts combining the rope with Kettlebells and Bodyweight drills. Make sure you’re on the email list so you don’t miss ‘em when they’re up (see top right of the screen for the sign up…)

Regards

Dave
http://www.wg-fit.com


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Categories : martial arts, Personal Training Dublin

Train Like you’re in a Hurry

30 11 2011

In yesterday’s post I mentioned something Mick Coup said about his supplemental gym training.

He said “Train like you’re in a hurry”

What does this mean and how is it beneficial?

Lets look at what Mick does, and what most of my clients do. They train to fight. Some in a professional sense (Doorman, Military, Police) others in a sporting sense (Judo, Kickboxing, BJJ & MMA).
These guys need a body and mind that has the strength and endurance to keep on pushing, never give up, to still be hitting hard 10 or 20 minutes after they started.
There is a  boxing term for those that can’t go the distance, “Minute men”
You don’t want to be a minute man.

So your training must build not only strength and power, but also endurance, tenacity and improve recovery time.

There are several ways to achieve this, the best known being circuit training, but also Density Training, Super Sets and my own favourite the Power Circuits.

I wrote about power circuits in previous posts, here and here, so we’ll not go into them right now.
We’ll start with Super Sets.

Super Sets are a combination of two or more exercises performed in an alternating fashion. Usually they are put together in Upper Body / Lower Body combinations or as Push / Pull combinations, but more possibilities do exist.
The beauty  of these is that they still offer the opportunity to develop size and strength.

Why they work is simple. To build Size and Strength we must rest and recuperate between sets. Usually around 90sec for size, up to 5 minutes for power/strength. So why not use this time?
For example, I may do 3 sets of Military Press for 5 reps with 90sec  rest.
Each set may take 20 seconds to complete with a further 90 second rest, lets round it out to an even 2 minute in total. For 5 sets, that 10 minutes with less than 2 minutes total work, the rest is, well, rest.
If instead we alternate between Chin Ups and Presses, only taking 45 seconds rest.
It looks like this:
Press ( approx 20 sec)
Rest 45 sec
Pull (approx 20 sec)
Rest 45 sec

Each super set now takes around 2min 10sec, or for 5 sets or a little over 10 minutes. You’ve done two exercises  in roughly the same time frame and still managed to get close to two minutes rest between sets of presses.
Not only is this a more efficient use of time, but you’re stressing the Cardio Vascular system more and developing your work capacity.

Circuit Training is as old as the hills, there are more styles of circuit than you

Dave and I in full flow

can list, from Mini Circuits, Power Circuits, Complexes, Cardio Based Circuits it goes on.
The reason circuits have been around so long and never gone out of fashion?
Because they work.
With my guys I like to use shorter, intense circuits, I feel they better represent the demands of combat. I use kettlebells, sandbags and bodyweight drills to work the entire body, usually using one of the following formats:
Push/Legs/Pull/Legs…
Push/Pull/Legs/Core…
Strength/Power/Strength/Power

I also like to vary the times, gradually reducing rest as the athletes become more able. There’s to much to say about circuits than I’m going to go into here, I’ve a whole chapter on them in the WMD manual, which is nearing completion.

Density training then is our other option, and it keeps proving itself to be incredibly effective at building strength and work capacity.
Again we have various formats to choose from but all of them revolve around the same concept. Doing gradually more work in the same time frame. Either you set a rep total and try to reach it in incrementally fewer sets or you set a time limit and gradually build the total number of reps completed in that time.
Both methods work. With the time method it is easier to incorporate a variety of lifts, usually a pair.
With the number method it is easier to use a single lift or rounds of a complex (combination lift)

Whatever method you choose, it is a good idea to take a stopwatch into the gym with you or have a predetermined finish time. This will help eliminate the dilly dallying you see in almost every gym universally and will help up the intensity of your work.
Just never forget that there is a big difference between working quickly and rushing. Never sacrifice good form for speed.

So while the text books tell you rest 3-5 minutes for power, 60-90 seconds for size etc, our reality as a combat athlete or professional is very different. Train like you’re in a hurry, develop the ability to be strong under fatigue, build the tenacity to never quit.

Regards

Dave
http://www.wg-fit.com


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Categories : Strength and Conditioning

Cardio Training for the Martial Artist

22 11 2011

Cardio training comes in many guises. Most only know the one, extended bouts of running.

Up until recently most boxing coaches would tell you to get out and jog every morning, but times are changing.
We now realise that there are better ways.

Martial artists are required to generate power repetitively under fatigue. So a large part of their cardio training should be dedicated to supporting this.
The cardio vascular system is essentially a transport system, it takes fuel and oxygen to the working muscles and removes waste products. In a fight the legs are working, but so is the rest of the body, so the cardio vascular system must be trained to deliver fuel to the entire structure, not just the running muscles.

That’s where circuit such as this come into play. We use large compound movements or combinations of movements along with sprints or shuttle runs will tax the entire system. You’re fighting an ever growing oxygen debt from the weight lifting and then attempting to be explosive in the sprint.
You’ll see in the video the last of 5 rounds, each round is about 2 minutes and I took 1 min rests. By the round filmed, my legs were shot and the sprint was a pure effort of will.

The circuit used here is as follows:

Renegade Row / Spiderman Push Up combo x 6-8
Clean / Front Squat Combo x 6-8
Shuttle Run (turn around at 5, 10 and 15meters)
3-5 rounds with 1 min breaks.

I used a pair of 24kg kettles, you will use whatever weight is appropriate. Dumbells may be used instead of kettles, just be careful on the renegade rows.

Here’s the video:

Regards
Dave

http://www.wg-fit.com

PS Don’t forget to book your place on the Kettlebell workshops happening December 4th, details in the sidebar —->


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Categories : Kettlebell lifting Dublin, Strength and Conditioning

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