June 25, 2006
How to Cut Weight
Check out step-by-step instructions on how to cut weight for competition. This article is excerpted by permission from the excellent book Training for Warriors by Martin Rooney.
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A HIIT of LSD?
I have always loved running at nightfall. Tonight I slipped out of the house at 9:30 pm, and ran for 40 minutes, thinking mainly about two things. The first was the fantastic montage from the movie Ali, where a young Cassius Clay is running through darkened city streets preparing for his match with Sonny Liston. The second issue bouncing around in my head was the controversy between aerobic Long Slow Distance training (LSD) and anaerobic High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for jiu-jitsu and grappling conditioning.
As discussed in Cardio for Martial Arts, conditioning sessions can be long or slow, easy or hard. Most MMA and jiu-jitsu conditioning experts currently advocate HIIT, consisting of short bursts of high energy exercise and/or some form of circuit training. According to this school of thought, grappling matches and MMA rounds are essentially sprint events; the old school boxer's long hours of roadwork are counterproductive and only condition fighters to run long distances, not to fight.
I know I am in the minority here, but I think that doing some LSD or aerobic work is very important, at least for me.
In various phases of my competitive career I have alternated between doing a lot of anaerobic work and a lot of aerobic work. When I was trying to get on the fire department, for example, I was running longer distances 5 times a week (a typical run was 45 minutes long) and my grappling felt GREAT.
After I got onto the fire department I competed in the Firefighter Combat Challenge, an essentially anaerobic event. Accordingly I did tons of sprints and relatively little distance work. Despite a lack of fast twitch muscle I eventually ran a 1:32 in this event which is a very good time (1:40 is considered 'elite' level), so my anaerobic conditioning must have been pretty good. My grappling did NOT feel as good during my Combat Challenge career.
Now two anecdotes don't prove or disprove anything, it is just food for thought. Perhaps LSD's beneficial effects on me are reflective of my fighting style (fairly measured and even-paced), or perhaps there was something else entirely going on. Regardless it would be very hard to convince me not to do aerobic work if I were preparing for a major competition. Furthermore I sometimes hear rumors that there are some elite fighters - Pride's Fedor Emelianenko for example - who also run long distances as part of their training, so maybe I'm not totally out to lunch
I'm not anti-HIIT at all, I just like to include a lot more LSD training than is currently fashionable. I run slow and fast, long and short, depending on my mood and my training schedule.
I've got to take my post-run shower now, but before I do I want to emphasize that, for the vast majority of people. any training is better than sitting on the couch. If running longer than 15 minutes bores you silly then sprint, sprint, sprint. If you don't like to be gasping for breath, then enjoy your long jogs, and don't worry too much about these academic debates.
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As discussed in Cardio for Martial Arts, conditioning sessions can be long or slow, easy or hard. Most MMA and jiu-jitsu conditioning experts currently advocate HIIT, consisting of short bursts of high energy exercise and/or some form of circuit training. According to this school of thought, grappling matches and MMA rounds are essentially sprint events; the old school boxer's long hours of roadwork are counterproductive and only condition fighters to run long distances, not to fight.
I know I am in the minority here, but I think that doing some LSD or aerobic work is very important, at least for me.
In various phases of my competitive career I have alternated between doing a lot of anaerobic work and a lot of aerobic work. When I was trying to get on the fire department, for example, I was running longer distances 5 times a week (a typical run was 45 minutes long) and my grappling felt GREAT.
After I got onto the fire department I competed in the Firefighter Combat Challenge, an essentially anaerobic event. Accordingly I did tons of sprints and relatively little distance work. Despite a lack of fast twitch muscle I eventually ran a 1:32 in this event which is a very good time (1:40 is considered 'elite' level), so my anaerobic conditioning must have been pretty good. My grappling did NOT feel as good during my Combat Challenge career.
Now two anecdotes don't prove or disprove anything, it is just food for thought. Perhaps LSD's beneficial effects on me are reflective of my fighting style (fairly measured and even-paced), or perhaps there was something else entirely going on. Regardless it would be very hard to convince me not to do aerobic work if I were preparing for a major competition. Furthermore I sometimes hear rumors that there are some elite fighters - Pride's Fedor Emelianenko for example - who also run long distances as part of their training, so maybe I'm not totally out to lunch
I'm not anti-HIIT at all, I just like to include a lot more LSD training than is currently fashionable. I run slow and fast, long and short, depending on my mood and my training schedule.
I've got to take my post-run shower now, but before I do I want to emphasize that, for the vast majority of people. any training is better than sitting on the couch. If running longer than 15 minutes bores you silly then sprint, sprint, sprint. If you don't like to be gasping for breath, then enjoy your long jogs, and don't worry too much about these academic debates.
Labels: conditioning
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June 19, 2006
OK, Enough Already, I Get It!
Lessons in grappling (and life in general) repeat themselves until learned. Sometimes there are techniques or principles that you learn, take for granted, teach to others and then slowly forget - before you know you have forgotten what you originally took for granted, and then have to relearn it all over again. I am having one of these moments in my own training right now.
A while ago I was having difficulties passing the closed guard of one of my training partners. He was constantly tying up and attacking my arms. All I ever did was defend, and never really got to mount any offense of my own. What is always the first level of defense, and the first step of passing the guard?
Posture.
Then I was sparring another longtime training partner. Once again I was in trouble, continuously defending omo platas, armbars and triangles. Why were his attacks so easy to set up? What was I NOT doing?
Posture.
After that I entered a local tournament and got caught in a guillotine choke. Tap, tap. What is the best preventative measure you can implement to avoid guillotine chokes?
Posture.
What are most white belts taught on their first day of class?
Posture!
What do coaches spend half their time yelling at tournaments?
Posture! Posture!! Posture!!!
OK, OK, I get it now. I know what I need to work on. While training I need to make posture my first, second and third priority. Lessons repeat themselves until learned.
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A while ago I was having difficulties passing the closed guard of one of my training partners. He was constantly tying up and attacking my arms. All I ever did was defend, and never really got to mount any offense of my own. What is always the first level of defense, and the first step of passing the guard?
Posture.
Then I was sparring another longtime training partner. Once again I was in trouble, continuously defending omo platas, armbars and triangles. Why were his attacks so easy to set up? What was I NOT doing?
Posture.
After that I entered a local tournament and got caught in a guillotine choke. Tap, tap. What is the best preventative measure you can implement to avoid guillotine chokes?
Posture.
What are most white belts taught on their first day of class?
Posture!
What do coaches spend half their time yelling at tournaments?
Posture! Posture!! Posture!!!
OK, OK, I get it now. I know what I need to work on. While training I need to make posture my first, second and third priority. Lessons repeat themselves until learned.
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June 12, 2006
Dojo of the Rising Sun
When I was a young man I was approached by a friend with an unusual proposition. Would I be interested, he asked, in training from 6 to 7 am? He was so busy with work and family obligations that he simply had no other open time slots in his schedule. I agreed, and we did this periodically for about a year. I enjoyed the training despite the unholy time of day: something always seemed wrong about getting up at 5:30 am and finishing a workout as the sun was rising.
Many years later I find myself in a strangely symmetrical place: too busy to regularly train during the day, and much too addicted to grappling to be happy about stopping it, even temporarily. I wracked my brain for weeks trying to figure out some way to train despite an oppressive schedule, but I just couldn't think of the obvious solution. Finally I remembered my friend's predicament, and started asking various training partners if they would be willing to occasionally do some training early in the morning. When three or four different people expressed interest I found out that training was a possibility almost every day of the week.
A typical session starts at 6 or 6:30 am. We warm up with 10 minutes of drilling, and then move directly into about 40 minutes of sparring. When we finish up there isn't much chit-chat: we are packed up and out the door in minutes, and I am usually left with the feeling that the day is going to be worthwhile after all.
I should emphasize that I am NOT a natural early riser: I require several alarm clocks to get up at 5:30 am, but once I get my clothes on, a snack in my belly and my blood caffeinated I actually look forward to these sparring sessions. Maybe if I keep up the early morning training regimen I will eventually turn into one of those disgustingly chipper people who sanctimoniously blither on about the joys of rising with the birds and exercising with the rising sun.
I'd like to send out a big "Thank You" to the people who have made these morning sessions possible. I hope to resume a more normal training schedule in the near future, but until then you're all helping keep the dream alive!
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Many years later I find myself in a strangely symmetrical place: too busy to regularly train during the day, and much too addicted to grappling to be happy about stopping it, even temporarily. I wracked my brain for weeks trying to figure out some way to train despite an oppressive schedule, but I just couldn't think of the obvious solution. Finally I remembered my friend's predicament, and started asking various training partners if they would be willing to occasionally do some training early in the morning. When three or four different people expressed interest I found out that training was a possibility almost every day of the week.
A typical session starts at 6 or 6:30 am. We warm up with 10 minutes of drilling, and then move directly into about 40 minutes of sparring. When we finish up there isn't much chit-chat: we are packed up and out the door in minutes, and I am usually left with the feeling that the day is going to be worthwhile after all.
I should emphasize that I am NOT a natural early riser: I require several alarm clocks to get up at 5:30 am, but once I get my clothes on, a snack in my belly and my blood caffeinated I actually look forward to these sparring sessions. Maybe if I keep up the early morning training regimen I will eventually turn into one of those disgustingly chipper people who sanctimoniously blither on about the joys of rising with the birds and exercising with the rising sun.
I'd like to send out a big "Thank You" to the people who have made these morning sessions possible. I hope to resume a more normal training schedule in the near future, but until then you're all helping keep the dream alive!
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June 06, 2006
Blood in the Water: MMA Killer Instinct
On June 4th Denis Kang did it again. Fighting in the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix he took on feared striker Murilo "Ninja" Rua from the Chuteboxe Academy. The fight did not go long: he KO'd Ninja in 12 seconds! You can see this video below or at www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0kuV96Zlaw
If you watch the video you see Denis connect with a right cross that causes Ninja to lose his balance. Denis senses an opportunity to end the fight and chases Ninja across the ring and then to the ground, all the while throwing bombs with both hands. It's hard to tell exactly how many punches were thrown, but it was at least 15 or 16 power punches in less than 10 seconds!
Now throwing 15 power punches in 10 seconds is a good way to tire yourself out, UNLESS you are in great shape and are pretty sure that this flurry is going to end the fight. Denis knew Ninja was in trouble and made sure that he never recovered. Great fighters have a well-developed ability to go piranha on someone when they taste blood in the water. This ability to seize an opportunity and end the fight is partially instinctive and partially the result of countless hours of training.
The same killer instinct can be applied to submission grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu: suppose you have your opponent pinned and he escapes, but exerts an enormous amount of energy to do so. If you do nothing, you allow your opponent to rest and recover a little bit. If you use this opportunity to advance your position and finish with a submission - despite being tired yourself - then you have just successfully used your inner piranha!
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If you watch the video you see Denis connect with a right cross that causes Ninja to lose his balance. Denis senses an opportunity to end the fight and chases Ninja across the ring and then to the ground, all the while throwing bombs with both hands. It's hard to tell exactly how many punches were thrown, but it was at least 15 or 16 power punches in less than 10 seconds!
Now throwing 15 power punches in 10 seconds is a good way to tire yourself out, UNLESS you are in great shape and are pretty sure that this flurry is going to end the fight. Denis knew Ninja was in trouble and made sure that he never recovered. Great fighters have a well-developed ability to go piranha on someone when they taste blood in the water. This ability to seize an opportunity and end the fight is partially instinctive and partially the result of countless hours of training.
The same killer instinct can be applied to submission grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu: suppose you have your opponent pinned and he escapes, but exerts an enormous amount of energy to do so. If you do nothing, you allow your opponent to rest and recover a little bit. If you use this opportunity to advance your position and finish with a submission - despite being tired yourself - then you have just successfully used your inner piranha!
Labels: MMA
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