A note on running for the combat athlete.

Ill keep this one short today. I see a lot of people that train in MMA, BJJ etc, like to run long distances. While running is a "cardiovascular" activity, it has no place outside the prep and base periods of training. Running, while helping increase oxidation in the body (bad and good) it tends to cause more problems than benefits.

Every exercise you do needs to be done according to the cost vs benefit ratio. If I do this activity, what is it going to cost me (what bad can happen) and what benefit will it give me (what good will come out of it in relation to the training schedule).

Most people don't know how to "run right". That being said, I have to leave it up to you to decide if you run right or not (cause I cant SEE you running right now hehe) but if left up to their own devices, most people get confused from POSE running to Heel Toe to whatever.

And we are talking about long distance running here. For marathoners and triathletes, it is a necessary evil but for the combat athlete who switches energy systems in a heartbeat (pummeling right into take down defense and back up to punching and kicking) there is no direct translation for them.

Sprints with medicine ball tosses is more of what I'm talking about. But if you are in the prep or base period, then running distances of up to 4 miles can actually help prepare the body for more intense, short bursted training that is going to come in the build and peak phases.

As we get closer to the peak and race/fight phase we need to lower strength and size training (most of that should be done in base and build cause lets face it, you aren't going to get any bigger or stronger 3 weeks out of a fight or race) and raise endurance and skill training with a dab of muscle power (explosiveness) while dropping exercises that can cause injury.

And just for R&M here is a little bit for you:

Rebuilding the Athlete Pt4: Limitations in respect to training.

As we train any athlete, we have to understand a few things:

1. their goals
2. their experience
3. their mental capacity for learning or following (ill touch on this later, some people dont care about the why)
4. their physical strengths and limitations
5. their schedule

This post will talk about limitations because I think that has the most to do with prep, base and build phases of training. With physical limitations, we are not only talking about handicaps such as loss of motor skills or loss of appendage. I mean more things like flexibility, body type and range of motion.

But arent flexibility and ROM the same thing? No. Flexibility is the "ability of a muscle to stretch to its fullest extension". ROM is the ability of muscles to move joints synergistically through its full range of contraction (or flex), abduction, adduction, and extension. Without diving into a dictionary to explain these, ill leave that as homework for you reading this. Just remember that everything in the body moves together, there is NO SUCH THING AS AN ISOLATION EXERCISE. I will lose my voice telling people over and over on this one.

But Nick, what about a preacher curl, or a leg curl, or lateral raise.

No. Lets look at this for a bit. Say you are on the preacher curl machine, you might be putting more stress on the bicep, but you still have to use your wrist muscles and shoulder muscles for stabilization.

Flexibility is a given trait that can be trained, but up until the persons specific body type or muscle make up and joint activity limits them from attaining a full stretch. Its also important to train exercises through the full ROM unless you have a specific goal in mind that will limit ROM, like training a fighter to Gorilla Press someone out of mount. For this, you may limit them to get under a barbell on the floor with a spotter and train from the lowest point their elbows hit the floor up to full extension. But by doing this, you cannot neglect the rest of the ROM, you will just have to train it in a different way.

Body Types, as given to us by science through bodybuilding, are as follows

Ectomorphic
Mesomorphic
Endomorphic

*from http://www.fitbuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/somatotype-body-types.jpg

Each of these 3 types of bodies have different traits. Many Pro Bodybuilders and MMA Fighters are Mesomorphs and Ectomorphs. Mesomorphs have an easier time putting on muscle where Ectomorphs have an easier time staying very lean. This doesn't mean that an Endomorph cannot look closer to one of the other 2, it just means that they have to learn how their body adapts to food and training.

Range of Motion Training is very easy to do. Most of it is done unloaded, meaning no weight or very light weight. If we are correcting someone's ROM we need to do it unloaded because more than likely they have an instability and training a loaded joint with an instability= injury.

Point to take from this: Understand the principles of Body Type, ROM and Flexibility and understand how they may limit your training, but its up to you to find ways to correct imbalances and work with what you have. Never give up and don't be so hard on yourself. It takes a long time for people to understand what works best for them.

RIP Adam Bennet

Adam, who trained with us at Hard Target Martial Arts, and had the heart of a warrior, just passed away. As we do not yet know the details, we are aware that he was in China on an internship. I ask all of you to please keep Adam and his family in your thoughts, prayers and meditations. He has reached the end of his race, and remember that we all will one day as well.

Good bye sir. You will be missed.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/1057510.html

Rebuilding the Athlete Pt3: Base Training Phase.

The season ended, the injuries were fixed and the athlete is ready to begin a period of training again (goal specific, remember there are workouts and then there is training). Base training is exactly what one might think of when they look at a pyramid, the longest part at the bottom. It is what all other fitness traits are built upon. For example:

You cannot have speed without building up the cardio system.
You cannot lift maximum weight until you stabilize all the joints associated with the exercise.
You cannot run until you walk. Ok, maybe that one was too easy but you are getting my point now.

There has been a term coined GPP, or General Physical Preparedness. It is basically all the basics. For you english teachers out there, dont hate me for that sentence. Its getting the body ready to move together without specificity. It is training all the energy systems at the basic level, preparing the body for more detail and goal specific training later on.

Its the foundation of the fitness house you are building. Things included in GPP are basics like push ups, pull ups, sled dragging, tire ironing, washing clothes, walking, giving the dog a bath etc.

No really it is any non specific movement that makes the body work all energy systems together at a low enough rate that you build upon the progressive resistance you have applied. Long runs instead of sprints. You get the picture.

Next, the build phase.

Rebuilding the Athlete Pt2: Prep Training Phase.

Ok, so we have a basic understanding of where we might be in any given training cycle, or maybe not (for those of you that are new to the terminology used to describe these things. Keep in mind they are just labels.)

Other Fitness Professionalls may coin killer words and phrases to "lock-in" their idea, however as I have stated before and has been proven by science (more studies are coming out all the time, but unfortunately a lot of them contradict each other):

Methods are many, Principles are Few. ....(that was three periods. Period)

We break those down into the phases of training, and these can even be applied to those that dont want to compete. Al Cosgrove is a great motivator of the next "gala or event" to prepare for (fat loss, muscle gain etc for the maybe non-competitive athlete) but all human beings respond to Progressive Resistance.

In my words, Progressive Resistance means slowly adding more of each of these three throughout the training period:

Time: The amount of time work is being done
Intensity: The rate at which work is being done
Volume: How much work is being done.

Now all 3 of these apply into the Phases of training. Right now Lets talk about the Prep or Preparation Phase.

Prep phases are usually started by inactive, injured or athletes just coming down from a compete phase. In Football, after the season is done, general Strength and Conditioning is maintained or even taken down a notch to insure proper recovery between seasons. The Player cannot keep the same level of fitness all the time, and attempting to do so brings illness and injury.

Remember the steps we talked about, Prep is at the bottom left of the diagram. Usually a longer period of training, it can be determined by the next goal. Once the next goal is given, then we plan on moving from Prep to Base. Prep can also be looked at as injury recovery time or strengthening of a injured part of the body.

Example: the rotator cuff tear. We cannot just throw the athlete back into a build or peak phase without proper rehab prescribed by a kinesiologist or physician. Once that is done, we can work around the guidelines to insure the injured area is brought back up to strength.

You are only as good as your weakest link.

Rebuilding an Injured Athlete

So you just got back from a rotator cuff tear, or the flu and your doctor has cleared you to start training again. Lets get back to the basic terminology between training and workout:

My definition can be re-read Here. Sorry for those that thought I was going to write that out again. Shame on you.

Once the athlete decides that he wants to get active again and is properly cleared by medical peeps, the must have a plan on where to go. Even if its short term, you still need a goal. If you cannot perform 20 pushups in a row, that may be a micro goal with the main goal being able to compete in sport again in 6 months (depending on prior level of fitness and the ability for energy systems to react to progressive resistance)

Lets look at the basics of this idea and the terminology of periodization. Starting over a training cycle or after an injury you need to get back to basics. We call this GPP or Base Training. Without these you cannot build up to a compete phase.

Again, lets look at the phases (ill type these out for those of you link scaredy cats)

1.Prep (more on that later)
2.Base
3.Build
4.Peak
5.Compete

Then lets examine the 3 ways to train in those periods. You can change 3 things.

1. Time
2. Intensity
3. Volume.

Starting over, no one should be anywhere near what they were trying to do before they got injured or if they are starting over a new training cycle.  This is the time to hire a qualified fitness trainer to help dissect this information so that when it enters your earhole it can get stored in the correct brain space.

Marinate on this. Training Cycles look like steps going up. Every 2 steps, imagine a small drop back to a lower level of fitness, but above the starting point. That is how we look at periodization.

Energy Systems

Here is a great little chart showing which energy systems are in use and the fuel used. Thanks to Elite FTS for putting this together.