Best Cardio to Compliment Fighting?

Bigger Stronger Leaner
21

Thank you .

I have not been here in a while - used to post for years under kmcnyc

Its really true - lets say grappling and striking ( ignoring mma)
have far far different energy systems and needs

coming from child judo through college and international wrestling to BJJ
I saw some different approaches.

I did far far too much of say road work - but I cut allot of weight and this was normal for the times.
I am no trainer- just a been around a bit.
I always advocate -

skill work
conditioning
strength work

in that order depending on your goals
this is a strength body building site - so its natural our training would put that first. And thats cool.

what are your goals- I dont want an answer-
you want you to apply training towards them.

you want to chase big numbers and roll or spar a few days a week great.
you want to lift on 6 days and roll spar twice a week for fun great.

you want to get in a car train or plane and compete 30 times a year in some martial art thats different

as mentioned I have had good results with good old 531 two days a week lifts made progress - I worked a physical job
and got to ‘roll’ 2-3 days a week till well im old af and broken af.

Im gonna say - do what ever program has you bust your ass
lift some basic ass lifts
do some 'slow ’ conditioning and some hard conditioning and your good to go.

for the record - people who can roll for two hours and fail at 20 burpees -
I like that.
at a wrestling camp - or clinic I took third place in " squat thrusts " which is what most people called burpees with something like 800 and change.
disgusting 90’s over training at its finest.

22

Upon revision I’ll be trying 5/3/1 BBB (3-4x/wk) + martial arts 4-6x/wk @hankthetank89

Will tell you how it goes. Not hopping straight into 6x/wk combat training. Started off at 3x/wk combat training, will increase by 1x every 1-2 wks.

So far, so good… Though 400-600 metre sprints (today by myself for conditioning) really fucked me up. Almost puked towards the end.

Prefer sprints to roadwork, Muay Thai in the ring is predominantly anaerobic, repeatedly sprinting medium/long distances probably correlates more with that type of training stimulus than running 5-10k does (haaaaaaa, I can’t run 10k)

23

Roadwork is bullshit. Its ancient methodics that have no real reasoning behind em. Since a round is no longer that 5mins, you have no point of running 30-60mins slowly.

24

I’ve tried to solve this phenomenon for a long time and still come up short. Reverse is also true: high level crossfitters with amazing metcon and no grappling experience are ready to vomit after a couple of 5-min rounds. People are quick to point out that much of the phenomenon is explained by increased energy efficiency as technique improves, but that still doesn’t account for it fully. One of the most demoralizing experiences of my training history is tapping out after 30 minutes of a 60-minute wrestling class that was just a series of 3-minute takedown rounds while a bunch of sloppy bastards with shitty cardio continued to shoot several times per minute for the rest of class.

25

But if u do often springs it is hard for the recuperation ( hit ) ? So it is good to make a alternance between Hit and slow long duration run?

26

Since slow running doesnt help much, i believe its better to stretch, recover and work on technique… Because slow running can destroy your body also, but has minimal benefit imo.

27

I don’t jog myself, but if I have the time and energy I will walk long distances rather than take the bus. Often I do farmer’s walk on the way back with weight of groceries.

For high intensity I do either rope skipping or heavy bag drill.

Is this a good mix? Or does the walking fit into the same category as jogging?

28

No, walking can be considered as an active recovery. There is a few studies made that say that rest including some walks and stretches is a better recovery than actually being on a couch all day.

Heavy bag drills are best for high intensity as they are very close to what we are training for. Not a fan of a skip rope as - if you know how to jump it, jumping longer wont make you a better fighter BUT if you use it just as a tool for cardio it is good… i would suggest hill sprints over skip rope, but i understand that hills are hard to come by and not everyone goes to a gym to use inclinde treadmill, so yea, you can jump rope and make it into an interval workout like - 45seconds straight jump followed by 15 second double-unders, etc.

29

thanks for responding.

How should I structure rope skipping further? should I do this for let’s say 3 minute rounds, 1 minute between? How long a session in one day?

30

If you train for Muay Thai or Kickboxing(something that has 3min rounds) train for 3mins with 1 min rest. If its MMA, do 5mins. Train for what you need to train for.
You can do, lets say - 3min skip rope with intervals, take 1 min rest, then do 3mins of intense full power, full speed shadow boxing, then 1 min rest, then 3mins of active heavy bag work. And you can do this circuit for 1-3 rounds total, depending on how you feel. Dont over do it also, because it will fuck with your recovery.
Intense cardio is the same as powerlifting - cant do that too much.

31

So if i just want a good general cardio and a good conditions what i can do ?
Hit one time and swimming a others time exemple my off day are wenesday and Saturday Sunday. Not specially gor fighting just in general for be good, if one day i need to run or when i want learn fighting, to be ready in a lot of different situation.

Swimming wenesday, and Hit Saturday. But before to do Hit i need to be able to run 50 minute ? I heard something like that.

And i want lose some bad fat (little) so with diete and conditionings cardio that can be very useful and good i think

Thank

32

Not to be a jerk, but are you a world class fighter or a trainer of world class fighters? Success leaves clues.

Elite milers are going to run well under four minutes yet they include longer distance running in their training.

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33

Long distance running is very specific thing. If your cardio and conditioning is good, long distance running wont have anything to do with cardio.
I have run half marathon under 2 hours, weighing 230lbs - it was not cardio, it was only about how much pain my knees, feet and and hips can endure. Muscle pumps and cramps and just general mindfuck of being bored the fuck out. Running is mental, not physical unless you start in below-average health.
After training for running, i noticed that my high intensity abilities had dropped along with my fighting stamina. I havent ran a mile ever since.

You can do 2-3 HIT sessions a week, and some 2-3 light recovery sessions. Swimming is great as you mentioned. Hill sprints are a good tool as they dont fuck you up like regular running does. Weighted west walks, prowler/sled pushes and pulls. If you are already healthy and have some cardio, you can just do 2 intensive trainings and it will be enough as your lower intensity cardio should already be good - you wont benefit much from it, unless you are in such shit shape you cant walk 5k without getting tired :smiley:

I am a hand to hand combat instructor for civilians and my countries national air force, which includes american soldiers aswell, so technically - i am a world class trainer and i am paid to train international soldiers, yes. I am also recognized instructor of KMG, which also is a huge international organisation. Being paid by NATO kind of makes me “world class” in some way or another, i guess…

Yes. But sometimes it leaves a long pile of bullshit also, because people with no knowledge tend to emulate their idols with no questions asked.
Muhammad Ali was knownt to jump rope for hours. I would bet my money that Muhammad Ali would be Muhammad Ali even if he jumped rope less, as the mere fact of jumping rope, does not train any of the fighting skills. There are world class Olympic atletes doing that stupid jar thing on their back, or doing that cryo shit with hot and cold contrast stuff - it is all scientificly proven to NOT do shit, yet they do it, because in their profession even a 0,5% chance it might do SOMETHING is worth it, but then regular people look at it, think it is what makes em successful and spend their hard earned money on that shit. Remember how world class athletes used those face masks for training? Remember how FAIL it was when it turned out that training while oxigen depraved leads to brain damage? There is your “world class” clues being left by the elite.

I am not talking about running, i am talking about fighting.
I have very little to no knowledge of running, but i am sure it is needed to run different distances and durations to be good at any of them. Anyways, the topic is - cardio to compliment FIGHTING.
Sorry if you missunderstood me talking about running as such. I said that long distance running doesnt do shit for fighting.

34

Thank, but 2 time Hiit isn’t to much with gym ? Peoples say that (HIIT) take a lot of energy/recovery. For the moment i didn’t run since a long time so, i just want beable to run 40/50 minute and after doing Hiit.

It is something like 30 s speed run, 2 minute run normal, 30 s spee and so on and not more than 20 minute or 30 minute maximum right?

And when i start to be better, i was thinking about 30 s speed / 1m30 normal and later 30 s speed / 30 normal run.

Do u think is a good idea ? And i can do the same protocols for swimming, so one time Hiit run and 1 swim.

Thank for ur time and advice, iam not a natif speak so sorry if my English is not so good or if I don’t understand quickly

35

If its true hiit you wont be able to do more than 15s at a time, so 15sec sprint and 45sec rest is a standard protocol. Also your hiit training wont br longer than 10-20mins total.

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36

Ok thanks i will always follow This protocol, so one time a week u think is enough for get a proper cardio ? So one hiit / one swim.

Yes i guess is very hard to do that for 20 minute, in the begining i think i will be dead with 10 minute

37

Just know that that isn’t an aerobic workout. Fighting is aerobic.

What does this mean? You want to run how far in 40-50 minutes? Doing short sprints won’t get you there, regardless.

38

No, just my cardio is bad actually, i just want prepare myself, and slow cardio for 2 week / 1 month for the leg and so on will be good and After just hiit

39

That’s a pretty narrow statement. Boxing 12 rounds might be a primarily aerobic feat but anything more dynamic - and certainly anything involving grappling - demands good capacity in both pathways.

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40

How long is a grappling match, be it Judo, wrestling or BJJ?