For Martial Artists And Boxers

This is open to all martial artists and boxers.
Simply post any drills that have been useful to you in your training.
Solo drills, partner drills, speed drills, power drills, endurance drills, technique drills, footwork drills, timing drills, anything at all that comes to mind, post it right here.

Hopefully all us martial artists and boxers can benefit from this.

for wrestling i like doing sprawls with jumpstretch bands well i do a lot of sport specific movements with the bands i like running on my hands like when someone holds your feet and you run on your hands seems to have helped with hand speed cant forget jumping rope in any way shape or form one of the best foot speed agility drills i can think of hell there are so many things to a person can do ill post again when i can recollect my thoughts

that hands thing is called wheelbarrow, just for future reference. And yes, good god! it’s a great drill. Also, try taking three steps on your hands in wheelbarrow position, and then a pushup, another three steps, and a pushup. Lots of fun!

Skill Oriented stuff:

Wrestling/Sub Grappling:

  • Practice Blindfolded. Really helps you to rely on feel alone.

  • Drill HARD. Never just run through the motions, everything you do make it 100%. Not to kill your partner (break your partner and you have no one to train with) but push yourself to your edge.

Stand Up:

  • Practice sometimes where you can wrestle (go for takedowns etc), but your opponent can ONLY strike. Do different varitions of that. Kicker Vs Puncher, Positioning Vs Submission, Boxer Vs Wrestler, Defense Vs Offense, etc.

  • rope off the ring/cage/arena to a smaller size. When you get back to your regular area it’ll seem vast. This isn’t something to do on a regular basis.

  • Sit in a chair that spins. Hold your breathe, close your eyes, and have someone spin you about 30x.
    Stand up, and spar, or hit thai pads. It’ll simulate getting the fuck knocked out of you. You should be disoriented a fuck.

Cardio:
Progression from someone used to long distance cardio to Tabata. (Taku’s intervals)

Phase 1:
Weeks 1 & 2: 4 X 90 seconds work + 90 seconds recovery.
Weeks 3 & 4: 5 X 60 seconds work + 60 seconds recovery.

Phase 2:
Weeks 1 & 2: 6 X 45 seconds work + 30 seconds recovery.
Weeks 3 & 4: 7 X 30 Seconds work + 20 seconds recovery.

Phase 3:
Weeks 1 & 2: 8 X 20 seconds work + 10 seconds recovery.
Weeks 3 & 4: 10 X 20 seconds work + 10 seconds recovery.

use the same thing for suicides…(grappling with a fresh partner each round (or every other round)).

I’ve found the information on this site be helpful.

realultimatepower.net

ha yea wheelbarrow thats the name i couldnt think of it at the time thats why i said id repost when i could collect my thoughts haha well at least my stupid moment of the day is over

Great stuff, Xen Nova!
I never thought about simulating getting knocked out, but that’s a very helpful drill. So have you made your MMA debut yet? Hope you’re going to be successful.

chtdrmn, don’t worry about it. I once gave a long description of a reverse hyperextension, because I forgot the name. Great drill, though.

Here is on that helped me, since nobody mentioned it yet:
slow kicking.
Get into a deep, traditional stance, and kick very slowly, concentrating on proper technique and precision. Do this for 10 reps each leg. I recommend doing this for the basic kicks: front kick, side kick, roundhouse kick, inside crescent, outside crescent, and hammer/axe kicks.

The best agility drill I’ve seen in a long time that I’ve done periodically is called the dot drill. You can find it in Bigger Faster STronger. BRUTAL! It was originated by famous Kentucky basketball coach Adolph Rupp. One of the best anaerobic endurance drills imagineable!

Nick

I just checked out what the dot drill is.

Seems like an awesome drill! Definitely something I’ll want to integrate into my training.

xen ive done that disorientation drill before personally i didnt like it that much for 2 reasons 1. i get extremly dizzy which is a different feeling than i get when i get the fuck knocked out of me and 2 i feel like im going to puke ive never had that feeling when i get hit…the only similarities i have is the lack of clarity and having to control my stance i guess it would work for some but for me no way…another type of training i like to do is sandbag training i use it mainly for GPP and restorative excercises twice a week but its fun and really helps me on my lifting and throwing in wrestling also as lame as this sounds i love doing that paddleball game with the rubber ball attached to the wooden paddle…that has been the number one thing to help improve my hand-eye coordination for striking

chtdrmn, what’s a sandbag? Pretty obvious I think from the name, but just so I know for sure.

well i use an old army duffel bag and filled it with sand ironmind.com has some bags made specifically for the same purpose if you want to spend a few extra bucks on it

For Boxers or Martial Artists:

Round One:

  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Heavy Bag or Mitts With Trainer x 1 min
  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Heavy Bag or Mitts With Trainer x 1 min
  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Heavy Bag or Mitts With Trainer x 1 min
  • Burpees x 30 sec

Round Two:

  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Jumping Jacks x 30 sec
  • Mountain Climbers x 30 sec
  • Heavy Bag All-Out Punching x 30 sec
  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Jumping Jacks x 30 sec
  • Mountain Climbers x 30 sec
  • Heavy Bag All-Out Punching x 30 sec
  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Jumping Jacks x 30 sec

Round Three:

  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Dumbbell Swing x 1 min (30 sec each hand)
  • Heavy Bag or Mitts With Trainer x 1 min
  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Dumbbell Snatch x 1 min (30 sec each Hand)
  • Heavy Bag or Mitts With Trainer x 1 min

Round Four:

  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Heavy Bag All-Out Punching x 30 sec
  • High Knee In Place x 30 sec
  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Heavy Bag All-Out Punching x 30 sec
  • High Knee In Place x 30 sec
  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Heavy Bag All-Out Punching x 30 sec
  • High Knee In Place x 30 sec
  • Burpees x 30 sec

Round Five:

  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Dumbbell Snatch x 1 min (30 sec each hand)
  • Heavy Bag or Mitts With Trainer x 1 min
  • Burpees x 30 sec
  • Dumbbell Swing x 1 min (30 sec each Hand)
  • Heavy Bag or Mitts With Trainer x 1 min

No rest between exercises and 30-60 sec rest between rounds. Perform 2-3 times weekly!

Ni6TO, seems like a hell of a workout.
I’ll give it a try.

Keep in mind, folks, this doesn’t have to be only conditioning and sparring.
This can also be about forms/katas.

kilgor just quick question…what martial arts are you involved in? what is your level of experience and do you compete? as for form/kata training whats the point ive never understood their importance in traditional martial arts ive always assumed they were there for the “artistic” point…anyone know why this is?

Ok, kligor! Try it and after that tell me how it was!:slight_smile:

On what chtdrmn wrote:

To each their own… I’ve never tried paddle ball…but juggling and playing handball did help my hand eye a lot!

Juggling blindfolded is something else i want to try…just haven’t been bored enough yet hahaha.

[quote]chtdrmn wrote:
kilgor just quick question…what martial arts are you involved in? what is your level of experience and do you compete? as for form/kata training whats the point ive never understood their importance in traditional martial arts ive always assumed they were there for the “artistic” point…anyone know why this is?[/quote]

By the way, sandbag is probably one of the best investment you can make. CHT’s got a good point there.

This is just my experience:

form/kata/kuen/etc are supposed to be used to basically program the basic move’s of the ‘art’ into your mind. Muscle-memory I suppose you could say. A few art’s use forms as a progression to the point where you end up free fighting. Some use them just (as i mentioned before) as a way to practice the basics.

sometimes there would have to be 100 people trained at once. It’s easier to train them all with certain movements, than it is to train each individual one by one.

It all came under circumstance and culture.

From a google search:

[i]
“The purposes for Kata are many but most people find they assist in understanding the application of certain techniques in real-life situations.”

"The word kata comes from the Japanese meaning formal exercise. In Japan kata is not just something that is done in the martial arts. Kata has a deeper and spiritual meaning that is done in almost every aspect of life. There is a formal way for a tea ceremony, to enter a room or to greet a friend.

A martial art is a discipline of the mind and body as much as it is a war art. Many different martial arts date back hundreds and even thousands of years. Each generation transmitted their knowledge and secrets to the next generations through kata.

Kata is a series of movements and techniques that are practiced in a pattern. Kata is similar to shadow boxing except each move is prearranged and choreographed in a geometrical pattern. Each kata is designed to teach a central principle or a set of common technique. Each kata is done at a certain speed and tempo. Some kata the speed varies from move to move while others are done at one speed and at one tempo. (In most Tai Chi styles the forms are done at a slow speed with the same tempo such as the long form in the Yang style.)

Through kata we learn proper stance, focus and transition between technique.
Chinese martial arts refer to kata as forms. Kenpo is a Chinese martial art that was imported to Japan about 800 years ago. (In the Japanese language Kenpo translates as fist law or law of the fist. The Chinese word for Kenpo is Chuan fa.) Although Jujitsu principles and techniques were added to Kenpo, the Japanese always referred to Kenpo as a Chinese martial art. ( James Mitose who was the last Great Grand Master called his art Kenpo Jujitsu.) In Kenpo we use the term kata."

[/i]

…yea well um, there are a few misnomer’s in the above copy and paste. For instance, in Taijichuan only the first few forms are slow, the masterful one’s are actually really, really fast- especially Yang style…

Anyway.

Kata is designed for a function that isn’t functional. Perhaps before it was just like shadow boxing, but now it’s more of a dance routine. Especially if you see the TMA shit on espn or whatever. Holy hell that’s a Performance Art not a Martial Art.

To each their own, but I’d like to see someone try to cartwheel kick me and run way. Just don’t call that bs fighting.

-Xen

yea xen i was referring to the kats practiced in America as being like you said performance arts im going to assume that in asian countries they are a lot different

Tire flipping (630lb tractor tire) for time.

Various body weights only GPP drills.

Heavy Hammer juggling
(Made by Ironmind)

Here’s a hell of a conditioning workout for you guys.
Only perform this circuit one day a week at first then increase to two days maybe even to 3 depending on your recover capacity. Only perform one full circuit per session.
A1) Power cleans: x5 (80-90% of 1RM)
A2) 5 hard minutes on treadmill
A3) Power snatch: x5 (80-90% of 1RM)
A4) 5 hard minutes on treadmill
A5) Power cleans: x5 (80-90% of 1RM)
A6) 5 hard minutes on treadmill
A7) Power snatch: x5 (80-90% of 1RM)
A8) 5 hard minutes on treadmill
A9) Power cleans: x5 (80-90% of 1RM)
Brutal yes, but extremely effective at increasing work capacity.

Keg throw?s ?Kaz style?, set up 5 beer kegs full of sand (150-200lb each). Get two or three competitive guys to compete against. Each person throw?s all 5 kegs, the person who throws the kegs (all 5) the fastest skips the next round. Complete 3-5.

Have fun with these hellish drills.