What seems to work for me (a short, stocky guy) is as follows.
If I am just generally training, with no fight coming up, then I lift and lift heavy conjugate style. I do switch this up though with other training methods.
Then, about 6-8 weeks before a fight I ditch almost all lifting. Instead, I focus on explosive plyometrics, bodyweight training, cardio and strength endurance work. The strength from lifting will stay as long as you train very intensely.
From Alwyn Cosgrove:
When it comes to strength and sports�??and how to increase strength for those sports�??most of the information out there is about sports such as football, powerlifting, basketball, and hockey. But what about the lesser known sports such as cheerleading, figure skating, and dance?
Recently, I received an email from a collegiate cheer athlete. His sport involved a lot of deep squatting and explosively �??keg tossing�?? 110-lb girls over his head and catching their feet. He also had to do all sorts of overhead presses and holds. He needed to have a LOT of explosiveness in his legs and lots of triceps and shoulder strength as well as lots of core and shoulder stability.
However, when he was able to get into the gym to train, it sapped his strength. When it came time to �??play�?? his sport either in practice or at games, he lacked the strength and explosiveness to perform the stunts. This athlete needed minimal training in the gym that allowed for fast recovery and increased strength throughout his season.
So how do athletes �??playing�?? sports such as this gain strength while still maintaining the energy and explosiveness to perform on the floor? First, the volume in the gym needs to be cut down. This will put the body in a �??training economy�?? situation where we need to select the biggest return on investment exercises for your goals.
For total body training, the clean and jerk or the snatch are ideal choices. I suggest alternating between deadlifts and front squats as the primary lower body exercises with a push press or push jerk as the primary upper body lift (alternating between bilateral and unilateral loading).
The unstable nature of the �??load�?? in sports such as cheer means that athletes should rotate between push pressing bars, dumbbells, and unstable objects such as sandbags or kegs. If they don�??t have access to that equipment, they can perform lighter sets of push presses with dumbbells of different loads or a barbell with 5�??10 extra pounds on one side.
As far as total volume goes, start with only 1�??2 work sets of each exercise and assess from there. If an athlete isn�??t getting stronger and more explosive, then we can assume that he or she needs to increase the volume slightly. For example, if an athlete started at five sets of each, we wouldn�??t know if it�??s too much volume or not enough. So start low.
As far as frequency of workouts, try two workouts a week to begin with. Ideally, athletes who play these types of sports should lift AFTER a practice. Otherwise, they�??ll be going into practice sessions with fatigued shoulders.
Cool article Xen, it pretty much sums up what I’ve been doing. Since going back into full Muay Thai training I reduced my extra strength training to just 2 sets each of the clean and press and swing/snatch, done at the end of a training session 3 times a week. Might start adding sets soon, but my strength seems to be increasing fine with just the 2.
[quote]Sifu wrote:
WolBarret wrote:
Sifu wrote:
So you need to go by how you feel. If you constantly feel like you are flexed even when you aren’t you need to change up your training so you can loosen up. The old theory of weight lifting making you muscle bound wasn’t totally wrong.
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Interesting comment on being “muscle bound”. When I was training for just pure hypertrophy, it really affected my speed, timing and even how I felt. I could feel myself being slower and less “springy” when initiating. Moving back to more explosive lifting styles (PL mostly) really helped with this.
The ability to generate instant movement is important to fighting. You can take a big hit on your speed from weight training. It definately is a handle with care situation.
The other thing that needs to be understood is that striking and lifting weights load the musculature in different ways. This is why follow through is so important to any kind of striking be it punching, kicking or swinging a golf club.
Velocity is somewhat overrated for striking. You can develop a fairly solid blow without a lot of velocity as long as you follow through. It is why we occasionally see blows in fights that don’t look like much but they lay someone out.
Agreed with following through. I know a makiwara helps with this but what methods do you use, Sifu, to work on following through?
Agreed with following through. I know a makiwara helps with this but what methods do you use, Sifu, to work on following through?
[quote]Sifu wrote:
The ability to generate instant movement is important to fighting. You can take a big hit on your speed from weight training. It definately is a handle with care situation.
The other thing that needs to be understood is that striking and lifting weights load the musculature in different ways. This is why follow through is so important to any kind of striking be it punching, kicking or swinging a golf club.
Velocity is somewhat overrated for striking. You can develop a fairly solid blow without a lot of velocity as long as you follow through. It is why we occasionally see blows in fights that don’t look like much but they lay someone out. [/quote]
Good reply Sifu
Speed is power in striking. Following through is important, however it’s got to be controlled. Anybody in boxing knows you should only go through your opponent an inch or so. It’s more important to bring your strike back to form for next movement. You always punch like you’re going to miss. That way you’re set up for next combo and back for protection. Adding power punches can change this a little. However you need to learn when to incorporate them in your combos. My boxing instructor has always been strong about not going to far past your opponent. If you do and you miss or it doesn’t phase him, then you’re wide open. not good.
A good springy Makiwara can do a lot to train the plyometric effect. Focus mitts are good. Practicing technique in front of a mirror. Visualisation can help also.
The reason why you focus through an object is because of the way the body works. It will only fire minimum of motor units needed to keep a limb moving to where your brain tells the limb to go. If the limb hits something in the way extra motor units will fire to keep the limb moving to where you are telling it to go to. This is how Tamashiwara (breaking) works.
My teachers didn’t really encourage Tamashiwara and it wasn’t a part of our class so don’t start a flame war but a few of them could do some really impressive breaking and we could get to see how focusing trough an object worked. One of the things some of them would do was take one inch thick cement paving tiles and stack them up so they had a stack of tiles 1 1/2 - 2 feet tall. I’ve seen guys hit the stack and break all of it which is impressive, but what was even more impressive was when someone would break only the bottom one or two. The guys who broke only the bottom blocks had aimed their focus a little too far through the stack. It showed what can be done with focus.
Sorry to jump off the subject but Sifu is that Kanbun Uechi in your avatar? MY old man is a 3rd degree black belt in this style.
Carry on…
Very good
[quote]Sifu wrote:
Deadlift smokes squat for fighting strength. You are using your upper body to harness the strength of your lower body. The extra muslce groups you are using are ones you also use for punching.
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This is true