Periodization,Martial Arts & Working Out

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
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Recently I burned out hardcore from the training I was doing. It consisted of doing bodyweight exercises and running, which I did fine with for a month. I didn’t notice any overtraining symptoms at the time. Then, being the dumb kid I am, I started taking martial art classes three times a week. So now after two months of running, bodyweight exercises, and martial arts my ass is absoultely kicked. I know I should’ve stopped running but I love it to much. It becomes addictive. (Specifics for my workouts and MA class are at the bottom of my post)

Now I’m at the point where I know I need to rethink my training program. I’m taking a week off to fully recover. I’m looking for your guys’ advice on what I should do as far as periodization goes.I’m looking for maybe two or three phases that put emphasis on strength,power,and endurance each phase.
I want to incorporate my bodyweight exercises(strength),running(cardio),plyometrics and ballistics training(power),and martial arts (endurance) into this new training program. I thinking about combining the power and strength into one phase and doing maintenance for cardio and endurance for phase one. And then doing the endurance and cardio while doing maintenance for strength,while laying of the plyometrics.Maybe I should tone done the cardio a bit? I read the " 7 secrets to Rapid Recovery" article. Very good stuff. Any help and opinions at all would be appreciated. Sorry for the long post.

Thanks

BODYWEIGHT EXERCISES
m/w/f

3x8 handstand pushups
5x5 one arm pushups(each side)
3x6 pullups

3x5 one leg squats(each side)
3x20 hanging knee raises
3x10 hanging knee crosses
3x30 crunches w/30 pounds weights
3x10 side cruches w/30 pounds

RUNNING
tu/th/sa

4 miles under 34 min. (8:30 min. miles)
every two weeks or so I throw in another mile and I’m repeating this till I get up to 6 under 30 min.

MA
1 hrs 2hrs 2+hrs
m /w /sa

classes consist of technique training ,interval training,forms,heavy bag work, and sparring.

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are your goals to be a better martial artist or distance runner

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Martial Arts is priority to any sort of running. I started my running goal of 6 miles under 30 min. mainly because Bruce Lee used to do it in his workout. Yeah, I know it’s a stupid reason but I thought it would be cool to say that I could run as fast as Bruce, plus it kicked my weight loss into high gear. I don’t need to lose any more weight now for the time being, because I’m at a very lean 160.

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I agree, you need to figure out what your goal is and concentrate on one main goal, and use the other aspects of training to compliment that goal.

I too started taking matrial arts, and I enjoy it so much it has become the main focus of my training now. Now everything I plan revolves around becoming better at Muay Thai. Now rather than 3 runs per week, I do one every other week due to the fact, low intensity aerobic work will not make me a better fighter. I have since replaced my low intensity conditioing with things like minute drills, burpee intervals and other high intensity anaerobic drills (they are doing more for fat loss than running ever has). My strength has changed from 3 days to 2 using a simple bodyweight curcuit. The time that used to be used for strength and running is now filled with skill work such as shodowing boxing and bag work.

Sorry to ramble, but I want to give you an example of what some one in a similar situation has done to fit everything in. The biggest lesson I learned, I burned too in the beginning, was allowing for recovery.

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Well if your priority is in the martial arts find out what is keeping you from making any sory of prgress in the art itself for instance if its your strength that is lagging bring it up but not at the expense of the other, cardio the same and so forth…me personally i use the conjugate method for mma as was outlined on elitefts.com its has worked for me and i dont run very often i mainly walk for 30 minutes to an hour on a treadmill because i get my cardio during training i guess you could say its sport specific cardio…i know guys that run 3-4 miles a day that train with me but they seem to gas before i do strange how some things dont correlate…if the arts are a priority constantly practice and drill techinique without that its pointless what are you in though which art

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To The Top…

I got to go to class, but I’d like to answer this later. So…Bump.

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I train in a combination of sanshou and Choy Lay Fut. I like to focus on the sanshou more, the full contact aspect.

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im waiting on xens reply to this im sure he will have some detailed info for us

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Ok here we go.

If you can train full contact san shou good luck man that’s some intense shit. When I was in New York I got to see some matches. I think when these guys get some more qualified instructors in the states and if they make the cross over to MMA they’ll do WELL… I predict that to be the next evolution in MMA, san shou…its like Muay Thai but with throws in the clinch rather than strikes.

Anyway,

Before I begin, I encourage you to check out crossfit .com’s work out of the day. Good for strength-endurance and fatloss. Throw in a bit more interval work and you should be good to go.

First and foremost.

-Ditch the long distance running-
don’t even ask me why just do it.

I’m going to throw this at you. Training 4 days a week outside of your skill training. These sessions shouldn’t be any longer than 30min. Waking up an hour earlier shouldn’t be too much of a sacrifice for perfection.

2 days a week, hit the weights.
2 other days… listen to the following.

Let me start by telling you something that I would do closer to tournament time (I’ll make this all pretty clear when I sum it up at the end)…

How many rounds is a San Shou match? A mma fight is usually around 3 rounds of 5min each. Well do some research into Tabata workouts (you can see them on this site (use the search engine) also just Google.com that shit.

Basically the gist of it is that you will do 20seconds of intense work (100%), with 10 seconds of rest. That is 1 interval (30seconds). 2 Intervals is 1 minute.

10 intervals is 5min.

When I get close to tournament time I would use this protocal

Skill Training 15-20min

10 Intervals. Rest 30seconds
10 more Intervals. Rest 30s-1 minute
10 more intervals. Workout done.

Thats 30-45 min. of intense work.

What can you do for Tabata intervals?

Burpees, Getups, Jumprope, Jumping Jacks, Bagwork, Sprinting, anything where you can go buck wild for 20seconds.

You can even do weighted tabata intervals…check Dan John’s article regarding that (on this site).

Ok… Now here are two workouts you could do.

SWINGS AND SPRINTS:

5 Dumbbell Swings
30 Second Sprint Jump rope
5 Squat Thrust Pushups
5 Mountain Climbers
3 Pullups

—That is One Round

Repeat that, adding 1 rep till you get to 10 Swings.

If that’s easy for you, Double the # on each (10 dbell swings, 10 squat thrusts, 10 mountain climbers 6 pullups) and add 2 reps to each round. (you’ll end up at 20 swings)

ROUND AND ROUND:

5 Lunges
5 Dive bombers
10 Free/Hindu Squats
5 Pullups

Same Protocal as above.

So your week would look something like this.

Monday- Upper body Lifting
Tuesday- Swings and Sprints
Wednesday-Rest
Thursday- Lower Body Lifting

(choose which day you want to do round and round on…depends how you recover during the week)

Friday-Rest or Round and Round
Saturday- Rest or Round and round

As far as being an amateur fighter, from all the info I’ve gathered, if you are in fighting mode. You should always be 4-6wks out from tournament shape. So lets say you have 4 weeks out from a tournament. Thats when you switch up and put your Tabata Workouts in Rotate them.

Week One: LIFT and TABATA.
Week Two: LIFT and BODYWEIGHT.
Week Three: TABATA and BODYWEIGHT
Week Four: Nothing but technique Training

Something Like that. Ok thats a lot of information, and I’ve written this over a 30min time frame So I’m sorta at a loss for what else needs to be explained. Anything else you need explained let me know.

-Xen

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Actually I’ll tell you a little story about distance running.

I know this girl…yes yes she’s bomb as fuck a little nymph etc…she also runs marathons for FUN (freak).

I have a friend who runs with her, he wants to run the LA marathon, she’s ran it a few times (since she was 15).

She can bust out a 20mile run at a good clip any day of the week.

I had been wrestling for a month or two now. I didn’t do anything outside of lift (OVT program at the time) and wrestle. These were fairly advanced guys so basically they took 5min to show me some technique then just thrashed each other and beat the fuck outta me… I learned quickly. Bit it was intense just back to back to back…by the time you say “let me get a breather” (go ahead say it outloud) there was someone who told ou get into the circle and you had to wrestle with them. This goes on for about an hour and half.

Well my buddy and I argue regarding lifting protocals and training idealogies all the time. He’s a FFB but thinks a lot of what I do is BS, of course I think a lot of what he does is BS. But we both agree on a few of the basic principles so its all good.

So anyway he’s running with this girl and she says that she needs a speed day 5 Kilometer’s where she runs as fast as she can. That gets her speed up cause she wants to hit a PR when she runs the up coming LA Marathon (this march 6th I believe my mom’s running too :-D, my birthday is March 7th she runs with a big sign on that says “Dorian’s Mom” hehehe )

I digress,

well my buddy is like, Man you don’t do shit you’re a meathead I bet you can’t keep up with us. The bomb girl agrees- she’s a vegan and soy milk addict… granted she’s bomb as hell.

I make a bet… he has to let me use his car (A really fixed up Acura RSX). She has to pay for a night of fun out with me (drinking, clubbing, etc) and give me a lapdance. IF (they thought a big if) I finish the 5k (about 3.1miles) faster than they do.

So did I get to use the RSX???

– I made about 200bucks later that night racing.

Did I get the lapdance???
– She was my fuck buddy for the next 2-3 months.

I toasted them by a good 300meters.
I didn’t do ANYTHING different in my training, we had went running THAT NIGHT. Just really intense interval training, good motivation, and determination.

Anaerobic energy system training will have an aerobic carry over. Remember that.

And if you were wondering my finish time was 16:37

-Xen

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Dude do a needs analysis.

What exactly are your goals?

In order for us to help you, we need more info like training age, biological age, past training history, diet, free time ext…

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Boss-

[quote]Xen Nova wrote:

…if they make the cross over to MMA they’ll do WELL… I predict that to be the next evolution in MMA, san shou…

[/quote]

That’s the main reason I got into sanshou. I plan to eventually make the transition from sanshou to MMA, using sanshou as my base art and then training in some grappling art.

I’ve been working out since I was fourteen
Age:17
Height:5’11 or 6’0
weight:157-160 pounds
Diet:I eat about six meals a day, not small meals,medium in size

rule#1 all food I eat must have more protein than fat
rule#2 no sweets or junk food at all,EVER
rule#3 eat at least one salad a day to help balance out acid-alkaline ph level in my system
I’ve followed that diet plan for about a year now. I aim to get about the same amount of grams of protein in my system as my body weight,daily.
I’m a beginner in the martial arts, so yeah I focus on technique training alot and the overall basics.As far as free time goes I got tons of it because I’m taking a break off from school this year beacuse I got the chance to excel a year ahead of my junior year.

Xen- I’ll get back to you later. I’m trying to cacth Ultimate Fighter and I have to much stuff to say anyway.

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loser, i have a tv tuner in my computer i’m watching it AND i’m on the internet. Boo ya.

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[quote]Xen Nova wrote:
loser, i have a tv tuner in my computer i’m watching it AND i’m on the internet. Boo ya.[/quote]

Geek on.

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8=D

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Okay now for you Xen. Sanshou matches go for best out of three. Two normally three for a tie breaker. The rounds are 2 minutes each with one minute of rest between rounds.
I googled tabata intervals and you’ve got me convinced, they look pretty damn good. So I’ll scrap my runs. As far as lifting weights goes, would my bodyweight routine cut it? If you’ve ever done them I’m sure you know how much they kick your ass. Like pistols(one leg squats), handstand pushups, and my one arm pushups, etc… They kick my ass anyway. I a fan of them either way beacuse I don’t always have access to a gym, but if push comes to shove I could probably go as needed. By the way do you have any experience with static contraction and power factor training, the isometric and partial reps workouts? I’ve heard of some amazing results for striking with partial rep workouts.

For my speed-strength I want to add some plyometrics or ballistics. What do you think on this? If I cycle them when should they be?

Are there any rest times between the sets for Round and Round and Swings and Sprints? Or is just a continuous circuit?For the dumbell swings what approx. what % should they be of my 1RM?

Week One: LIFT and TABATA.
Week Two: LIFT and BODYWEIGHT.
Week Three: TABATA and BODYWEIGHT
Week Four: Nothing but technique Training

[/quote]

Where you say bodyweight in this post I assume you’re talking about the Swing and Sprints and the Round and Round, right?

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Any martial artist have any experience with Spike?
By the way Xen what do you train in?

thanks for your help so far guys

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[quote]StillStand’N wrote:
As far as lifting weights goes, would my bodyweight routine cut it? By the way do you have any experience with static contraction and power factor training, the isometric and partial reps workouts?
For my speed-strength I want to add some plyometrics or ballistics. What do you think on this? If I cycle them when should they be?

Are there any rest times between the sets for Round and Round and Swings and Sprints? Or is just a continuous circuit?For the dumbell swings what approx. what % should they be of my 1RM?
[/quote]

I think you’d get better results out of strength training via weights than bodyweight conditioning.

For speed-strength, we’re looking at 3-5 exercises per session with 6-10 sets per exercise, and 1-5 reps per set at teh 85-100% 1RM. This will include plyometrics, modified olympi lifts, and medicine ball training. Optimally you’ll have 3-5 minutes rest between sets. The improvements from ballistic exercises are delayed and are best seen 2-3 weeks after the last workout. You can use these for cycles of 4-6 weeks at a time and keep it at 1-2 times a week.

I would say for you, split your blocks into something like this:
hypertrophy/strength/strength/power/strength/strength/hypertrophy/strength/strength/power…etc for 4-8 week blocks. Thib shows that you can break your training up into week long blocks wehre week 1 would be 3X5@80-85%; week 2-3X5@80-85%& 3X4@85-90%; week 3-3/2/1/3/2/1 (90%/95%/100%/92%/97%/102%); week 4-3X3@85-90%

Another interesting idea for GPP work like the db swings is sledgehammer swings. You would strike a tire with a sledgehammer. 4 minutes on the downward swing, 3 minutes coming across the right side of the body and then 3 minutes coming across the left side of the body (this is an idea of Dr. Mike Hartle which Thib used in his Black Book of Training Secrets). For the db swings, another alternative is to do 30 two handed split swings, 10 left handed split swings, 10 right handed split swings with no rest between switching arms.

Hope this helped.

19

Ok bro I’m no expert but from the sound of things it seems that you want to increase your wind? Hence the all the bodyweight work, which is great for strength work as well.

First thing first to do as Xen said is ditch the long slow distance work, it may help you to recuperate on off days but stick to the sprint intervals as one of your primary conditioning workouts. Things that you can due in addition to sprint intervals (or whatever) are minute drills (any questions just ask). Also check out www.trainforstrength.com for more workouts like Xen posted up.

I would also say don’t get yourself so worked up about the s&c factor, because this could ultimately take away from your skill training, especially since your training in a full contact sport. Best of luck to you.

20

[quote]StillStand’N wrote:
Okay now for you Xen. Sanshou matches go for best out of three. Two normally three for a tie breaker. The rounds are 2 minutes each with one minute of rest between rounds.
[/quote]

Good. Train for that specifically, a little bit over as a matter of fact. When you get close to tournament time train for 3min rounds (as far as tabata stuff is concerned) and then train for an extra round so instead of 3-4 rounds of tabata, do 5-6.

Best bet, would be if you could get to the gym, hit the weights…thats whole 'nother post. I’d reccomend splitting between 103 (heavy) and 63(speed), it’d be basically heavy day light day. two total body workouts per week. If you want me to go into that I can.

But you can actually do a surprising amount with just bodyweight. What you had was pretty damn decent strength-wise as far as BW stuff… they really work your CNS though so watch your recovery. Oh and if you do handstand pushups do them full range. I wish you could build some parallettes…if you have the time google those you’ll enjoy what you find. American-Gymnast.com i believe is the site- or similar name of the one i’m thinking of so look for that and you’ll see what i’m getting at.

In my experience its kinda BS. It can work for a while, and you’ll see improvements like you always will with something new. But if anything check out Christian Thibadeau’s articles on contrast training and rest pause stuff and all of that. He does a great job of integrating it with ‘real’ lifting.

Uh, wow there’s a LOT you can do as far as plyometrics, that’d take me a while. Again google it…make up a sample schedule and run it by me. Thats a lot of info to absorb too. The gist of it, you need to be warmed up, but not tired, you need to have a fresh CNS- plyo will burn it pretty quick. It will make you faster but not if you take it to an extreme…keep it in a 6*3 protocal actually and you should be ok. I like doing Pistols onto a 18in box/bench, pausing for a second or two, then exploding up.
Explosive pushups…you can ramp those up by getting a medicine ball, and putting one hand on that and pushup and switching side to side…like in The Ultimate Fighter they have a short clip of a dude doing those.

Medicine ball throws are great too.

Also someone mentioned Sledgehammer GPP… google that. If you’re into combative arts at all that is THE style of gpp for you. Works all the necessary attributes.

Yup, continuous…

I’d say somewhere around 25-35lbs should work… Um I’ll say about 50-60% of your 1rm max.

[quote]
Week One: LIFT and TABATA.
Week Two: LIFT and BODYWEIGHT.
Week Three: TABATA and BODYWEIGHT
Week Four: Nothing but technique Training

Where you say bodyweight in this post I assume you’re talking about the Swing and Sprints and the Round and Round, right?[/quote]

Yes, that’s a correct assumption.

Also I got those exercises from trainforstrength .com. Last time I posted a site name i got my thread deleted so I just copied and pasted to be on the safe side, plus it got all your info in one place.

Scrapper is a friend of mine, good guy, REALLY know’s his shit. Sick as fuck though, he’ll take you to the edge of your ability then fucking push you over and laugh in glee. I think he gets off on it. I dunno.

Another site to check if you get some time is workingclassfitness .com.

I don’t know wiggy, but scrap says he’s a monster so check it out.