Randy Couture's Circuit

Training Bodybuilding
21

[quote]hueyOT wrote:
Magarhe wrote:
It is a good routine but take note of everything he says in it - it is for his sport, specifically. Even the rest period of 60 seconds is to duplicate the rest you get between rounds.

So don’t do it if your aims are bodybuilding or powerlifting. Although it is a good routine, I am not knocking it at all. Also probably excellent for far burning.

Search on T-Nation for “the bear”

it’s a shitty routine no matter what sport you’re in. unless your sport is ‘being good at shitty routines’.
[/quote]

You remind me of being at the racetrack where the horse all run around with blinders on!
FF

22

I think they’re gonna add that to the next winter olympics right after they cut grecco and freestyle wrestling.

23

It’s just a metabolic conditoning circuit,alwyn wrote an article at Elitefts about it.Basically a modified Javorek complex,nothing new or special but if you’ve seen the new season of the ultimate fighter 3 you see plenty of guys doing weight circuits.Enson Inoue also posted his pre-fight weight circuit at MMA.TV,i guess everybody thinks “Randy has great cardio,that’s what i’ll do too” and the circuits can be pretty brutal but i agree with the statement in order to conditon yourself to punch,kick,grapple you have to punch,kick and grapple.Charles Staley has commented that alot of martial artists do silly things in order to increase their power, like punching with dumbells in your hands or kicking with your leg attached to a low pulley weight stack which serve only to screw with the mechanics of your punches and kicks.

People seem the agonize over how to train for MMA,seems simple enough,perform basic compound movements like 14 inch close grips,squats,deads,GM’s,chins,dips rows etc…add in a strongman element for general conditioning with sandbags,sledges,odd lifts etc and maybe some explosive bodyweight drills or modified olympic lifts like DB snatches and cleans,lots of dynamic flexibility work and the MOST of your time should be spent on the mat and in the ring improving your technique and skills doing striking and grappling drills.

24

When you shadow box the only thing keeping your humerous from seperating from your shoulder is the rotator cuff. This makes it a bad excercise for the rotator cuff.

Shadow boxing with weights increases your chances of tearing your rotator cuff. All you are doing is risking serious injury for no benefit.

Shadow boxing with weights is one of those dumb ideas that needs to go.

25

[quote]Sifu wrote:
When you shadow box the only thing keeping your humerous from seperating from your shoulder is the rotator cuff. This makes it a bad excercise for the rotator cuff.

Shadow boxing with weights increases your chances of tearing your rotator cuff. All you are doing is risking serious injury for no benefit.

Shadow boxing with weights is one of those dumb ideas that needs to go.[/quote]

Please tell us your thoughts on shadow boxing in general.

26

[quote]HOV wrote:
Looks like a good warmup for a hard lift.

Shadow boxing with 15-20 lb. dumbells seems to be more challenging, and sport specific.

But if it works for him, so be it.[/quote]

Shadow boxing with weights is a terrible terrible strategy that can harm a persons natural punching rhythm, speed and power.

27

[quote]hueyOT wrote:

it’s a shitty routine no matter what sport you’re in. unless your sport is ‘being good at shitty routines’.
[/quote]

Or also unless you are training to be able to kick the fuck out of virtually any grown man under 250lbs in the ENTIRE world (give or take a few dozen).

He has been the WORLD CHAMPION for FULL CONTACT FIGHTING! He knows more about training to do that that you do you stupid fuck!

28

It’s great for energy systems work. Just because you’re using weights doesn’t mean your doing a strength routine.

29

[quote]Pound4Pound wrote:
HOV wrote:
Looks like a good warmup for a hard lift.

Shadow boxing with 15-20 lb. dumbells seems to be more challenging, and sport specific.

But if it works for him, so be it.

Shadow boxing with weights is a terrible terrible strategy that can harm a persons natural punching rhythm, speed and power. [/quote]

I won’t defend this too far because I never needed it for my fighting training. I did it as a short phase in my life and thought the workout was pretty good.

One thing I’d bring up to the naysayers is that striking is never done in a vacuum; often times your hands get tied up with an opponent’s, and the stronger guy always has the advantage when you’re trying to sort out the mess. Shadow boxing with dumbells does seem to train this kind of strength.

As for harming a person’s “punching rhythm, speed and power”, I disagree. First of all, punching rhythm is completely dependent on the timing of your opponent’s motion. Secondly, speed and power are both related to your ability to remain relaxed and then generate explosive power when needed. The only thing that will hurt speed and power is to be too stiff when trying to punch.

That same argument about weight training hurting speed and power was used to downplay the role of weight training in martial art practice for a long time. We now know that it’s not the weight training, but rather the control of your muscles that facilitates the generation of speed and power.

But once again, that was never part of my traditional training so I won’t argue too much in favor of it. Just may be one of those things that works for some and not for others.

30

[quote]Pound4Pound wrote:
hueyOT wrote:

it’s a shitty routine no matter what sport you’re in. unless your sport is ‘being good at shitty routines’.

Or also unless you are training to be able to kick the fuck out of virtually any grown man under 250lbs in the ENTIRE world (give or take a few dozen).

He has been the WORLD CHAMPION for FULL CONTACT FIGHTING! He knows more about training to do that that you do you stupid fuck![/quote]

Don’t you know that all pro bodybuilders, pro fighters and pro athletes in general don’t have any clue how to train?

Thye just have good genetics and take drugs.

If they would let the average teenaged T-Nation poster train them we would really see something.

31

[quote]Pound4Pound wrote:
hueyOT wrote:

it’s a shitty routine no matter what sport you’re in. unless your sport is ‘being good at shitty routines’.

Or also unless you are training to be able to kick the fuck out of virtually any grown man under 250lbs in the ENTIRE world (give or take a few dozen).

He has been the WORLD CHAMPION for FULL CONTACT FIGHTING! He knows more about training to do that that you do you stupid fuck![/quote]

While I don’t agree that such a workout is completly useless(it has it’s place, but with limited application IMO), I don’t think Randy’s accomplishments as a fighter make his approach to all aspects of training 100% correct no matter what.

Randy is an awesome fighter. But is it possible that he became an awesome fighter while still having an average or even below-average understanding of weight training? Of course. Just like there are top fighters that don’t know the first thing about proper nutrition(Jeremy Horn to name one). I think Randy probably has one of the better overal approaches to training in the sport, but I give him a D+ on his lifting as its been presented to date.

32

Through observation, it seems to me that a very high level of GPP is all that’s really required to excel at the vast majority of sport. A quality GPP program would include some metabolic systems work, explosive work, strength work, balance training etc… Unless you participate in a sport that requires a high level of absolute strength, training for it seems like kind of a waste.

I know that, all things being equal, the stronger athlete has the advantage. But, the secret is, all things are almost never equal. Since strength(and speed) is the only really measurable quality, inferior athletes sometimes refuse to believe they are less skilled than their opponent, so they train to increase what they can see an improvement in. This leaves them stronger, but still scratching their head as to why they got beat again. Their time would have been better spent improving their game.

33

[quote]Zell959 wrote:
Randy is an awesome fighter. But is it possible that he became an awesome fighter while still having an average or even below-average understanding of weight training? Of course. Just like there are top fighters that don’t know the first thing about proper nutrition(Jeremy Horn to name one). I think Randy probably has one of the better overal approaches to training in the sport, but I give him a D+ on his lifting as its been presented to date.

[/quote]

What should be obvious by now is that weight lifting and nutrition arent as important to success in “non-weight lifting sports” as some would have you believe.

34

[quote]AZMojo wrote:
I know that, all things being equal, the stronger athlete has the advantage. But, the secret is, all things are almost never equal. Since strength(and speed) is the only really measurable quality, inferior athletes sometimes refuse to believe they are less skilled than their opponent, so they train to increase what they can see an improvement in. This leaves them stronger, but still scratching their head as to why they got beat again. Their time would have been better spent improving their game.[/quote]

Thanks, this was exactly what I was thinking but couldnt put to words.

35

[quote]Pound4Pound wrote:
hueyOT wrote:

it’s a shitty routine no matter what sport you’re in. unless your sport is ‘being good at shitty routines’.

Or also unless you are training to be able to kick the fuck out of virtually any grown man under 250lbs in the ENTIRE world (give or take a few dozen).

He has been the WORLD CHAMPION for FULL CONTACT FIGHTING! He knows more about training to do that that you do you stupid fuck![/quote]

his fighting skills have little to do with his weight training program.

it’d be good to ask randy this simple question: what are your objectives with this training program and your training technique <i.e. his fucked up good mornings>.

all he’s really doing is burning calories, minimal muscle stimulation and mental toughness.

36

Bad form

37

I did a lot of form training in the karate class I was in. All of the punches were snap punches which are supposed to be better for the joints because there is no lockout.

Over time I worked out a few things with my weightlifting and made a big gain in strength and added 20 pounds in a short period of time.

It was at this time that I started having a lot of pain in my left rear deltoid. A while later after I had read the 7 minute rotator cuff solution I learned why this had happened to me.

The rear deltoid is the one muscle helps the rotator cuff hold the shoulder together. One of the excercises the book warned about was shadow boxing. As soon as I read that I was kicking myself saying no wonder why all the Isshinryu people have bad shoulders.

Two of the hallmarks of Isshinryu karate that sets it apart from all other karate is we don’t extend punches or kicks past 90% whereas all other karates go 100% and lock the joint. The other is we snap our kicks and punches back. It’s the snap techniques that places a lot of strain on the rotator cuff or hamstrings.

What happens is at the end of the punches travel, the humerous tries to pull out of the glenoid fossa. The only thing holding it in there is the rotator cuff so they take the stress of this. If you add a 15-20 pound weight to what these small muscles have to stop you are compounding the problem.

7 minute rotator cuff solution says that 20 pounds is the max to lift with the rotator cuff excercises no matter how strong you are. So imagine what 20 pounds ballistically loading those muscles can do.

Bruce Lee was critical of forms as just hitting air. I have to disagree. In a fight (real or sparring)you will have times where you do not connect. You need to be able to control yourself and recover quickly when this happens. Shadow boxing and forms is a good way to learn this.

So I’m not totally against it you just have to be careful because you can tear yourself up.

The two best ways to develop raw hitting power is hitting a maki wara or a heavy bag.

But neither is quite the same as hitting someone who is moving blocking and fighting back. Like Lee said, boards don’t hit back.

When you are fighting if you see an opening and think “there is an opening” it’s gone. With sparring it becomes second nature that you read your opponent and see an opening before it quite becomes an opening.

Timing is extremely important. Weights will change your timing aiming and focus. They could make the difference from consistantly nailing ribs to consistantly hitting elbows.

What Lee described as attributes, (genetics,timing,instinct,talent etc.) are why a Randy Couture can have a suboptimal training routine and be a world beater.

Unless you are really small and weak, actually getting out and fighting is going to do more for you than time in the gym.

38

I’ve done this circuit and it’s a bitch.

You do a full circuit rest 1 minute, add 5 lbs.

You add weight for sets 2 and 3, keep the same weight for set 4 and drop the weight a nickel for sets 5 and 6.

It’s great for conditioning type training and this is only Randy’s peaking and grappling phase of his training.

He has a strength building phase and high rep pre fight phase.

I found this in his Team Quest training manual.

And I gotta say his form on those exercises were defineatly interesting.

39

You’re actually supposed to do this circuit for six sets. Adding weight after sete one and two and reducing weight after sets four and five. It’s a pretty rough workout. I’ve incorporated it in my regular routine. I do it once a week and I see why Randy is always in great condition.

He trains here in Colorado and several of my co workers know him. If you incorporate this into your routine even once a week, you will see and feel a difference in your fitness level within weeks. Good luck with it.

40

That is a conditioning circuit, not meant to develop maximum strength or size which I think randy mentioned. I’m not gonna defend the program or his form. But when I was doing BJJ I didn’t lift like a powerlifter either. Not that I was anti-weightlifting, but it was more of a secondary conditioning tool than a primary training method.