T-guys..endurance help needed!

Yo guys…heres the situation. I participate in TKD martial arts, and next month…30 days from now, I am competing in the regionals to qualify for team USA. My strength has never been greater, and my speed is great, however, my endurance SUCKS right now. I know that I will be fighting probably 4 to 8 matches (3 rounds each match) and need some suggestions on what exercises I can do to build endurance without sacrificing a lot of the strength I have built up over the last 6 months. all the T-fighters out there…HELP! I have 30 days!!

Bro, go check out the thread I posted about Combat Fitness. And be sure to check out Matt Furey’s site combatwrestling.com. He is the man when it comes to conditioning for the martial arts and other combat sports.

When I competed in TKD tournaments, the exercises that helped me most were jump roping and sprinting. Jogging didn’t help much, because, as you know, TKD requires ALOT of energy and demands on your lungs in short periods. Basically, I would try to build my endurance in jump roping, trying to jump longer while jumping faster. This really helped condition and strengthen my calves which are so important to kicking. Sprints helped build my lung capacity. I would start practicing both every other day, for about 1 hour twice a day.

i do a blend of running and calisthenics for 3 minute rounds to imitate a round.
a round of fighting has different levels of exertion so you want to go at different speeds within the round.
some guys run a track and will sprint the straightaways and jog the bends.
also, say you have a minute rest period, start off with that and then decrease it. so maybe you’re doing 5x3 min rnds with a minute rest in between. you wanna get it down to 5x3 with 30 sec in between.

500 Horse stance squats(body weight), 500 push ups, 500 sit ups, chin ups/ pull ups as much as your body would allow.
Good Luck
Bourne

I have focused on my endurance lately and have done only 2 exercises, the clean and press and the pull up. I don’t go to anywhere near failure, stopping a set with “a few reps left in the tank” I am supersetting these, sets of 6, resting 45 secs-1 minute between, quitting when your form drops, and do it often, at least every other day. With 30 days, you don’t want to go to muscular failure. Training in that alactic zone with a steady progression of your volume should cause your endurance to soar. Heck if it really sucks I would stop well below fatigue and do it 2x per day. I did and going from completely gassed with 3 sets to 3 sets 2x/day to 10 sets in 20 days is pretty good, I guess. Weights used have gone up, rest has gone down from 75 seconds to 45 seconds, frequency is 5x/week. Can’t argue with results, coulda got more fancy, more elaborate, but what drew me was its simplicity.
best of luck!