Taekwondo Strength Training Help

Training
1

Hey my girlfriend jsut started Taekwondo again after 10 years off . shes neva done any form of strength or conditioning and is pushing for nation selection after just 6 weeks of training.

Basicly i train S+C and know it can make her faster stronger and keep her body health for many years of fighting

ATM shes in the gym doing basic movements to get her body ready for specific strength training

This is a first run i wanted some hlp with for her stength + conditioning program she has 2 days a week for pure gym work other days of course are Taekwondo training

List of exercises i belive will hlp her better her taekwondo
Plz im looking for some hlp if theres stuff wrong in here i would love to know as i want to hlp her not hinder her THX

10-15mins of mobility movements for awesome warm up and ending with static stretches and foam rolling

Workout A
Squats one leg on bench 3-5 sets 3-5 reps
lat pull downs into chin ups warmup with lat pulls 3-5sets 3-5reps chin ups
Leg curls/stiff leg deadlifts hammies r weak not sure on reps/sets here some hlp plz
DB cleans 3-5 sets 1-3 reps
band facepulls 3-5 sets 15 reps

Her fights are max 3x3mins rounds so after training conditioning specificly for that
round 1 kicks 3mins
round 2 BW exercises 3mins
round 3 basic barbell movement 3 mins

Question for this is after strength train a good time to focus on ur fight conditioning? or should another day be set aside for this

Workout B
Box jumps 5 sets 5 reps
DB bench step ups 3-5 sets 3-5 reps
Super set Pushups and inverted rows 5+ sets aim for 1-2 reps short of failure
Front sqaut with kettlebells 5 sets 10-20 reps
Cable rope bicep curls 3-5 sets 8-15 reps

She likes arms I am stupid so she will do cep curls

Once again 3x3mins rounds specific fight conditioning

Aslo abs of course are needed

Planks
Roll Outs
Fitball Situps
Band good mornings
Russian Twists
band /Cable wood choppers
Leg Raises

This is my first run at her Program Would love some hlp if ppl think something missing or something in there that shouldnt be
SHe is a fighter who does all the other normal work fighters need to

basic cardio
Skill training
Sparing

Thx guys

2

Check out defranco’s ws4sb’s. He’s done the hard work for you.

There is a two day a week in-season program.
Or use the template but just have her do 1 Max upper and one Max lower day a week.
Conditioning should be done on another day, the program has some ideas on conditioning.
Or look up tabata’s, HIIT, info on hill sprints or shuttle runs.

Good luck!

3

you should probably look up some of martin rooneys stuff man… the “training for warriors” books… he has written some good articles for this site aswell… he trains some ufc fighters, pride all the major mma corporations im sure youd get some very valueable info on traing for combat from them. also Chad Waterbury probably has some stuff on this site about combat training i think he trains some pro fighters aswell…

4

I can throw in my 2 cents:

You didnt say what country your in or style. WTF TKD is pretty intense as its a olympic/pan am games team bid. ITF the other major TKD is equally competitive. National Team is a MAJOR aspiration especially for the worlds most popular “martial sport”. Even womens dont have a problem filling out a major cities tourny in all major weight classes. I’m not saying this to be negative, I’m saying this so that her expectations are realistic. I know stef would’ve never lost to somebody who took a 10 year lay off. she trained 6 days a week, ran every morning for better part of a decade straight. If its WTF getting KO’d is a very real possibility. My club mate broke a girls hip at the National TKD open from a roundhouse kick.

But here goes from a guy who had the national team train at his school. My school had the Bronze and Silver medalist for the pan am games at my school and 3 guys who medalled for the mens at major opens.

Actually NO, i actually typed out a big suggestion, but couldn’t get over how she took a 10 year layoff and wants national selection. Was she training in gymnastics or hockey or soccer for that time, and is in peak condition?

Has she sparred yet?

I know if she wants nationals, she already has her black belt. But even then, it takes a long time to get your timing and feel back. Especially at that level, fighting is broken into 1/10 of a second. Think about that. Also, most schools dont push as hard as they should. its very different to train vs training for national level fighting. In this case international.

If you do want to help, jogg with her. Run, swim whatever, skip rope. Cardio is king.

At 6 weeks in, she still needs a few months to get her nervous system to adapt again and to get all her flexibility back. The added stress from weights wont help at all. If she’s sparring as much as she needs, she should be sore anyway. I personally got a messed up elbow and a swollen right ankle. You just train around whats hurt. Thats all you can do.

I maybe out of line for saying this, but i’ve seen a lot of BF’s, GF’s, parents, coaches living through the fighter. Be careful in not being one of those people. Help when she asks. NOT before. Usually that isnt for the actual fighter, it’s for the people “supporting” the fighter.

5

[quote]lucidfuel wrote:
If you do want to help, jogg with her. Run, swim whatever, skip rope. Cardio is king.

[/quote]

Cardio is not king. TKD is 3 x 2 minute rounds. Its mainly anaerobic. You can be unfit and win fights. Its easy to stall for time - fake an ankle injury, clinch up etc

The key is to build fast twitch fibres in the legs. To the OP Your program is pretty good mate but don’t get it too complicated if she is just beginning.

6

wrong. it is much more aerobic than you think. You can only sustain anaerobic only output for a small amount of time. As for the stalling and other tactics that save you alot of time in a match…i do not disagree with. if youre talking about a 3-5 fights to win a tournament though you need a good bit of aerobic fitness.

Yes, do build the fast twitch fibers in the legs with sprints, jumps etc. I do heavy strength training, but its not really that much of a necessity.

Order Han Won lee’s tapes, there are OTC drills and training methods in there.

7

You need both. I am gonna suggest Joel Jamisons book. He breaks it down very well on how to design a program for martial arts. You can get it at 8weeksout.com. It does not give you a program but it teaches you everything you need to know about setting one up and how MMa and martial arts uses the energy systems.

8

666 im not saying you don’t need any aerobic conditioing at all because obviously you do. But general TKD training you should get that conditioning in. To spend all you effort on aerobic conditioning is stupid

I really don’t understand how you don’t think having a good strength base will help. If you have good leg strength you will be able to overcome inertia much easier and therefore have more speed with each kick. Also in clinch situations if you have littel strength you will get muscled around and scored against.

Yes it will take 3-5 fights to win but they are so spread out you will recover fast enough.

9

hey man was reading thru some websites and came across an article by Jason Ferruggia about conditioning for martial arts, heres the link therenegadegym.com

he has written some articles on T-Nation aswell, hope this helps…

10

If this is just an anatomical adaptation phase, try and put more BW movements. Have you taken any time to assess her, Push-ups in 1 min, pull-ups, Deadlift/squat max, bench max etc, it’ll make it easier to reassess in a few weeks time.

As for conditioning Ive found work periods of

round 1 “something heavy/Something specific/Something Heavy” split over 1 minute intervals
round 2 “something Specific/Something heavy/Something specific”

doing it for 3 x 3 minute rounds worked wonders for the TKD athletes I was working with.

for example

Dumbell step ups 1 min / 45 degree kicks as the pad holder calls it 1 min/ Dumbell Step ups 1min

11

Thx for all the hlp guys

12

My GF did TDK WTF is her stlye from 10yrs-16yrs old was a black belt and best for age and weight class in australia 10year break now she is 26 and starting again

She has her speed and skill set which she was surprised at since its been so long and every training she is getting better and is in the state team right now, she has done like 2 months gym work b4 starting TDK again. I basicly want her to get strong so she dosnt hurt herself

Life for her changed so she stopped training and just in the last 3months she has started again. They put her at a red belt shes had 3 fights won 2 lost one has been to state training her speed is still there

As she is a single mum works looks after her house she cant always train so this first 3 months she has prob been able to train 10 times all skill work

she was doing some gym work b4 starting TDK again and she was getting good gains from it
Her first in club fight she fractured her right foot and wrist so was unable to train pretty much no gym no skills b4 her first 2 fights she won her first proper fight 17-3 lost next one fight was like 1hr later someone pulled out so she steped up lost it 16-12 then won her last fight 13-5

She is very good and comes from the old school TDK training its a tad softer here now(she gets warned for her agression something that back in the day they favoured)

So yeh as starting back into a sport thats focused on speed i was looking for some hlp on trying to get her strong first so her body can handle the speed in which she throws her kick clearly as we get older you would have to think about these things if you wanna fight for many years to come

She plans on not stopping again and fighting for as long as long as she can
And she wants to get strong for her self as well she knows just from 2 months gym work and mobility work how much thats hlped her body feel stronger healthyer and just made everyday life that much easyer

Nothing better then feeling pain free strong and powerfull
Shes not in it for the now shes in it for the long hall…and goos strength base is surelly needed and from that can work on speed strength which she already does in her skills training

13

Thx again your advise has been very helpfull… She has a great set of natural skills and yeh i neva push her into anything lol she well to strong minded prob backhand me lol all i want from her is to be strong and healthy so she dosnt hurt her self

14

Its nice to be able to take a bit of advise from a few pp; each with good advise to give.
Love this site if u post a good question you get good answers

15

Honestly, for TKD, you don’t need brute strength. I did TKD for several years and my fighting went DOWN as a result of brute strength and hypertrophy.

I would focus on conditioning skills 2 times a week (mostly revolving around her kicks and condition for legs) and 1-2 days of speed strength and moderate repetition strength. This should all be very limited as 90% of her time should be developing her fighting skills, forms, and breaking.

For example:

Monday: Conditioning Day
Tuesday: TKD Day
Wednesday: Speed Strength/Minor Rep Day
Thursday: TKD Day
Friday: Conditioning Day
Saturday: TKD Day
Sunday: Rest

If either conditioning work or strength work take away from her TKD, immediately lower volume or days, or increase rest periods between training days.

Who cares if she’s strong and conditioned if she gets her ass kicked?

16

BTW, I would even go as far as saying her primary strength training / rep training could come mostly from bodyweight training.

17

[quote]rocca wrote:
666 im not saying you don’t need any aerobic conditioing at all because obviously you do. But general TKD training you should get that conditioning in. To spend all you effort on aerobic conditioning is stupid

I really don’t understand how you don’t think having a good strength base will help. If you have good leg strength you will be able to overcome inertia much easier and therefore have more speed with each kick. Also in clinch situations if you have littel strength you will get muscled around and scored against.

Yes it will take 3-5 fights to win but they are so spread out you will recover fast enough. [/quote]

You dont understand because you dont actually compete or “fight” as you say. Which i often see online as a give away that a person doesnt train. Very rarely will modern TKD guys say “fight” since everybody quietly understands its a martial sport, not Martial art. Also if you did train in other stand up arts, you’ll know kicks take much more out of you then punches do. So 2-3 min of non stop kicking is much harder then 2-3 min of punching or punching + kicking.

At 666 said, CARDIO IS KING … sorry CARDIO IS ALWAYS KING!

In the time frame his GF has been training, the best thing to do is actually do it! I know sounds crazy. An hour of hitting the pads will benefit her more then a hour of weights. Cardio for sparring however, is a completely different story.

In the end, if she’s been off for a long time. Hitting the pads and doing the drills is the best way to develop her power. weights and extra’s is to supplement weak area’s. it usually takes 3-6 months before the body fully adapts. Then after it will be like she never left.

I love Chaels sonnens quote:

“This isn’t the run at high altitude championships, its not the pull a sled championships, it’s not the hit a tire with a sledge hammer championships. It’s the ultimate FIGHTING championships. How do i get better at fighting? I FIGHT!”

To the original poster…

If she’s a “placed” in red, then she wont be able to compete in nationals. You MUST have a black belt, even if her instructors skip belts for her to make it happen. But it also gives you guys a year + which makes her desire real.

Good luck to her, a years time opens up a lot of options in pursuing her dream.

18

BackinAction, dude why do you even do TKD. youre freaking Madara, just use your sharingan. :smiley: