I know a bunch of the guys on this board are into martial arts. I want to ask how you plan your weeks as far as martail arts training/cardio (actually, all “non-lifting” training). I would appriciate information on duration and breakdown of qualitative work done in a session. Thanks.
I do Thai Boxing and Brazillian Jui Jitzu. I don’t do body weight ex., but I do weight train a MWF split right now. I guess I don’t understand your question.
monday-saturday
mornings i alternate lifting and cardio.
mon.wed.fri. evenings i do muaythai.
tues.thurs.sat.evenings i do sport specific cardio
I was more intrested in what your kickboxing workouts consist of (time spent on heavy bag, shadow boxing, techniques) and how much extra cardio is done (running, etc). Thanks to any/all takers.
I warm up with a litle jump romp or if I have access to one a stationary bike, then stretch for 15 to 30 min. depending on how tight I am. I workout in 3 minute rounds, and go anywhere from 12 to 15 rounds.I break it up 3 rounds jump rope, 3 rounds foot work/shadowboxing, 3-6 rounds focus pad work, and 3-6 round, heavyybag work,(I switch between heavy bag and focus pad depending on what I think I need). on alternate days, (and if I have someone who wants to) I’ll go six rounds of full contact sparringinstead of havy bag and focus pads, more if I am getting ready for a fight. I finish up with ab work, lots of it. I do not believe in running any more, and instead prefer to put in more ring time.
my morning cardio is done on a stationary bike tabata(sp?) style.
my kickboxing training consists of 5 rnds jump rope with ab work in between.
5rnds. shadowboxing with ab work in between rnds.
3 rnds. on the pads.
3-5 rnds sparring.
cool down on the bags.
Ouch! Yesterday I competed in my first bare knuckle full contact tournament. I learned a lot about conditioning from that. The first thing I want to say that I should have run SPRINTS for explosive power. My workout routine consisted stretching in the AM and doing some light footwork and focus pad drills. In the afternoon I would run 3-5 miles at an 8/min pace. Evenings I would spar 10-15 rounds and work some drills. I did very little lifting simply because I had to keep the weight low to drop into middleweight. What I would/and am going to do differently is to work a lot on explosive power with weights and sprints for future events. The cardio should not be the 35-40 min run, but rather 3 minute rounds destroying a heavy bag or sparring at 80%-90%. If your martial arts involves kicking with the shin I would fill a glass coke bottle or a beer bottle with sand and tap your shins at night, when that becomes painful, roll the bottle down your shins for awhile and do it all over again the next day. I went into my fight with a suspected shin fracture, tomorrow I get x-rays to confirm what I know to now be true. I haven’t really done them before but I would really look into polymetric exercises as well. I’m sure something by Coach Davies would be effective.
Hey, Krak: How did you do in your fight? You didn’t mention that. If you are indeed interested in Plyometric exercises - both Paul Chek and Donald Chu are good resources. And for training exercises that would benefit martial art/fighting, Charles Staley is another good one (www.myodynamics.com) and yes, Coach Davies is always good (www.renegadetraining.com).
I take Shaolin Kung-Fu 6 days a week (sunday off) and train M/W/F split hypertrophy specific training. My Kung-Fu classes are totally ridiculous in intensity. I find myself drenched in sweat when finished. I always make sure to eat a whole shitload of carbs+Protein in my diet because I’m so active. In the class it is just nonstop kicking, punching, forms, technique, applications ect with no rest for an hour each day. As a result, I don’t do any cardio ie running throughout the week. Hope this answers your question sufficiently bro. ~PorchDawg
Well it’s funny, I wasn’t nervous the day of the fight but my legs felt like lead and I felt disoriented, I have never fought in front of such a large crowd with tv cameras and stuff. In my first match I was holding my own and drew some blood by kicking my oppenent in the head several times (it tore his ear). He was punching me so hard in the sternum, today I feel like my breast bone is touching my spine. In the last 10 seconds of the second round I caught him with two knees in the face and he went down. I was considering dropping out of the next match because my shins were so messed up. Some people came up to me after my fight and asked for autographs, I was floored. As stupid as this might sound, I didn’t want to let the audience down so I fought again. Other than not being able to kick (my primary weapons) I wish I had an excuse for my loss. My second match the guy was from Japan and he was very good. I remember thinking in the first 10 seconds of the 1st round, what the hell, pain is temporary, so I Thai kicked him in the quad, that hurt. Then he decided to Thai kick me right back. My initial reaction was “Holy shit that was hard”. He took me down several times but not cleanly, I was hold on for dear life. He did take me down twice and they were clean so he beat me on points in the second round. I’m happy I didn’t lose to a slouch, he was runner up last year and this year. Sports Illustrated was there taking pictures and I’m really hoping that an article or something makes it in there. Tomorrow I get looked over but for now I’m going to take a much needed 2 week break on anything involving my legs.
for shin conditioning i do two things:kick the pads,kick the bags.just like the thais do.
i don’t advise anything else.
Krak: stay tough 
- and I hope you indeed didn’t fracture a shin. ;-( So, you fought three matches? Whoa.
Keep an eye out for that article in Sports Illustrated - that would be cool. Let us know if it appears. We'll check it out. And DO check out the stuff about Plyometrics by Donald Chu. Oh and Paul Chek has some interesting exercises with the medicine ball that might be something worth your while http://www.chekinstitute.com/
And I hope you have some really cool, bone crushing martial arts movies handy. I like to watch 'em to keep me "fired up"....
Its a rush isn’t it. Congratulations on the win, and putting up a good fight. I hope you get good news on your shins.
Ko clarified to me that you fought two matches - and won the first - so, YES - Good job, dude!
Oh, and thought you might enjoy this one: we have a parrot that says, "Polly Want a Cracker?" - but recently he's been saying "Polly want crack?" - Ko and I will change the "crack" to "Krak" ;-)
Hey, you keep mentioning plyometrics…is there an online resource for these or can you describe your routine. Thanks!
Patricia, thanks for the info on polymetrics and all the websites to help me out. I talked to the doc today. I get my x-rays back in a few days but I was told to stay off my feet as much as possible for a month. Stay off as in no running or sparring etc, I can walk around. I got some cox-2 anti-inflammatory stuff and pretty much need to chill. Doc says weights are fine just no jarring motion on the legs. I am starting a Mag-10 cycle tomorrow and really going to concentrate on putting on some size. In about 3 months and hopefully 15 lbs later I am going to do 2-3 months of polymetric exercises. Question, I haven’t done a lot of research on the polymetrics but I’m assuming I would want to purchase some kettleballs? Where and how much are these things usually?
bump…anyone got further plyometrics info?