I have been training Muay Thai now for a while now and I need some help putting together a suitable workout routine. I am a Middleweight (155 lb)
What I need most is conditioning as I find myself out of breath before anything else.
Does anyone have some suggestions or examples of their routine?
Also on a related topic, I have been considering Judo as something of a cross-training exercise. Any thoughts?
well, it would help if you posted how often you train MT, and the other stuff you’re doing.
off hand, i think new people to MA usually get out of breath because they can’t stay calm…however, if you’ve been training for a while, it could be somethign else.
I’ve been training 3 times a week for about 2 years, I am looking to spend more time on MT as well. Lately all i have been doing as my jobs keep me very busy. But now that I’m back in university I have more time to commit to conditioning.
are you putting in time on the rope?
are you doing sprints?
are you lifting at all?
what are your MT classes like?
More info pls.
yep- more infos please.
as a quick tip, a weight circuit is a decent tool for conditioning , as is classic endurance training.
Roadwork is time tested: you improve your base stamina a bit, your workout capacity (very important!) and your regeneration, if done not too excessively.
Start easy, learn how to run an hour - not too slow, not too fast-, working up a sweat without beating yourself up. Build your stamina by adding few mintues every now and then. (at middleweight, this should be a breeze).
After a month or so, you could start mixing things up a bit, it’s tempting today, everyone one the web wants to have a personal supercyber workout. So you COULD, for instance, simply split it to a fast day, a slow day, a long day, an interval day. But that’s practically overdoing it, really. It’s an absolutely legit thing to run 4-5 x a week in the morning your miles. It’s, for the most part, better then doing the fancy shit.
For peaking or just now and then, shorten the distance and run for time: something between 2-3 miles, just pick an adequate parcour, google maps can be your friend if you have no track in your vicinity.
Warm up with an easy round, then try to improve your time during a span of 3-6 weeks: here you can amd should be really anal with numbers and a stopwatch. However, I advise you to still have an “easy day” where you just run around the track until it feels good. Two fast days plus an easy day is fine for most.
Of course, some like to peak with sprints, not with a middle distance but this is something you should find our for yourself. Luckily, there is a surpsrisingly nice article around on T-Nation (they have had a not so great one) if that’s more for you. If your athletic background is not that great, you should, however be careful here, (real) sprints are a terrific exercise but are VERY taxing.
If you you want to get in shape for your first fight, I wouldn’t do a sprinting approach (interval perhaps ) if you have no prior experience with them. Too big a chance for injuries or overdoing it.
If knees bother you, try swimming, which is great for strength endurance and active regeneration. You can apply basic principles I’ve outlined above for the most part.
I’ll later chime in about a weight circuit, if you’re interested.
admbaum:
We work the ropes once a week and work drills, technique, and some grappling on the other two nights. In a night we start with jumping jacks, crunches, lunges, squats, and about 10min of skipping with push-ups worked into the skipping. Then we move into whatever it is we are working on that night.
As for lifting. I am not. I do not know anything about weight training(where to start or how to). So I have held off with that. If you could recommend some good references to help me get started that would be great.
Schwarzfahrer:
Thank you for the information. I hadn’t thought about running much. Also what are your thoughts about cycling? I would be interested in your opinion about a weight circuit.
Unless you are a fat, out of shape, blob…road work is an utter and complete waste of time for a fighter who trains for 2-3 minute rounds.
That’s a very weak argument, valor.
You may fight 2-3 minutes a round.
But you usually train for more then an hour.
Apox now,
If your knees are good, there’s no reason at all not to start running.
For an amateur, doing extra conditioning is pretty normal - for a pro, it can be worth a discussion if he just should train more muay thai related stuff.
Cycling:
I consider it inferior to running, because running works the whole body more whereas a cyclist sits and let’s his quads do over 90% of the work. Running works the whole legs pretty even, involves much more coordination especially at high speeds, where the whole body must work together.
Sprinting has a great effect on your core muscles and the nervous system.
Sprinting on a bike lacks all these advantages.
Plus it’s bad for your balls (no joke) and then there’s the time factor.
Weight circuit:
Pick about five exercises that complement each other, aren’t problematic with your joints (eg, a lot of trainees have problems with dips) and which you can do with good form, even when reps are high.
Do them right after another without resting. Having done all exercises, you rest about two minutes, then start again.
Progression usually includes the number of sets, rest time and reps.
Sample workout:
1 chinups or pullups if you’re good here
2 explosive leg raises to hands while still hanging, switch grip if you’ve done chinups
3 spiderman pushups
4 alternating jumping lunges
5 unilateral clean and press, db or kettlebell
6 burpees
-rest-
Feel free to substitute exercise Nr5 for a row.
Start with about 60% of your rep max, when in doubt, do less reps in favour of good sets.
Begin with 6 sets.
Do this cicuit twice a week for one month.
Raise reps by 1-2 on one day, next time raise the number of sets by one. Then again raise the reps etc so the last workout consists of 10 sets done with 4-8 more reps compared to your 1st workout.
There are tons of possible workouts all over the net, try and search kettlebell stuff for combat athletes, complexes for warriors/spartans/nerds etc etc
train hard
[quote]Valor wrote:
Unless you are a fat, out of shape, blob…road work is an utter and complete waste of time for a fighter who trains for 2-3 minute rounds.[/quote]
That depends on how you do your road work. Run hard for 3 min, jog for 1, repeat 5x, sprint the finish. Now your road work is paced like a fight.
Sprint cycling and proper cycling does more than just work your quads, majority of you muscles worked will be hamstrings actually during the pulling phase of bicycling–if you use a proper bike with cages or clips.
That being said, getting5-8 miles in every morning in addition to everything should not be a problem