• Archive through August 18, 2005 August 18 - 10:51 am [20]

Stan:

I am 32 years old. ;)

I agree with you on training more things depending on your age.

I also believe that one should train slowly in order to build good neuro pathways and that going everytime with full speed and power won't let you advance to your full potential.

Feeling good after a work out it what we should looking for. The mistake is to think that if we feel exhausted then we did a good workout.

Taking care of our body seems to be a very good idea in a written paper but in reality we tend to forget to stop when we get tired or when our body send signals to stop.

What do you think?

Yours,

Jagdish

the only thing that I could add to the voluminous and well referenced backarcher is train your core in the tranverse plane. That's side to side, for those who don't know! The russian twist or Pavel's Full Contact Twist are great examples of this, or the hip swing( lay on your back, flex hips 90 degrees. leave your shoulders pinned to the ground as you lift your legs, rotating from one side to the other, while remaining bent at the waist ). A little harder is the lift/chop type patterns. This stuff will really reinforce your strinking power! And really improve your balance while you are doing it.

word

www.integratedperformancecoaching.com

Great post Jason. That's a serious golden nugget.

I recommend athletes take a glance at what Marv Marinovich has put together. This is not a shameless plug because I've never met him or completed his training. But going back to Jason's post and conditioning the entire dimensions of the body's capabilities, I would look into what he is doing as far as training is concerned, especially for the ground fighters. Good stuff:

http://www.jumpusa.com/probodx.htm

http://www.sportslab.net/

http://www.usatoday.com/community/chat_03/2003-10-14-probodx.htm

Backarcher:

I sent you an email 2/3 days back through this web, did you receive it?

Yours,

Jagdish

No.

verdellnowaydo2@aol.com

or

nowaydo1@netzero.net

JT, if your still reading, you were trying to get an answer: should you worry more about absolute strength, or higher reps? If you haven't got it, i'd suggest the absolute strength. Low reps, very high intensity. This will build strength, and I think that this is a foudnation for other motor qualities. For example, endurance is how long strength lasts. So if you have greater strength, you have greater endurance, ceteris paribus. Same is true for power, it is best thought of as strength expressed over time/distance. So if you are stronger, you can move faster, or move more at the same speed, whether this is your own body(strinking) or someone else's(grappling).

1-3 reps, at 85-100% of Max.

Jason:

I have changed to strenght using bodyweith exercises,gymnastics exerc. and some weigths.

Endurance strenght definetely has its place but in my case will depend on the season and period of my life.

Question: is it true that when you reach 200 hindu squats you should move to another exercise as it could lead you joint problems?

Question: is it necessary to achieve 500 reps?

Yours,

Jagdish

Repeating anything in high volume will lead to overuse injuries. It's one of the best arguments for 'cross-training'.

If you are interested in bodyweight exercise, there is a great coach who deals with the subject:

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/229/

look up Pavel's "Naked Warrior"

The same problem persists; the question of intensity. Bodyweight is still resistance like dumbbells, just cheaper and more transportable. The same questions still apply when it comes to training protocol, and my answer would remain the same. Absolute strength will be the basal motor quality for all others. As such, seek out Bodyweight exercises that you can do 1-3 reps correctly before failing, and it is much the same effect as a 95% 1RM lift: gains in CNS efficiency, and strength, with little commensurate change in mechanical qualities(read size).

Doing something you can do 500 times is an impressive display, but what are it's training effects? That might be comparable to .2% of your max. You will not gain strength. Perhaps coordination, certainly endurance. But you must weigh the benefits against the risks or costs;
1. Greater risk of repetitive stress syndromes
2. It takes an awful long time to do 500 reps.
3. SAID implies that you will only really improve(or improve most) in your ability to DO MORE HINDU SQUATS.

If you must use your legs to move an opponent around, you'll find the ability to move 2-3 times your bodyweight around 1-5 times much more useful than 1 times bodyweight (insufficient to move opponent) 500 times.

regarding age: you'll find absolute strength and power peaking and easiest to develop at your age (look at the age of competitors in World's Strongest Man)

"This will build strength, and I think that this is a foudnation for other motor qualities. For example, endurance is how long strength lasts. So if you have greater strength, you have greater endurance, ceteris paribus. Same is true for power, it is best thought of as strength expressed over time/distance. So if you are stronger, you can move faster, or move more at the same speed, whether this is your own body(strinking) or someone else's(grappling)."

Inconclusive. Nice hypothesis, but i dont think that it is any more than speculation. I strongly disagree. You say that strength is the basis for motor qualities? I think that you are making too broad of an observation my friend. There is obviously more to the development of fine motor qualities, i dont feel that excess muscular strength obtained from powerlifting is really necessary in the macrocosm of combat. i also feel that you are misusing the word strength. The muscular system is not the only thing that has to be strong, the bones, nervous system, organs, tendons, etc., all have to be strong to a certain degree, and powerlifting, in my opinion is not a bad addition to one's training regimen, but it is not a complete system to achieve superior health into old age, and it definitly is NOT a way to achieve superiority in a fight against a skilled opponent, true power lies within using the opp. strength against him, and no powerlifting regimen is gonna teach you that, im only gonna say this once, FIGHTING AND WEIGHTLIFTING ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS! And if what you are saying is true, then any high class power lifter would be able to swing a golf club like tiger woods, and throw jabs like ali.

j.t, if you can do 200 hindu squats, thats pretty impressive, you should have some strong legs, you should work to achieve a balanced muscle structure imo, if you can do 200 hindu squats then you should work on balance. try setting two bricks down on one of the smaller side (vertical) and do your hindu squats like that, this way, as you squat, you are counterbalancing yourself and working your balance skill, and you cannot cheat, if you do it wrong you'll fall off. so be careful. you can also try standing pole like this too.

Hey tim,do you reccomend taking creatine monohydrate for someone that would like to put on muscle mass?

Max,

I've seen it work, but I'm not an expert. Maybe someone with more knowledge and experience can answer.

it can help some, in that it improves anaerobic endurance and recovery. So if you are lifting weights for hypertrophy with some frequency (2-4+times a week) than it may help you get over the hump (those ho-hum days when you feel too sore or tired).
It also leads to a lot of water retention in the muscles. So you gain weight and size being fluffed up with water. Take this into account if you need to make weight or something. You can drop a lot of weight back down from shedding that water weight.

Check out Ross Enamait's website. http://www.rossboxing.com/
his books are inexpesive and he's not trying to sell extra crap with them. Infinite Intensity is a great book. he is a boxer and in great shape...very credible stuff. Anyone into Pavel's stuff will dig it.
No secret Chinese Sex course for hundreds of dollars. (maybe that is a downside for some)

Sonnon's stuff looks interesting, but fairly expensive and a little difficult for idiots like myself. I cranked my neck trying to do that body-flow neck roll...I went back to the wrestler's bridge and neck harness.

I smell something....

I think a lot of excellent advice has been passed along here, especially if you read the links.

I just wanted to mention that I have been messing with the Tabata protocol for the last several months by alternating "Dips" and "Pull-Ups" for sets of 5 reps each (5/5/5/5/5/5/4/2 etc), then crunches on a Swiss Ball with back arching wth my feet on the ball (sets of 50/40/50/40 etc), side planks 15/side at a time, and various leg exercises. I recently compared strength to what I had with a traditional lifting approach, and was surprise that I didn't lose anything.

A very strong friend tells me that the man who wins the powerlifting competition is often the man who avoids injury the longest. Avoid overtraining, and look at the periodization links.

The other thing to mention is that anyone can increase strength and endurance, but these are VERY genetically driven. I used to berate my comparative lack of strength as a wrestler; no lifting program got me close to most of my teammates. Then as an adult bike racer, I had my VO2 max tested. Essentially, I'm LOADED with the wrong kind of muscle to ever achieve real strength. When you set goals, be aware that your body mechanics, lactic acid buffering mechanism, muscle type etc. greatly affect the results you will get.

Good post.

Ross recommends a well rounded approach.What's the point of being able to do 500reps when you fail in other directions?

Tim:

I think most traditional martial arts had specific programms to enhance their skills/performance. I feel after many trends we are getting to the same place.

Jagdish