Conditioning for Martial Arts

To mark the release of his Kickboxing with Justyn Billingham app for Android, iPad and iPhone in April 2013 Justyn shares some thoughts of the importance of conditioning, together with some suggested training drills.

Fitness and stamina are two elements that a fighter has to have in place to ensure that if the fight lasts for more than approximately thirty seconds, that fighter is capable of continuing. Despite this, a large number of fighters fail to develop their fitness and stamina to a high enough level and as a result, end up losing the fight due to fatigue.

Fatigue is a terrible thing to have to deal with, especially if your opponent is fitter and has more stamina than you do. I once had the great pleasure of meeting a martial arts legend and childhood hero of mine, the great Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace. Bill won the middleweight world full contact karate title in 1972 and retired undefeated in 1980 after successfully defending his title 23 times. I asked Bill how he trained for his fights and he informed me that a great deal of his training focused on fitness and stamina. Surprisingly he never trained to knock his opponent out but was confident enough with his own fitness to know that he could outpace his opponent and win the fight on points. It just so happened that due to his superior fitness, he actually ended up knocking out a great number of his opponents.

Anyone that has ever taken part in any sporting activity will no doubt have experienced the feeling associated with fatigue at some point in their training. It’s the worst place in the world to be and no more so than in the heat of competition. To know you’re burnt out and to see your opponent still going is demoralising in itself and if you’re not mentally strong enough to deal with this then it could cost you the fight.

There is a saying in the martial arts world which is ‘how you train is how you fight’ and there is no truer saying. If you train hard then you will fight hard. If you never plan to enter the competitive side of the martial arts then you may well believe that you don’t need to worry too much about this and instead simply focus all of your time on the other elements, such as developing that knockout punch. However, it’s not just on the mats that you might need to call upon your fitness and stamina. I once trained with an instructor in a street based fighting system and this instructor’s belief was that you should train yourself up to a level where you could survive a three minute street attack fighting at 100% of your all out ability. Many of the drills we trained would push us to this limit and it was actually quite eye opening to experience this and gave those training a new found respect for the level at which you need to develop your fitness and stamina.

A good test to see where your fitness and stamina currently sit is to hit a punch bag with full contact attacks for as long as you can without stopping. I’m fairly confident that there are not many of you out there that could do it for longer than about sixty seconds without having to stop. If you train hard in the gym then your competitive fights should be easier (not easy – there’s a difference). They would have to be otherwise it means that you’re doing something wrong.

Fitness and stamina are also often confused. Fitness is all about your body’s ability to recover. The faster you recover, the fitter you are. As a fighter it’s standard practice in certain kickboxing bouts to fight for a set period of time with a given rest period in between. Although the rest periods are short, ideally you need to be as close to fully recovered as you can be before the next round starts. The fitter you are the closer you will be to starting the next round fully recovered.

Active rest is also something you need to be familiar with because realistically during a fight, this is the time when you will also have a chance to recover. Active rest is the stage in a fight when you’re not attacking. You may be moving around, using your footwork, defending attacks etc. and your body is working a lot less than it would be if you were constantly attacking. As such, this slight reduction in workload gives the body an opportunity to recover, albeit a bit slower. Nevertheless, it all helps and the fitter you are, the faster you body will recover during the active rest stage of a fight.

Stamina on the other hand is about how far you can push yourself during the given sporting activity. You often hear stamina associated with running where the more stamina a runner has the longer they can sustain a higher pace. Stamina, for the kickboxer, helps us to keep fighting (or training) for longer before the body needs to stop for a rest.

When you work through the drills in this article it would be worth doing so with a heart rate monitor in place. During the drills note to what rate your heart rate increases and how quickly it gets back to a resting rate. The faster it achieves this, the fitter you are. If you make written notes as you train and compare them over a period of weeks you will be able to deduce whether you’re actually getting fitter or not. If you don’t have access to a heart rate monitor then simply take your pulse after you’ve finished your drill and note how long it takes to slow back down to your resting rate once again.

Another suggestion would be to develop your body’s ability to recover by introducing an active rest exercise such as skipping, light jogging, bouncing from foot to foot, shadow sparring etc. in between drills. Basically, any activity that keeps you working but at a much lower intensity is a great way to develop your ability to recover whilst still training.

IMPORTANT – Ensure you have warmed up and have stretched correctly before moving on to the following training drills.

Don’t do too much of everything

I was once privy to a conversation between two martial art masters, who shall remain nameless. The first master was (and still is) a very famous high level master who spends a great deal of time travelling the world running seminars and making guest appearances. The second master was (and is even more so now) a well respected English master that sits at the head of one of the largest martial art bodies in the UK. The English master was impressing upon the high level master what he did to complement his martial arts training. He explained that on Monday he would run, on Tuesday he would bike, on Wednesday he would swim, on Thursday he would lift weights etc and gave a very impressive detailed layout (to the uninitiated that were listening in – like myself at the time) of a killer training programme of the very toughest level.

Without batting an eyelid the high level master asked “……and when do you find the time to fit in your martial arts training?”

The lesson – train for what you do. If you’re a runner then run. If you’re a cyclist then cycle. If you’re a swimmer then swim. In this day and age cross training has become very popular but don’t misunderstand these new training methods. By all means run to complement your martial arts training but don’t let it surpass your actual martial arts training.

Training Drill 1: Running

There’s probably no greater exercise for developing stamina than running. Running is great for conditioning the body and increasing the lungs ability to take in oxygen. There are two main types of running:

• Treadmill Running
• Road Running

Everyone has a favourite and everyone has an opinion on the other. You’re objective is to try both and see which one you prefer. In the cold wet dark winter months I can see how the treadmill could be the favourite, however when the sun is shining and the sky is blue, it could be the road that you favour. Regardless, I believe that both have their advantages.

I find that the treadmill will push you as you have to keep up with it. Find a good treadmill with several different training programmes that include incline settings as well as flat run settings. It’s worth investing in a good quality one if you plan on buying one. Ensure it has a high enough speed setting, large enough incline angles and is powerful enough to be able to deal with whoever uses it. Mix up the programmes on a regular basis otherwise your body gets used to running in a certain way.

Don’t get caught up by just running at a certain speed all the time, try selecting programmes that include Fartlek (varying speeds and intensity) workouts and sprint work. All this stops the body getting into a plateau and shocks the body into continuously developing. Avoid boredom setting in by either listening to music or setting up a TV and DVD player. I will always watch old fights, The UFC, World Combat League or anything fight related to keep me motivated when I’m running. Staring at a blank wall as you run is the quickest way to stop you getting back on that treadmill.

Road running gets you out in the fresh air. It’s cheap, it can be less boring than a treadmill (if you have nothing to watch), there’s a different route each time you run and the natural outdoor terrain will stop the body becoming inert in its development.

Whereas the treadmill may offer a little more cushioning than the road, I wouldn’t recommend you run without a decent pair of running shoes (that you have professionally fitted to match your running style) and a good initial warm up. Wherever possible try to run on as many softer surfaces as you can. Grass is an ideal outdoor running surface as the constant pounding on hard concrete is a sure fire way to develop running related injuries.

Finally, don’t run before you can walk. Start off slowly and gently and build up over a period of weeks. Above all, use the running to complement your martial arts training and don’t let it overtake it.

 Training Drill 2: Skipping

Bruce Lee used to consider skipping to be one of the greatest exercises you could do claiming that just ten minutes of skipping was equivalent to thirty minutes of running. Although everyone seems to have an opinion on everything nowadays (just look on the internet for advice on something), who are we to argue with the late great Bruce Lee.

Skipping is a great exercise and can be used to develop many different things. As previously mentioned it’s great for active rest, ideal as a warm up exercise and one of the best means of developing stamina available.

Choose a good quality (not necessarily expensive) rope. My favourite is the plain and simple nylon speed rope but choose one with a bit of weight to it as a lightweight one will be of no use to you, and ensure it is the right size. Ideally try it before you buy it. If you stand on the middle of the rope, the handles should reach your armpits. Anything else and the rope’s not the right size for you.

Then simply start by hopping on one leg and passing the rope underneath the foot as you bounce using minimal arm movement. This will take a little practice at first. Continue for a few bounces and then change to the other foot. Keep this bouncing rhythm going for a set time period based on your current fitness level.

Once you become proficient with this you can try jogging, sprinting (I would recommend ten seconds bursts), knee raises, cross overs, a weighted rope and anything else you feel you can master.

Training Drill 3: Conditioning drills

Conditioning drills are great for strengthening the body and helping to develop your overall fitness and stamina. There are a great number of different drills you can work each with many different variations. Below is a list of the most popular ones with some variations to make them even tougher if you want to:

• Push-ups. Be sure to keep the body level throughout the full motion and bring the chest and nose to the floor avoiding the popular cheat of only lowering half way down.
• Crunches. A slight variation on the sit-up that focuses all the tension on the abdominal muscle as opposed to the hips as with the sit-up. Keep the fingers on the temple and feet off the floor throughout the whole movement.
•  The burpee. One of the best overall body conditioning exercises that will send your heart rate racing through the roof. Great for developing your stamina
• Single leg squats. Supporting yourself on a training partner or other sturdy object, extend a leg out in front and then slowly lower to a squat position before raising back up again.
• Upright rowing. Grip your partner’s hand using an over-hand under-hand grip. Then move the hands back and forth using a rowing motion in time with your partner. Set different speeds based on what your training partner calls out (e.g. 1 = slow pace, 2 = medium pace, 3 = fast pace etc.)

There are many ways to train these drills in order to develop your fitness and stamina. Below are some suggestions for you to follow:

•  As many as you can do in a set time period. Designate a time period (e.g. 30 seconds) and do as many of your chosen exercise as you can. Note your score and attempt to beat the previous score on each new attempt. Increase the time period when you physically can’t do any more in the current time.
•  Set a target. Have a set target in mind (e.g. 20) and aim to do 20 of your chosen exercise. Once you can achieve the set target easily, increase it by 5
• Decreasing targets. Aim to hit a set target on your first attempt, then rest for a set time period and lower the target by a set number. Repeat for a total of three times (e.g. 30, 20, 10 with rest periods of 2 minutes after the first set of exercises followed by 1 minute after the second set).
• Incorporate a series of exercises into a circuit.

About the Author: During his 25+ years in Martial Arts, Justyn has held various titles and represented England twice. He now writes a monthly column for Martial Arts Illustrated magazine and has published a series of kickboxing books.  For pre-release information about his new Kickboxing app visit www.appt2d.co.ukAlso follow Justyn on Twitter @justynblaze for daily training tips

© Justyn Billingham 2013