A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

Today's cardiac output session, semi - variable work and rest, HR roughly between 130 and 150 bpm. For a great explanation of the cardiac output method consult Joel Jamison's #ultimatemmaconditioning. Basically there's three ways to program interval sessions with regards to work - to - rest ratios. The most basic form is a fixed ratio, e.g., the famous and often misunderstood #Tabata protocol. Alternatively, either rest our work (rare) can be chosen in a variable manner. Doing 400m sprints and recovering until HR drops under 130 bpm would be an example. Think @themartinrooney and his #tfw #hurricane training. Finally, both work and rest can be chosen variable, i.e., work up to an upper threshold HR and recover back to a certain lower threshold before starting the next interval. @alwyncosgrove and his team at #resultsfitness seem to use this type of programming a lot with great success. Each of those methods has its place. I'm using a semi - variable approach to determi

1 Introduction While S&C programming is no rocket science by any means, some thought needs to be put into designing a good program. The best way to reach a goal is basically determined by the factors. First, the goal needs to be clear. If you don't know where you want to go, any way will take you there. In the S&C world, this makes the difference between training and working out. Second, the starting point needs to be established. Quantitative and qualitative assessments help in that evaluation. Finally, the available resources need to be taken into consideration. Practicality trumps optimality. Adherence and consistency are the foundation for successful training, so a program must match the athlete's lifestyle and possibilities. For someone who can train twice a week  (for whatever reasons), a three day split is inappropriate, regardless of any theoretical benefits it might offer. Eric Helms covered this in detail [HEL+2015]. Of course, qualifying the

1 Introduction EMOM is an acronym for "every minute, on the minute" and describes a certain way to organize a strength training session. Upon each full minute, the athlete performs a prescribed, usually low, number of repetitions of a strength exercise. Short rest periods increase the cardiovascular demand of such sessions and directly affect the athlete's hormonal situation. Therefore, EMOM training can be effectively used as a conditioning tool. However, EMOM style training may offer additional benefits apart from cardiovascular conditioning. From a neuro-muscular point of view, limiting the number of repetitions per set and keeping sets clearly sub-maximal may be beneficial, as fatigue can impair movement quality and even spinal stability [GRSW2004]. While fatigue may not lessen the effects of motor learning [ALDE1965, CARR1969], it might well lead to compensatory movements, less-than-optimal joint mechanics and hence, a greater degree of wear-and-tear. Especially

In preparation for this year's #nmac #worldcup in Bregenz, Austria, we just transitioned into the pre - fight lactic capacity block. This time, we chose to use a combination of kicks and punches rather than kicks alone. This somewhat alleviates local endurance limitations which don't usually play a major role in amateur fights anyways. During the four week block, we'll follow the anaerobic explosive repeat progression outlined I #joeljamieson 's brilliant #ultimatemmaconditioning. This week that means eight intervals of 15 seconds, separated by a 30 second active rest. #est #shinergystadlau

Our new #pullupmates just arrived. Not perfectly well suited for attaching a suspension trainer as the base of support is rather small, but versatile enough to foo a lot of stuff anyways. Twice the pull ups, twice the fun. #blogpost #keeppulling #pushpulllegs

As promised, I'll be uploading some video over the course of the next days and weeks. Here's Valentin at the XXIV Open Polish Taekwondo Championships 2017 in Krakow. Valentin had three fight, laid out as follows: In semi-contact, the division was pretty small. In fact, it was just four competitors. Valentin lost the first fight and hence, went on to fight for bronze in the second fight. In light-contact, he lost the first fight. No clue how this could have happened. But see for yourself. Without further ado, here's the clips. Semi-Contact #1 Semi-Contact #2   Light-Contact #1 More to come, so stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt

Awesome sparring session yesterday. One week out to the NMAC national championships. Everyone's sharp and ready.  Looking forward to seeing the team in action again. I'll keep you up to date, so stay tuned. So long, don't get hurt PS: I'm starting to upload the video material of the XXIV Open Polish Championships, so again, stay tuned...

Group training is a tricky thing. On the one hand, everyone has different needs and a different starting point that needs to be taken into consideration. On the other hand, though, it totally makes sense to periodize training in order to maximize adaptations.  In the Athletics class, this is easy. We run our athletes through an assessment that pretty much tells us all we need to know about their movement quality and strength levels. Then, when it's time to squat, everybody squats. For some, that means Pistol Squats. Others front squat with a barbell. If nothing else works, we'd have somebody bodyweight squat-to-stand just to prepare him to squat later on, when he's developed the mobility to do so. I've written a ton about this process, so I won't bother going into details at this point.  As for Martial Arts classes, things are a bit different. Of course I could just devote a part of class for solo training and assign individualized tasks to my fighters. Tha