Supplementary Conditioning Notes

I have set some serious competitive goals for myself this year and I need to supplement my training. Despite the verbosity of this blog, I don't have a lot of time, so I'm trying to build supplementary workouts that can be completed in less than an hour.

Warm-up

Obviously warming up is a key component of any training. The main concept of warm-ups, in my opinion, are that they should be sport specific, dynamically stretch muscles, prepare for joint loading, and raise core temperature without fatiguing the athlete. I adapt a lot of material from "The Team Renzo Gracie Workout: Training for Warriors" (Martin Rooney) and "Stretching Scientifically: A Guide to Flexibility Training (4th Revision ed)" (Thomas Kurz) in my warm-ups and some stuff I've seen elsewhere (and I even gave the different parts catchy names).

Perfusion Stage (trying to raise body temperature and decrease peripheral vascular resistance)

• Free squats 20
  
• Alternating lunges 20
  
• Jumping jacks 20
  
• Jumper squats 10
  
• Scissor jumps (alternating jump lunges) 10
  
• Push-ups 20
  
• Dive bomber push-ups 20
  
• Mountain Climbers 20

Dynamic Stretching Stage (loading muscles, tendons, and ligaments for stress and strain)

• Seated ankle rotations (foot circles) 10 e/ direction
  
• Seated knees laterally to floor 10 e/ side (Marcelo Garcia seminar)
  
• Guard leg circles 10 e/ direction
  
• Same direction knee circles 10 e/ direction
  
• Opposite direction knee circles 10 e/ direction
  
• Anterior/posterior straight leg swing 10 e/ leg
  
• Abduction/adduction straight leg swing 10 e/ leg
  
• Curve knees 10 e/ leg
  
• Reverse curve knees 10 e/ leg
  
• Anterior knee to chest 10 e/ leg
  
• Lateral knee to shoulder 10 e/ leg
  
• Hip circles 10 e/ direction
  
• Hip twist 20
  
• Anterior/posterior bends 10 e/ direction
  
• Side bends 10 e/ direction
  
• Upper body rotation 10 e/ direction
  
• Arm circles 10 e/ direction
  
• Cross body arm swing 10 e/ direction
  
• Rickson Gracie arm flail (watch "Rickson Gracie: Choke" (Hayes))
  
• Wrist circles 10 e/ direction
  
• Posture setters (posterior shoulder circles) 10
  
• Head flexion/extension 10
  
• Head rotation 10
  
• Ear to shoulder 10

Core Loading Stage

• Bridges Double Leg 10
  
• Bridges Single Leg 10 e/ leg
  
• Supermans 10 e/ side
  
• Double Leg Supermans 10
  
• Supine Lying Iron Cross 10
  
• V Sit Rollovers 10 e/ side
  
• Rollover Hurdler Seat 10 e/ side
  
• Kneel-Up 10 e/ side
  
• Frank Shamrock Stand-Up 10 ("Frank Shamrock's Ultimate Training and Fighting System Vol. 1 The Ultimate Home Workout" (CFW Enterprises))
  
• Sprawls 10

High-Intensity Training (HIT)

I really like "High-Intensity Training" (John Philbin) and have based my strength training workouts off of this book in the past. I was first introduced to HIT from a Mike Mentzer video my friend Bart gave me. Based on what I've read, for combat sports our lifting guidelines should be:

• Time under tension 48 - 72 seconds
  
• Increase weight 3-5% @ 12 repetitions or time under tension > 72 seconds
  
• 75 - 90 seconds recovery time
  
• Philbin recommends 2-3 upper body and lower body workouts per week. I've found that at my level this is too much, I simply burnout. I'm shooting for two of each in an eight day cycle, thus trying to lift Monday, Wednesday, and Friday switching upper and lower, most likely this will decrease to two of each when my professional schedule picks up

Thus for the 13 to 15 set programs described below taking approximately 142 seconds per set the total "lifting" time should theoretically be between 30 and 35 minutes. Including warm-up this should take approximately 45 minutes all told.

Core with Upper Body Emphasis

• Pull Up (Assisted Pull Up/Dip Station)
  
• Pull Up
  
• Pull Up
  
• Dip
  
• Dip
  
• Dip
  
• Dumbbell Bench (Bench)
  
• Dumbbell Bench
  
• Dumbbell Bench
  
• Triceps Extension (High Pulley)
  
• Biceps Curl (Free weights)
  
• Wrist Flexion
  
• Wrist Extension

Core with Lower Body Emphasis

• Leg Press (Leg Press Machine)
  
• Leg Press
  
• Leg Press
  
• Calf Extension
  
• Squat (Squat Rack)
  
• Squat
  
• Squat
  
• Deadlift
  
• Deadlift
  
• Deadlift
  
• Bentover Row
  
• Back Extension (Abdominal Extension Stand)
  
• Abdominal Extension
  
• Oblique Extension

Tabata protocol endurance training

In my never ceasing quest to cause pain I came across this conditioning gem: Tabata protocol endurance training. Actually in truth I've never believed in "road work" and wanted a way to rapidly increase cardiovascular endurance without a huge time investment. The Tabata solution is simple and brutal: 20 seconds of intense sprinting with a 10 second rest for up to 7 rounds. Why 7? Because that's where Olympic level athletes cannot do anymore. Due to the up and down nature of combat sports I will experiment with a variation:

• 20 seconds shuttle sprints
  
• 10 second rest
  
• 20 seconds rapid, continual push-ups (push-up sprints, if you will)
  
• 10 second rest
  
• Repeat x 7 if you can

I'd like to try these on a Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday split, especially right after practice. The workout should only take 7 minutes...