Conditioning Work-out

I've been working with Jason, an athletic trainer at Carle Sports Medicine, to help rehabilitate and finally strengthen my defective genu. Today he presented a new whole body horror, that I thought I would share:

Set #1

• Lunge twist with medicine ball



• Abdominal pass (passing a physio-ball from feet to hands)



• Single arm row

Set #2

• Medicine ball squat and jump throw



• Medicine ball slam



• Medicine ball twist throw

Set #3

• Sled (with 240#), push and pull



• Twist with feet up using medicine ball



• Physio-ball push-up

Set #4

• Lateral box jump



• Davies (essentially lateral box jumps using your hands)



• Straight leg curl

Infinite Vectors

"All right now, remember. A war is mostly run. We run whether we are defending or attacking. If you can’t run in a war then it’s already over."—Shichiroji, Seven Samurai

Movement, from an idyllic stroll in the park to a sparring match in a ring, can be described by a series of vectors. A vector is a variable quantity that can be resolved into components, it has both magnitude and direction, each movement described by a distance covered in a given time at a specific angle. A rapid advance may be described as a single long vector, while an evasive half turn is described by a series of short vectors of increasing or decreasing angle.

How does understanding a theoretical mathematical construct make you a better fighter? It doesn't. However conceptualizing movement in vectors may help you understand how to vary and texture movement, a valuable skill in setting up offense and optimizing defense. The more uniform your motion, i.e. the more identical your vectors, the more predictable your movement. The greater the variability in vectors, changing magnitude and direction, the more chaotic movement will be and the more difficult it will be to predict your next position.

Let's start with magnitude, the speed of movement, which already allows you two variables to vary. The distance covered and the speed it takes can be varied to set-up both offense and defense. The Starfish would be an example of changing magnitude toward and away from your opponent using essentially the same angle. Another example, would be drawing your opponent on defense, by shortening the distance you withdraw each time to pull them closer for countering.

The other component of the movement vector is direction, that is varying the angle your moving at. Traditionally, martial artist divide the compass of movement into 45° units, which is a convenient if artificial discretization. We have to remember that movement is three dimensional, we're moving both in the horizontal but also vertical planes, thus you are changing angles within the horizontal plane but also above and below that plane. The Corkscrew uses an increasing angle to set-up varied movement. Switching from a left retreat to a right one, is another example of varying angle without changing magnitude.

Thus when we use drills to enhance movement, work on timing, or spar we should incorporate an understanding of movement to enhance our ability to randomize our movement and maximize our offensive and defensive arsenal.

(P)reaction

In fighting we describe the activity provoked by an opponent's offense as "reaction". For example in muay thai after we defend an opponent's combination and return a cross-hook-cross we have performed a reaction. In jiu-jitsu when an opponent tries to break and pass the guard, the change in hand position and posture that sets up an arm bar or triangle, could also be considered reaction. Reaction is typically trained as the "turn" we take after an opponent presents an offense. This has a very specific advantage in being low risk: defend first and once your opponent is punched out with their hands out of position initiate an offense of your own. Unfortunately it also has disadvantages, particularly how long the reaction takes (i.e. the time the neurological impulse travels from where it lands to your brain), the training of "taking turns", and letting your opponent to get off first. A good reaction should teach your opponent that, if you survive their onslaught, that they will be punished.

Thus it might be better to avoid their onslaught, by controlling the range and by evading, and then counter. That is, punishing them without them punishing you. This has the advantage of not getting hit and letting your strikes land in prime targets with greater impact but it takes more speed and experience to read an opponent. Using this strategy still allows your opponent to throw leather, but forces them to expend more energy throwing misses and allowing you to hit openings created by your opponent's offense.

The "good offense is the best defense" strategy of reaction is presumably the level above the evade and counter. As soon as your opponent encroaches into your territory with the intent of offense, start yours. You need to retain the ability to cover and react while using the ability to read the path of evasion to set up a pre-action. You become a motion detector, that alarms violently.

These strategies each demand more and more skill as well as time in conflict (i.e. timing and sparring). They also develop increasing strategic complexity. In the classic, simplest style of reaction there is little more strategy than absorbing and administering kinetic energy. As one develops the timing of fighting one could consider the second, evasion strategy, as a "pulling" technique, luring an opponent in offense and typically giving ground to set up counters. The pre-reaction is a "pushing" style, aggressively attacking the attack before it is fully conceived. In all these strategies are not exclusive, the simplest cover return will form a back bone upon which "pulling" and "pushing" strategies can be implemented.

GSP Mental Preparation

Via DennisKang.com: Sitout and Switch

Technorati Tags: brazilian jiu-jitsu

2010 Peoria Athletic Club Fightcamp

Coaches in attendance were Dean Lessei, Jeremy Harminson, Dave Rogers, and Ryan Blackorby. In addition to a tought workout there was a large amount of information discussed.

Skip rope
Shadowboxing

Dean stressed the importance of respect with traditional Thai hand salutation.

Economical punching warm-up. One partner has a left bag glove and a right focus mitt and the other is vice versa (i.e. right bag glove and left focus mitt). Each partner does one strike for an entire interval and then they switch for a new round.

• One side jabs, one side crosses
• One side lead hooks, one side rear hooks (twist the rear knee to point towards the lead knee, turn the hand over "check the time")
• One side lead uppercut, one side rear upper cut

Knee entries

1. Scoop parry the jab (catch and then flick the punch laterally) followed by the rear knee
2. Double or cross parry the cross (pull the punch laterally and inferiorly) followed by the rear knee
3. Cover the hook, the lead hand grabs the neck on the same side (smothering the punch) followed by the curve knee
4. Outside parry, cross side neck clinch, trap with the opposite hand, rear knee
5. Inside slip on the cross, arm and cross neck clinch, rear knee
6. "Split the middle" parry the cross and follow the arm to wrap the neck and slap your palms together to chinch it in

Knee play "shark tank" keep it light but keep it busy for the "chum" in the tank

Thai pad knee drill

• Plum 3 knees
• Hold pushes forward and feed's an arm
• Switch to side clinch on this side with 3 three knees
• (MMA variation: three inside punches)
• Return to plum with 3 knees
• Repeat side clinches ad nauseum
• To finish, throw to kick range on holder's call

Double arm clinch

• From the plum, overhook one side while the opposite side finds your opponent's shoulder and then traces it down to their elbow
• Feed this arm through to the overhook
• Cinch in both arms with the overhook

Punch-Knee-Kick Range Drill. Each range has a prearranged drilled combination(s). The coach calls out each range while the holder feeds each the drills for that range.

Punch

1. "1 return 3" -- Catch the jab, return jab-cross-hook
2. "2 return 4" -- Catch the jab, cover the cross, return cross-hook-cross-hook
3. "3 return 5" -- Catch the jab, cover the cross, cover the hook, return hook-cross-hook-cross-hook

Knee

1. Long rear knee, long lead knee, clinch 5 skip knees, throw to range

Kick

1. Cover rear kick to lead leg, lead cut kick, rear body kick, hook, cross, two lead kicks
2. Cover rear kick to lead leg, rear knee, rear kick, hook, cross, hook, two rear kicks

Punch kick glove combinations

1. Catch the jab, return jab, catch the jab, jab, cross, lead cut kick, rear body kick
2. Catch the jab, return jab, catch the jab, clip the cross to the sameside lateral line throwing the jab over the cross, rear kick, lead kick
3. Catch the jab, return jab, catch the jab, slip the cross with counter cross the the face, cross side clinch with arm pin, two knees push to kick
4. Catch the jab, return jab, catch the jab, front cover the cross, rear upper cut, lead hook, rear kick (step in the direction of the hook arm to create space for the kick)
5. Take the rear kick on your thigh, return a rear kick to the thigh, leg cover rear kick to lead leg, lead cut kick, rear body kick
6. Take the rear kick on your thigh, return a rear kick to the thigh, tiip to the body as they kick, cross, hook, rear kick
7. Take the rear kick on your thigh, return a rear kick to the thigh, catch the rear kick to the body (step with it), cross side clinch, knee the the underside of the caught leg or the medial surface of the plant leg
8. Take the rear kick on your thigh, return a rear kick to the thigh, cover the head kick, create a "shelf" with the cross hand, hook over the kick and swing through. A variation shown but not practiced was underhooking the kick leg with the cross hand, but then passing it to a safer position overhooked on opposite site

Punch kick Thai pad combinations

1. Jab, cross, lead kick, long rear knee, three skip knees, throw, two rear kicks
2. Catch jab, cover cross, cover hook, cross hand clinch, two lead knees, "garage door" (lift the hook cover hand to duck under the arm), pin the arm to your clinch hand, two lead knees, push and disengage, cross, hook, two rear kicks

ActiveEdge Smoker

Team Solid went 6 and 2 at the ActiveEdge Smoker in Lansing, IL.

• Alex "Pro-cop" Prokup picked up a decision after using some devastating knees to the body.
  
• Matt Cropper stepped up and fought a fighter 12 pounds heavier than him. He lost after the second due to his corner tossing in the towel.
  
• Gavin Blythe earned a decision after first teeing off on his opponent's testicles before settling down and putting together some nice punch kick combinations.
  
• Vaughn Comacho swarmed his opponent like a wave, using a powerful overhand, same sharp cut kicks, and a head of stone to win a decision.
  
• Phil "Zombie" Halverston took a decision to win his fight with punch knee combinations.
  
• Alain Sothikhoun did not unleash the animal and lost a unanimous decision after a stellar first round. He did indeed present an envelope with his WoW login before the match.
  
• Dan "the Ukranian Sensation" Yasinki earned a TKO in the second round.
  
• Joe "Machete" Gradle earned a TKO due to knees in the third round.
  

Many thanks to Jarred Meyers and Willie Sweatt who did not have the opportunity to fight but pitched in to corner and coach anyway.

Technorati Tags: martial arts, muay thai

I didn't know I was in a reality TV show

Pain, your opponent's best friend

I've argued a number of times that showing where something hurts is a bad idea, since it simply tells your opponent where he should hit you again. Apparently Patrice Quarteron agrees with me...

Sherlock Holmes' Martial Art

More information at www.bartitsu.org

Guarding Passing and T-Bar Kneebar

Practice today started with Jeet Kune Do entering by slipping the jab, trapping, and backfisting. To this we added kicks and other methods of intercepting before setting up the straight blast, clinching to knees, elbows, and headbutts. I still move like a geriatric dump truck so I had difficulty with applying forward pressure. Even though it would simplify my life to push forward and put pressure on my partner, it was not readily obvious due to the stress-strain relationship my lower extremities have with accelerating and decelerating rapidly in any direction. Hopefully practice (and more rehabilitation will make perfect).
On the ground we worked guard passing. It is important to remember that solid fundamentals and base are the basis of guard passing. Thus after establishing good posture working the legs and hands methodically to positions of maximal leverage to break the guard rather than hurrying to break is important. We worked two methods for breaking the first stays on the ground using a "T" position of the legs and perpendicular forearm pressure to break open the legs. From here there are two methods to pass.
The same side pass uses the leg that was not placed near your partner under their coccyx and the rearmost breaking arm to slide your opponents same side leg down as you slide you knee to the floor, past their thigh, pinning with your distal leg and shin. Simultaneously the other knee comes up, splitting your opponent's legs as you reach through and hug your partner, the same side arm hugs the head. Your opposite arm cradles the unpinned leg, placing pressure on both the upper body as well as the sinews of their thighs. Now "spider man" out, flipping the non pinning leg 270 degrees over to the far side of your pinning leg, turning your body toward the ceiling before unpinning the leg and reestablishing in a solid side mount, resuming a face to the mat pinning and attacking position over your partner's chest.
The cross side pass uses the leg under the coccyx to slide up and over the thigh, while the arm on this side controls the lapel or reaches for an underhook. The opposite hand goes for same side wrist or sleeve control, the nonpinning leg on this side escapes out and you slide over the pinned leg into a side mount position.
The other way introduced to pass the guard was from the high guard, standing and coming down with one knee up, using the feed of you opponent's guard dictates which side the knee slides through to pin. This allows you to use the coccyx knee as the pinning knee same side or cross side to perform either one of the passes above.
As part of our warm up today, the others shot double legs. I don't quite have the knee dexterity to shoot a double so I went for a high crotch position, and Dan showed me the T-bar position, where you essentially set up a biceps locked figure four position. Thus from a side clinch position the dorsal hand reaches through and grabs the biceps of the ventral arm that has posted to the far hip. The opponent is lifted and dumped to their back. From here you can slide down the leg to the ankle, and drop to the mat with a cross body ankle lock or heel hook. Alternatively you can spin around keeping the arm tucked under the armpit and sit for a knee bar.

Technorati Tags: martial arts, jeet kune do, brazilian jiu-jitsu

Ever stub your toe twice?

Once I found something the other guy didn't like, I've always attempted to do it repeatedly. If it worked once and it hurt, it'll work again and hurt more. Saekson demonstrated that this hypothesis has validity.

Marcelo Brigadeiro, black belt in Luta Livre, weekly lessons at CageFilm.com

Checkout www.cagefilm.com for more...

Hypothesis: Martial arts stances and kata are not for fighting but a strength and conditioning program for fighting

Tradition is what we do because we are not comfortable with seeking evidence disagreeing with the way things have always been. It's not always a bad thing, the tradition of turkey on Thanksgiving works out pretty well for everyone except the turkey. When they get opposable thumbs I'll start worrying about it.
According to legend and somewhat supported by historical fact Bodhidharma was a Bhuddist monk who travelled from India to China via multiple other Asian countries and transmitted Zen to China. When he arrived he found the monks to be so out of shape that he provided them with instruction on how to hone their bodies called yi jin jing (muscle and tendon changing).

Apparently monks were regularly robbed and this instruction helped to decrease such activity. Perhaps Bodhidharma was preceding Gable with "Conditioning is the greatest submission hold". If you watch the video you will see a Shaolin monk go through exercises that are less combatative and more conditioning. Now if we expand the supposition that many martial arts have prearranged exercises that are at best suboptimal and look at their movements not as fighting but conditioning, it may explain why people trained in more traditional styles practice forms one way but fight another. Why do positions in yoga look so much like stances?
Since you had to do something while standing in awkward positions, why not codify some of the arts techniques into this training. I've heard multiple explanations for the low front, horse, crane, and cat stances, none of which have ever rung true. For example, "We train the low front stance so that when you are in a fight your natural tendency to rise up will give you a functional fighting stance". Or "Because Okinawa is a coral island, they could not move or fall because they would be slashed to ribbons by the coral, hence a low solid stances". This might further explain why kata is generally taught to people below shodan "first grade" or blackbelt. The first few years weren't teaching you to fight so much as conditioning for fight training in the future.

Iron and Latex

In the past few months I've been introduced to more ways to torture my sinews than before. As I've mentioned before I'm a fan of maximally efficient gains, in other words what gets me the most with a minimum of hassle and time consumption. There are numerous previous entries on high-intensity training and Tabata protocols. Following my surgery and rehabilitation I've met not only the iron I've also been playing with rubber (kinky I know). This is almost a modern parable of hard and soft styles, the yin and yang of conditioning. Its a little tough being a big bad fighter guy who gets a little shiver of fear when he sees a big rubber ball or resistance bands.
I consider myself a strong person, I can still lift and move weights that others find daunting, but this strength is deceptive. Why? If I was this physical uberman I wouldn't be writing about rehabilitating two knee surgeries as well as other injuries. Stabilizers and core are essential for strength, without them your body is exposed to forces that the primary muscle groups can handle but all the weaker links in the chain, specifically tendons and ligaments have to take up inordinate loads, they become the weakest link in the chain and the hardest injury to rehabilitate.
Primary, among my awakening are those damned stabilizers. Try standing on one foot, if you are wobbling it shows that various stabilizer muscles are firing, presumably too much to correct the deficits of other weaker stabilizers. The burning sensation is ischemia, literally those muscles are using oxygen more rapidly than your blood, lungs, and heart can deliver it to those muscles. Once you've mastered 30 secs, a minute, or two minutes whatever, try shifting your center of mass by bending your knee or reaching for the mat. Get a stabilizer pillow, the jelly donut version of a hemorrhoid pillow and stand on that, it works against your body's equilibrium establishing mechanisms, every correction making you feel like you wobble more. If those are working well try doing one-armed push-up hold or T-position. Once you've got the static part down you can start moving to dynamic movements like farmer's walk (walking lunge to lunge) or sideways lunge.
My new favorite toy are resistance bands. Typically in workouts the resistance is uniform, that is when one benches the weight really doesn't change. Resistance bands (and weight chains for that matter) increase resistance during the exercise, resistance bands are governed by F = -kx, the force is proportional to the distance moved. The further the conditioning band stretches the harder it is, usually at the limit of your bodies reach the weakest part of the motion. Aha! We are going to make you work hardest where you are weakest. I've tried shadowboxing in them, which turns 3 minutes of shadow boxing into a muscle burning good time (although I recommend doing both leads for symmetry).

Technorati Tags: conditioning, martial arts, rehabilitation

Stephan Kesting's Half Guard Leg Position Drill

Nice drill! Check out more wisdom from Stephan Kesting with www.beginningbjj.com and download a free book there, too.

Technorati Tags: martial arts, drills

Dog Brothers Open Gathering 2009

I like the Dog Brothers training mentality push as hard as you can to elevate your team/tribe/clan/group but not so hard that you break someone and the group weakens overall.

That being said, whacking each other with sticks just looks fun.

Technorati Tags: martial arts, philosophy

Obi Wan was right!

Either in vain hope of maintaining an edge to my martial skills or because I find benefit in cognitive expenditure during physical activity, I increasingly believe that the cerebral architecture is much more important than the physical structure. Anecdotally the performance and benefits of my strength training have seemed best when I actively concentrate on the muscles I work, instilling better form and imagining the functional work that they perform. In other words if you can do anything except lift the weight, like talk or eyeball the co-ed next to you, you simply aren't working hard enough physically or mentally. Similarly as I have worked on describing technique in this blog or simply visualized what I wanted to do, I feel I've performed better. These mental exercises or visualization are more commonly called "motor imagery" ( J Physiol Paris. 2006 Jun;99(4-6):386-95).
Doing a light cursory literature search I found an interesting article (Memory & Cognition 2002, 30 (8), 1169-1178) that shows that "expert divers visualized their dives closest to their performance times. Intermediate divers visualized their dives slower than their performance times. Novice divers visualized their dives faster than performance times." This is a fascinating result because it can be extrapolated in many ways. Expert fighters have the best control of range and timing is this due to years of seeing stuff (real or imagined) flying at their head that they mentally have conditioned themselves to their own physical speed? Does the underestimation of physical time necessary to complete a task by a beginner explain why they always try to do things faster? Does this explain why despite excellent physical conditioning beginners become exhausted with the technical level of the skill set needed to fight, i.e. they are driving their minds and bodies faster than they are capable because they think that's how fast it is? This may even explain why intermediately trained folks perceive things as taking longer, their physical capabilities have reached a set point better than what they thought they started with, i.e. they are actually as fast as they thought they were when they started but are still cognitively using their (lack of) experience as a beginner to establish time dependence of what they do? Or am I ranting like a madman again?
It appears that visualizing or "thinking about the problem before attempting it" works better than just the good old college try (Behav Brain Res. 1998 Jan;90(1):95-106). This has a whole host of implications and applications. Before practicing anything, make a movie in your head describing the frame of reference as well as the dynamic evolution of the technique, see if that makes you learn it better and faster. Taking these "movie clips" would allow you to string them together, allowing you to "train" anywhere. Does this power of imagery explain why people can progress technically between practices simply because of conscious or subconscious processing of mental images of a technique? Would combat athletes progress faster if they had "previews" of material to be taught at the next practice because it would stimulate motor cognitive pathways, that could be physically refined later?

Community Acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (CA-MRSA)

I recently heard a lecture from Audio Digest entitled Community-Acquired MRSA: Risks and Management by George C. Mejicano, MD and I thought I'd share the highlights.
Staphylococcus aureus is a normal occurring bacteria that is founded in almost everyone's nose. It can cause numerous infections when spread to the wrong areas or entering small breaks in the skin. Bacteria are very adaptive organisms so exposure to antibiotics has developed strains of Staphylococcus aureus that are resistant to most common antibiotics. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA was originally only found in hospitalized or very ill patients. Now we're finding community acquired that is the general populace getting these infections as well. This is particular interest to the combat athlete as being an athlete is a risk factor for gaining MRSA infections. The reasons for this are multifold and include:

• sharing of towels
  
• not showering immediately after practice
  
• fingernail length
  
• shaving that causes micro-abrasions by which bacteria can enter the skin

It is important for combat athletes to recognize ways to decrease their risk of obtaining an MRSA infection by keeping fingernails short, showering immediately after practice, and using their own towels. It is probably also wise not to shave immediately before practice.
In addition it is important to recognize that if you have an in section not to go back to the mat but rather get it treated. One should be suspicious for MRSA in skin lesions "looking like a spider bite" and then rapidly developing worsened redness, swelling or warmth. It should be noted that products containing tea tree oil have antimicrobial action against Staphylococcus, MRSA or otherwise.

Technorati Tags: martial arts, medicine

Rehabilitation High-Intensity Training

This workout is based on what I've been going through with physical therapy and "High-Intensity Training" (John Philbin). The overlying goal is:

• Time under tension 48 - 72 sec
  
• Increase weight 3-5% @ 12 reps or time under tension > 72 sec
  
• 75 - 90 sec recovery time

Theoretically these workouts should take less than 90 minutes to complete. Based on my current restrictions I plan the following

Lower body

1. 15 minute warm-up on stationary bike
   
2. 10 minute dynamic stretching
   
3. Leg press (less than 60° flexion)
   
4. Leg press (less than 60° flexion)
   
5. Calf extension
   
6. Calf extension
   
7. Hip abduction
   
8. Hip abduction
   
9. Hip adduction
   
10. Hip adduction
    
11. Hip extension
    
12. Hip extension
    
13. Hip flexion
    
14. Hip flexion
    
15. Hamstring curl
    
16. Hamstring curl
    
17. Hamstring extension (less than 40°)
    
18. Hamstring extension (less than 40°)
    
19. 10 minute cool down stretch

Upper body

1. 15 minute warm-up on stair master (or equivalent with upper body movement)
   
2. 10 minute dynamic stretching
   
3. Pull Up
   
4. Dip
   
5. Lat Pull Down
   
6. Lat Pull Down
   
7. Seated row
   
8. Seated row
   
9. Dumbell Bench Press
   
10. Dumbell Bench Press
    
11. Seated Dumbell Press
    
12. Seated Dumbell Press
    
13. Shrug
    
14. Shrug
    
15. Back Extension
    
16. Back Extension
    
17. Abdominal Extension
    
18. Abdominal Extension
    
19. 10 minute cool down stretch

Dynamic stretching

1. Ankle rotations
   
2. Knee circles
   
3. Straight leg swing forward
   
4. Straight leg swing lateral
   
5. Hip circles
   
6. Trunk twist
   
7. Front/back bends
   
8. Side bends
   
9. Arm circles
   
10. Arm wrap
    
11. Wrist circles
    
12. Grips
    
13. Neck circles
    
14. Shaking head "no"
    
15. Nodding head "yes"

Cool down stretch

1. Feet shoulder width down, left and right
   
2. Feet twice shoulder width down, left and right (shoulder width, wide, wider, widest)
   
3. Feet as wide as comfortable down, left and right
   
4. Down into Cobra
   
5. Back up and as far hand walking backwards without sitting down
   
6. Up and stretch left lunge
   
7. Switch to right lunge
   
8. Back to center and down into Cobra
   
9. Back up and hand walking into sitting position
   
10. Stretch middle, left and right
    
11. Leg’s together stretch middle
    
12. Left reverse hurdler stretch, stretch along leg and between
    
13. Left pretzel
    
14. Left leg pull over back stretch
    
15. Right reverse hurdler stretch, stretch along leg and between
    
16. Rigt pretzel
    
17. Right leg pull over back stretch
    
18. Crowd pleasers
    
19. Up and do ham string stretch
    
20. Picking high fruit
    
21. Forward bend
    
22. Rear lean
    
23. Forward bend
    
24. Stack vertebrae
    
25. Wrist In Turn
    
26. Wrist Out Turn
    
27. Wrist Press
    
28. Wrist Reverse Press
    

I plan to mix the machine/free weight programs with the body weight high-intensity training (BWHIT) program I proposed in the past.

Technorati Tags: conditioning, rehabilitation