Martial Arts Workouts

[worldwide]

Dude, there's a lot of really useful information on these forums. If you're actually passionate about what you're learning in your classes you'll probably enjoy reading into it.

If you want to actually win the grappling competitions that you're supposedly entering, you'd probably want to educate yourself in your spare time about how to train properly.

[Patty]

Originally Posted by gfxprotege

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm a college student and training for a freestyle grappling tournament this November. Under the guidance of my Sensei, here is how I've started training.

Weighed myself mid-afternoon and took a 4-point caliper bodyfat % test.
167 lbs @ 12% bodyfat

Registered for the 165 lbs weight class.
Goal: 165 lbs and 7-8% body fat.

What this means is, to make my body physically optimal, I need to add roughly 5 lbs of lean muscle mass, and then cut 8 lbs of fat.

up to september:
Eat healthy, eat clean, eat a lot.
lift heavy (low reps, high weight), light cardio (15-20 min on workout days)

sept to november:
eat healthy, eat clean, dont eat as much
light lifting (high reps, low weight), heavy cardio (20-30 min daily)


it all comes down to setting goals and designing a plan to meet them.

Yeah I was looking at doing something along that. The thing is I'm 145 and my goal is to be 155 by august or September so I think I'm going to try and eat as healthy and as much as possible while doing daily dumbbell workouts and running then I'll hit the gym in mid july to do some bunch pressing and such.

[worldwide]

Originally Posted by Patty

Yeah I was looking at doing something along that. The thing is I'm 145 and my goal is to be 155 by august or September so I think I'm going to try and eat as healthy and as much as possible while doing daily dumbbell workouts and running then I'll hit the gym in mid july to do some bunch pressing and such.

Dude, no. Wrong again.


You can't seriously weightlift every day of the week. Lifting should be something you do to gain strength on the mat. To get stronger, you need to lift heavy weights. You need to do HEAVY squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, rows, bench press etc. to get strong. Not just "bench pressing and such." Again, read the strength and power FAQ.

Your body can't handle heavy lifting every day though, only 3-4 times a week MAX. Also, you never want to strength train close to a competition date. You should be drilling techniques/game plan/strategy and working cardio constantly. Also, making sure you deal with real life problems and sort things away mentally.

EDIT: gfxprotege has the right idea, but it doesn't seem like you understood him.

[FIGHTER1980]

I heard that weight training can slow you down for martial arts.

That's one of the biggest myths out there. Complete bullshit!!! Weight lifting has never slowed me down, my instuctor, or anybody else I know. Also Bruce Lee used to lift weights to benefit him in martial arts and I don't need to say anything about him, his speed very well known.

[gfxprotege]

many tournaments have different weight class setups (unless you're competing in NAGA, then i'm extremely jealous).

if a fighter at 155 is at his optimal competition bodyfat % (say 7%) and his normal healthy bodyfat % is 10%) he's at roughly 160 normally (i dont have a calculator, i'm just using an educated guess).

that means in 2.5 months, he just has to cut 5 lbs of body fat to be optimal. I don't know your body fat %, but if you wanna make it to 154 lbs in 2.5 months, you need to eat like a whale and lift like a gorilla. the problem with that is (which is probably what you're rumor was), unless you're stretching an insane amount every day (without hurting yourself) you won't be nearly as flexible (and whats the point of strength if you dont have the range of motion). not to mention that even some of us who dont stretch an insane amount still manage to pull a hip or groin muscle doing the simplest of stretches.

For august id pick the 145 if there is one, and then bulk up (and dont forget to stretch!) for the next one.

[Patty]

Originally Posted by gfxprotege

many tournaments have different weight class setups (unless you're competing in NAGA, then i'm extremely jealous).

if a fighter at 155 is at his optimal competition bodyfat % (say 7%) and his normal healthy bodyfat % is 10%) he's at roughly 160 normally (i dont have a calculator, i'm just using an educated guess).

that means in 2.5 months, he just has to cut 5 lbs of body fat to be optimal. I don't know your body fat %, but if you wanna make it to 154 lbs in 2.5 months, you need to eat like a whale and lift like a gorilla. the problem with that is (which is probably what you're rumor was), unless you're stretching an insane amount every day (without hurting yourself) you won't be nearly as flexible (and whats the point of strength if you dont have the range of motion). not to mention that even some of us who dont stretch an insane amount still manage to pull a hip or groin muscle doing the simplest of stretches.

For august id pick the 145 if there is one, and then bulk up (and dont forget to stretch!) for the next one.

Ok thanks, I'll keep that in mind.