Is That Really Necessary?

The Strength Coach’s Guide To Energy System Training For Combat Athletes – Part 3: Anaerobic Training

In the past few posts, I really emphasized the importance of aerobic training in combat sports. Although I said before that direct aerobic work is critical for the development of a fighter, there is also a strong anaerobic component as well.

As a fight carries on and the aerobic system becomes the dominant energy system, the anaerobic system still plays a part of the energy production as well. By the nature of combat sports, there are spurts of high intensity and high velocity movements that often need more oxygen than the body can take in.

The purpose of developing the aerobic system is to increase your fighter’s rate of recovery during the fight. During “slow” times of a fight, such as after a high intensity bout, or during the rest periods in between rounds, a developed aerobic system will mean a better rested fighter. That fighter will then have more energy to fight harder and longer than another fighter with low levels of aerobic system development.

The anaerobic system on the other hand is used DURING those periods of high intensity/ high velocity movements. As any fighter (and just about everyone) knows, the real stuff happens during the actual fighting and if you can’t perform during the “real fighting” then what was the point of all the aerobic training?

You see, although a fight may last for 3 rounds of 5 minutes of whatever it may be, it only takes 5-10 seconds of hardcore action for the fight to completely change.

This is how comebacks are made. This is what a warrior is BUILT to do. It’s extremely important to be as fresh as possible during a fight but when push comes to shove, I want your fighter to kick his opponent’s ass.

With that said, let’s look at how we can make sure that it will happen.

An In-Depth Look At The Anaerobic System

There are two processes that allow for energy production in the body. They are the aerobic and anaerobic processes. Just as with the aerobic system, the anaerobic system also plays a part in trying to keep the body in homeostasis during movement by producing more ATP to match the expenditure.

Specifically, the anaerobic process:

-Regenerates ATP through non-oxidative processes only

-Can utilize ATP, phosphocreatine (alactic) or carbohydrate (lactic) as substrates

-Produces ATP at a much faster rate than the aerobic system, but also causes rapid changes in cellular environemnt, leading to large disturbances in homeostasis.

-Able to support maximum power output, but only for very brief periods of time

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that the anaerobic system produces ATP at a very fast rate but only for a short period of time, while the aerobic system produces ATP at a much slower rate but for a much longer period of time.

A Look At The Different Anaerobic Energy Systems

There are 4 anaerobic energy systems.

-Anaerobic Alactic Power

-Anaerobic Alactic Capacity

-Anaerobic Lactic Power

-Anaerobic Lactic Capacity

As described before in part I, the power of the system is the rate at which energy is being produced. In other words, the faster that your energy system can generate the energy needed by your muscles, the faster those muscles can contract and relax, which will ultimately mean the more power that they can generate.

The capacity of the system is the duration at which the energy is able to be produced. Basically, it is how long one is able to generate energy for.

The difference between alactic and lactic is that in an alactic zone, you won’t produce a high amount of lactic acid and in a lactic zone, you will. This forms the energy continuum as shown above which starts at alactic power and ends at lactic capacity.

Specifically, the anaerobic alactic power system is used during the first 10 seconds of high intensity movement. It increases the number of creatine kinase, which speeds up the breakdown of phosphocreatine so that you can regenerate ATP at a faster rate.

It also improves muscular contractility. The faster that your muscles can contract and relax will play a huge role in how much power your working muscles can generate with the alactic system. A work interval at this energy system would last 0-10 seconds per rep and have a recovery interval of about 2-5 minutes per rep. Maximum intensity is used during the rep.

The second system, anaerobic alactic capacity, is used from 10-20 seconds during high intensity movement. This energy system improves how much ATP and Phosphocreatine the muscles can store.

A regular work interval would last from 10-20 seconds a rep at a very high intentisity (91-96% of max) and the recovery interval would be around 3-4 minutes per rep. In other words, the recovery ratio would be around 1:15 but can be from 1:12 to 1:18. For recovery heart rate, it should be less than or equal to 120 beats per minute.

The anaerobic lactic power system lasts from 20 seconds to 45 or even up to 60 seconds. Training of this energy system leads to increases in glycolytic muscle tissue, glycolytic enzymes, and improvement is the nervous systems ability to activate and coordinate so that your muscles will play a large role in your power system.

The work interval is from 20 to 60 seconds, done at high intensity with a recovery interval of 2-5 minutes per rep. The work to recovery ratio should be around 1:5-1:6.

The last anaerobic system is the anaerobic lactic capacity system, which runs from 45 seconds to 120 seconds. The adaptations that come from training this system increases the availability of energy substrates, increases the pH buffering ability of muscles, and the rate of clearance of the byproducts.

The work interval to train this system is from 45-120 seconds at a high intensity (85-90% of max) with a 3-6 minute recovery interval or 1:3 work to rest ratio.

How To Develop The Anaerobic System

The thing about training is that you cannot develop any quality/system maximally if you focus on more than one thing at a time.

This means that if you want to train one part of the anaerobic system maximally, you cannot train any other part of the anaerobic system without affecting the improvement of the “main” system your working on. This also goes for aerobic training or trying to increase both of them at the same time.

If you want, you can program the training of multiple systems but it is never maximal. When you want maximal improvements on a certain energy system, focus on that one energy system before going to the next.

With that said, to develop one part of the anaerobic system you must use the right duration, intensity, and rest periods to work it.

For combat sports, the main energy system used is the anaerobic alactic system because combat sports are generally “hit and run” in nature where combat lasts for 0-20 seconds until the fighters step away from each other to recover before going at it again.

Generally, combat sports like boxing or kickboxing will use the anaerobic alactic power system (0-10 seconds) most of the time while sports that use grappling such as MMA and Ju-Jitsu will go from 0-10 seconds and sometimes go as high as 10-20 seconds in a row of continuous high effort movement or in other words, the anaerobic alactic capacity system.

Both are important to develop and it depends on the fighter and his needs as to which of the anaerobic systems he needs to develop.

Rest periods are longer due to it taking more time to slow down heart rate to less than or at 120 beats per minute.

3 Anaerobic Training Methods

Circuits

These are the circuits that most people will see as familiar because these are ones that gas them out quick. High intensity circuits are freaking amazing for developing a fighters energy systems and muscular endurance.

The only problem is when they programmed in a less than optimal way, which is usually most of the time. Some coaches think you can just mix a couple of exercises for time and add it in anywhere. At that point, circuits can be counterproductive because it will place too much stress on the body and affect power, strength, and recovery levels of the athlete.

When they are programmed correctly though, they are amazing. Here is an example of a good circuit for the anaerobic alactic capacity system.

A1) Chin Ups – 4 X 5

A2) Med Ball Slam – 4 X 3

A3) Sled Push – 4 X 20 yards – After every circuit; rest until heart rate reaches 100 beats per minute

It’s a general workout but it’s a good starting point. Circuits are very flexible in that you can use them for just about anything and can be done anywhere.

For many coaches, this is the go to method.

Sprints

Running is one commonality between many sports as a method to train any energy system. Sprints in particular have shown time and time again that they are an excellent method in developing the anaerobic system.

What I love about sprints is that they only require space and are easily timed.

A word of caution about sprints though: be sure to always have a THOROUGH warmup before a sprint session and know HOW to sprint because they can cause injuries to “newbies” and “pro’s” alike.

A simple sprint workout to train the anaerobic alactic power system is:

8 X 10 seconds of an all out sprint – rest until heart rate reaches 100 beats per minute.

This is an advanced workout and will make any athlete wince in pain just reading the protocol. For “regular people”, a 5 second set is enough but advanced athletes can go up to 10 seconds straight.

Hurricane Training

This is easily my most favorite training method for a couple of reasons:

1. They are an “anaerobic” version of tempo runs with much of the same benefits such as in the flexibility of protocol design and implement use (pads, heavy bag, weights…etc)

2. Once you get through halfway through a session, you will ask yourself if you were mentally stable when you decided to try it out, then when you get through it, you’ll feel like the biggest bad ass on the planet.

3. Mimics combat sports very well

4. Are NOT boring at all.

Hurricane training was created by Martin Rooney, a world re-knowned strength coach based out of New Jersey. There are 5 hurricane levels starting from level 1 to level 5. At level 1, only sprints are used for a total of 9 sets of short durations. From levels 2-4, sprints plus 2 exercises are used in 3 different circuits. Level 5 uses sprints and strongman training.

Here is an example of a level 4 hurricane from Martin’s site, Training For Warriors.

Hurricane Category 4

*Do one exercise right after another for 3 sets then move on to the next group

1a. Treadmill at 10mph and 10% grade incline for 3 sets of 30 seconds

1b. Bar Dips 3×12

1c. Hip Raise Crunch 3×20

2a. Treadmill at 10.5mph and 10% grade incline for 3 sets of 30 seconds

2b. Inverted Row 3×10

2c. Bicep Curl and Press 3×10

3a. Treadmill at 11.5mph and 10% grade incline for 3 sets of 30 seconds

3b. Knuckle Pushup 3×10

3c. Knee Grabs 3×20

As you can see, it is anything but easy but it is incredibly effective for energy system training and fat loss.

You also will notice that every circuit with its three sets amount to about 5 minute per completed circuit. Essentially, it is 3 rounds of 5 minutes of high intensity action. That is the exact same “protocol” as regular UFC fight.

It does not specifically target the anaerobic alactic system but it does mimic a fight very well and works both the anaerobic and aerobic systems to very high levels.

Programming Anaerobic System Development

As explained before, a program should start from a general standpoint and as the fight gets closer, the training should become more specific to the competition.

If there is 4 months between a fight, that allows for a good amount of time for a fighter to develop his most pressing needs to optimal levels.

At such a long time before a fight, aerobic training should form the bulk of a fighters energy system work. Here is where aerobic capacity training is best implemented in a program. At 3 months out, now aerobic power can be the main energy system worked on. At 2 months out, now anaerobic training needs to form the bulk of the energy system training (but there is still some direct aerobic work to keep it at maintenance). At 1 month out, high intensity and more specific training is used while the volume of skill work goes up.

In terms of frequency, at 3 months out there can be 1 session a week. At 2 months out, there can be 2 sessions a week. At 1 month out, there would probably be only 1 session a week because the increased volume of skill work will take place of the energy system work.

In terms of how workouts are done, say we use hurricane training. At 3 months out, we would use sprints and regular bodyweight exercises. At 2 months out, sprints and strongman training. At 1 month out, strongman or sprints and skill work.

An important thing to keep in mind is that as the fight gets closer, the training needs to become much like the fight itself. At 3 months out, it’s ok to have sessions at 10 sets of 20 seconds or something but at 1 month out, if the fight lasts 3 rounds of 5 minutes, then the training session should also be 3 rounds of 5 minutes.

Conclusion

Understanding and programming energy system training can seem very complicated, but it really isn’t.

In essence, you work on aerobic work at the start of a training program. Once you get to anaerobic work, you keep aerobic training on maintenance by decreases volume and frequency while increasing anaerobic training. The other option is to work on aerobic power the majority of the time, depending your fighter’s needs and what works for them. From there, you keep improving and little by little, mimic the work to rest ratio of the fight itself.

For every month, focus that month (or phase) on a specific energy system you want to improve maximally. On the last month or two, mimic the exact “protocol” of the fight.

Basically, as long as you have a good reason for everything you place in a program then it’s a good program.

If that still confuses you, check out part 4.

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The Strength Coach’s Guide To Energy System Training For Combat Athletes – Part 2: Aerobic Training

Alongside with other dogmatic beliefs that seem to rock the fitness industry every couple of years, aerobic training in particular seems to be one of the, if not the most, bashed topic around.

Some coaches love to point out the research that says how aerobic work leads to lower power and strength levels in athletes while anaerobic work can help increase it. They argue that if a sport is anaerobic, then its training should be entirely anaerobic as well.

That’s funny because combat sports are NOT purely anaerobic sports at all. Furthermore, neither are sports like football or basketball. Only sports such as Olympic lifting and Powerlifting are truly anaerobic because they demand high amounts of energy, for a short duration of time, and then are given tons of rest after their activity. A sport like MMA is different because although fighters use high amounts of energy, they are repetitive, sub-maximal, and last for long bouts of time such as a UFC championship fight that can last 5 rounds of 5 minutes.

An In-Depth Look At The Aerobic System

Our cells run on chemical energy called ATP. The purpose of all of these energy systems is to maintain energy homeostasis by producing this chemical energy and the body does this by transforming the food we eat into that energy to allow us to do muscular work.

Energy homeostasis is all about energy production versus energy expenditure. Energy production is the amount of ATP that can be produced and energy expenditure is the amount of ATP that is used. As higher intensity movement increases, the more ATP is used. To balance things out, the body tries to increase ATP production to match the expenditure.

To do this, the body uses three energy systems which can be categorized into aerobic and anaerobic. Specifically, the aerobic system

-Regenerates ATP through oxidative metabolic processes

-Can utilize fat, carbohydrate, and amino acids as substrates

-Produces the most ATP per given substrate (but also takes much longer to do so than the anaerobic system)

-Capable of sustaining moderate power outputs for very long durations

As much as HIIT addicts like to say that combat sports are purely anaerobic, fact is that once activity starts (in any sport), all three energy systems including the aerobic system all “turn on” at the same time to help produce ATP and keep the body in homeostasis.

At the highest point of activity, even the anaerobic system alone cannot produce enough ATP to keep the body in homeostasis. The aerobic system has to come into play. This is why even at short durations; the aerobic system is heavily involved in the process of ATP production. The longer the duration of the activity, the greater the percentage of total energy comes from the aerobic system while ATP production from the anaerobic system drops.

Although every sport requires a different balance of aerobic to anaerobic development, the best athletes show strong central aerobic development, even in highly anaerobic sports

In other words, developing the aerobic system is a good idea when you want your athletes to stay at the top of their game throughout the entire fight.

Aerobic Power Versus Aerobic Capacity

Specifically, there are two systems for the aerobic system, namely the power and the capacity systems. The power of the system is the rate at which energy is being produced and the capacity is the duration that energy can by produced.

Aerobic power training is sometimes called the Cardiac Power Method. Developing the aerobic power system increases the body’s ability to perform a high volume of effort with moderate intensity without lactic acid in the muscles and blood. Through aerobic metabolism, it clears away lactic acid from the muscles and blood.

It also does a number of things such as:

-Increase in the contractile strength of the cardiac fibers along with a corresponding increase in mitochondria

-Increases cardiac output

-Improves the respiratory system

-Increases the number and size of slow twitch muscle fibers

-Improves the oxidative abilities of the fast twitch fibers

In general, the aerobic power system is trained with maximum intensity and maximum velocity for 2-4 minutes at a time with a recovery interval of 2-5 minutes or until your heart rate reaches 120-130 beats per minute. Your heart rate during activity should not go above 150 beats per minute.

This will be the main aerobic energy system a fighter will use as a fight will last around 3-5 minutes with a rest period between rounds.

Aerobic capacity training is sometimes called the Cardiac Output Method. Specifically, cardiac output is the amount of blood pumped by the heart in 1 minute. The aerobic capacity system is designed to allow the body to perform for a long time with low intensity. Generally, aerobic capacity can be trained by continues movement from five minutes to hours at a time although 30-90 minutes is generally sufficient enough for combat sports. Your athlete’s heart rate should also stay within the 120-150 beats per minute range.

How To Develop The Aerobic System

Developing any energy system is about using the right intensity for the right amount of time.

In general the aerobic system becomes the dominant energy system from as early as 15-30 seconds of continual movement to hours on end like marathon running.

When programming aerobic work, it is best to keep your heart rate from 60%-75% of your max heart rate. Any lower percentage does not help the aerobic system develop and any higher now requires more anaerobic involvement. Depending on what you do, the duration of the exercise changes.

For example, if you’re making your athletes do tempo runs then they only need 15-20 seconds of continual movement before another tempo run. If you’re fighters are doing roadwork, then it can last for an hour or more if you need it too. When at rest, your athletes heart rate should not go below 120 beats per minute.

This requires the use of a heart rate monitor and personal programming to each and every athlete. This is important because if you just make every fighter train for 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off, every fighter will react differently to the training. Some will have their heart rates jack up to 170 and others will have their heart rates at 150. During the rest periods, some will get to 120 beats per minute a lot faster than others. This is all due to differences in their conditioning levels.

3 Aerobic Training Methods

Roadwork

Just about every great champion that has ever fought has used roadwork in their training. For those that don’t know, roadwork is the typical jog you see a lot of top boxers like Muhammad Ali do every morning.

Yes, it is the same thing Rocky does in like every movie. He wakes up at like 5 am, opens his fridge, cracks open some raw eggs, drinks them, and then heads out for a run in Philly. Whether it was to help outlast Apollo Creed or kick Drago’s ass, roadwork proved to be pretty useful. No doubt it’s probably one of the reasons why Paulie tells Rocky “you’re all heart Rocko”.

You get it? Aerobic system and “all heart”? Haha.

Yea…lol.

Moving along, roadwork is basically just putting in your miles. It might not be the best method for every single fighter but it is tried and proven to work. It’s one of those things you can never go wrong with.

Tempo Runs

One problem with roadwork is that it can potentially be too catabolic on the body for some guys on top of the fact it just takes a very long time to do.

A tempo run is basically a jog for a short distance in a tempo fashion. For example, a 100 yard jog that must be done in 20 seconds every time, hence the word “tempo”. At the end of every 100 yard jog (or whatever distance), some low intensity exercises like low amplitude planks or regular pushups are performed. From time to time, longer distances with longer rest periods are used.

Here is an example of a tempo run workout:

A1) 100 Yards X 3 in 20 seconds; 30 seconds rest

A2) 200 Yards X 3 in 40 seconds; 60 seconds rest – After last run there is 120 seconds rest

B1) 100 Yards X 3 in 20 seconds; 30 seconds rest

B2) 200 Yards X 3 in 40 seconds; 60 seconds rest – After last run there is 120 seconds rest

*At the end of every run, perform any low amplitude abdominal movement of your choice*

That is a very general workout but it’s a good starting point. As you improve, you can either add in more distance, reduce rest periods, or both. Heart rate monitoring can be used in place of the rest periods, which would be a much better choice but it’s not the end of the world if a heart rate monitor is not available.

The cool thing about tempo runs is that they don’t have to be runs at all, making them super flexible. They can be done with other implements like pad work, jump rope, heavy bag training, shadowboxing, biking, and gymnastics movements.

Aerobic Circuits

Usually when people think of circuits, especially those made for combat athletes, they usually think of drop till you’re dead training sessions.

Not all circuits have or even need to be that way. By keeping your heart rate in check, not only can you directly train your aerobic system but also work on muscular endurance, not put as much stress on the body as running usually does, and be done in-doors without much use of space.

Like tempo runs, aerobic circuits are another very flexible method to getting in some conditioning. A simple aerobic circuit can look like this:

Pushups – 5 X 5 Reps

Sprawl – 5 X 5 Reps

Chin Ups – 5 X 5 Reps

Jump Rope – 5 X 30 Revolutions

*Rest at the end of every circuit. Rest lasts until heart rate reaches 120 beats per minute*

As you can see, it’s very simple and can implement many things at one time making it a great choice for many athletes. As long as your heart rate stays within 60% – 75% of your max heart rate during activity, you’re good to go.

Programming Aerobic System Development

Since the aerobic system is present at all times and becomes the dominant energy system within 15-30 seconds of maximal intensity, it’s obviously is important to develop it.

Although many coaches say that the anaerobic work they do also works the aerobic system, it is not nearly maximal. With such a high importance, direct aerobic work needs to be used at one point of a program and then maintained for the fight.

In terms of program planning, a program should start off general and as the fight gets closer should become more and more specific. This means that everything from the exercises to rest periods should change over time to mimic the fight as it gets closer.

If the fight is in October and right now it’s July, that allows for 4 months of preparation. At 4 months out, things should be very general. This is otherwise known as the GPP phase. Here is where your base will be for the next fight.

For aerobic development, let’s say we use tempo runs. At 4 months out, we do tempo runs with actual runs. At 3 month, it changes from runs to in-cage footwork and tumbling. At 2 months out, pad work. At 1 month out, heavy bag and pad work.

For frequency, at 4 months out it would be at 3 times a week. At month 3, 3 times a week again. At month 2, 2 times a week. At month 1 out, 1-2 times a week. This happens because as the fight gets closer, an aerobic base was already built and now higher intensity conditioning forms the majority of the athlete’s energy system training.

Now since there are two categories of aerobic work that are vital to combat sports, one being capacity and the other being power, both need to be developed. Taking MMA as an example, aerobic capacity is not a major system used but does help provide the “base of the base” or the starting point of energy system training. Aerobic power is much more intensive than aerobic capacity and one that is much more closely related to a fight than capacity is.

By definition, that means aerobic capacity should be developed at the very start of a program as it provides the base for all future energy system training. Aerobic power on the other hand should be focused on later in the program and since it is such of high importance, should be the most worked aerobic energy system in a fighters program unless it is not the most pressing need of your fighter of course.

Conclusion

Aerobic work will help the body recover faster during rest periods allowing for more energy during the actual fight. It’s pretty simple.

It’s funny because as strength and conditioning has gotten more and more advanced over the years, people seem to try to re-invent everything. It’s time to realize that aerobic work has always and forever will be a critical part of a fighters training regimen.

Stop hating and go do your roadwork.

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The Strength Coach’s Guide To Energy System Training For Combat Athletes – Part 1: The Basics

Energy system development (aka conditioning) is an extremely crucial part to dominating as a combat athlete. Ever since the first fighters fought, people quickly realized that it took an incredible amount of energy to fight.

In other words, that shit is tiring!

A fighter can have the best technical skills, be stupid strong, and be as powerful as an Olympian, but the reality is that without high levels of conditioning, he’s pretty much useless. What is the point for him to have such amazing skills and physical qualities if they will only last for the first few seconds of the fight?

What do you think will happen if you’re fighters don’t develop relentless conditioning?

Someone will be knocked out or tap out. That’s for sure, but it won’t be the other guy.

So it’s in a trainer’s best interest to learn about and develop his fighters conditioning. Anyways, isn’t being able to go the distance and never back down part of being a warrior?

I believe it is and this series of articles will show you how to make sure you’re guy is the last warrior standing.

The Importance Of Conditioning For Combat Sports

The most important thing for a combat athlete is his technical skills. There is no going around it. Without highly developed skills, a fighter is no longer a martial artist and warrior. He is just another sorry street fighter.

Not only will great technical skills allow him to strike or grapple your opponent with great effectiveness and less chances of injury to himself but it will also make him more efficient in his movements.

It takes much less energy for a UFC veteran to perform a roundhouse kick than it does for a white belt at the karate school across the street to do the same thing.

With that said, a combat athlete can only go as far as his body will allow. He can have a crisp roundhouse kick but his body will determine how high, hard, and fast he can perform it.

The same goes for his energy systems. A fighter can have perfect technique but if his conditioning sucks then his last punch is going to be much slower, weaker, and less effective than his first punch.

If you, as a strength coach, can help bridge that gap so that every strike your fighter throws at any point of a fight with maximum effectiveness, then he will become a much more lethal fighter.

Combat Conditioning Myths – Busted

Before we get into you’re crash course in the energy systems, let’s bust some myths that are highly prevalent in the martial arts community.

Myth #1: Train Until You Drop

I don’t know if fighters are just literally crazy, hard headed or maybe both, but just because you have someone do endless rounds of circuits that leave him spitting blood on the floor doesn’t mean it’s getting the athlete ready for his fight. That means no more crossfit.

On the bright side: Combat athletes will do anything and everything to make sure they win their fight.

Even with that, the problem still remains. The reason why these “MMA Circuits” are used so much is because many coaches swear they are as sport-specific as you can get without actually fighting.

Umm…no.

Most of these MMA circuits are badly designed and badly placed in the context of the training program. Not only do these same circuits do NOT improve conditioning for the fight, but they hurt the athlete as well as it will leave him fatigued during times they must be fresh to keep training. This increases the risk of injury and affects the “lifespan” of an athlete’s career.

Now, if they are designed intelligently and placed into an intelligently designed training program, then circuits can be great if not amazing and very beneficial to combat athletes.

Unfortunately, this is not the case most of the time.

Fortunately, there is a simple way to fix this. Either learn how to program them correctly or don’t use them at all.

Myth #2: Every Training Session Should Be A Conditioning Fest

Every fighter swears that every training session must include conditioning. It doesn’t. Far from it. The top priority is to improve strength, power, and other athletic qualities in the gym.

The biggest difference maker in sports is strength. That is why men are so much more dominant in sports than women are. Once you remove that variable, you’ll be left with a weak fighter. Although it is not the only variable it is should be a priority as developing maximal strength will affect just about every other athletic quality positively, including the endurance to handle a fight.

Obviously, everything should be periodized to gain maximal results from a training program. Depending on the fighter and his needs, he might need more or less energy system work than others, but the fact remains that everything should be planned out intelligently.

Not every training session has to be a conditioning fest.

Myth #3: Aerobic Work Is Useless

Combat sports are not purely anaerobic; combat sports actually require a large amount of work from the aerobic system.

Shocker, I know.

Here’s the reason why: The more you have to repeat the action accompanied by less rest, the more aerobic it becomes.

That might be a little confusing so let me explain.

Aerobic means “with oxygen”. Anaerobic means “without oxygen”. By definition, if something takes more effort the more anaerobic it becomes.

Now here’s the other side of the coin: Every energy system, including the aerobic system, will “turn on” at the same time during any activity no matter how anaerobic it looks.

This is amplified by how long the event takes. For example, a fighter will use his aerobic system more if he has to go 5 rounds of 5 minutes than he would if he went 3 rounds of 5 minutes. This is because he must expend his energy more frequently over a period of time, unlike a powerlifter who completes his lift and has tons of time to rest.

This means that although fighters are usually forced to do circuit after circuit to improve their “conditioning”, they are missing out on developing the energy system that is responsible for 50% or more of their energy production during a fight.

In other words, aerobic conditioning is just as important as anaerobic work in combat sports.

Total mind fuck, I know.

Energy System Training 101

There are two main categories of energy systems. On one side is the aerobic system and on the other side is the anaerobic system. In short, the aerobic system is for longer termed uses that can last from a few minutes to hours at a time and the anaerobic system is for shorter term uses, from a couple of seconds to two minutes.

Under those two main systems are the power and capacity systems for both the aerobic and anaerobic systems.

The power of the system is the rate at which energy is being produced. In other words, the faster that your energy system can generate the energy needed by your muscles, the faster those muscles can contract and relax, which will ultimately mean the more power that they can generate.

The capacity of the system is the duration at which the energy is able to be produced. Basically, it is how long one is able to generate energy for.

Therefore, the energy continuum from the shortest to longest in duration is as follows:

-Anaerobic Alactic Power

-Anaerobic Alactic Capacity

-Anaerobic Lactic Power

-Anaerobic Lactic Capacity

-Aerobic Power

-Aerobic Capacity

Quick side note: The difference between alactic and lactic is that in an alactic zone, you won’t produce a high amount of lactic acid and in a lactic zone, you will. Another way to think about this is that running hard for a minute is going to “burn” more than running hard for 5 seconds.

These energy systems, while often taught to be separate, all turn on at the exact same time – right at the start of activity. And they will work as hard as possible to meet the metabolic demands present. This means that sports that were thought to only be anaerobic actually have a huge aerobic component to them and that cannot be ignored.

Unlike in true anaerobic sports such as Olympic Lifting and Powerlifting, a combat athlete cannot afford to have any weak links in his conditioning or they will be exposed both quickly and painfully.

For example, if a fighter doesn’t have the aerobic power to handle a 5 minute round, then he’s going to be in major trouble the last minute of that round. If an Olympic Lifter doesn’t have a highly developed aerobic power system, it doesn’t matter as he only needs to do one high intensity lift and then have a huge period of rest.

The Principles Of Combat Conditioning

Skill Work:

The most important thing to a combat athlete is his technical skills. Without it, he is not a martial artist but a regular neighborhood street fighter. With better technical skills (and even tactical skills), the more efficient he will be at using his energy. On top of that, the better his technique is and the more refined it is, the greater potential he has for more power.

Basically, make sure his technical skills are being worked on before you worry about developing his athletic qualities.

Strength Training:

The stronger you are the better the athlete you will potentially be, too a point. Although there will be a point when an athlete is “strong enough”, it is still important to raise his strength levels high enough to better be able to defeat his opponent.

There are two categories of strength that will be talked about here.

There is maximal strength and relative strength. Maximal strength is your level of absolute strength. Relative strength is how strong you are in comparison to your bodyweight. If athlete A can squat 200 pounds and athlete B can squat 300 pounds, then athlete B has higher levels of maximal strength. Now, if athlete A weighs 180 pounds and squats 300 for 10 reps and athlete B also weighs 180 pounds and squats 300 but for 8 reps, then by definition athlete A has a higher level of relative strength.

Both are important for combat sports because every fighter must work to become stronger than his opponent in terms of absolute strength all while staying in his same weight class with that newly developed strength.

Increasing maximal strength directly influences most if not every athletic quality including endurance. The stronger you are, the less energy it will take for you perform the same action as someone else with the same skill level. Increasing relative strength will allow you to be a better “pound for pound” fighter as now you’re stronger yet you’re bodweight doesn’t change much.

Aerobic Conditioning:

Direct aerobic conditioning is a must for all combat athletes.

Higher levels of aerobic conditioning will allow you to last longer in a fight as you will be able to recover faster. You can think of it the opposite way as well: the faster you can recover, the more you will be able to do during the fight because you’re not as fatigued as someone who doesn’t have a highly developed aerobic system.

It just so happens that many elite athletes, including combat athletes, have extremely developed aerobic systems. This allows them to perform their best throughout an entire fight or game. As any fighter will tell you, it’s not the guy who throws the first and hardest punch but the last one who stays standing that wins.

Although there are two subcategories of aerobic conditioning namely aerobic capacity and aerobic power, both should be directly developed within a fighters training program at one point or another, if needed.

Anaerobic Conditioning:

If aerobic conditioning is what will keep you standing up during the last round and still perform better than your opponent, then you can think of anaerobic conditioning as when two MMA fighters are throwing a flurry of punches for 5 seconds or so and then one takes down the other and both are scrambling on the floor for the dominant position. There is constant high intensity movement for 1-20 seconds.

Obviously with that description, it is easy to imagine how important anaerobic conditioning is to a fighter. It is what can make or break a fight as that is where the real action happens.

Although there are many subcategories for the anaerobic system, the dominant anaerobic system for combat sports is the anaerobic alactic system. This is because many combinations won’t usually last more than 10 seconds at a time and if it’s a sport like MMA where combinations are then transitioned to the floor and more time is taken, it still won’t take any more than 20 seconds before movement stops. Fighting is a sport where both athletes come in for a rapid flurry of strikes and then come back out to catch their breaths. Even on the ground, movements are done rapidly and with great effort but for only seconds at a time before a fighter must quickly stop, recuperate, and then continue pressing on.

Conclusion

Energy system training for combat athletes can be confusing but the fact is to become a better combat athlete, you only need to be stronger, more conditioned, and more skillful than your next opponent.

Now if you’re fighters have high levels of both anaerobic conditioning (to be able to do more during the actual striking/grappling) and aerobic conditioning (the ability to recover faster and perform their best at every repetition), then they will be tough to beat.

So what do you guys think? Add your comments on the comment section below. I want to hear what you have to say!

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