Breaking Points

"There's always a point at which people will break.  That's why you train mental toughness.  Everyone will break - there's not a man alive that can't be broke.  Your job, with all that mental training, that suffering, is just to push your own line of mental breaking so far back that your opponent can't find it.  Then you take your opponent and get him to cross his line, because once he starts breaking he accepts your dominance, you can finish him off."

- Josh Waitzkin
"The Fighter's Mind," by Sam Sheridan



Listening to: Damian Marley - "Confrontation""

Anaerobic vs. Aerobic Training for Combat Athletes

Disclaimer: I am not a trainer, nor do I have any degree or certification in sports performance.

Over the last decade and a half, more and more "modern" athletes and trainers have turned away from the morning "roadwork" that combat athletes have relied on for centuries. The long distance work that generations of successful fighters have used for conditioning (mind & body) have been pooh-poohed as "backwards," and "unsuitable" for explosive sports like boxing or MMA.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) can be summarized as a series of all-out sprints of activity, followed by full or partial rest periods. The most famous study was directed by Dr. Izumi Tabata from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. What would become known as the "Tabata Principle" consisted of 4 minutes of training, broken down into 20 seconds of all-out effort, followed by 10 seconds of rest, continued 8 times, for a total of 240 seconds. After 6 weeks of training, Dr. Tabata found that his athletes improved 28% in anaerobic capacity, and 14% in their ability to consume oxygen (VO2 Max/aerobic).

There is no doubt that interval training is intense, time-efficient, and effective. If anyone doubts it, just try it on the track. That being said, so many people now tout it as the end-all, be-all of conditioning, that steady pace distance running is completely disregarded. The following statements are heard often:

"MMA is a sprint, not a marathon."

"Long , slow distance running doesn't have a place in a sport that is as explosive as MMA (or boxing.)"

"Slow running changes fast-twitch muscle fibers to slow ones, limiting an athlete's ability to react quickly and explosively."

These comments have some basis in fact, but they ignore certain parts of the Tabata study, and are misleading in some ways.

For one thing, the Tabata study makes a big deal out of the improvements taking place on "trained athletes." This is important, as it is much harder to get significant results out of athletes already "in shape," compared to relative novices. In fact, the athletes in the study had decent, but not great VO2 max averages before starting the study. The argument that similar improvements could be made with other training protocols, especially since these are relatively un-trained athletes, rarely gets made.

Secondly, even the group of athletes who were being trained with the Tabata Protocol were also instructed to perform LSD (Long, Steady Distance) runs once a week.

Finally, are we sure that combat sports are REALLY anaerobic in nature?

Aerobic means "with oxygen," and being in an aerobic state is when the body's demands for oxygen and fuel can be met by the body's intake. (breathing in oxygen) An extreme example of an aerobic athlete is a marathon runner.

Anaerobic means "without oxygen," and the system is used under maximal effort, where the body is working so hard that the demands for oxygen and fuel exceed the supply. The body must then rely on the stored reserves of fuel. An extreme example of an anaerobic athlete is a 100 meter sprinter.

The problem with the argument that combat sports are anaerobic is that this system can only operate for a short time before it is spent. Once that happens, the demands for fuel and oxygen must be supported and replenished with the aerobic system. This happens QUICKLY. In fact, by the time that maximum effort has passed 75 seconds, more than half of the energy being used is supplied by the aerobic system. During the two minute rounds of amateur boxing, 63% of the energy requirements are coming via the aerobic system. With professional boxing and MMA fights lasting as long 48 minutes, broken into 3-5 minute rounds, it is clear that these are not purely anaerobic activities.

The point of all this is that the title is misleading. There should not be a question of anaerobic OR aerobic training, but just a matter of using both to bring up your weaknesses. If you come from a sprint-heavy background before beginning training in combat sports, you will most likely benefit from longer distance-style training. This will help lower your resting heart rate, and allow for quicker recovery between rounds. Conversely, if your resting heart rate is low, but you are lacking in speed and power, you may want to place an emphasis on interval training to bring up the lagging areas.

In short, each is good, but both is better.

Further Reading
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/enduranc.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?Tabata-Anything---Four-Minutes-of-Pain-to-Gain&id=348486
http://8weeksout.com/

Mind Over Matter

Dean Karnazes is a freak of nature.

Thinking back on my first (and only) marathon, my mind jumps immediately to the pain of cramped muscles and the constant pounding on my knees and feet. At 26.2 miles, a marathon is about as far from a sprint as it is possible to get. As such, I didn't feel too winded either during or after the race. What I did feel was near failure in the muscles, tendons and ligaments of my legs and feet.

Long-distance running is not glamorous like the 100 and 200 meter dash. There is no explosive motion or energy. There is no eye-popping speed. Long races, endurance work; they are all about mental toughness. If your hamstrings cramp and seize at the 16 mile mark, you have another 10 MILES to think about it and deal with it. Unless you quit, your only option is to recognize the pain, acknowledge it, and carry on with your task despite the presence of it.

Most people run a marathon, they walk like they have been prison-raped for the next few days. Experienced campaigners and world-level runners, they may take weeks or months to be ready for another go at it. Dean Karnazes ran 50 marathons in 50 days...in 50 different states. The endurance required for such a feat is impressive, but the powers of recovery are simply mind-boggling. The human body is just not designed to take that kind of pounding.

As expected from a supreme athlete in a sport that requires chart-topping levels of mental fortitude, Karnazes views his mind as the most important muscle in the body. "The human body has limitations," Karnazes says. "The human spirit is boundless."

Testing the limits of human performance requires a deep and abiding tolerance and acceptance of pain. Before running the Badwater Ultra Marathon, he trained in the high heat of summer wearing a ski parka over a hooded sweatshirt. He trained so hard and so long that the extreme became normal and expected. Pain, while never a friend, became at least an old and familiar companion.

Based out of San Francisco, California, Karnazes finished his 50th and final marathon of the tour in New York City. He then ran home.

The Dangers of a Safety-First Mentality

In sports, the "Safety-First" mindset is often characterized by players known to play NOT to lose, rather than playing to win. This occurs when the pressure, fear and anxiety of all the conflicting feelings and emotions get the better of a person. It has become more desirable for the athlete to focus their efforts on avoiding embarrassment or injury, and they sacrifice the glory or victory that could be obtained by being willing to take risks. Being intimidated by the circumstances that the athlete has found himself in convince him that it is better, smarter and safer to stick to the status quo. The downside is that he finds himself tight, stiff and unable to react or make changes to the different "looks" his opponent shows him.

Combat sports bring this mindset to the forefront. It's one thing to be "safety-first" in basketball, where the pain of losing or being embarrassed, while real and traumatizing, is all that is risked. In boxing, grappling, and other martial arts, the athlete is faced with the very real danger of serious bodily injury. He still has the emotional fears that go along with other sports of being up-staged, humiliated, and made to look bad. There is nothing quite like getting your ass kicked in front of people that care about you.

In boxing, there is a whole sub-species of fighter that is known as a "Gym Warrior," who embodies this mindset perfectly. Often very talented, they are known to get the better of top-flight fighters in the relative safety of a hard sparring session. They work hard, train hard and smart, and can often be the most skilled fighter around. However, once you add an audience and the bright lights over the squared circle, they fall far short of their capabilities. The emotional stress overcomes them, and they lose to inferior fighters.

Success in boxing (and everything else) requires us to take risks at the right time. Some will work, some will not, but they need to be taken to have a chance at winning. Preparing yourself physically is a given. Preparing yourself mentally is the harder part. Experienced athletes develop consistent rituals for the days, minutes and seconds leading right up to competition. Some meditate, some focus on deep breathing, some work to convince themselves that it's "just another day," but they all do something to kill the waiting time. Whatever works for you, don't be a gym warrior. Whether your battles are in the ring, in the cage or in the boardroom, rise to the occasion, thrive on pressure, ignore the desire to avoid risk, and perform at your best.