Building stamina for a tournament?

[StarKodama]

Hey all. I have a tournament coming up in November and for once I'd really like to win. ;_; My biggest problem is stamina, it always cuts out during the second round and that's how I lose.

So do you guys have any advice for me? What should I doing between now and the tournament (besides training at the dojo 4-5 times a week like I already do) to build stamina? Please advise!

[vapor]

What are you currently doing outside the dojo, specifically with your cardio?

vapor

[StarKodama]

Originally Posted by vapor

What are you currently doing outside the dojo, specifically with your cardio?

vapor

Well, I've heard that running up hills is one of the best things one can do... so I'm going to start doing that on days when I don't work out at the dojo. There's a hill close to my house that I just run up and down (but that tires me out pretty quick )

Also I suppose kumite counts as cardio... we usually do it for say 15-20 minutes straight without a break in between. But other than that, I guess that's about all I'm doing in terms of regular cardio...

(Oh, and Billy's Boot Camp for 30 mins a week!! )

[Fabian]

i skip, and im going to start swimming when its over 15 degrees so they open the outdoor pool.

i havent been in a tourney yet so im just trying to build stamina ingeneral.

maybe run up stairs?

[helenosch]

Have you ever tried working on a punching bag for 3 to 5 minutes sets? I started doing that some months ago and it really helps my stamina in fights.
Best if you start something like 1x3 min then 2x2 min wih a 30 sec rest in between. It's the normal fighttime and if you hit the bag in a good frequency it's really exhausting, but it makes you stronger each time you do it.

[nzproud]

Starkodama > Have a read in the Pro Workout forum. See what they do.. Also maybe wise to ask how your sempais are working out for their tournaments.

I would personally recommend,
- Hill running
- sets of sprints
- skipping
- running up / down stairs to build up ur calf muscle.
- practical intense pad work is great too.
- aaannnd awesome videos

If you want to be like Masato.. or like k-1 max fighters..
http://www.kyokushin4life.com/forums...-training.html

Enjoy and train hard.

[seienchin]

Hey Starkodama, You have left yourself enough time (just) to get some significant gains, and I've got a couple of suggestions for you.

A mistake that a lot of people make is to think that the way to prepare for a 3 min bout is to train in 3 min bouts. This is not entirely true, and won't be as effective as some smarter training.

I think that the first thing to do is to understand what you mean by "stamina". I think you are referring to that dreadful "I can't go anymore" feeling that we get when we hit anaerobic metabolism - working harder than the amount of available oxygen allows, resulting in a buildup of lactic acid.

there are two key elements to avoiding or minimising this feeling. The first one is to raise your anaerobic thresh-hold (also called lactic-acid threshold). This means that you are working to increase the amount of exercise/effort you can milk out of a fixed amount of oxygen, and relates to getting your muscles to work efficiently in a low-oxygen state, but also clear away lactic acid. The ability to clear lactic acid can be improved, and is critical in something like a tournament bout.

Anaerobic thresh-hold work involves sustained steady effort of 25 - 30 minutes,, just below the level at which you would start to "blow up" (that's the term that swimmers use, and I think it is quite apt). You can do this in any type of exercise, but if you can run, running is good because it works your legs at the same time. Generally speaking, an anaerobic thresh-hold set would involve working at around 85% of your maximum heart-rate - higher if you can sustain it. (If you "blow up" at a heart rate below this, it just says that you can benefit a lot by working your anaerobic threshhold. ) In practice, this means a run of 25 to 30 minutes, pretty much as hard as you can manage, at least twice a week, but if possible 3 times. If you want to be super-good, do it twice per session, with a 10 - 15 minute rest in between.

If you start now, you will get really significant benefits in your threshold in 8 weeks - just in time for your tournament.

The second element is to build your lactic acid tolerance. (can you see the whole picture here now - firstly we try to delay the onset of lactic acid, then we just make sure you can deal with it when it comes).

LA Tol sets are hard - gut-wrenchingly hard. The very highest intensity you can manage for short periods 60 seconds generally, no more than 90. Then 2-3 minutes of ACTIVE recovery - bouncing, jogging slowly, but not stopping. Then again, and again, and again. If you are doing LA Tol correctly, you are likely to develop a thumping headache, and you might puke. All to be expected. All normal. LA Tol sets can be hill-running, so you are well set up there with your nearby hill. You can also do these on a bag, or if you have a training buddy, big-mitt. If you can manage say six reps of LA Tol initially, and build it up to say, 12, you will do very well.

LA Tols can be put on the off days from your anaerobic thresshold work.


If you would really like to understand this stuff, there are some excellent resources on the web.

For an intro do the whole concept -

Anaerobic exercise - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

for some more detail about its application:
Lactic Acid

Good luck (and happy puking!)

[Bloke]

Seienchin

Thanks for a really informative post - have some rep.

[seienchin]

Gee - thanks. Glad to be of help!

[ksan]

Gona write this down

Thnx Seienchin

[vapor]

write it down?....print it out and tape it to your ceiling so that it is the last thing you see before your sleep, and the first thing when you open your eyes in the morning!

All kidding aside, that was a great post seienchin!

vapor

[Shokei Marcsui]

First off. Excellent post Seinchin

LA Tol sets are hard - gut-wrenchingly hard. The very highest intensity you can manage for short periods 60 seconds generally, no more than 90. Then 2-3 minutes of ACTIVE recovery - bouncing, jogging slowly, but not stopping. Then again, and again, and again. If you are doing LA Tol correctly, you are likely to develop a thumping headache, and you might puke. All to be expected. All normal. LA Tol sets can be hill-running, so you are well set up there with your nearby hill. You can also do these on a bag, or if you have a training buddy, big-mitt. If you can manage say six reps of LA Tol initially, and build it up to say, 12, you will do very well.

I've also hear that this is called HIIT training. High Intensity Interval Training. What I read utilized shorter sets and shorter active recovery. 30 seconds high intensity, 30 seconds active recovery.. so on and so forth usually lasting 12 - 15 minutes.

For beginners: 15 seconds high intensity, 30 seconds active recovery, 15 seconds high intensity, 30 seconds active recovery working up to 12 minutes.

Increase intensity time and lenght of time as your body gets adjusted to the training.

High Intensity Interval Training

[seienchin]

Thanks everybody - it's good to have some discussion around the science. Marsui-san - I think that the 15 second effort interval is a little too short. My understanding is that this trains a different metabolic pathway - important in sprinting etc, but not so much so for a 3 min bout. However, these sets can be added to the regime I described without any negatives other than trying to sandwich 3 different types of base-training in around dojo training.

I agree that 60 seconds is longish, but really wouldn't recommend going below 30 seconds, even for a beginner. The really important things are to work incredibly hard, and have recovery long enough, and that is one place where my post may be a little conservative. Some of the literature recomends 1 min effort, 4 minutes rest.

Good to hear some other views on this - I am starting to feel sorry for StakKodama - when she reads all this she won't have any time left for training!

[Billy no mates]

Originally Posted by StarKodama

(Oh, and Billy's Boot Camp for 30 mins a week!! )

If you have free use of the resistance bands you use for the BBC then you could usefully incorporate them into the training schedules already suggested formed into a shortish oval or figure eight using you back as the anchor form up some handles in your fists and do your bag work like that or use a longer length round your waist for resistance during bag work if your partner uses it intelligently to put pressure on your punches and kicks(obviously without pulling you back to hard)it will really make you use you base and core to do techniques rather than just the limbs .

[Azimuth]

Get use to the 3 min workout and 30 sec rest and incorporate this in your
exercices so you will be able to FEEL the 3 min and recuperate faster after every round .

[sublimo]

I think one off the best way to train for stamina is to spar with fresh sparring partners.
We do that in the dojo and it give me the same feelings as fighting in a tournament. So you have a team off 5 persons. You make a 10 or 15 man kumite. Like an examination. ones a week!

The sparringspartners can rest and you dont off course! They have to fight @ high speed to exhaust you. You will feel the same exhausting feeling as at the tatami.

The other must give you instructions while you re fighting, that´s to train to listen to your coach while fighting.

succes!

[Kyokugen]

do hyakunnin kumite everyday,it is really good for stamina

[Anders]

Osu!!

Before a competition i always swim and doing round on the bag and you can do hillrunning but the best thing for me it was bag training but in rounds and
in bag traing you train footwork and you train stamina to hold up the tempo in the amounth of minuts your round are .

Anders

[vapor]

I hope that StarKodama has not been scared off from her own thread!!

Would love to hear her thoughts on the ideas that have been laid forth, and what she plans on incorporating into her training.

vapor