DOGMA (Part 1)

LPT: Recognize dogmatic teachers, influencers or "gurus" and always take their advice critically.

A few years ago, someone said something like

"Don't be stupid! Skip all those useless hours of "roadwork"! HIIT delivers the same results in a few minutes!"

No one wants to be stupid and waste time, but after decades of roadwork for solid endurance myself as a fighter and knowing that fighters in Thailand jog 20-60 km per week AND knowing how the top endurance athletes train ... I was sure there was something WRONG about this "HIIT-HYPE".

Fortunately I read "ultimate MMA conditioning" by Joel Jamieson, which deals with this subject in detail.

HIIT has its place in some top sport specific programs, but it's not the ultimate solution for every day.

RECOVERY

I always read recommended strength-training routines like

"train every other day"

"train every day"

"train every lift separated by 72 hours"

...and the list goes on.

Every recommend routine CAN work and there are people who proved it. 

The Point where most trainees mess the routines up is when they ADD OTHER ACTIVITIES.

Running, manual labour, martial arts and every other sports ADDED to "proven" routines can lead to stagnation, frustration, throwbacks or even injuries.

So, what's A GOOD ROUTINE FOR YOU to progress at all your activities?

Simplyfied:

Train > recover until ready again > train again...

This process is very individual.

You need to monitor the main body functions involved:

1. Has your heart muscle recovered sufficiently?

2. Has your nervous system recovered sufficiently?

3. Have the muscles, tendons and joints you want to train recovered sufficiently?

Check these three points every morning and decide on a daily base.

Ignoring any of these points can lead to suboptimal results or problems.

Depending on your daily effort, you can exercise every day or once a week.

Maximum effort tyres the nervous system.

Long and hard efforts fatigue your heart.

Very high volume training will cause your muscles, tendons and joints to take longer to recover.

Much better:

ADJUST YOUR EXERCISE EFFORTS AND EXERCISE MORE OFTEN!

A training-session of less than 35 minutes at low to moderate intensity and volume is a good starting point.

ADJUST TIME, INTENSITY AND VOLUME by careful trial and error until YOUR ROUTINE WORKS FOR YOU!

THE RIGHT PACE

Finding the right pace for running, swimming or cycling is easy. Wear a heart rate monitor and adjust your pace accordingly.

But how do I find my pace for juggling kettlebells, kicking the heavy bag, light sparring, or (in extreme cases) fighting without gassing out?

PACING!

Create your FLOWS!

A flow is a repeatable, short sequence of movements including breathing patterns. A good flow is well thought out and proven to work.

Examples:

kettlebell Long cycle

heavy bag training

Know your ZONES!

You need to know how many BPM your heart is beating while you can do the movements for hours, while the movements tire you out in 3-10 minutes, and of course your individual barrier to gassing out in less than a few minutes.

Find the right INTENSITY!

If you go full throttle, you'll get tired in less than a minute. The reason is that muscle tension blocks your blood flow. Without blood flow, your energy systems cannot recover. You gas out. Move fast and loose! You'll be surprised how much speed and power you can generate with this small change!

TEST!

Wear a heart rate monitor and repeat your flow with pauses between each flow. Use an interval timer with an audible signal to ensure you are moving at a set, repeatable pace. Start with longer pauses to find the right pace that you can sustain for hours. Note the flow, intensity, and time for future progress.

Reduce the breaks between each flow and find the pace you can sustain for 10 minutes. Reduce the breaks until you find the pace that gets your heart rate above your anaerobic threshold (the barrier) in less than 2 minutes.

PRACTICE!

Stay away from your barrier! Practice flow at a pace that is between your 10-minute pace and slower. Slower is better! 

IMPROVE!

Practicing flows is endurance training. Do not try to reinvent the wheel. This should be your guide.

COUNT your breaths!

You are practicing flow with an interval timer. Count your breaths to find your perfect pace. After a few training-sessions, you'll know how many breaths is just right. Check your heart rate. Reduce your breaths if you are advanced.

RESULT

The exercise of staying fast and loose in the right zone while counting breaths improves the ability to feel the right pace. Slowly the body adapts to faster tempos.

UNDER PRESSURE

In a competition or in a fight there is no timer. Especially in a real fight, you can't do the same flow 10 times in a row, but you can feel the right tempo and take breaths between the different flows by moving to the side or back.

COFFEE

I love coffee!

Dale Cooper loves coffee too!

You can't imagine how much I love coffee.

Some people can drink a lot of coffee, while others feel bad when too much Caffeine kicks in.

Unfortunately, I can't tolerate more than one cup of coffee a day.

Too much caffeine has many negative effects such as dehydration, anxiety, nervousness, insomnia, high blood pressure, prolonged QT intervals and palpitations.

Reconsider your daily dose if any of these symptoms sound familiar.

MY WARM-UP-ROUTINES

WARM-UP-ROUTINE FOR SQUAT

1 x 10 cat cow

1 x 5 goblet squats with loop-band at knees-level

1 x 10 hip side 2 side

1 x 5 single leg squats, rear foot elevated

1 x 10 airplane

WARM-UP-ROUTINE FOR DEADLIFT 

original strength resets

WARM-UP-ROUTINE FOR BENCH-PRESS

1x15 external rotation with band (hold 5 sec.)

1 x 20 prone II Y T M (raise, tempo 2-2-2) 

1 x 5-10 single arm bottom-up kettlebell-bench-press with loop-band

WARM-UP-ROUTINE FOR OVERHEAD-PRESS

1 x 15 prone T-lift

1 x 15 prone cactus-arms-lift

1 x 15 prone cactus-arms-lift with ext. Rotation

1 x 10 prone-snow-angel 

1 x 5-10 single arm bottom-up kettlebell-hold front to side

WARM-UP

I hate warm-ups, but they have an important place in my routine.

Do i need a warm-up?

The answer can't be "yes" or "no".

It depends!

Anybody who argues "yes" or "no" is wrong.

I don't have to warm-up for easy activities or 30 reps of an isolation-exercise with a light weight.

There is also no need for a warm-up before upper-body-exercises in the rep-range 10 reps per set or higher.

A warm-up is a must for any movement that could be called fast, explosive, hard or heavy.

Better warm-up a few minutes any movement-pattern with an abnormal limited range of motion, especially when pain is involved.

In this cases a warm-up extends training-time a bit for a lot of benefits and a lower risk of getting injured or unnecessary sore.  

"But i have never seen a leopard warming up before hunting down its prey!"

You are not a leopard and you will never be!

Better ask yourself:

Will a warm-up be a good and useful part of my training today?

PAIN

"Pain is temporary, glory forever!" I heard this stupid phrase a thousand times. It's a lie. Truth is:

"GLORY IS TEMPORARY, PAIN IS FOREVER!"

Punchline:

Don't do stupid things with a high risk of injuries just for the sake of a short rush of feeling accepted, respected or admired.

The motivation to risk your health or your life should always have a reasonable cause. The risky action must have the longterm cause to make you a much better person and / or helping the whole humanity.

It's the function of puberty to do just that:

Be fearless to take risks for feeding and protecting your family, your community and the whole humanity.

In the 1990s i was a successful PRO kickboxer.

I was young and naive.

My goals were...

...being accepted

...being respected

...being admired

...earning money doing my hobby...

Yes, i am thankful for all the experiences.

They made me a better person - the one i am today.

My list of injuries is long. Nearly every part of my body - from head to toe - were hurt. My arms, shoulders, back, legs and feet still hurt - and will hurt forever. Cardiac arrhythmias, athlete's heart, ... and the list goes on. That's the price i have to pay.

I share my experience.

Think twice.