martial-athlete

I have to agree to those of you that speak against bouncing your head against the mats. You need to take care of your mellon. Being impecable in your eyes open blocking practise is also crutial. That said, some impacts are unavoidable in the combative arena and are just part of what we all love. I didn't see anyone talking about the TMJ (temporal mandibular joint). This is the spot where the jaw joins with the skull. The jaw is only held to the skull with muscle, not ligament. This means that we get a fair bit more mobility out of this joint. If you've ever seen a slow motion video of a facial punch then you know what I mean? Additionally, the skull is only 1/16 of an inch thick at the TMJ meaning that any impact on the jaw causes that jaw to impact the skull where the force is transfered directly to the brain . You probably know this as a ''glass jaw''. Enter to jaw joint protector. There are a couple companies that produce this up/down mouth guard that actually pushes and holds the jaw forward about 1/4 of and inch. This gives a little impact cushion thereby negating the "glass jaw" syndrom. My personal experince with this type of mouthguard was fantastic. I could take far more tags on the head when using it. However it does take some getting used to. google the wipps mouthguard for more info.

The hundred push-up goal is impressive but you may want to ask yourself what it adds to your martial arts specfic skill and training. while 100 push-ups is a great goal it will only build your muscular endurance not your explosiveness...aka speed-strength. If your gola is to train with a sport-specific goal in mind look towards excercises that will help you achieve that goal

check out the "stamina" thread posted by white lily Kraig Devlin

White lily, Lactic Acid is a waste produced during anaerobic excercise...it is also converted to lactate by the body which is in turn used to create more ATP to fuel your muscles. This conversion process is also where creatine is needed. The vomitig bit is caused by enlaged blood vessels in the legs...enlarged from the sprinting/movement...after you stop the blood will pool in you legs effectivly robbing it from the rest of you body....thereby creating a low blood pressure stiuation...making you feel poorly and vomiting. I would choose excercises that use large muscle groups just as the others have advised. sprinting is a great one...think about keeping things explosive kraig Devlin

these stability balls are a great tool for all levels. get a good bok are go for it...check out ballbearings.org. The three authors are friends of mine and they have produced a great book. Kraig Devlin martial-athlete.com

White Lily, Stamina can have many definitions. Some people think of stamina as running a 10kms / 6 miles in a sub 40 minute time. Others think of it as completing a marathon. Others still, think of going 10 rounds a measure of stamina. What ever your measuring stick, it must be specific to the sport you play or art you study. As a martial artist you are probably asking about stamina in your training and competition. With this in mind, you should work towards doing activities and exercises that directly correspond to your final goal. If you want to have better stamina on the mat and develop a sport-specific plan to increase you wind you need to know a few things first. The fuel system that you will be training involves the use of muscularly stored glycogen (glucose) and ATP You will producing lactic acid at a rate faster than what you can clear it which means that you will be feeling that metallic mouth, tired feeling Your maximum heart rate and 85% of that rate. This will be your measure of intensity here You always want to be fighting at maximum intensity. By intensity we mean maximum speed and power. Any drop in intensity means you are slower and less forceful with your movements. Of course, this makes you far less effective on the mats. In fact one of the best ways to increase your stamina is to train beyond your limits, rest, then push past your limits again. This is known as interval training. The recommended method to apply interval training is to first look at the work to rest ratio of your event and the desired intensity. Do you work for ten seconds and rest for five? Carefully watch your self on video or watch the best in you event and see how they work. You could use a heart rate (HR) monitor (or you own fingers) and measure you HR during your fight or training. This represents you working intensity. Now find a hill and run up it as fast as you can for as long as you can. Do it 2 more time after resting for a few minutes (5-10). This is you maximum HR. You can also subtract your age from 220 to estimate your max HR. Now figure out you working intensity by dividing your working HR by your max HR. Your percentage should be above 75% In general, at 90-100% of maximal power output the phosphagen system is the predominate energy system and can only last for 5-10 seconds. The corresponding rest period should be from 1-3 minutes. This allows for complete recovery and represents a 1:12 to 1:20 work to rest ratio. At 75-90% maximal output, the exercise duration should be 15-30 second with the rest period being from 45 seconds to 2 1/2 minutes. This is a 1:3 to 1:5 work to rest ratio. As you can see, the less intensity the shorter the rest period. You should always think about keeping your intensity as high as possible when you train because that is how you should fight. Now just pick an exercise and an intensity and do some intervals. Start with 3-5 sets 2 times/week. Some sort of sprinting would be best, I like hill sprints myself. Add one set every 2-3 weeks. Keep your days/week to 2…maybe 3. It will take 6 weeks to really notice some changes Remember to warm up and to cool down…If you just stop at the end your blood may pool in your legs a bring on a bout of vomiting. Yuck!...I've had this happen. With this training you will be also increase your ability to clear to accumulation of lactic acid in your system which will give you the ability to go harder for longer Hope this helps and have fun! Kraig Devlin Martial-Athlete.com

The calf muscle is an interesting grouping. The gastroc is mostly fast twitch fibers designed of running, jumping etc...explosive movments. The soleus on the other hand is mostly slow twich fibers used for balance during prolonged preiod of standing This said, to fully develope this are you may want to consider a combination of balancing and skipping/jumping...one legged stands, wobble boards, sit-fits, skipping, sprinting, weighted calf raises will all provide benifit also, consider that strength and stamina are 2 sides of the same coin...for example. a person that can lift 100 pounds easily will have an easier time lifting 10 pounds than a person who lifts only 20 lbs easily. 10 pounds is only 10% of what person #1 can lift whereas 10 pounds is 50% of what person #2 can lift. person !3 will be able to go indefinately but #2 will only do 10-15 reps...maybe 20

I find this to be one of the best hand-eye, combat specific excercises that I have come across. It is also a form of eye traing. just stand in front of your partner with-in stricking distance. one person attacks one defends. Targets can be ears, top of head, belt knot...all of these or just one. loose open hands are used to attack these areas as well as defend. relaxation is key. your speed must be slow to start...feint/faking increases to difficulty. progress to using a fighting stance, attack/defend simutaneously, one hand against 2 hands, standing on one foot....endless other combinations this is not a body distancing excercise so stay toe to toe in a stance or just within arms reach if you are standing up.

I find this to be one of the best hand-eye, combat specific excercises that I have come across. It is also a from of eye traing. just stand in front of your partner with-in stricking distance. one person attacks one defends. Targets can be ears, top of head, belt knot...all of these or just one. loose open hands are used to attack these areas as well as defend. relaxation is key. your speed must be slow to start...feint/faking increases to difficulty. progress to using a fighting stance, attack/defend simutaneously, one hand against 2 hands, standing on one foot....endless other combinations this is not a body distancing excercise so stay toe to toe in a stance or just within arms reach if you are standing up.

just to add a few things to this great thread and to Jules' info...we can't forget the role of the muscle fibers and their twitch capabilities nor the function of nervous system. the rep range is fueled by the energy systems as Jules posted but the reps also determine the muscle fiber that is active. 1-5 reps will stimulate and develope your fast twitch fibers as well as fatigue the nerves controling the muscle group. It will also devlope strength without mush muscle mass increase. This strenght can be used as a base on witch to build power by the addition of plyometrics and explosive lifts (IE olympic lifts). You must use a 1-5+ ( some say 1-10 or 15) work-rest ratio in order to allow your muscle fuel ATP and your nervous system to regenerate. Even lifting a heavy weight slowly but with the "intent" to move it fast will stimulate to fast twitch fibers 6-8 reps build your strength and your mass. The fast tywich fibers are also being stimulated as in the above example but you will pushing their limits. The fast twich fibers are capable of greater intensity (weight) than the slow twich fiber. This means that they can lift more weight than slow twitch. A shorter rest time will not allow the nervous or energy (fuel) systems to regenerate which helps to force the muscle to adapt by growing. This size increase is what the bodybuilding method is all about. 9-12 reps will give you more size but not as much strength. Fast twitch and slow fibers are being stimuated but you will be forcing the muscle fibers to increase in size rather than just training the nervous system to stimulate you fibers more forcefully like in the 1-5 rep range above 12 reps and you are getting local muscular endurance adaptation with not much size or strength. this said nothing in the body works in islolation... every muscle, nerve and energy system blends into the other which is why we must always train our whole body... training you mind doesn't hurt to.

Just a couple more things to chew on...the reps that you perform in each set determines which muscle fibers and neural pathways you are stimulating to adapt...1-5 reps devolops strength with out much muscle size increase...6-8 devolopes some mass and some strength...8-12 devlopes mostly mass but less strength...above 12 reps is great for local muscular endurance. so, depending on what your traing goals are you can achieve any of the above factors by training within the correst rep range have fun!

I have recieved great benifits from years of knuckle training in my early years...doing both push-ups, jumping push-ups,makiwara/bag traininng...just go slowly to give you body time to adjust...and the first 2 knuckles are the ones to train

I don't think you can view it on line...it was published in june 1999 issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning. The researchers were Wallace and Flanagan...you may be able to order back copies though

You can't really think about a punch coming from just a few muscles...in fact the whole body must be involved. Actually a recent study in this area concluded that a punch generates 39% of its power from the legs, 37%from the torso and 24% from the arms. You must train the whole body! Flying Tiger I am just releasing the POWER PUNCH training program and could send you an advanced copy for you review. It could use some field testing and review...drop me a line if you are interested..or chech out the write up at my website

kciking is an art all to itself..I like to thing of the "hardness" or "power" of the kick coming from its speed not from itsstrength...even though they must go hand in hand. I would look first to increasing your speed through skipping or some other light plyometric movement...then move on to some harder plyo movements along with correct technical practise and strength traning.

I too have looked at the website and would love to see a review

to really lear how to dodge and evade you need to have the visual stimulus of an object coming towards you...solo traing is OK bu a punching partner is better... also see what your eyes are doing...make sure you are not blinking

If tyou want to improve you punching power...keep you hands under your shoulders, not out too wide. Also, think about what you want to achieve with the movement...strength?keep your reps under 5...strength and size increase?reps between 6 and 8....size only?keep you reps between 9 and 12. Once you have a foundation..say after a few months, you can start to add some sort of resistance to keep reps to the #s mentioned

Vitiams are worth the money and the effort as long as you are eating well also. Check out coryholly.com