More than any other attribute, stamina is probably the most important for a martial artist. The fact is that it is EXTREMELY easy to run out of fuel during a fight and the more stressful the situation, the more adrenaline pumping through his body, the easier it will be to run out of energy. Your technique becomes sloppy, you lose power, you let your guard down, your footwork slows, your will weakens, and you become more and more helpless with each exchange.
It’s important to train to last in a fight. But this means knowing exactly HOW to train. There are different types of resistance and you need to know what they are and how to get them.
The different types of endurance are aerobic endurance, anaerobic endurance, and muscular endurance. Aerobic endurance is the kind of endurance marathon runners need. It is the ability to last a long time at a constant rate.
Anaerobic endurance is necessary for running. It’s the kind of endurance that allows you to explode with all your energy and last longer than average, as well as recover faster.
Muscular endurance is the ability of your muscles to continue prolonged activity without failing. Do you remember doing wall squats in PE, feeling like your legs were burning? That requires muscular endurance to maintain for a long time.
As a martial arts athlete you will need all 3, although the most important will be your anaerobic endurance, followed by muscular endurance and finally aerobic endurance. You must be able to explode with combinations consistently throughout your fight, never tire of throwing punches and kicks, and hang in there until the end.
Basic exercises like running and lifting weights are obvious tools for developing these skills. But there are some unique exercises that martial artists can use to develop all 3 that relate specifically to the needs of the martial artist.
I will offer 3 exercises that you can add to your martial arts workout routine to start building your fighting stamina. Just remember, stamina takes time to build up and is easy to lose. So stay consistent, have fun with the exercises, and change them often to keep them fresh.
Drill #1: Punch Out.
This drill requires a heavy bag or a partner holding a kicking shield. You’ll also need a watch with a highly visible second hand or a partner with a stopwatch. Start with 3 rounds of 3 minutes. For 30 seconds, you’re going to punch the heavy bag, primarily looking for power. Keep the pace slower and alternate hands, putting your whole body into each punch. After 30 seconds pick up the pace and look for more speed and less power. Do this for 20 seconds. Finally, after the 20 seconds are up, finish with 10 seconds of full speed punches to the back. Don’t worry too much about power. Just hit the bag as many times as you can in those 10 seconds. And remember to breathe. After the 10 seconds are up, go back to 30 seconds of power punches. Complete the cycle 3 times for a 3 minute round.
You can also vary the times to make them 1 or 2 cycle laps. For example, a 1-cycle round would involve hitting for 1 minute and 30 seconds, then 1 minute, then ending with 30 seconds. Also, as your skill increases, you can increase the length of the 5-minute rounds or increase the number of rounds.
Exercise #2: The finisher.
This exercise is best done with a partner holding the focus mitts or Thai pads, but can also be performed on the heavy bag. Although you can substitute any punch, the combination I use is Straight, Cross, Front Hook, Back Hook, Front Uppercut, Back Uppercut. This drill is called The Finisher because your mindset in all of this should be that you’re going to knock out with every single punch. Maximum power, maximum speed. Start by throwing the combination once. Take a short break, just long enough to catch your breath. He then throws the combination twice without any rest between the two. It should look like a perfect 12 punch combination. Again, just a few seconds of rest. Then throw the combo 3 times, again like a long combo. Do this up to 5. Then pyramid down from 5 to 1.
The key is to really put everything you’ve got into every shot. To do this, you could imagine that it’s the last 10 seconds of the final round and you’ve just stunned your opponent, with this last chance to take them out. Or he could imagine coming home to find an attacker attacking his family. Whatever gets your blood pumping. He should be hitting so violently that his partner is forced back by his combinations.
You can change the combination, go from 1 to a high number or from a high number to 1 instead of pyramid, or add a kick to the end of each set to change the exercise.
Exercise #3: Chain of kicks.
This is a great exercise if there are at least 4 of you and you are feeling a bit competitive. You and your partner put on Thai pads or focus gloves and stand facing each other. Start by throwing a combination of kicks to the pads (we vary the kicks a lot, but a basic series could be front front kick, front round kick, back round kick, side kick, spinning back kick). As soon as you’re done, immediately set the pads for your partner, moving back to open up the distance after each kick so he has to constantly move forward and you keep moving between your sets of kicks. The first training pair to complete the chain of kicks 5 times each wins. Take a short break and then repeat. Best 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 5 wins everything.
You can increase the challenge of this exercise by not only changing the type of kicks, the number of kicks, or the number of sets, but also by doing some or all of the kicks to the body or kicks to the head.
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