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MARTIAL FITNESS
Modern martial artists have many advantages over those training just ten years ago. Through the application of sport sciences, athletic performance is far better understood.
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>By understanding your body you can get the most out of it
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This means that athletes of all kinds are training more intelligently, progressing faster and further than before. The Martial arts are also reaping the rewards of this modern approach. Of course traditional training is the core of martial arts, but with a greater understanding of your body and the way it functions you can train far more effectively, with less injury and greater capacity for recovery.
Complimenting your training in this way ensures that you not only train hard, but also train smart. All of you valuable energy should be spent training in a relevant way. It is easy to spend considerable time and energy working in way that will not contribute greatly to your end goal. Sprinting is only the quickest way to get somewhere if you are running in the right direction!
It’s therefore important to understand the nature of our chosen activity, and determine the specific demands that it places on our body, and how we want it to react?
We’ll begin by looking at the three basic energy systems that power your movements.
Energy for Movement
Skeletal muscles generate movement by contracting individual fibres resulting in an overall shortening in length. This ‘pull’ effect is directly translated to the skeletal system moving the body as a series of mechanical levers.
Alactic Energy System
For muscles to contract they need energy, and this comes from the breakdown of adenosine triphosphate or ATP, which is a high-energy compound stored in muscle cells. There is only a limited amount of this compound, only enough for you to function ‘flat out’ for about ten seconds. This energy system is called the alactic system, and doesn’t directly use oxygen.
Lactic System
Beyond this point the body begins to breakdown food, turning it into energy for muscle contraction. However, this process requires oxygen. During intense exercise if your cardio-respiratory system is unable to supply oxygen quickly enough then a waste product begins to build up. This lactic acid builds in the muscles and blood causing fatigue and eventually pain and stiffness. The shortage of oxygen will have created an oxygen dept that is repaid after vigorous exercise with heavy breathing! During this process the body breaks down the lactic acid allowing muscle contraction to continue effectively. The lactic energy system provides enough energy for up to two minutes of intense exercise.
Aerobic System
When exercising at a steady state, your cardio-respiratory system can supply enough oxygen to prevent the build up of lactic acid in your muscles. This energy system can continue for as long as you wish (as long as you continue to breathe and no lactic waste builds up in the muscles). As soon as you work too hard, exceeding your aerobic capacity, lactic acid will form and you will begin using the lactic energy system.
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>Graph showing energy system utilisation vs time
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Martial Arts and the Energy Systems
All activities begin with the alactic phase and then gradually transition onto either the lactic or aerobic systems, depending on your level of intensity. Martial arts use all three energy systems at various points. However, the way in which you train will dictate how your body will function during each of the three systems.
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>Martial artists predominantly use the lactic energy system
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General steady state aerobic training such as running will improve your aerobic capacity, meaning that you will be more efficient at supplying oxygen to your muscles. This in turn reduces the build up of lactic acid and increases your endurance capacity. But because sparring is high intensity and usually structured in two or three minute rounds, your body will predominately use the lactic system.
Timer Training
The key to developing a body that will function under the required conditions is to regularly train under the same circumstances. In a physiological sense, these conditions primarily consist of two main elements: intensity and duration.
Subdividing your training activities into rounds will force your body to adapt, increasing efficiency and improving physical performance.
Regular intense round training will increase the amount of ATP or high-energy compound stored in the muscles, this will allow a higher work rate for up to ten seconds of activity. The body’s ability to process energy in the absence of oxygen also improves meaning that you can exercise longer before feeling the effects of fatigue. You will also benefit from improved buffering capacity in the muscle, enabling greater tolerance of the lactic acid waste product, preventing interference with muscle contraction. You’ll be able to work for longer durations and at higher levels of acidity.
At Martial Concept we have developed a timer training CD which provides audio ‘beeps’ indicating automated round timing of one, two and three minutes with respective rest intervals of fifteen, thirty and sixty seconds. This is combined with over an hour of motivating ‘continuous mix’ dance music. This purpose built tool allows you to easily train in a structured way maximising your training sessions.
Any training activities can easily be structuring into timed rounds to force your body to adapt. Whether it’s callisthenic exercises (such as press-ups and sit-ups) or kumite, training intensely for durations of one to three minutes will condition the muscles to function using the lactic system. With a better understanding of the way that your body works you can begin to train specifically to get the most out of your martial art.
Next month we will look at speed training for martial arts.
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