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OBEYING THE TEMPO PART 1
Those familiar with Muay Thai will recognise the effects of music tempo on physical activity.
During a Muay Thai bout live musicians play an accompaniment to the action. During the first round the music is played at a slower tempo as the fighters measure each other, and by the final round the music is far quicker. Also, during moments of excitement the music is played quicker still, urging the fighters to work even harder! Capoeira also utilises music to dictate the rhythm of its movements. Again the music tempo varies, affecting the style and pace of the game. The speed of any physical activity will subconsciously be affected by the tempo of an audible rhythm. This article explores how this effect can be used to influence your own training.
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>Tempo varies during competition
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Changing Pace
It goes without saying that the quicker your working tempo that the more oxygen you’ll consume and the higher your heart-rate. Your work-rate will also determine the way that your body will supply energy for muscle contraction. Even within any one round of competition the fight tempo varies between intense attacking bursts and slower recovery periods spent circling and manoeuvring. Duplicating more closely this change of pace will better prepare you for competition or self-protection, by making your body adapt to these conditions.
Using a varied tempo sound source while training will subconsciously force you to synchronise your body movements to the rhythm. This can make you work harder without demanding conscious effort. By working through different intensity intervals you can create a very demanding and engaging training session whether it’s skipping, padwork or sparring.
Varied Tempo Training
The optimum number of different tempos for your training is four. This provides enough variety without making it too difficult to distinguish between the different work-rates. These four levels can be described as follows:
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>Tempo varies during competition
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1. Walking Pace (25% effort)
2. Jogging Pace (50% effort)
3. Running Pace (75% effort)
4. Sprint Pace (100% effort)
I like the analogy of walking through to sprinting as this provides clear definitions of the required intensity levels. Each level is achieved by adjusting both your applied speed and force. The quicker you work – the harder you work, and the more forcefully you work – the harder you work. A good duration for a varied tempo round is 4-minutes because some of the work is carried out at a deliberately slow pace, and this recovery will allow you to work longer to push fitness levels further. My experimentation has indicated that each tempo segment should last 15-seconds. This both places appropriate demands on your energy systems, and conveniently divides each minute into quarters (matching the number of intensity levels).
The precise tempo required for each level of intensity will vary depending on your chosen activity. Bagwork, padwork sparring and shadow sparring all use the same range of tempos. General callisthenics (press-ups, sit-ups etc.) use slower tempos, while skipping and sprint running use the quickest tempos of all.
Next month we’ll look specifically at Varied Tempo Training ideas for padwork and bagwork.
If you’d like a head start then take a look at some of the demonstration video clips. You can also start Varied Tempo Training yourself straight away by downloading one of the purpose designed MP3 files for just £2.00.
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