Issue 048

April 2009

Barry Gibson is a kettlebell and fitness instructor based in North East England. 

A strength and conditioning trainer to MMA fighters, he holds a third dan in judo. Any questions or queries can be directed to [email protected]. Check out his DVD ‘Train Hard, Fight Easy and Win’, available from grapplefit.com 

In keeping with the minimalist ‘no excuses’ stance I took last month, I’m giving you some options with medicine balls. Regular readers will already be familiar with some drills I’ve covered in the past. This time though, I’m following on with the theme from last month’s workouts. Tabata (interval) workouts will give you some great returns in terms of fitness and body composition. 

The beauty of these short routines is that you get a massive carry-over to your fight game. Lactate tolerance is the order of the day. You need to be able to cope with the build-up of lactic acid, which will cause your arms and legs to feel like lead and slow your fight game to a snail’s pace! 

These two circuits will provide that tolerance. Your body will be able to buffer the lactic acid away more efficiently than had you been out running the streets at 5am. In keeping with the great article by Kevin Kearns (Issue 47), it’ll help make your midsection bullet proof! Let’s get into it. 

Use the Tabata format that suits your fitness level (as outlined in issue 47). Choose work/ rest intervals of 20 secs / 10 secs, 15 secs / 15 secs, or 10 secs / 20 secs. Ensure that you complete a full Tabata interval (four minutes) on one exercise before moving onto the next one. This should be fun! 

Perform the following back-to-back:

Circuit 1

Overhead Squat

Power-overs / Walk-overs

Slams

Overhead crunches 

Circuit 2

Squat-swing-jump

Slams

Close-grip press-up/offset press-up

Squat and push 

Each circuit will take you 16 minutes and you’ll feel like you’ve been dragged through a wringer when you’re done. Try to work as fast and intensely as possible or you won’t get as much out of it. Any questions, please feel free to contact me, but only if you’ve really worked hard on these drills!