Issue 037
May 2008
By Alex Gold
One of the most important things when training is to know what you are training for. People who are training to ‘get fit’ are naturally going to be less focused and motivated than those who have a competition with a fixed date to train towards. However, if you do not currently compete, you can still maintain your focus and training quality by setting some simple targets.
The easiest way to remove a sense of urgency and the desire to progress from your training is to decide to ‘work out’ or ‘get fit’. The reason for this is that neither of these are goals in the real sense of the word, since a goal requires you to know if you’ve achieved it or not, and you cannot make that distinction in relation to either of the previous statements. If you are competing fighter, athlete or similar your goals are normally forced on you, but if you currently have no goals here are some tips for where to start:
1. Set a definable goal.
To give an example, ‘get in shape’ is not a goal you can tick off once achieved. ‘Get to 10% body fat’ gives you a specific number to aim for. ‘Be able to run better’ is a vague goal. ‘Run ten kilometres in under sixty minutes’ is something you can or cannot achieve, there can be no argument. Try to make any goals you have for your training specific enough that anyone reading them knows exactly what they mean.
2. Set a deadline.
A goal without a deadline leaves another factor open for debate, and makes it very easy to put off workouts until another day! Having a deadline keeps your focus on the task at hand, and makes it much easier to push through the difficult times, turn down the bad food when it’s offered, and so on. Compare the focus of a professional fighter who has a fight coming up in a month’s time with that of a guy who trains and ‘plans to compete one day’. I would bet I could guess which guy that will be there at 5 a.m. in the freezing cold for a conditioning session!
3. Make a plan of how to achieve the goal.
So now you have a goal, and you know when you want to achieve it by. So how are you going to get there? For instance, if your goal is to be able to fight three five-minute rounds, what will you need to do to be able to achieve this? How many times a week will you need to train? Is there any equipment you will need? Do you need input or help from someone else? Think of it like a journey, and make a road map to your goal.
4. Stick to the plan!
Many people fail even before step one, but even if you have got this far – do not relax yet! I am sure you can think of many instances in your own life and those of people around you where someone says they want to do something, and years later are still saying the same thing, having done nothing towards achieving it. Keep your goal in mind, stick to the plan and do not give up! Remember that, especially in training, you are the only one that can decide if you are going to do what is required. No one can do the workouts for you, no one can eat the right food for you, and it is all down to you. At the end of it all, you have to look in the mirror and decide if you gave it your all, and if you didn’t, you have no excuses and will never know what you could have achieved.
5. Analyse your results and improve the plan for next time.
After you have reached your deadline, you will have either achieved your goal or not. Either way, it will be extremely beneficial at this time to sit down and look through your training logs (you do have a training log, right?). Think about everything you did and evaluate if there is anything you could improve next time to take you towards your new goals. Remember, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results, so ensure that you do not make the same mistakes (if any) again.
ASK ALEX
Hi Alex, can you help me with a strength and weight training programme? I’ve been lifting for a while now, I am in my mid twenties and have had many give me advice on what or how much lifting I should do for combat sports like MMA. I train Muay Thai and submission grappling, I take private lessons of both disciplines twice a week Monday and Thursday and train with friends and my brother in the week in both disciplines, but I would like to ask what is the best way to achieve explosiveness and strength in regards to lifting. I train yoga for flexibility and do my sprints, rowing, sledge hammer training, kettlebell swings and many of the rosstraining.com bodyweight exercises, but I’m not quite sure with my lifting, as some say many reps like 25 reps with three or five sets, and others say 10 sets with three to five reps. My lifting mainly consists of the main big lifts like deadlift, squat, clean and press, flat bench also throwing and catching a weight light enough. Also using dumbbells, like single bench press, overhead press, back row (which I have been told helps with punching power) and cable crossover to simulate punching action (which I saw Wanderlei Silva do on UFC All Access). What amount of reps and sets will improve punching power, all body explosiveness and all round strength for MMA? Also if you can suggest any other exercises I would be very grateful.
Johnny,
All loads, sets and reps can be useful at different point of the training plan, and changing any one of them will change the effect the training has on the body. However as a basic guideline, mixed martial artists will be best off spending most of their weight training time either working low reps for strength and power or relatively high reps (around 20) for endurance and lactic acid tolerance. MMA requires more strength than boxing, but I would still advise that two strength training sessions a week should be sufficient the majority of the time. Remember you are not training to specifically increase your bench press or any other lift, so make sure you do not overwork in the weight room and take recovery ability away from your sport training.
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