REAL Strength and Power Training for the Martial Artist, Part One

 

Years ago, when I was a regular columnist for Ironman Magazine, I wrote an article in which I said, "bodybuilding has ruined strength training in America."  I'm pretty sure that I got more hate mail from that ONE article than all my others put together, and I wrote a LOT of articles for Ironman in the '90s and the early years of this century, so that's saying something.  But I stand by that statement.  Now, you may ask yourself, why am I beginning an article on strength training for martial artists with an anecdote I wrote for a bodybuilding magazine that most martial artists are never going to read?  And the reason is simple: bodybuilding has also ruined martial arts strength training in America.  Why?  Most martial artists who take up weight training in this country are greatly influenced by bodybuilding-style training, whether they know it or not, the kind of training that relies on multiple sets of multiple reps in order to achieve results.  And they are influenced by it because every gym in America is influenced by it!  For instance, if you could go register for a "personal training" session at every gym in any city that you live in (assuming you live in America), then every single personal trainer (who almost never actually "personalize" their programs to any considerable degree, by the way, but I'll try to stay off my high horse) with some sort of multiple sets of multiple reps approach.

And for martial artists, that approach sucks!  So let's break down just why this approach sucks for building strength and power, specifically the sort of explosive strength needed by the martial artist.  And forgive me if some of what follows is a little "geeky" at times.  I will try to keep it as down-to-earth and approachable as possible.

First, to be fair to all of the "ignorant" personal trainers I have already mentioned, many people train with the multiple sets of multiple reps approach because they have never even considered there might be another - and much BETTER - way to train!  (If you are a first-time reader of my blog, then you may not be knowledgeable about these other approaches.  If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you probably know just where the hell I'm going with all this, but I would still advise reading the rest of this post - there might be some insights that you haven't thought of yet.)  From now on, we will call this approach to training the "repetition method" to distinguish it from the other forms of training that I will recommend for the dedicated martial artist.

If you are not familiar with what I have coined the "repetition method", or don't know what I mean by a "multiple sets of multiple reps" approach, this is the form of training where you perform several sets per exercise (typically 3 to 4) and perform each set for multiple reps.  The general recommendation for someone using this method is 6 to 12 repetitions per set.  In addition, depending on the number of days per week that each bodypart is trained, 2 to 5 exercises are typically used per bodypart.  Most bodybuilding methodologies use a "split" workout program (which is also problematic for the martial artist, but we will save this argument for later in this series) using multiple sets of multiple reps for each bodypart, and taking off anywhere from 5 to 7 days between sessions, thus allowing them to take advantage of the muscle-building benefits of this training.  And, the fact is, if you are solely interested in building an aesthetic physique that has a LOT of muscle mass on it, but you don't care at all about how strong or powerful you are (no pro bodybuilder cares how strong his front kick is), then the repetition method really IS an ideal form of training.  Here is an example workout for your chest if performing this sort of program:

CHEST WORKOUT for Bodybuilders:

Incline Bench Press: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps

Flat Dumbbell Bench Press: 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps

Incline Dumbbell Flyes: 3 to 4 sets of 10 to 12 reps

Cable Crossovers: 3 to 4 sets of 12 to 16 reps

You would perform this workout once every 5 to 7 days, depending on the kind of split you were using, recovery ability, your "ability" to recruit muscle fibers (an advanced bodybuilder can recruit a lot more in fewer sets) - that kind of thing.

This is the kind of training that I often refer to on this blog as "high-volume, high-intensity, low-frequency" training.  The gist of my argument is this: You must learn to properly manipulate 3 variables in order to achieve success: volume, intensity, frequency.  Two of the factors must be high, and the other factor must be low.  You can manipulate them however you want to, and, in fact, on this blog I almost always push the other two methods: high-intensity, high-frequency, low-volume or high-volume, high-frequency, low-intensity.  You will find, for instance, plenty of posts on my blog that deal with high-frequency training - often HFT for short - and this is almost always the sort of articles I wrote for Ironman and Planet Muscle.  (The legendary Jeff Everson owned Planet Muscle, and he was genuinely one of the nicest people I ever met or worked for in the bodybuilding industry.)  There are quite a few reasons that I believe either iteration of high-frequency training is better than the low-frequency bodybuilding approach.  But the high-volume, high-intensity, low-frequency method can and does work, especially for the sort of bodybuilder that responds to it well.  (This isn't the place for a discussion on anabolic steroids, but steroid users respond very well to this approach.)  I think the main reason for the popularity of this approach - and its success among a great many - is because it is, by far, the easiest of the methods to "program".  In fact, it's so easy, that all you really need to do is go to the gym, bust your ass on a bodypart for an hour, and then rest that bodypart for a week before training it again.  Right there, you have accomplished high-volume (an hour of training on one bodypart), high-intensity (assuming you truly did bust your ass) and low-frequency (once per week) with relative programming ease.  (This is why, at the office or school, you may hear casual lifters say that today is "arm day" or "chest day" - this is their approach.)  The same cannot be said for the other two approaches.  Even though they are by far superior (for the martial artist that needs strength and power, especially without gaining weight) they require for you  to put the time in to learn to program them!

I discovered first-hand for myself several years ago why the repetition/bodybuilding methods are not ideal for building as much strength and power as possible.  Over 20 years ago, I competed in a powerlifting meet where I wanted to attempt to break the American record in the raw* squat.  The night before the meet, I weighed 163.  The next day, I was one of the lighter lifters at the meet - most were well over 200 pounds, and many competed in the 275 lb class or even the Super-heavyweight division, and there were between 50 and 75 lifters!  And most of the guys in my weight class or lower ones were decidedly stockier than I was, so I probably looked too tall for the 165-pound division (at almost 5'7").  But when the dust settled on the squat rack (for those of you who don't know, powerlifting involves competing in the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift, in that order, with the weights of each heaviest lift totaled together to find the winner), I was stronger than all but 3 men despite the fact that the only lift I made in the squat was my opener with 510 pounds.

The casual observer that day - and this is NO exaggeration - would have probably picked me as one of the weaker men in the competition if they just looked at the physiques of all of the competitors.  And why?  Because a lot of the men were walking around with massive arms and chests, not to mention legs, the very bodypart needed for a big squat.  So they definitely looked strong.  But I knew that I had a secret weapon: my training, and the fact that I never used the repetition method when getting ready for powerlifting meets.  You see, most of those big guys - even though they were very strong compared to the average man on the street - trained with bodybuilding style workouts, and even though many of them did use low reps before the meet, they still utilized the high-volume, high-intensity, low-frequency module of training.  And if you haven't figured it out yet, that sort of training sucks for building explosive power and strength.

Since the time I competed in that powerlifting meet all those years ago, things have gotten better in the martial arts strength training world.  At least, it has for those in the know.  When I competed then, MMA was in its infancy, but the rise of MMA has meant the rise of good training methodologies for the martial artist.  But the problem is that many casual martial artists, the kind who train at local dojos and dojangs (as I do) don't apply what has been learned in the cage to their training.  This series will try to rectify that for anyone who just takes the time to read it!

In Part Two, we will look at "intermuscular" and "intramuscular" strength and power-building.  Also, you will learn why the following methods are all superior to the repetition method: the "dynamic effort" method, the "max effort" method and the "set" method.  In addition, I will discuss the benefits of full-body workouts over "split" programs**.  I will try to have the next part up within a week.

*For those of you who aren't immersed in the world of powerlifting, a lot of powerlifters compete in "equipped" meets, where they are allowed to wear double (or even triple) ply squat uniforms and bench press shirts.  I could squat about 100 pounds more with a squat suit than without one, and I only wore a single ply suit!

**If you don't wish to wait until the next post, you can always scour my blog for many of the methodologies that will be discussed.