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

 A couple of months ago, I wrote the first part of this series on SERIOUS strength and power training for martial artists and other "combat" athletes.  When I wrote that first piece, I expected to write the second part within a week, and I should have already finished the series.  But life has plans of its own sometimes.  A few days after I wrote Part One, a dear friend of mine since my childhood died unexpectedly.  It has been very hard on me and my family, and is the reason the only thing I have even "felt" like writing since that time was my continued series on The Dokkodo.  But I finally sat down at my computer this morning, and realized that I really want to begin writing again.  And writing more than I had previously been doing.  When death intrudes upon your life, it can often spur you to concentrate on the things that do matter in life, the things that are important to you, and the things that you want to leave behind you when you leave this world.

With that out of the way, on with Part Two...

REAL Strength and Power Training for the Martial Artist
Part Two: The Dynamic Effort and Maximal Effort Methods of Training

C.S. squatting almost 500 pounds at a bodyweight of 172, the result of the sort of training discussed in this series.

In Part One - please read it before continuing with this piece, if you haven't done so already - I mentioned how bodybuilding-style workouts are NOT the sort of workouts that you need to be doing, and then I discussed the kind of training that you SHOULD do, but I didn't explain what that training should look like in any detail.  So in this piece we are going to cover the first two of the three methods that can be used by the martial artist for building serious amounts of explosive power and strength.  These methods are:

• the dynamic effort method
• the max effort method
• the "set" method

The first two methods should be used in conjunction with one another, while the third method should be used by itself, "supplementary" methods of training withstanding.  But we will also discuss these supplementary training methods, even the "repetition method" (bodybuilding-style training) that I sort of railed against in our first entry.  Supplementary methods of training are just that: supplements to the three above training methods.

Once you understand the methods, then we will discuss proper programming in a further installment.  If you don't understand how to program a training regimen, then you will never be successful at devising a really good resistance program for your martial arts training.  And in order to properly program a training system, you must learn to manipulate the 3 training variables of frequency, volume, and intensity.  (I have written and discussed this ad nauseam on my blog over the years, but in this series I will focus specifically on how the martial artist should manipulate these three variables.)

Dynamic Effort and Max Effort Training

But before we can get around to program design, let's discuss two of the three methods, beginning with the dynamic effort method and the max effort method of training.  These should, in some way - and that's where the "programming" will come in later - be utilized together in one program.  How much of each one, and how often, and how much accessory work will be used in addition to these two methods is what the programming will take care of based on the specific needs/goals of the martial artist.  So, first, let's make sure we understand both the dynamic effort method and the max effort method, and the "why" of them being used, very necessarily, together.  In my next installment, I will cover the "set" method, and explain it juxtaposed against these two methods.

Dynamic Effort

The dynamic effort method is a form of training that uses "explosive" or "speed" sets done in a high-set, low-rep workout.  The range of sets/reps can fall anywhere between 6 to 15 sets for 1 to 4 repetitions per set (although, in my powerlifting "heyday" I did experiment with sets in the 20 to 30 range, and it was simply too much).  In order to optimize the amount of speed, the weight lifted should neither be too heavy nor too light.  Typically, somewhere between 50-70% of your one-rep maximum needs to be used.  Obviously, the lighter percentage would mean higher reps.  And vice versa.

The popularizer of this form of training was the late, great - and greatly innovative, not to mention highly creative - powerlifting coach Louie Simmons, founder of The Westside Barbell club in Columbus, Ohio, and the "Godfather of powerlifting," as he has often been called.  Simmons helped many world bench press and world powerlifting champions out of his small gym.  His recommendation for the bench press was 10-12 sets of 3 reps using approximately 55-70% of your one-rep maximum in the movement.  For squats (the main lower body exercise he recommended for dynamic effort training), he recommended 8-12 sets of 2 reps using 50-60% of one's one-rep maximum.

I won't go into  (too much) detail here, but if you're a martial artist that is not familiar with the Westside method, and powerlifting in general, a lot of powerlifters use lifting "suits" and "shirts" that help them squat and deadlift more weight, sometimes significantly more.  Westside made a name for themselves, in fact, for being the best "equipped" lifters on the planet.  Because of this, Simmons would recommend some lifters even use less than 50% of their max for dynamic effort training, but with a caveat: they would offset the lesser weights by using bands and/or chains added to the barbells, which was/is referred to as "accommodating resistance".  The bands or chains "de-load" at the bottom of the lift by touching the ground, and relieving weight, but as the bar is pressed or squatted upward, the tension begins to build at the top of the movement, and the most tension is at the lockout.  This method is good not just for "equipped" lifters but even for "raw" powerlifters (who don't use such shirts and suits), because if you train predominately with these additions to your movements, you are going to build strength along the entire spectrum of the lift.  For martial artists, however, these aren't really necessary - at least, not unless you become as advanced as a good powerlifter - so the average martial artist should use weights on the higher end of the spectrum due to the lack of band and chains.  For instance, if you chose the squat and bench press as your two lifts (one for upper body and one for your lower half), then you could use 60% of your one-rep maximum for the squat for 8-10 sets of 2 reps and 70% of your one-rep maximum in the bench press for 8-10 sets of 3 reps.  Keep in mind that, as a martial artist, you are using exercises such as the 3 "powerlifts" for increasing your performance as a martial artist, not as a lifter.  If you ever decided to enter a powerlifting competition, or another strength sport such as Olympic lifting, then at that point, you could use bands and/or chains.  Bands and chains can also be used for variety in your training, once you get to an advanced level.  But, for now, if you're new to this sort of training and want to give it a go, you can get plenty of variety by simply rotating exercises and set/reps without the use of accommodating resistance. 

The reasons for utilizing the dynamic effort method are a few-fold.  Doing any kind of "speed" work where you move the weight as fast as possible, while maintaining good form throughout the movement, is something that should obviously be beneficial to fighters.  Speed training, when done correctly, does just what it entails to do: it makes you faster. And there's the "kicker" - it must be done correctly.  Too much weight or too little weight, combined with too many repetitions per set, and your speed work won't be done in the correct manner.

The reasoning behind only using 2 to 3 reps is due to something called speed degradation.  With each successive rep - once you've performed a maximum of 4 reps - your speed will begin to "degrade".  With each repetition performed, even with 50-70% of your one-rep maximum, the speed with which you can move the bar begins to lessen.  Louie Simmons once used the analogy of bouncing a ball in one of his articles to explain speed degradation.  He said if you were to take a basketball and bounce it as hard as you could, it would bounce really high the first two, three, or even four bounces, but with each successive bounce it loses power and speed - the speed degrades a lot by the time it has bounced ten times or more, with no power behind the bounce.  This is another reason that the repetition method of training sucks so bad for building power.  You are "teaching" your body to reserve speed and power because your body/mind mechanism believes it needs those reserves in order to complete a set of 10 reps or more.  However, if you were to bounce the ball really hard and catch it after 3 bounces, then bounce it really hard again, and catch it again after 3 bounces, speed and power would be constant and consistent.  But your muscles - unlike the ball - will "learn" to give it their all when you train them in such a manner.  This is the reason for utilizing multiple sets of low reps instead of just a handful of sets or fewer.

Speed training, however, can be hard on your nervous system, so you don't want to do it multiple times per week, and you don't want to use too many sets.  If you were to do a full-body speed workout this evening, then something like this would be perfect:

Bench presses: 10 sets of 3 reps using 65% of your one-rep maximum

Squats: 8 sets of 2 reps using 60% of your maximum

Power cleans: 6 sets of 3 reps

The power cleans in this example can be used as heavy as you can train for 6 sets of 3.  You can't not move the bar with speed if you expect to successfully complete the 6 sets of 3.

Maximal Effort

The max effort method of training is where you work up to a max on an exercise.  The max should be for 5 reps or lower.  You could go for a max set of 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 rep.  I personally believe that 3 reps is a good starting point.  It builds plenty of strength and power without risking injury - as when you use doubles or singles - but it's not so high that you are minimizing your power development.  And never go over 5 reps while utilizing it.  More than 5 reps and you are beginning to veer into the repetition method - always a "no-no", so keep that first and foremost in your mind.

Many of you - especially those young men reading this, or those old men that used to be young men - have utilized this method by "maxing out" on the bench press or another lift, where you tested your strength to see how much you could hoist and heft! (Usually you did this while training with your buddies, and you probably didn't use very good form if you were new to training, but you get the gist.)

Maxing out is typically performed in order to "test" your strength.  And that's exactly what you will do here.  You will work up to a max triple, double, or single, testing your strength each week with the hope of your strength increasing.

But using the max effort method correctly will mean that you are not just testing your strength but building your strength.  Once again, as with the dynamic effort method, you must understand the how and why of utilizing this method - and then we'll get around to how the two methods must be used in conjunction with one another - that's the "kicker," so to speak.

Let's use an example: Let us say that you have been training your bench press, and other chest exercises, fairly regularly so you decide that tonight you will test your strength by working up to a max single on the bench press in order to see if all that hard work is paying off.  You are elated to discover that your max bench press is now 225 lbs, whereas a couple months ago you could only bench 210.  So next week you decide once again to test your strength, and you're even more elated that your bench is now at 230 lbs.  Man, you're thinking, this "max effort" training  is gonna make you powerhouse strong!  And next week, you max out again, only to find that your bench press is back to 225 lbs.  Hmm, you think to yourself, it must have been a bad day at the gym, but you're confident that next week it will be different, and maybe your bench will be over 230 lbs.  But, lo and behold, at your next workout, you only bench 210 pounds.  Why?  Because training with maximal weights on the same exercise each week might make you stronger, but it also makes you slower.  Your body adapts to the exercise quickly when maxing out on a regular basis, which is the reason that you must rotate exercises and you must include speed training into your training.

Here is a quote from Simmons himself on the importance of the max effort method at Westside:

"We hold the use of max-effort training in such high regard because of its impact on all other aspects of strength and athleticism. To put it simply, by raising the level of absolute strength you possess, you increase your ability to display different forms of strength and your overall capacity for these strengths.

This means that you can run faster, jump higher, and be more resilient by becoming brutally strong. For instance, say you were to add 20lbs to the squat of an athlete who is new to weight training.

If you were to measure max vertical jump before max effort training, then measure max vertical after the athlete had added the 20lbs to the lift, you would see an improvement in max vertical without incorporating any plyometric-focused exercises.

Of course, if you couple the gains in absolute strength with dynamic effort training and plyometric work, you could expect even more significant gains in max vertical jump ability.

To sum it up, we use max effort training to increase an athlete's absolute strength and raise their ability and capacity to display and develop other forms of strength and athleticism."*

In the next installment, we will discuss the "set" method, and then we will get into program design.

*From "Understanding the Maximal Effort Method" at westsidebarbell.com