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Improving Endurance and Stamina for Sparring Part II
December 14th, 2008 · Filed Under: Fitness & Performance
In Part I of this post, I described briefly the emotional component of sparring endurance.
The natural followup, of course, is the physical component.
There is actually quite a lot of material available on physical conditioning for combat sports and martial arts, especially with the rise of Mixed Martial Arts. The truly professional MMA fighters are some of most well conditioned functional athletes out there, and the imagination that is going into training these guys is tremendous.
For this post, I’m going to talk about a few concepts that can go a long way in your own training.
- Flexibility
- Selective tension
- Technique specific endurance
- Body Mechanics
This is by no means, an exhaustive exploration into the development of endurance and stamina, but it does cover some lesser known aspects.
Flexibility: Everyone knows that stretching is good right? But what does flexibility have to do with endurance and stamina? Basically, if your body is tight, your muscles have to work against that resistance to execute any movement. There is actually a lot more to it, but in simplified terms this is pretty direct. Keep in mind, however that flexibility training should have a significant strength development component. Being a flexible but limp noodle will not help your sparring!
Selective Tension: Have you ever wondered why a movement that requires extreme strength will generally result in the flexion of unrelated muscles? This is probably due to a hardwired neurological protective mechanism, but it doesn’t really help with “scientific” combat. The Hulk can probably get away with it, but the technical fighter that wants to economize energy expenditure would benefit from a reduction in this “bulk” system-wide tension. This is trained primarily via awareness and conscious effort.
Technique Specific Endurance: Just is as the term implies, developing endurance specific to an movement is important. There is a reason someone who throws lots of kicks on a regular basis can probably kick for a longer period of time than someone who doesn’t. Of course, there is more involved that just endurance, but this is a crucial factor. Basically, rigorously train all the things that you would normally do in sparring. This could mean kicks, punches, evasions, footwork, etc.
Body Mechanics: A punch is just a punch, and a kick is just a kick, but a technical punch is so much better than a “natural” punch. When fatigue sets in, biomechanics become king. As such, internalizing good technique for efficient force transfer really pays off when your muscles are screaming for a break. A good way to develop this is by focusing on good form when you are already fatigued. This really forces efficient use what strength and explosiveness is left.
These are some good guidlines that can be easily added to an existing training regimen for real a boost in performance. Keep in mind however, that endurance and stamina are very complex subjects when placed in such a dynamic environment as sparring.
In any case, the best thing to do is simply to get going! . . . or better yet, come join us at one of the SGV Jeet Kune Do Drills & Conditioning classes in Pasadena. If that doesn’t improve your strength, endurance, stamina, and overall fitness, I don’t know what will!
See you in class,
–
Nhan-Esteban Khuong, L.Ac.
www.SGVJeetKuneDo.com
