In the gym, I have had conversations with many people about training. Some people see me working out on the bag for instance and ask what type of training I do. I also ask the same question to people when I see them working out, weather it’s on the bag, with heavy weights or running like an Olympian. Whatever there training is, if they are working out at high intensity, I always ask why they are working out so hard. But sometimes the answers I get confuse me.
For example, I go into the gym and I see someone with great muscle size, and when asked what training he does, he replies that his training for self defence on the street. I also ask what his training plan usually consists of. I then get the answer of 5 times a week lifting weights with cardio training straight after, and two times a week sparring at a kickboxing school. Well all of that training will definitely make him a good ring fighter, but is it really geared towards street fighting? Firstly, a street fight will rarely go more than 1 minute, so is it necessary to be able to run for 1 whole hour without stopping, or to be able to bench press 500 pounds. Secondly, kickboxing with gloves on is great for learning striking for competition, but wouldn’t a more street self defence system that practises defending from grabs and multiple attackers etc be more beneficial. Now the above is just an example, but this actually happens. Peoples training regimes become geared towards something that does not meet with there goals. Before starting training it is a good idea to think clearly on what you would like to achieve, and then gain advice from experts in that field on the best way to go about it, otherwise you could be wasting your time.
Marks
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Tuesday, 29 January 2008
What Type of Training for What Type of Goal
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4 comments:
The Xample is actually a pretty good street fighting workout.
The only thing you need for self defence is boxing skills, even better if you can kick. Twice a week's good, too. Just attend and don't miss class.
It might not be very benificial in weightclass styles to weightlift, but in the street being big means everything.
Although yes, the above example will make someone stronger, faster and will provide good punches and kicks, streetfighitng training also invloves, multiple attacker training, weapons training, awareness training, standup grappling etc. This is what more concentration should be on for this goal.
I'd even say that awareness training is the most important part of this. You can avoid a lot of problems just by knowing what's around you...
I agree boxing is quite practical for self-defence: developping good punching form, speed and power will enable you to deal with most street-attacks or at least the most frequent ones. Most attacks on the street (that is if you’re male) will come in the form of a punch or a combination of punches and that’s what boxing is all about. Also if you’re grabbed from the front (lets say a wrist-grab or a front-choke) usually the most efficient and easiest thing to do is to simply throw a punch to their face. However boxing is not perfect, least of all for actual combat. For one you’re ill-equiped to deal with any type of kick: if he stays out of range and keeps kicking you (especially to your legs or groin) you won’t be able to close in and a good, accurate kick is a powerful weapon so if you don’t know how to deal with that there’s a good chance he’ll knock you out or down. Now if you train kickboxing you’ve got that covered too. Even better is to train thai-boxing: it basically covers long-range (kicks), medium-range (punches) and short-range (clinch, elbows/knees) and is a great way to toughen up (both physically and mentally). For young, healthy and even moderately strong people I’d give it a high recommendation, both in terms of physical exercise/sports (it’s fun and a great way to develop stamina, strenght and flexibility) and fors self-defence. Naturally there are still gaps (weapons, defence against strangulation/throwing techniques…) but overall and for most purposes you’ll do allright with thai-boxing.
Now about the strength/fitness-training: I really don’t see how that would help in terms of self-defence. Sure, people will usually think twice about attacking a big, muscular fellow but when it comes to fighting itself strength is a relatively minor factor. Power in punching and kicking comes from proper rotation or the waist and shoulder, not primarely from arm or legpower. Controlling-techniques (locks, chokes, throws) rely on body-mechanics and positioning not on strength. If the guy in the example would be lifting weights primarely for self-defence I think his time would be better spent studying additional martial-arts (preferably ones that complement his kickboxing and deal with more self-defence aspects like weapons, multiple attackers, ground…). A small but properly trained individual will always defeat a large, muscular but untrained person. Certain techniques require almost no effort or power to be effective (poking someone in the eye) and being strong is no defence against them (it’s impossible to grow muscles in the groin-area, a kick to the groin will down the skinniest guy aswell as a body-builder).
That being said building strength and stamina (the latter being more important than the former) has a place in the martial-arts and is a good complement to technique-training and sparring (doing regular sit-ups will make your punches more powerful and it helps to take the occasional hit, push-ups are a great way to warm-up) but by no means should it be the main focus. Looking powerful and being powerful (meaning being effective in fighting) are two different things. I think lifting weights (especially when done improperly) will actually be detrimental to your training: big, musclar arms make you slower and being strong tends to mask flaws in your technique, which will cost you against either someone more powerful or more skilled). Large, strong guys are slower on their feet, get exhausted quicker and certain techniques actually work better against a muscular opponent (the bigger your biceps, the more painful it’ll be when struck, it’s much easier to lock a big fellow than a skinny one). I’d much rather take on a body-builder than a trained martial-artist.
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