Here is the age old question, should fighter use long distance running in their training? For years we have seen combat athletes from boxers to now MMA fighters using long distance running in their training.  Now I am not here to tell you that long distance running is bad, hey if you want to do it great be my guest.  But what I will tell you is that long slow distance (LSD) training will not help with your cardio in a fight.  I can sit here all night and give you all the scientific study behind all of this or I can get straight to the point and not waste your time.  I am here to research for you and give you what you want and what will work.

In a fight or grappling match of any kind, the pace of the bout is never steady.  One minute you are scrambling around with an opponent the next you can be sitting in his guard waiting to make the next move or floating around the cage or ring using your footwork to make your next strike.  Your heart rate is constantly rising and dropping back down and no amount of LSD training is going to help you with that.

It’s hard to break tradition and trainers are stuck in their ways and will not give in.  It’s just as bad as MMA athletes and jiu-jitsu players using a bodybuilding routine to gain strength and power.  Boys and girls it just ain’t gonna work!  Some have realized the errors in their ways while others are still holding true to what worked well in the past will work now.

So what are we to do?  Well for one you can stop LSD.  So we know that LSD will not help your aerobic capabilities in a fight.  I can also tell you that LSD will also wear on your joints and with all the bumps and bruises the body takes as a combat athlete the last thing you need is excessive pounding on the joints.  Now I will sprint my fighters at times but not in excess because of the pounding on the joints.  I like to keep my sprints short and sweet.  Well there is really nothing sweet about sprinting now is there, but it is effective.

What do I like to do then to condition my fighters?  Like I said above I do like to sprint them at times throughout their training.  I like to take them to a track and have them do 400M sprints or have them sprint the straightaway’s and jog the bends.  The latter sprinting protocol is effective because it raises your heart rate and it drops as you are jogging around the bend similar to what happens in a fight.

Using body weight and weighted conditioning protocols are the most effective way in conditioning a combat athlete.  One can set up a protocol based on the time of your match or fight and then set up specific exercise that will mimic the competition you are in.

I am going to give you a protocol that I have been using with my clients and have been doing myself once a week for a little extra conditioning work.  Get yourself a stopwatch, if you have one that counts down even better.  You will do the following exercises for five minutes.  If you need longer do to your specific fight requirements then add sets to it until you reach the time.  This is fairly simple to follow but doing it is not that simple.  All you need is 45-50 pound dumbbells and a room to walk about 20-25 yards. So here we go…

Conditioning Protocol

Farmers Walk twenty yards.

Five Deadlifts once you reach 20 yards.

Walk back twenty yards.

Five Burpees

Rest ten to fifteen seconds, depending on your level of conditioning.

Continue doing until the five minutes is up Rest one min in between sets.  Do this for 3-5 sets depending on what sort of competition you are getting ready for. Go at your own pace to begin and then as you get better amp it up. You can always add heavier weight to the farmers walks as well.