My experience has taught me that many martial arts trainers in Karate, Taekwon-do, Kickboxing and other "stand-up striking arts" have their own style of (competition) training.
This is why I believe it's beneficial for a well-rounded fighter to learn from a variety of instructors and fighting styles to master various techniques and gain insights and skills in various ways. Let's face it, top MMA fighters do just that.
What factors are important in a stand-up fighting match?
- flexibility and mobility
- reaction time and speed
- strength
- condition and endurance
- technique, tactics and insight
- resilience and resilience
- balance, coordination and equilibrium
In my view, good competition training consists of elements that help improve the above factors, whereby emphasis can of course be placed on one or more factors per training session.
Naturally, you start a workout with a warm-up and it's wise to end it with a cool-down. The actual workout and the aspects you want to train are logically in the middle of this sequence.
Warming-up
A warm-up prepares fighters both physically and mentally for the upcoming physical exertion. This significantly reduces the risk of injury. The temperature of the venue and the outside temperature influence how the warm-up should begin.
We all know that a warm-up is essential. However, especially with younger athletes (children), it's important to keep the exercises varied to maintain their attention and interest. Therefore, the trainer/instructor must possess the necessary creativity and a wide range of exercises to keep their lessons interesting.
Some simple exercises to start your workout with include: dribbling, arm swings, hopping, hip rotations, heel kicks, knee lifts, side crosses, shoulder rotations, and knee-torso-arm push-ups. Of course, countless variations are possible, and the trainer's creativity is the key factor. These exercises are also known as circulation warm-ups.
For combat athletes, there are many more ways to vary the warm-up: shadow boxing with and without a partner, skipping rope, jumping jacks, burpees and dozens of other exercises.
The warm-up generally takes about 15 to 20 minutes of the workout.
The effects of a warm-up in martial arts are:
- Bodily functions are brought from resting to performance levels. This includes the redistribution of blood from, for example, the intestines to the muscles.
- Cardiac function is strengthened, with the heart rate increasing from 60 beats per minute to 120-150, or even to over 180 after strenuous physical exertion. The amount of blood pumped per beat also increases. All of this can cause the heart to work 6 to 8 times harder than at rest.
- The lungs have to take in more O2 and release more CO2, which causes more alveoli to open.
- Heat regulation. The temperature ratio in the muscles regulates the
Metabolic processes run faster. Because blood vessels in the skin dilate, heat loss and production are properly balanced. - The nervous system. Stimuli must travel faster to improve coordination and control.
- The tendon apparatus. These tissues become warmer and have better blood flow, making them more elastic and stronger.
- Mental preparation for what's to come. Concentration increases.
Warming-up: stretching exercises
After the warm-up, it's recommended to do some stretching exercises, varying in duration and depending on the workout you'll be doing next. It's always wise to do full-body stretching exercises.
In most martial arts, such as boxing, kickboxing, MMA and Karate, almost all parts of the body are used during the exercises.
Reaction and speed for martial artists
Reacting quickly is one of the most important elements in free-style combat. Scientific tests have shown that executing a technique, whether a kick or a punch, takes just over 0.1 seconds for trained fighters.
These same scientific experiments showed that it's virtually impossible to respond to this, as the brain needs more time to process this information and trigger a reaction. For this reason, many martial arts teach that the initiator will always be faster than the defender.
The only way to be prepared for an attack is to learn to anticipate. Unconscious senses can cause a trained martial artist to automatically react to an opponent's techniques. This reaction time can be sharpened by constant training.
That's why it's very useful to train regularly with pads to learn how to react to imaginary targets. The passer is crucial, as they must monitor the logic of techniques and ensure the attacker constantly learns to move.
A good tip is to train in such a way that there's as little rhythm as possible in the pad signaling. The result of signaling according to a fixed pattern is "static" movement, which is precisely what needs to be unlearned.
An additional advantage of training with pads is that the attacker learns to maintain the correct fighting distance. They automatically recognize the necessary and safe distance, making their techniques increasingly effective. It's also important to keep in mind that the fighting distance in, for example, boxing is different from that in taekwon-do, Muay Thai, karate, or kickboxing.
When training with pads, it's also important to place them correctly. Many beginners are accustomed to placing their pads far away from themselves so they don't suffer the impact of the technique. This is understandable, but it shouldn't be condoned.
Because training focuses on the attacker's reaction and choosing the correct distance, this creates a bad habit: unconsciously misjudging distances. It's better to point the pads where the technique should be placed, as this way the fighter learns exactly when to place an appropriate technique and what the correct distance is for it.
Flexibility & mobility in martial arts
Dynamic stretching, most effective for martial artists
Every martial artist knows the importance of stretching during training. Without stretching, you risk injury and your flexibility is unlikely to improve. Consequently, without flexibility, your techniques won't improve or be performed with ease.
So the big questions for martial artists are:
- “How do I improve my flexibility?”
- “Which techniques deliver the best results in the shortest time?”
- “What stretching routine can I follow to achieve these results?”
The following piece on dynamic stretching is based on the book "Stretching Scientifically" by Thomas Kurz, Elastic Steel's media outlet, and various seminars given by Taekwon-do grandmasters.
Dynamic stretches are simple leg swings in all directions . First, you need to learn to move your limbs at a moderate speed in a full range of motion. You should start with lower movements to prevent injuries from stretching muscles too quickly.
Don't "throw" your legs. Instead, guide them, maintaining complete control over the entire range of motion. As you near the end of the movement, you can increase the speed so that the last few centimeters of the stretch are less controlled, but not unexpected.
Practice leg swings forward, backward, and to the sides. It's a good idea to do 12
reps per set and do as many sets as you feel like you've reached your current limit of flexibility.
In many combat sports, except boxing, (high) kicks are primary attacking weapons, and if you want to be able to perform them at any time, regardless of age and gender, without a warm-up, you should perform short dynamic stretches twice a day.
Research has shown that twice-daily dynamic stretches are particularly effective. Do them first thing in the morning and then later in the day. On training days, it's effective to perform dynamic stretches before pedaling.
“8 to 10 weeks is enough to develop maximum dynamic flexibility.”
According to Matveev (1977) , 8 to 10 weeks is sufficient to develop maximum dynamic flexibility . Grandmaster Park Jong Soo also emphasizes the importance of dynamic stretching exercises during taekwon-do training, whether in the form of leg swings or kicking techniques.
Is it wise to do static stretching , for example, splits, as so many people do before performing kicking techniques? Absolutely not! Never do static stretching before dynamic stretching, kicking techniques, or other dynamic movements.
For several seconds or even minutes after performing a static stretch, you may not be able to maintain your maximum flexibility or speed. Rosenbaum and Hennig demonstrated this with a study in which they subjected the calf muscles to 30-second stretches and measured their strength afterward.
Kokkonen, Nelson, and Cornwell found that maximal strength development is impaired for several minutes after weight-bearing static stretching. Attempting to perform a quick, dynamic movement immediately after static stretching is highly likely to injure the stretched muscle.
When determining the stretching exercise, you (the instructor) should determine the physical demands of the planned activity. In standing martial arts, which often involve kicking techniques, dynamic hip flexibility is crucial . To increase your range of motion, you should therefore perform plenty of dynamic leg swings in all directions.
“It is impossible to learn dynamic skills by using static exercises, and vice versa.”
A common exercise in martial arts gyms is the leg raise, either sideways or forward. This type of exercise, while certainly creating static balance and strength, does nothing to develop the necessary dynamic flexibility or strength. It develops static active flexibility, which is necessary for sports like gymnastics, but not essential for kicking techniques and martial arts like kickboxing, karate, and taekwondo.
This type of exercise requires intense muscle tension on one side of the body, inevitably placing significant strain on the lower back. Performing these exercises can lead to spinal damage if someone with insufficient lower back strength or other back problems.
In their textbook "Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition, and Human Performance," McArdle, Katch, and Katch state it very clearly: "It is impossible to learn dynamic skills using static exercises, and vice versa."
Strength and power training
Any (combat) athlete who seriously wants to improve their athletic performance can do so at any age with strength training. Whether you're ten or seventy or older, male or female, a weekend athlete or a seasoned professional, at some point you made the decision to develop yourself further. Strength training enables you to achieve this goal.
Every athlete wants to improve their performance . At some point, they decide to start strength training. Strength is, after all, one of the many components that make up athletic performance.
In martial arts, strength can be developed just as flexibility or endurance can. Once developed, it can, in combination with the other components you're trying to improve, help enhance your existing athletic performance .
Strength doesn't have to be the deciding factor, but it is certainly important for any serious fighter
While strength isn't necessarily the deciding factor in most standing martial arts, it's certainly important for any serious fighter. Naturally, certain muscle groups are more important than others for martial artists.
The glutes, abdomen, back, and leg muscles are particularly important in karate, kickboxing, and taekwon-do. The glutes are essential for performing kicking techniques and keeping the leg elevated.
The abdominal muscles not only provide strength for every technique (center of the body), but also allow you to absorb techniques from the opponent.
The back muscles are necessary to perform the many twists, while also providing counterbalance for the abdominal muscles. The leg muscles are particularly important for properly executing powerful kicking techniques and for dodging.
Strength training is exercise that involves some form of weight resistance and gradually strengthens your skeletal muscles. These muscles move your body, both visibly and invisibly, in countless directions. This allows you to adopt any posture and make any movement you need for your sport. Stronger muscles reinforce such postures and make such movements easier and more efficient.
There are many types of strength training: exercising with weights attached to your ankles, wrists, or waist; climbing stairs quickly; doing rhythmic gymnastics, etc.
Strength training is one of the many elements that contribute to your athletic performance. Other components include your own physical factors, such as height, bone length, and lifting power, endurance, reaction time, motivation, mobility, and motor skills.
Most martial arts involve many exercises that don't use any specific equipment. In many cases, the weight of the body provides the power. Examples include simple exercises like jumping, push-ups, sit-ups, squats, leg swings, or kicking techniques performed in various ways (slow, fast, with resistance).
Training combinations
Combination training is one of the most important forms of competition training in virtually all standing combat sports. By training combinations, the execution of techniques becomes, as it were, automatic or a reflex .
One learns to anticipate in semi-sparring. Besides the aforementioned advantage, the fighter learns to judge the distance to the target, recognize open/undefended targets, improves their accuracy, and develops some anticipation skills.
Combining attacking and defensive
There are several forms of combination training: offensive, defensive, or counterattacking. These can all be trained in different ways and each requires a different approach.
When training combinations, it's crucial that the fighter learns not just to push forward, but also to take their chances and not become overly eager. The defender, or the setter, is also important, as they must keep the other player on their toes by correcting their defensive weaknesses and adopting a good starting and fighting position after each move.
Practicing combinations with pads and cushions
Combinations can be trained in various ways: using pads (round, square, or oblong, varying depending on the technique), larger kicking pads (for more powerful execution of techniques), or with boxing gloves and protectors on. Each method has its advantages.
In practice, you'll find that the pads are particularly ideal for reaction training, speed, and accuracy, the larger kicking pads are particularly suitable for developing powerful kicks, and that training combinations with boxing gloves and protectors most closely mimics real-world practice.
Collection capacity and recovery capacity
There's no combat sport in which the ability to take punches isn't crucial. Of course, all combat sports and martial arts differ in this regard, but a basic level of ability to take punches is always essential.
In some martial arts the emphasis is more on dodging and blocking techniques, but one cannot avoid hardening the body and the attacking and defensive body parts.
The ability to withstand blows is developed by regularly training this aspect and maintaining it. It's wise to harden all parts of the body in certain areas and prepare them for the techniques that can be performed. One should not only be able to absorb blows, but also train the body parts used for offensive and defensive techniques.
Important parts to train are: the abdominal muscles, pecs, wrists, fists, upper and lower arms, thighs, shins, instep, heel, ball of the foot and parts of the hand.
Vital parts
Your vital organs, in particular, are difficult or impossible to train. Therefore, you must ensure they are well protected and defended at all times. Important vital points include: the groin, genitals, head (face, temples, eyes, etc.), sternum, kidneys, and liver.
Breathing while collecting
Besides hardening the body parts, proper breathing when receiving a blow is also crucial. This breathing training allows one to absorb blows much better and with minimal discomfort.
Proper breathing ensures you exhale at the moment of impact , which tenses your muscles and helps you absorb the blow better. A good exercise to "teach" your muscles to react is to absorb (light) blows with your eyes closed. This helps your body develop a natural response and makes you stronger.
Partner exercises with collecting
You can learn to take punches by exchanging blows with a partner and gradually building up the power of those blows over several training sessions. You'll be amazed at how much your ability to take punches improves dramatically, even with light blows. In a short period of training with the right motivation and focus, you can achieve enormous results.
"To Rest Or Not To Rest: A Fighter's Guilty Conscience"
However, just as quickly as one can build up strength, one's resilience can also drastically decline. This is often the result of missed training sessions or illness. As with many forms of training, a period of rest and recovery is essential. If one doesn't "listen" to the signals one's own body is sending, one will soon notice negative results.
There are many different workouts available to develop resilience and physical toughness. Many basic exercises also prove highly suitable for this purpose: for example, stronger wrists and a more correct fist can be developed by performing push-ups with your fist instead of an open hand.
The abdominal muscles can be trained twice by, for example, performing scissor exercises while a partner drops onto the stomach with their elbows (obviously increasing the distance).
It's also definitely wise to train your thighs for resilience. The best exercise for this is exchanging low kicks with a partner.
Conditioning training for martial artists
Even the fastest car in the world can't run without gasoline. It's a saying that emphasizes that no matter how much technology someone possesses, it's worthless if they don't have the ability to implement it.
In short, fitness is essential for success in any standing combat sport, just like in almost all other sports. Kickboxing, MMA, boxing, and karate are highly explosive sports, often involving short bursts of strength.
“The more you can train, the more you can improve.”
Interval training in martial arts
It requires a completely different level of fitness than, for example, running (long distances) or playing soccer. The type of fitness needed to perform successfully in martial arts or simply during training is best built through interval training, where rest and exertion follow each other in short bursts.
For example, consider running training, where you sprint for 45 seconds and dribble for 45 seconds. In the gym, you can achieve the same result by doing short exercises of about 15 seconds each, followed by a rest period of, say, 5 seconds.
Conditioning training with pads
Technique training on pads is ideal for this. This type of training is, of course, very demanding and requires discipline and dedication. This type of training is particularly successful in a group setting where there is positive, stimulating peer pressure.
There are countless forms of fitness training conceivable: sport-specific fitness training, fitness training combined with strength training, circuit training, etc. In principle, every training consists partly of a fitness component, but of course, it is sometimes wise to place the training entirely within the framework of fitness training.
Cooling down after training
After exercising, the cool-down allows the body to gradually relax. During training or exercise, various muscles and muscle groups are subjected to intense strain. This causes waste products to accumulate in the muscles. These deposits cause muscle soreness and must therefore be removed.
This requires a good blood circulation. Therefore, you shouldn't immediately go into a complete standstill after exercising, but should instead do some walking and/or gentle exercises .
Please note: stretching is not a cool-down
Stretching should be done before the cool-down (if you plan to stretch after exercise). The goal of the cool-down is to keep the cardiovascular system (heart rate) running at a higher rate than your resting rate, so that lactic acid can be removed more quickly.
This ensures a faster recovery time. If the lactic acid remains present for longer (making the cell environment too acidic), vital substances can no longer function properly. Another reason for doing a cool-down is to improve blood circulation in the lower extremities (fingers and hands, toes and feet).
In conclusion:
The cool-down is essential for a healthy and responsible end to training.
Why do you stretch before exercising?
Preparing muscles for strenuous activities. Preventing injuries. Improved blood flow to muscles, which guarantees improved performance.
Why do you stretch after exercise?
Reduced muscle tension. Relaxation of the entire body. Improved blood flow to the muscles, which helps remove waste products.
How should you stretch?
Take your time and stretch in a relaxed manner. Start with a light stretch and gradually increase it. Build up the stretch slowly; it shouldn't be painful. Avoid bouncing, as this creates tension, which is precisely what you want to avoid.
Materials for standing martial arts
In principle, little equipment is needed to practice martial arts successfully and effectively. The successful fighters from Dagestand are a prime example of this. However, there are advantages to the modern training equipment available to martial artists in general. A fighter essentially only needs sportswear and some protective gear.
Floor and/or boxing ring
The choice of training hall flooring often depends on the owner and/or instructor. Some clubs train on hard floors and some use mats. This generally depends on the purpose of the hall and whether other sports are practiced there. These days, more and more boxing clubs and kickboxing clubs have their own dedicated "competition ring," which is of course extremely useful for preparing for competitions.
Hand pads, Thai pads and kick pads
Pads, small kicking pads that can be used for countless exercises and techniques, are very convenient and excellent for training. Larger kicking pads are also very useful, especially for children, beginners, or those practicing powerful techniques.
Punching bags and dummies
Nowadays, in addition to the traditional punching bags, there are also 'dummies' on the market. These are
Punching dummies on a base filled with sand or water. The advantage of these dummies and/or a punching bag is that someone can always train without a partner. Moreover, they can perform techniques as hard as they like without injuring anyone else.
Stretching machines are also exceptionally modern. Although quite expensive, they're very user-friendly, and you can always stretch to your full potential without a partner. For fitness training, a jump rope, for example, is a great option.
The well-known 'steps' (which are available in almost every gym) can be used in any martial art for various exercises: strength training (e.g. triceps 'dipping'), jumping exercises (length, height) or as an obstacle when performing a technique.
Boxing gloves and protectors
For sparring training, boxing gloves and protectors are essential. The equipment used depends on the sport and fighting style.
Most stand-up combat sports use boxing gloves, shin guards, a mouth guard, a head guard, and a groin guard. It's common for people to provide their own boxing gloves and guards during training sessions.
Make creative use of existing, simple materials
Sometimes during training, I'd use a hoop where both fighters would hold one foot while they boxed with their hands. By doing this regularly, the fighters learned to keep their eyes on each other. This is important, as it's crucial to always maintain eye contact with your opponent, even when attacking the face.
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External resources and further information:
- Sportzorg.nl
- Allesoversport.nl
- Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition, and Human Performance (1991) - McArdle, Katch, and Katch
- Lev Matveyev: Sports periodization
- Stretching Scientifically - A Guide to Flexibility Training, Tom Kurz
- The influence of stretching and warm-up exercises on Achilles tendon reflex activity - Rosenbaum and Hennig
- Acute muscle stretching inhibits maximum strength performance - Kokkonen, Nelson and Cornwell (1998)
- Elastic Steel
- Elastic Steel Youtube - Paul Zaichik, Expert in Movement Sciences
- Never Gas Out! – Fighter Interval Training - Joel Jamieson
More Fight2Win blogs:
- How do you train on a punching bag?
- Training with a punching bag is an effective workout for strength and endurance
- The importance of (martial arts) training
- Punching mitts are the way to train at home
- Benefits of pad training
- Get fit without a gym with this outdoor workout
- Why do MMA fighters, boxers and kickboxers jump rope?
