...to the Staley Training Newsletter and get a FREE copy of "The Unnatural Athlete" ($29.95 value!), Charles Staley's most politically-incorrect views on training, nutrition, fat loss, muscle-building and more!

 
 
  
 
 

Escalating Density
Training

The Complete Video Guide To Escalating Density Training
Click here to learn more and get your FREE sample videos!

 

Does Strength Training
Make You Slower?


Home Questions & Answers Strength Training Strength Slower?

 
 

PRODUCTS

Books & eBooks
Supplements
DVD's and Videos
Training Equipment
Interviews & Audios
Consultations

SITE LINKS

Home
Helpdesk/Support
About Us
Sponsored Athletes
Seminars
Rave Reviews
Link Directory
Press Kit
Training Connection

SEARCH

   

 
 

 

 

QUESTION:

Dear Charles,

I read your book Special Topics in Martial Arts Conditioning which emphatically encourages weight training for improved martial arts performance. After implementing a few weight training cycles into my Tae Kwon Do competition preparation, I ended up slower and feeling unusually awkward. What do you think I'm doing wrong?


ANSWER:

Simply moving your pawns, knights, and bishops forward on the chess board does not assure victory. Before you decide to quit on you resistance training program, let's examine a few avoidable mistakes that can contribute to diminished results on "event day:"

First, timing is everything. Being undertrained or overtrained on contest day can spell disaster for any athlete; but if you time it just right you're in the medal hunt. The proximity of intense resistance training to competition can even throw off a weightlifter— imagine how that effects an athlete who must cope with a highly technical skill element!

In an undertrained state, an athlete has been away from his/her resistance training so long that they are suffering detraining effects.

The more common obstacle is overtraining, however — something that martial artists seem to have a patent on. Intense lifting places great demands on the nervous system, so intense technical and tactical training (which also taxes the nervous system) should be placed on the "back-burner" while strength is increased.

Because strength training debilitates skill temporarily, reduce and eventually discontinue the strength training program as the event nears. The closer the contest is the more refined and specific your training should become.

Sometimes the best intentions hit a pothole. It's possible that the training was timed perfectly well; however, exercises selected and the muscles targeted were flawed.

One of my favorite tricks, which I initially learned from my colleague Charles Poliquin, is to emphasize the antagonists.

For example— tae kwon do, which places great emphasis on kicking, encourages athletes to develop the quadricep, the muscle responsible for extension of the leg. In the mix, the hamstring, responsible for flexion (in this case retraction) of the leg is forgotten about.

The quadricep and hamstring have an 'agonist/antagonist' relationship. This means one muscle lengthens while the other shortens and vise versa. When an agonist/antagonist relationship exists it becomes incumbent upon the opposing muscles to 'protect' each other by decelerating the force of the concentric activity.

Therefore, one possibility is that your quadricep's ability to deliver force with a kick might be limited by insufficient hamstring strength.

Feeling awkward could also reflect a neglect of skill retention during a strength training phase. Although you should certainly reduce the total volume of technical training during a phase designated to strength improvement, basic drills a few times a week for will help an athlete to adjust to increased muscle mass.

I find that my martial artist clients who begin a weight training program for the first time must be prodded to keep up with their technical sessions, since weight training tends to make you feel heavy and stiff, at least during a hypertrophy phase.

So, before discounting the benefits of strength training specific to fighting, consider my advice, and also look at the trend: athletes such as Rickson Gracie, Lucia Rikert, and Evander Holyfield carry impressively muscular physiques while projecting an aura of invincibility around them in the ring.

 

The Ultimate Guide to Massive Arms

CLICK HERE to get your 3-week trial of our EDT-based book "The Ultimate Guide to Massive Arms" for just $4.95!

 




Staley Training Systems
P.O. Box 2334
Gilbert, AZ 85299
Toll-Free: (800) 519-2492 or 480-813-6205
Fax: (480) 813-6215
Terms of Service/Privacy Policy
  Got a question? Need help with a product? CLICK HERE to go to our Helpdesk now!