Endurance Exercises

[Professor Random]

Many times by the end of my 3 sparring rounds, usually 1 minute to 2 minutes per round, I find myself barely breathing, and super tired. And naturally you should expect to be tired. I'm wondering ways you guys use to help with endurance, so what do you do to help you last longer in a fight?

Another thing I was wondering if there was a limit to endurance, like by the end of most of my matches I'm breathing really heavily, and I almost feel as if I don't have enough breath. The other day I fought another kid that was a belt or 2 higher than I and by the end of the match he didn't even seemed dazed, maybe it's just me or maybe their endurance is a lot better than mine.

Any tips or tricks are helpful, and appreciated.

 

[andyjeffries]

The biggest tip I can give you is to kihap/shout on almost every kick. Most of the time I've experienced this with students it's not a fitness/conditioning issue, but a failure to remember to breathe issue. If they shout on every kick they force themselves to breathe out (which by necessity will force them to breathe in some fresh oxygen).

Failing that, personally I would say it's just practice - the more rounds you put in, the more your body gets used to that specific type of load.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Look up HIIT and create a workout around that; it will do wonders for your endurance. Focus on cardio on your training, and push yourself past your limit while training. When you get out of breath like you will in a match, don't take a break, push through. If you're meant to train 3 minutes before a break, and find yourself gassing out at 2, go for 3.5 minutes.

 

[Kenposcholar]

Fitness Blender is a completely free website that offers workouts videos. I use them all of the time & they provide excellent HIIT endurance workouts. My recommendation is to choose a HIIT workout that challenges you for 30+ minutes and do them every other day (every day if you're still in your teens/early 20's).

Free Workout Videos

 

[Danny T]

Wind sprints and HIIT workouts are an excellent supplemental training and I am a proponent of it however, there is nothing better to prepare you for sparring sessions than sparring rounds. Lots of them. If you are preparing for 3 minute rounds spar for 3 1/2 minutes. 3 minutes as you normally do and then for another 30 seconds with increased speed and a lot of movement. Rest period between rounds if 60 seconds drop to 50 seconds. As your recovery time gets better drop to 40 seconds and finally to 30 seconds and then increase your sparring rounds time building to 4 minutes.
A 3 minute round and 1 minute rest for recovery will be so much easier.

 

[marques]

I think the best for endurance are... endurance exercises. Cross-country skiing, running, cycling... swimming for good swimmers...

But as I didn’t train endurance for long time, I used to just preserve my energy. Timing rather than speed, technique rather than muscle... It worked well when sparring with/against any colour belt or competitors, even after months without any sort of training.

Obviously, the ideal is combining energy conservation (and breathing as mentioned here before) with specific endurance training. Then more sparring to complete the pack.

 

[MA_Student]

Well the only outside martial art training I do is running and I'm fine in sparring cardio wise

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

3 sparring rounds, ... I'm wondering ways you guys use to help with endurance, so what do you do to help you last longer in a fight?

Try to spar 15 rounds none stop daily. You also need to have different strategies for when you are flesh and for when you are tired.

 

[Buka]

What I've found best as a supplement to fighting is what we used to call ins and outs.

Jog for a hundred yards [or whatever]....then break out into a sprint for however long it takes to get to top running speed, then decelerate back to a jog. Continue the jog for a bit, then sprint for five seconds, then slow to a jog, then sprint for a bit, then slow to a jog. Keep changing the length of each jog, each sprint. After a couple weeks, insert side angles into the jog, like you're playing dodge ball and don't want to get hit, then break into that sprint.

This is not an easy exercise, but it does wonders for fight endurance. It's also a great time saver when training for a fight, or for sparring in general. Instead of spending an hour on roadwork, twenty minutes of this you'll pretty much be toast. In a month, you'll notice a serious endurance shift in your sparring.

 

[skribs]

Diet can help too.

If I didn't eat so many cheeseburgers I could probably last twice as long.

 

[DanT]

GET CLEARENCE FROM YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE YOU TAKE MY ADVICE.

5 Things to Do:

-Run, Cycle, or Swim at different intensities for about 20 minutes everyday

-Skip Rope as intense as possible for 5 x 2 minutes, with a 30 second break between sets everyday

-Practice Burpies until you can do them for 2 minutes straight everyday

-Try to conserve your energy a bit more in Sparring, keep your breathing steady

-If you're overweight lose 10 lbs.

If you do these things everyday, within a few months you'll be much better.

GET CLEARENCE FROM YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE YOU TAKE MY ADVICE.

 

[skribs]

I'm supposed to lose 10 pounds every day?!??!

 

[Dirty Dog]

Diet can help too.

If I didn't eat so many cheeseburgers I could probably last twice as long.

Is that what she said?

(Too easy... someone had to say it...)

 

[skribs]

Is that what she said?

(Too easy... someone had to say it...)

1) Where's the "she" in this discussion?
2) The joke was about losing 10 pounds a day. I don't think that's possible unless you do a boot camp of starvation and marathons.

 

[Headhunter]

1) Where's the "she" in this discussion?
2) The joke was about losing 10 pounds a day. I don't think that's possible unless you do a boot camp of starvation and marathons.

Facepalm lol see that up there that's the joke going way over your head lol

 

[Earl Weiss]

Any tips or tricks are helpful, and appreciated.

How far can you run without having to stop / walk?

If you can't run 5 miles, work up to that and see how your endurance is for sparring.

 

[Professor Random]

Fitness Blender is a completely free website that offers workouts videos. I use them all of the time & they provide excellent HIIT endurance workouts. My recommendation is to choose a HIIT workout that challenges you for 30+ minutes and do them every other day (every day if you're still in your teens/early 20's).

Free Workout Videos

Thanks for the website, it looks really helpful so far.

Try to spar 15 rounds none stop daily. You also need to have different strategies for when you are flesh and for when you are tired.

I'm not at my dojang daily, and 15 seems like a lot. I will take your advice for taking on more fights, recently I have had a spell of colds plague me so I haven't been working as hard as I should be.

What I've found best as a supplement to fighting is what we used to call ins and outs.

Jog for a hundred yards [or whatever]....then break out into a sprint for however long it takes to get to top running speed, then decelerate back to a jog. Continue the jog for a bit, then sprint for five seconds, then slow to a jog, then sprint for a bit, then slow to a jog. Keep changing the length of each jog, each sprint. After a couple weeks, insert side angles into the jog, like you're playing dodge ball and don't want to get hit, then break into that sprint.

This is not an easy exercise, but it does wonders for fight endurance. It's also a great time saver when training for a fight, or for sparring in general. Instead of spending an hour on roadwork, twenty minutes of this you'll pretty much be toast. In a month, you'll notice a serious endurance shift in your sparring.

I find it to cold to go outside and run, 57F (14C) right now and it's about mid-day, so yea I am a little dramatic Once I get the will power to throw some running clothes on I'll go brave the "cold" thanks for the tip.

How far can you run without having to stop / walk?

If you can't run 5 miles, work up to that and see how your endurance is for sparring.

I have ran 5 miles before without stopping, just once. It was a monumental achievement for me. Haven't done it again, it wore me out so bad, I haven't ran since this summer so I should probably start running again.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I'm not at my dojang daily,

Try to form a fighting club outside of your school if you can. You need to test your MA skill against people from different style.

 

[Buka]

Thanks for the website, it looks really helpful so far.


I'm not at my dojang daily, and 15 seems like a lot. I will take your advice for taking on more fights, recently I have had a spell of colds plague me so I haven't been working as hard as I should be.

I find it to cold to go outside and run, 57F (14C) right now and it's about mid-day, so yea I am a little dramatic Once I get the will power to throw some running clothes on I'll go brave the "cold" thanks for the tip.

I have ran 5 miles before without stopping, just once. It was a monumental achievement for me. Haven't done it again, it wore me out so bad, I haven't ran since this summer so I should probably start running again.

Thanks for the tips everyone.

There's another way to dramatically increase sparring endurance, and it's fun. If you have dojo access and a partner.
If there's a Saturday morning class, and you're allowed to spend an extra half hour in the dojo after class...

You and your partner do some light, friendly sparring, exchanging ideas and communicating the whole while, high fiving or whatever when someone gets in a nice move. Set a timer, do three minutes, two, ten, one, whatever. BUT - during that set period of sparring you are both allowed to suddenly blitz, increase speed with any technique, combo, or whatever, and then immediately go back to your slow, friendly sparring. You shouldn't be striking any harder with the sped up parts, just doing a quick pace change. It becomes a game within a game, watching for when either of you will take advantage of that rule. It can be a lot of fun. Takes your mind off the usual thoughts during sparring, too. And takes your mind off your lack of wind.

The following Saturday, do the same thing, but add another minute to the clock. The next week another, then another.
Keep it light, fun. If you can do this for a couple months, the intensity of the sparring will increase on it's own.

 

[Headhunter]

Try to form a fighting club outside of your school if you can. You need to test your MA skill against people from different style.

No he doesn't. He doesn't /need/ to do anything. Just because that's what you do doesn't mean that's what everyone needs to do. Maybe he doesn't have the time or resources for that.