stanly stud
Blue Belt
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2020
- Messages
- 286
- Reaction score
- 44
Hey Gerry, I've been on this forum long enough to know that Jobo can be abrasive in his posts and frequently declines to do anything to elaborate or sell others on his ideas, but I agree with his views on fitness far more often than I disagree. I can say from personal experience training myself and a lot of other people that 5 minutes of high intensity work 2x/week is sufficient time to make huge improvements to fitness and tremendous gains in strength, though my primary workouts are more like 7 minutes 1x/week. I don't currently have the experience to feel confident training people at that level of intensity without more equipment than the usual martial arts studio has space for but I have no doubt that others can do it.
I think there are (at least) 2 primary roadblocks to clear communication around this topic:
So, I'm not saying that you're wrong, but I'm also not willing to concede that you are right. I'm saying that we may have different fitness goals and that you may not understand what kind of training I'm (and I think Jobo) are advocating.
- Our definitions of "fitness". I don't know what you consider fit, but a lot of people who actually work out (not to imply that you don't!) seem to really focus on endurance, how long one can continue with physical exertion, as their primary metric and then maybe body composition as a secondary metric and frequently impact on health as a tertiary measurement - strength may or may not even be on the list. I've got 2 main metrics, 1) How do your structural and metabolic adaptations enable or inhibit your ability to perform your desired activities? 2) How do your structural and metabolic adaptations improve or degrade your health? So, if an exercise program supports these 2 requirements well then I would deem it to be an effective fitness routine.
For example, I have no interest in running a 10k or anything longer so I don't train for that and wouldn't be very good at it if I had to go run one right now. If someone else is really invested in distance running they may think I'm terribly unfit and more relevant to this conversation, would be correct (by their definition) in stating that there is no way I could be fit without putting in at least a couple of hours a week spent on running. If their definition of fit was being able to go all out fighting for their life for 30-180 seconds without getting winded until after the conflict was resolved (the definition that more closely matches this thread) then 5 minutes 2x/week of true high intensity work is going to be both more efficient and vastly superior to running for a few hours several days a week.
- Our definitions of high intensity. A lot of people think high intensity, they think really working up a sweat, or maybe doing reps until they're really feeling an intense burn. I mean working as hard as you can without rest until you physically can't do anything but carefully walk afterwards. If you have the skill and the grit to do this it won't take more than 10 minutes and if you focus on nothing but big, compound movements it won't take more than 5. Some people will say, "Oh, I can work that hard for 30 minutes". No, they are holding back a lot, or they're taking big breaks, if they can do it for 30 minutes. As just 2 examples, I've had both a professional cyclist in his 20's and a newly promoted BJJ black belt need to lie down on the floor and try not to vomit after a 7 minute (total, start to finish) workout. That level of work produces a tremendous adaptive response and isn't maintainable at a frequency of much more than 1x/per week for a lot of people, 2x is definitely plenty.
Cheers!
Michael
EDIT to add: Relevant to this thread: I only offer private 1-on-1 instruction and I can't imagine training a group all at the same time to this level of intensity, so it could be a tough add for a full martial arts class.
5 to 10 mins HIIT training will not achieve the same results as sparring, bag work, staminia work on the road, unless you can teach pro mma fighters a new way as they all are clearly clueless to your wonderfull System.
Sounds like you're selling this as you say you train people. HIIT cardio or weight Workouts are not new. Most HIIT Workouts bring injuries look at dorian yates.