Advice for an Upcoming Marathon

[myk hendrix]

Hello forum members,

In mid April I am attempting a rank promotion that has 30 x 2 minute rounds of standup sparring as it's main component. The rules are basically kickboxing including leg kicks and unattached knee strikes allowed. The head contact is controlled but certainly "there".

Can I please have some suggestions as to how I might go about preparing for this event, a kind of blueprint for buildup ?

I need to work my relaxation to conserve energy during the event as I face a fresh opponent every round.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.

Mike

[Chuck Kechter]

Mike,

If it were me--what I would do is use a progressive load strategy.

Divide the number of weeks by how many training sessions you can REALISTICALLY do, and work an incremental progression of time based rounds. Start with 90 sec rounds with 1-2 minute rests (for 60 minutes), then week by week incrementally increase your performance time and decrease your rest time, till you can easily beat your stated performance goal.
You might also want to use the psychological strategy the coach Sonnon (and others on the board) used in his preparation for the OCS event, and pre-create the emotional intensity of the event coming up.

As to relaxation, (for the physical aspect) practice Vibration drills between and after rounds. For your head and heart--one thing I've found that has worked for me over the years is not to get into a "I must beat this guy to advance" state of mind, and concentrate on performance goals: working a certain combination during a match, or a kick, or a fake-set up, et cetera. I found that, especially when I could meet or exceed whatever my goal was my "mood" would lighten (cause I was "scoring" when, and with what I wanted) and my flow was easier to maintain.

Bill "Superfoot" Wallace used to say that he had the best time sparring, or fighting in the ring, when his opponent knew that he was going to kick him (usually in the head), and no matter what, he would do it. It was psychologically "uplifting" to Wallace to be able to perform--no matter what the defense of his opponent. . .

Hope some of this helps.

Good Luck!
Chuck

[myk hendrix]

Hi Chuck,

Could you please expand on or point me towards more info on "Vibration Drills". Is it simply to shake it all about between rounds to loosen off the RMT ?


I can see the immediate applicability of the incremental progression and the performance goals and will put a plan in place asap - thankyou for this.

What of roadwork and supplemental pad drills etc. Should I focus on drilling rounds ? Is there actually a correspondence between roadwork and sparring stamina ?

Still hungry,
Mike Hendrikse

[Chuck Kechter]

Mike wrote:

Could you please expand on or point me towards more info on "Vibration Drills"

Pages 104-105 in Clubbell Training for Circular Strength if you have the book.

Another is Coach Sonnon's musing:

http://circularstrengthmag.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=62

There are more, but those are the one's off the top.

As to roadwork, and pad drills. As long as your GPP is at a "good" level I wouldn't spend too much time on these. While pad work CAN be used to "work" your anaerobic threshold, in my opinion that is not really what they were designed for--but rather "technique" refinement.
Nor, to my knowledge, is there a study that supports the direct correlation between roadwork and aerobic "efficiency" in the ring which is (in my opinion) a combination of breath control and relaxation.
Sparring is largely an anaerobic activity, so if you feel the "need" to supplement your training outside the ring, perform some sort of interval training.
Minute rounds, Taku's intervals, Tabata intervals, et cetera.

Hope that helps.
Chuck

[myk hendrix]

Chuck,

*sigh* I can't get clubbells in NZ so I never bought the book. Thanks for the link to the musing though.

Your insight and experience will no doubt save me some trial and error, especially with such a short timeframe.

Cheers :D
Mike Hendrikse

[Chuck Kechter]

Anytime I can help please let me know.

As to the book. . . I don't have a Clubbell either, but I use CST principles almost all the time using other types of equipment. The book is well worth the money, whether you have Clubbells or not.

Good luck with the event!
Chuck

[Dan Chomycia]

Mike,

I sense some tension in this statement,


The head contact is controlled but certainly "there".

:!:
If you have certain reservations about dealing with potential Shock to the head then you will also need to deal with this area as well.

I suggest that you work on taking Shock to the Cranium very Slowly and Incrementally.

Work on it as a static drill first then incorporate it into Chuck's drill.

For details on how to do this reference the Video Series Shock-Ability (http://www.rmax.tv/shock.html)

The tension coming from shock not only hampers your performance, it also robs your energy, and decreases your will to fight.

[myk hendrix]

Coach Chomycia,


Now I am dipping my toes in the head contact water. Thankfully I have some excellent training partners and coaches here that aren't too gung-ho as to rip my head off :lol:

I am new to Coach Sonnon's material and have set my financial sights on Shock Ability, Flow Fighting, the CST book, Body Flow vid's and a host of other new resources. I got Body Flow as a tester/teaser in December and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it :!:

Thanks for your input and recommendation, message received and accepted.
Mike Hendrikse

[myk hendrix]

Hi there,

Things are going really well with the prep for this event and the day is nearing ever closer.

I have a query with regards to calming the nervous system and tuning down after hard sparring sessions or training.

My girlfriend has made mention that i have been doing sharp alpha-jerks and have been twitching my limbs in my sleep, particularly as i'm falling into deep sleep phase... i'm not throwing strikes in my sleep, but she reckons i seem to be a little unsettled to say the least.

Any ideas as to why, and what i can do to diminish this ?

Cheers
Mike Hendrikse

[Chuck Kechter]

Hey Mike,

I did some of this when I used to compete.

I found for me that I was either still neurologically or psychologically "engaged" in my event preperation.

I found that meditation/body-relaxation time done close to bed time normally took care of it, regardless of the "cause."

For me meditation, wasn't of the "inhale the blue light--exhale the red" variety (though if you are into that that's cool), but more of a breath counting, gentle state of awareness kind of thing--if that makes sense. :wink: Trying to sense and decrease tension where I found it. And to let go of those "nagging" little thoughts that can plague a person preparing for some challenging event.

Scrapper had a pretty good article on this sort of meditation in one of the earlier Full Circle magazines.

One other thing that helped was--during training time to have some performance goals set (beyond completion of the event, or the win/lose paradigm), and concentrate on those rather than on those base-line (W/L) givens.

Hope this helps.
Take care,
Chuck

[myk hendrix]

Hi Chuck,

Thankyou once again for your useful insights. It makes sense.

Mike Hendrikse
---------------------------------

"Away put your weapon, I mean you no harm !"
Yoda

[myk hendrix]

I'm a Nidan now :D

[Chuck Kechter]

Great news! Congratulations!

Chuck

[Scott Sonnon]

Congrats, Myk!

[Daniel Ramos]

Details! Detalails!!!

[myk hendrix]

Coach Sonnon and Chuck -thanks for the congrats.

Daniel, To sum it up - Training is hard, Grading is (kinda) easy.

I had the importance of correct breathing and interrupting negative visualisations brought to my immediate attention when i dropped a weapon midway through my first Kata, nerves got the better of me and i'm notoriously hard on myself at the best of times. Got Flow ? Nope. Needs more work :wink:

The conditioning and drilling for the day, both solo and in class, was where i believe i earned my promotion. I have nothing but admiration for those that live a professional athletes lifestyle. Why ? Because i found it a dog to go for a run, spar, bang the pads or drill techniques when i felt tired or hungry or bored of the routine or keyed up or under stimulated or or or.. a hundred other excuses that my ego would throw out to keep me in comfortsville. Once i got going it was all good, but man ! Can my mind protest !

My stand-up coaches sure put me through my paces in the months leading up to the day, as did the other students at my Dojo to whom i'm indebted. By contrast sparring with the brown and blackbelts that were assigned as cannon fodder for the day was relatively easy.

I got away pretty lightly injury wise. Heavy bruising on the shins, forearms and feet.. not so heavy bruising on the ribs and the odd minor cut and bruise on the face. Thankfully my belly didn't betray the numerous knockdowns i received with telltale marks.

That being said, we're neither professional fighters nor a pack of meatheads, so there was a definite friendly feel to the day. Everyone wanted the candidates to be pushed hard and succeed.


The highlight(s) of the 30 rounds were little moments of purity where i felt my body acting on it's own with no conscious involvement to get in the way, or when i felt that i had little left to give, yet could keep on giving - the miracle of the human body indeed !

Not to mention Chuck Ketcher's idea of "small performance goals" that kept my mood higher than my kicks :)

I'm on the left:

http://home.ripway.com/2004-3/84485/Nidan%20Grading/knees.jpg

When we were lined up for photos at the end of the day I realised that I was tired of all the quasi-violence and just wanted to feel the love. I guess elation and exhaustion will do that to ya huh ?

This is more exhaustion than elation:
http://home.ripway.com/2004-3/84485/Nidan%20Grading/Kissandmakeup.jpg


I don't want to yabber on forever, and to be honest I don't think I can do justice to the process in words. It's an experience thing, and i'm glad I had it.

Onward to better BJJ performance, improved strength and attempting Sandan in 3 years !

Cheers
Mike Hendrikse

[Dan Chomycia]

Congratulations Mike!