Exercises

[creatureOFnight]

Just got my 15lbers today (have been using 10-12lb. wifflebat version off/on for last month). I also train w/ kettlebells and sandbags. I have the circular strength video too. I practice muay thai and sambo and am also a law enforcement officer.

I was hoping some of the more knowledgeable people on clubbells can help pick what exercises are best for my goals:
* Improve punch power and kick power
* Improve shoulder stability ( i had seperated it when i played football in H.S)
* Clinch control
* Muscular endurance for striking and grappling

Also, i wanted to know if its ok to train kettlebells and clubbells in same workout or is it a no no? And how many sessions a week do you reccomend since i am a thai fighter and sambo player first and lifter second. I still want to keep kettlebells in and was thinking of dropping sandbags for now and switch them back and forth w/ kettlebells but make clubs stay in year round.

I also have 3 days a week to strength train. The rest is dedicated to my martial arts training or conditioning for training.

If any more info needed please just let me know. This board offers a great wealth of knowledge and i feel blessed to have it at my disposal.

( Also, i ordered the warriorwellness series and will practice it daily, i have been doing super joints the last month but everyone here seems to prefer the warrior series so i look forward to it)

thanks,
corey

[Coach Jones]

Corey,

Your dead on about the skill training coming first. It's been said here over-and-over skills first - S & C second.

As far as training kettlebells and Clubbells in the same workout, of course you can do both. However, I re-read your intro and yoiu say that your going to be climbing into the ring soon. You don't have a lot of time for superfluous training. Kettlebells are a great tool, but with Clubbells there are no gaps to fill. I see a lot of people half-assing either their kettlebell workout or their Clubbell workout just to fit them both in. Make sure you're not doing that.

Let's start with your last goal first:


Muscular endurance for striking and grappling

Okay, muscular endurance is velocity specific. This means that if you want to increase muscular endurance, in order to get the most bang-for-your-buck, train said muscles at a comparable speed.

When you force the muscle to contract and relax rapidly, the muscles "fire" in different ways and the "energy systems" used are different. Take a look at runners. If we have one runner who specializes in running the mile as fast as possible and his opponent is a marathon runner, the marathon runner will lose every time if the race is a mile or less. The reason is that they have trained at different velocities and are accustomed to using different energy systems. Even though they can cover the same distance, the result is completely different. This is why I hate the term "in-shape"....In shape for WHAT?


Clinch control

GRIP-GRIP-GRIP-GRIP!!

Remember, no matter how much strength and muscular endurance you have in the rest ogf your body, clinch control, like everything else, comes down to your weakest link. For the vast majority of people...that's the grip. There is nothing on God's green earth that develops practical grip strength like the Clubbell. Everything you do with it is going to attack your grip... absolutely everything.


Improve shoulder stability

Your already working the Warrior Wellness. Keep it up and do it more often. This has helped me more than I could have ever imagined. After a 2nd degree AC separation not that long ago, I'm now back to 100% and beyond. I attribute that to the combination of WW and Clubbell training. Exercises like the Mill, reverse Mill, shoulder cast, etc. will give you tremendous benefit in regard to shoulder stability, provided they're done correctly with the shoulder kept in closed-packed position. Leverage presses are great as well.


Improve punch power and kick power

There are tons of ways to increase striking power. Some of which are easily overlooked. The 4CBD will provide huge benefits due to the increased development of dynamic balance and the creation of a more stable platform from which to launch.

Also, when trying to increase your overall striking power you can increase the amount of drive and explosiveness that the legs are capable of generating. Remember to stimulate the mnuscles involved and not simulate the skill. Any of the "lunges" would be beneficial for this, just for an example. Refer to the first goal and the velocity specific training this applies here as well.

We can also look at, for lack of a better term... hand speed. Increasing the speed of your punches will increase the overall force output as well, and yet again we need to think about training it in a velocity specific manner. Exercises such as head casts, shoulder casts, armpit casts etc. will give you amazing returns, just remember they need to be done at high velocity.

Now all that said, if you try to do any of the exercises at high speed without first getting your technique down REALLY well, your just setting yourself up for injury. Take some time and get the moves down tight. Only then should you proceed to a higher velocity training protocol.

Also, if you try to fit in all these different exercises and try to accomplish all your goals at once, it's going to turn into a cocktailing fiasco. Your results will be greatly diminished. Your going to have to periodize your training in such a way that you can make gains in 1 or 2 aress and then maintain those while iprogressing with another set of goals.

Incremental Progression.

I the near future, I'll be releasing a DVD course dedicated to this direction of training.

Hope this helps,

Brandon Jones
CST Head Coach

[Scott Sonnon]

Article Alert!!!

[creatureOFnight]

Coach Jones,


Thank you for taking the time to reply in such length. Yes, i will be fighting in september (king of San Da in NJ) and camp starts in less than a month. I have been in the gym year round but not at the level of getting ready for a fight. I have also kept my cardio up w/ intervals and minute drills for my GPP so i am in no way starting from scratch. My weight is only 8lbs. off my weight class so no worries there either.

I am extremely excited being its my ameutur debut and even more at ease since discovering all of the CST and ROSS training principles revolving around breath, movement, structure. And the importance of emotionally detaching yourself over winning and losing. I used to always wonder why some of the soviet fighters had no expression whatsoever before a fight ( Fedor Emelianenko, Igor Vovchanchyn) but now it all makes sense.

Since i have faith that the Clubbells will more than take care of the bullwork of my strength program, i will focus around them w/ only using the kettlebell for main lifts like clean/jerk and snatches w/ some turkish getups and windmills. I enjoy tossing around the girya but the clubbells are definately right up there in making strength work enjoyable without spreading myself to thin like you stated.

I appreciate all the exercise reccomendations and will incorporate them to aid in achieving my goals. I also wanted to know if there are any bio-mechanical exercises i should do that pertains to striking. I have GTB 1.1 since i practice sambo, but are they any benifit to thai boxing? I would think arm screws would help and quad hops for kicking but nothing else seems to come to mind.

I look forward to the dvd, finding the right ingrediants for a recipe is not hard. Its the ratios of those ingrediants and when to use them for best results thats tricky. Im sure your dvd will break alot of these barriers down.

thanks,

Corey

[Coach Jones]

Corey,

GTB 1.1 is full of useful stuff to enhance your game. Since you are going to be competing. I highly recommend getting your hands on Coach Sonnon's Fisticuffs and Leg fencing material. These need to be a part of every fighters training library. They're a great investment, esopecially for someone who is actually going to be competing.

In GTB 1.1 there are some really good joint strengthening exercises for the wrists, feet and ankles. While people can readily see the benefit of these in a grappling context, it's easy to ovcerlook there value in regard to striking.

You've heard Coach Sonnon refer to people being "hand-thinkers", right? Well, your body will always seek to protect itself. If there is a weakness, that tends to be where your attention goes. For example, if most people throw a punch, they are trying to toss their hand outward, this tends to lead to "arm-punching" where very little power is generated. The reason for this is that the weakness in the structure of their punch is at the wrist. That's the weak link in the chain. By concentrating on strengthening the weak links (with Clubbells, and the joint articulation and strength exercises from GTB 1.1) you can remove this weak link and it becomes easier to generate power because your not thinking in terms of your hands(wrists) but rather your bod. Your more connected.

In addition, work that Neck Roll. The neck roll is golden and it's importance, in my opinion, can't be stressed enough. If your going to be fighting you need the neck roll.

Finally, it's my belief that performing ANY of the BME's will benefit you in whatever your trying to accomplish. A while back I taught myself to play guitar. I got pretty good. I had a friend who had been taking lessons since he was a child and all the way up through college. He was so much better than me because while I could perform all the same movements that he could he just knew how that guitar worked. There's a difference between those who can perform physical skills with their body and those who understand how their body works.

Any of the BME's will deepen your level of understanding in this area.

Good luck,
Brandon Jones
CST Head Coach

[daniel juson]

Coach Brandon,
Nice to see another fellow guitar player on the board :lol: . I don't know if its weird/fanatical but I apply CST/ROSS to my playing lol. If you want we can chat a bit about playing in PM since its a bit off topic?

[creatureOFnight]

Coach Jones,

Thanks for the feedback. I will look into fisticuffs and leg fencing as well as keeping up w/ the BME's. I also agree at your analogy of learning just the task or having an understanding of the mechanics so you can apply it to anything

thanks,
Corey