Improving Anaerobic Energy System for MMA

When it comes to steady state running I'm fairly good, I can run quiet well these days, but the moment it comes to MMA sparring, pad work etc I gas a lot easier.
Am I right in assuming this is down to the anaerobic energy system? the more intense activities like rapid punching or heavier sparring still take it out of me quite easily.
Do you have any tips and advice to improve it quite quickly?

I've now stopped, or at least greatly minimised the ammount of steady state training I'm doing now and have swapped most of it for HIIT runs or sparring to try and improve my anaerobic performance.
Been back at MMA for 2 weeks after a year out with injury and the sessions have been killing me atm.

Any good HIIT programmes or circuits that are proven to work well with MMA fighters in greatly improving mma specific cardio?

Thanks in advance

i find interval training to be most effective for me!, minimal rest periods and high intensity periods of excercise (85-90% maximum output!)

example! - rowing sprints - 60seconds high intensity excercise/20 second recovery x 10 = 13 minutes worth of high intensity anerobic excercise!!!!! = euivilant to a 3x5 fight!!!! (inclusivre of 1 minute rest between rounds)

can do this on treadmill also!!

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Originally Posted by dadyJ

i find interval training to be most effective for me!, minimal rest periods and high intensity periods of excercise (85-90% maximum output!)

example! - rowing sprints - 60seconds high intensity excercise/20 second recovery x 10 = 13 minutes worth of high intensity anerobic excercise!!!!! = euivilant to a 3x5 fight!!!! (inclusivre of 1 minute rest between rounds)

can do this on treadmill also!!

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dont you find 1 min to much to keep up the 90% intensity on your intervals or does the intensity drop off towards the end of the min?

or are you just loads more fitter than i am lol ;) ?

I was previously doing a HIT workout doing 90 seconds jog, 30 second sprint, 60 second walk, repeated 5-6 times.

Been reading a lot recently about the balance of sprint v rest, is it best to go for a 1:1 balance, or more sprint than rest? one article i read said twice as much recovery as intense activity, but that seems too light.

Only just seen Brendans article (http://www.brendanchaplin.co.uk/long...-fight-sports/) which I'm going to read now and I think may cover most of my OP.

Hi bud,

Cant assume its down to your anaerobic system, without looking into it fully couldn't tell you for sure. It could be, but it could also be that your aerobic system is not specifically developed, or you don't have the muscular endurance in specific muscles.

You need a well developed aerobic system, no question. To get this you can use longer duration non specific modalities such as rowing and do the session outlined above, or some 1k rows with a minutes rest or so. Always good to have something to work towards to times, distances etc.

Or you can work more specific endurance which would be your MMA circuits with ropes, sledgehammers etc in there as well as heavy bag work etc. Then obviously the most specific is sparring which will certainly condition your lungs provided the intensity is fairly high.

Anaerobic intervals would be much longer rest, like 30-40s of work at max intensity with 2-3 minutes rest.

So to answer your question I would say that you need more MMA drilling and sparring and specific circuits as you may be well developed aerobically but not specifically for MMA.

For the MMA specific circuits throw in anything that you feel you need to work on so if its stand-up stuff use heavy bags punches, skipping etc, ground work do GNP, total body lifts, or if its a combination then put it all together.

Work:Rest negatives are good for developing both aerobic and anaerobic and to be honest unless you have been tested and found to be poorly developed in a particular energy system this would be the method i'd use. So tabatas like 20s work:10s rest x 10 reps should be the goal, but depending on your condition you might have to go something like 3 weeks 20s Work: 40s Rest, 3 weeks 30:30, 3 weeks 20:20 then hit the 20:10.
You want the work you're doing to be quality in that time not just mincing about absolutely ruined!

I put a piece together on it a while ago you might get something from I think from memory there's a progression in there too:

Combining Strength and Endurance Training

Hope that helps :)

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Originally Posted by brendanchaplin

Hi bud,

Cant assume its down to your anaerobic system, without looking into it fully couldn't tell you for sure. It could be, but it could also be that your aerobic system is not specifically developed, or you don't have the muscular endurance in specific muscles.

You need a well developed aerobic system, no question. To get this you can use longer duration non specific modalities such as rowing and do the session outlined above, or some 1k rows with a minutes rest or so. Always good to have something to work towards to times, distances etc.

Or you can work more specific endurance which would be your MMA circuits with ropes, sledgehammers etc in there as well as heavy bag work etc. Then obviously the most specific is sparring which will certainly condition your lungs provided the intensity is fairly high.

Anaerobic intervals would be much longer rest, like 30-40s of work at max intensity with 2-3 minutes rest.

So to answer your question I would say that you need more MMA drilling and sparring and specific circuits as you may be well developed aerobically but not specifically for MMA.

For the MMA specific circuits throw in anything that you feel you need to work on so if its stand-up stuff use heavy bags punches, skipping etc, ground work do GNP, total body lifts, or if its a combination then put it all together.

Work:Rest negatives are good for developing both aerobic and anaerobic and to be honest unless you have been tested and found to be poorly developed in a particular energy system this would be the method i'd use. So tabatas like 20s work:10s rest x 10 reps should be the goal, but depending on your condition you might have to go something like 3 weeks 20s Work: 40s Rest, 3 weeks 30:30, 3 weeks 20:20 then hit the 20:10.
You want the work you're doing to be quality in that time not just mincing about absolutely ruined!

I put a piece together on it a while ago you might get something from I think from memory there's a progression in there too:

Combining Strength and Endurance Training

Hope that helps :)

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Thanks Brendan. That helps a lot. I'm sure my Aerobic system needs a lot of work too, since the injury I've focused more on resistance training with steady state running my only cardio. By testing results I can run quite well, even when the speeds increased to a sprint. But I find whilst I can sprint at maximum speed for several minutes if I tried to do some sparring, tabata's, pad work etc at the same intensity for the same time I'd feel a lot more knackered and feel that 'gassed' feeling and pain in the lungs a lot quicker. Now the injuries recovered and I'm back in MMA i guess the mma specific training will help a lot and I'll chuck in some of the stuff you mentioned between sessions too.
Would you recommend stopping the steady state run and switching it for a HIIT run or something more mma specific like a circuit?
I've read quite a few negative articles about steady state LD running lately, do you think there's still a place for it in terms of developing cardio for MMA?
also, (you may answer this in the article you've posted above which I'm about to read soon), how many sessions/time a week would you focus on cardio for it to be considered enough for improvement?

According to the minimal literature that has been completed to date with regards to S&C for MMA and physiological profiles of a Mixed martial artists; it states that the demands of the three energy systems are as follows Phosphahen - high rate of use, Glycolitic - high rate of use and the Oxidative - low rate of use.
It would then be assumed that the first two energy systems should be of main concern when training conditioning. It should also be noted that anaerobic training has shown time and time again to improve the aerobic pathways therefore in theory negating the need for long boring steady state cardio which also transfers the preference of slow twitch fibres which in most cases as a mixed martial artist you do not want unless you are a grinder.
For a baseline fitness intervals can be used with the use of a heart rate monitor to see how long it takes for you to recover (which plays a pivotal role in MMA being able to recover within that 1 minute period) and as you get more efficient anaerobically you will be able to reduce the rest times.

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Originally Posted by S&C

According to the minimal literature that has been completed to date with regards to S&C for MMA and physiological profiles of a Mixed martial artists; it states that the demands of the three energy systems are as follows Phosphahen - high rate of use, Glycolitic - high rate of use and the Oxidative - low rate of use.
It would then be assumed that the first two energy systems should be of main concern when training conditioning. It should also be noted that anaerobic training has shown time and time again to improve the aerobic pathways therefore in theory negating the need for long boring steady state cardio which also transfers the preference of slow twitch fibres which in most cases as a mixed martial artist you do not want unless you are a grinder.
For a baseline fitness intervals can be used with the use of a heart rate monitor to see how long it takes for you to recover (which plays a pivotal role in MMA being able to recover within that 1 minute period) and as you get more efficient anaerobically you will be able to reduce the rest times.

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But how many times a week can you safely perform Anaerobic work due to the stresses on the CNS? in theory, like you say, Anaerobic work will develop Aerobic fitness, but due to the limitations of frequency with which anaerobic conditioning can be performed; would it not still be better to perform, say, 2 aerobic and 3 anaerobic sessions per week (or vice versa), presumably the effect on slow twitch fibre development would be minimal and, in some ways, beneficial for a longer fight?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by S&C

According to the minimal literature that has been completed to date with regards to S&C for MMA and physiological profiles of a Mixed martial artists; it states that the demands of the three energy systems are as follows Phosphahen - high rate of use, Glycolitic - high rate of use and the Oxidative - low rate of use.
It would then be assumed that the first two energy systems should be of main concern when training conditioning. It should also be noted that anaerobic training has shown time and time again to improve the aerobic pathways therefore in theory negating the need for long boring steady state cardio which also transfers the preference of slow twitch fibres which in most cases as a mixed martial artist you do not want unless you are a grinder.
For a baseline fitness intervals can be used with the use of a heart rate monitor to see how long it takes for you to recover (which plays a pivotal role in MMA being able to recover within that 1 minute period) and as you get more efficient anaerobically you will be able to reduce the rest times.

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There is minimal literature available though, What level of fighter was the research conducted on? Was it a controlled study? I've not seen much that actually has peer reviewed research on elite fighters in this area, however I would be more than open to it if its out there! Do you have the reference?

If the fighters were sub elite how do we really use that? They might be using their anaerobic pathways more so than aerobic because they have to and aerobic not developed fully! So we cannot just assume that it is the anaerobic pathways that predominate.

All the higher level pro fighters I've trained have had a high aerobic capacity but at the end of the day the best way to get results is to coach/develop the athlete. By that i mean if you have an athlete who is very poor aerobically but extremely powerful anaerobically I would suggest that athlete needs to improve his/her aerobic capacity to be able to train for longer durations and maintain technique under fatigue.
If they have excellent aerobic fitness but poor anaerobic then do the opposite and most will be somewhere in the middle. Obviously it needs to be specific to obtain best transfer.

Using MMA tabatas or equivalent develops all the systems, and is also specific preparation which can be made even more specific by studying your fighters movement patterns and working on these in the circuit. This seems to produce good transfer for me.

The baseline level of fitness is important and I go more into this in the webinar earlier this year. How you obtain it is down to the fighter coach but I would suggest that aerobic intervals are used. 2012 Webinar

For me its simple, get em strong and powerful then increase the durations that force and technique can be produced with intensity in a reverse periodised fashion with the end goal of 3-5x5 minute rounds in mind. I don't think i've talked about energy systems in a long time and apart from the odd guy who is poor aerobically on some of the baseline measures, I don't tend to stress "energy system development" very much at all.

As one of the athletic development greats Vern Gambetta puts it "Build it first, then learn to endure it".

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Originally Posted by londonpride

Thanks Brendan. That helps a lot. I'm sure my Aerobic system needs a lot of work too, since the injury I've focused more on resistance training with steady state running my only cardio. By testing results I can run quite well, even when the speeds increased to a sprint. But I find whilst I can sprint at maximum speed for several minutes if I tried to do some sparring, tabata's, pad work etc at the same intensity for the same time I'd feel a lot more knackered and feel that 'gassed' feeling and pain in the lungs a lot quicker. Now the injuries recovered and I'm back in MMA i guess the mma specific training will help a lot and I'll chuck in some of the stuff you mentioned between sessions too.
Would you recommend stopping the steady state run and switching it for a HIIT run or something more mma specific like a circuit?
I've read quite a few negative articles about steady state LD running lately, do you think there's still a place for it in terms of developing cardio for MMA?
also, (you may answer this in the article you've posted above which I'm about to read soon), how many sessions/time a week would you focus on cardio for it to be considered enough for improvement?

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I'd drop the LSD mate yea and put in some intervals or MMA tabata style circuits.
The main area for LSD for me is dropping weight, not convinced it'll make you a better fighter/trainer etc. Occasional longer intervals like 5 minute row etc can be effective for aerobic development if you need it.

I'd say 2-3x per week for 15-20 minutes are so you'll see some benefits.

As an example of aerobic work, just look at Nick Diaz. The guy pressures his man for 25 minutes none stop, with high intensity.
He is an aerobic athlete doing triathlons and stuff in his spare time!

Okay there are more explosive athletes in the UFC, but he is a perfect example of someone who utilises his aerobic system pretty darn well and has ALOT of success.