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ALL THE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY SHOULD BE ACCOMPANIED BY A SPECIALIST, EACH INDIVIDUAL POSSESSES A LEVEL DIFFERENT FROM TRAINING.
NEVER FORGET TO HEAT UP AND TO PROLONGATE BEFORE THE TRAINING AND OF PROLONGATEING AFTER THE TRAINING.

THE BRAIN. It is the part of the body that the true fighter always exercises.

Breathing and Pulsation–forms of hearing your body

To breathe is such a prosaic and habitual act that nor we feel bill that we executed it. However, when we spoke about athletes, be of weekend or of high revenue, that act wins specific contours and it deserves larger attention.
In an athlete's life the act of breathing is associated to the acting, to the fatigue and the quality of the sporting activity. The breathing is a parameter of as the training, a reference of the limits of the body is happening.
I don't intend to discuss as one should breathe during a practice, if we should loosen the air for the mouth or for the nose, if we should inspire in way brief or lingering. Subjects as those are very discussed and studied between physiologists of the exercise and physical educators. The one that I intend is to discuss the psychological aspects of the care with the breathing.
To breathe, or better, to look at the breathing can be a precious moment in that the apprentice of a sport can take conscience of your effort, of your capacity. Until it can be one moment of making the decision of changing the strategy of a proof. To be attentive to the breathing is a good opportunity to take conscience of the conditions of your body.
Be attentive about how you breathes in rest - when you are watching television for instance, verify: is your inspiration longer or briefer than the expiration? Do you accomplish abdominal movements while breathes? Which is the time of a whole breathing cycle?
When you are beginning the exercise it verifies the same things, as well as during all the phases of the training and to half hour after your end and compare each one of them. You will notice different moments, different forms of breathing in several moments.
After having made that observation we will turn it more refined. While you breathe it imagines the air entering and leaving for your nostrils or mouth, try to trace the road that he does until your lung, imagine it inflating and emptying, try to feel the amount of air that you are capturing and expelling.
Finally, try to relate your breathing with your sanguine pulse, feel what it happens with your heart in the most several breathing types, imagine the amount of blood and the course of the blood in each beat.
If you get to take conscience of your breathing and pulsation you will get to notice which is the state of your body in the exact moment of the training and it can trace strategies to reduce the fatigue or to avoid it during a proof of long duration, for instance.
In a wider sense, you will better be able to control your reservations of energy, you will notice the exact moment of attacking with ATTITUDE or of reducing a little the rhythm, of to change the breathing pattern and to try a recovery. You can feel the best hour of moisturizing or of supplemental her, because the attention to your breathing will place you in contact with your body. You will have a subjective indicator of your training, being capable to print a lighter rhythm or weighed your technician accordingly it to request, or as you drift for that day.

Summarizing: To look at the breathing and for the pulsation it makes possible to listen of the languages of the body. Your body is at all times telling you on you. It is necessary to know to listen to it.

Psychology of the sport in the fighter's head

The anxiety, for instance, is a normal emotion that alert us for new situations or danger.
It is a positive reaction of the organism that takes a person to get ready for a proof or to workout for a competition.
When that reaction is exaggerated and not proportional to the incentives the anxiety becomes a problem that, besides the fear and of the apprehension, it causes physical symptoms, as excessive acceleration of the beats, excessive perspiration and diarrhea, and psychic, as nervousness, tension and concentration difficulty, capable to affect the thought, the perception and the learning. " The anxiety disturbances are reactions of the man front to your existences ".
" The panic upset can be a sharp reaction to a certain fact of the individual's life. And a social phobia, as, for instance, not to get to speak in public, a chronic " reaction. in other words, behind an anxious picture a life situation can exist badly solved, that it can be, among other, an employment change, a relative's loss or the separation of the husband or of the woman.
Basically, when we are due to a situation that causes stress, our organism receives an adrenaline discharge, the one that causes exalts agitation. Then it elapses, that will of leaving running. And " that will is healthy and, inside of the possible, it should be satisfied, because the exercise does with that the organism gets to give to eliminate that adrenaline ".
See the symptoms that the adrenaline is in larger amount of the than it would owe:
When the breathing is altered, breathless and " short " (thoraxic).
When them extremity of the body (hands and feet) they are sweated and, at the same time, cold.
When the musculature of the whole body is tense.
When the blood pressure and the heart beats increase.
When we felt excessively aggressive or very passive before the stressful circumstances.
The first step to combat the stress is to recognize it, the second is to identify your causes.
" After the person notices to be suffering of stress, and she gets to notice the situations in that feels more stressed, yuo should ask if you can modify some of those situations. For instance, if you are stressed with the congested traffic, you can leave house earlier, when the traffic is freer, or until taking a cab ".
If the situations that cause stress are out of our control, the solution is the prevention. See some clues of as you get ready to face the surprises of the day by day:
Practice some physical activity, because, besides being with the strengthened body, you will be liberating if of the adrenaline excess.
Try to feed in a healthy way. With that, your body will be more balanced.
Develop the habit of to relax and to breathe correctly.
Be more flexible due to complicated situations.
Abandon habits how to smoke or to drink a lot of coffee.
Don't leave activities of larger intensity for the last hour.
Avoid the anxiety of answering phone calls, e-mails, bips etc at the same time. Establish priorities.
But, above all, remember that to restore the energies it is as important as to spend them. " In this sense a good clue is to be based in the professional sportsmen's attitude, that do the rest and of the cares with the body a commitment as important as the explosion of energy and the competition ".
In a competition the athlete sees herself affected for a series of emotions that a lot of times don't know how to recognize or to name. Many of those emotions can be extremely positive in the sense of taking the athlete to reach better results–in that case we are we spoking about motivation.
For other, side exists emotions that impede the athlete of reaching the apex of your revenue, impeding him of accomplishing your task with competence–in this case we are speaking about the stress or the anxiety.
The motivation is, a lot of times, understood as the principal reason of an athlete's success and his failure, a lot of times, it is explained through a “motivation lack”. we can say that two motivation types exist - the intrinsic and the extrinsic. The intrinsic refers to the pleasure that an athlete has in accomplishing a task, as this he sits down after running 10 Km, the search for feeling the corporal sensations after a day of training. That motivation tells respect the energy that the athlete finds to accomplish a task, in order to get a sensation that does originate from him.
The extrinsic motivation refers to a valorization that comes from the external middle: it can be a word of the technician, an applause of the fan, the affection of somebody dear. It is a force originated by the will from conquering an external recognition.
We can understand that the intrinsic motivation refers to a recognition and a valorization interns from the own athlete, and the extrinsic to a recognition that leaves of the atmosphere.
So much the intrinsic motivation with relationship the extrinsic is important because when winning a proof, a competitive athlete it receives recognitions so much interns as external. To wonder why wants to win the proof, the one that hopes receive when winning her it can help the athlete to identify your motivations.
There are some factors as the stress and the anxiety that interfere negatively in the motivation. A lot of times are generated by personal problems or of the own training, or for the athlete's uncertainties in relation to your own preparation or the other competitors' preparation. A practice that helps the athlete a lot staying motivated it is to trace, close to the technician a good planning of goals and objectives, so much in relation to a proof with relationship to the calendar of the year. To know that intends in each proof, to have clarity of the importance of each one of them and which the real possibilities to reach the objectives.
As example imagines an athlete that began to compete on that year. He doesn't still have experience and nor it reached significant results. It would be an unreal objective to hope he goes a World Champion in the end of the season, that would put an end to the athlete's motivation, because difficultly he would get to reach it. When dividing that final objective in different stages they be accomplished her - as first to win the regional championships, for later to long for the state ones and finally the Nationals and World Cups- we are tracing real possibilities of accomplishment, what in fact motivates the athlete.
In the same way, many athletes worry excessively about your opponents. Before they competing they want to know who will be in your " baptism " and they are compared with the other athletes. That is a generating factor of stress and it puts an end to the motivation, once it is not possible to exercise any control on the training and the preparation of other, but just on the own training.
Like this, the athlete should concentrate on the own preparation, to trust the own training and in the technician, to trace a proof strategy and to follow it inside of the planned, to have in mind that if the opponent passed you in a proof of long distance he can be using a strategy different from that traced by you and your technician, and that can be the best.
Therefore it is important a good visualization of the proof. Before releasing the athlete he should imagine executing the whole course, as if it was already competing, and to try, after the start, to execute exactly what visualized. The athlete that makes a good visualization doesn't face surprises during the proof.
Psychological conditions in a Competition
Stress the anxiety they are opponents of the corridors
Many athletes that get ready for a competition get to reach great results during the training however, when they compete they leave a lot to want, reaching inferior indexes of the trainings.
In situations as that is evident the athlete's physical capacity because, if he gets to reach good results in trainings, the one that limits cannot be your conditioning. What would be then? They can be psychological factors.
They are many the factors that can make the athlete “to lose your force” in the day of a competition. The first can be the concentration lack, in other words, the athlete is so concerned with external incentives that stops worrying with the one that has do, with the task that will accomplish. The own technician's pressure, fan, family, etc they can work as stress factor!
It is very important that the athlete, minutes before the competition, concentrate on the task in that he will do, visualize the exercise, build a proof strategy, activate your body through an appropriate breathing to face an intensity of force.
Breathing exercises, mantalization and visualizations - that can be done during the prolongation - or even a chat with the technician can help the athlete a lot to enter in the climate of the proof.
Another harmful factor to the athlete's acting is him to worry too much with your opponent. The athlete should have clear that he has total controls of the training and of your strategy, but none on the one of the other athlete.
When the competitor is in disadvantage, or threatened of being, a lot of times the athlete can desconcentrate and it tries “to look for” the other athlete, straying of the traced strategy and accomplishing a force a lot of times unnecessary, what can result in a premature fatigue. Is that so true that right teams, taking advantage of of the psychological unpreparedness of some athletes, do the calls rabbits, that only enter in the proof with the intention of fatiguing a competitor negotiate. (For that teams do exist THE, B and C in the jiu-jitsu championships?)
If you trace a strategy with your technician, inside of the limits of your training, it should trust him and to execute him. If, in some moment you be surpassed by another athlete it is important to consider the following possibilities: his strategy can be different from yours, he can only be wanting “to break it” and, when fatiguing, it goes either to release the proof or to reduce the intensity, he cannot have a strategy and it will fatigue some meters the front and, mainly, your strategy can be better than the one of him. Trust you and in your technician.

TREINAMENTO INTERVALADO

O treinamento intervalado é o meio de preparação física que compreende alternâncias entre período de trabalho e de recuperação (esforços e contra esforço). Com intensidades e durações controladas, ao mesmo tempo que exige uma orientação das variáveis de treinamento nos objetivos propostos.

O treinamento intervalado é considerado como marco do período científico do treinamento desportivo. Nasceu da evolução dos métodos para corredores de fundo e meio fundo, esse tipo de treinamento teve início na Alemanha em 1939 criado por Woldemar Gerschller, considerado o criador do interval-training, que uniu-se ao fisiologista também alemão Herbert Reidell e após trabalhos experimentais formularam a concepção científica do treinamento intervalado.

Experimentaram treinamentos com distâncias de 400 e 800m, 200 e 400m, e de 200 e 300m. Mas concluíram que as distâncias ideais para o treinamento intervalado seriam de 100 e 200m, quando o nº de repetições. O intervalo entre os estímulos não ultrapassavam o tempo de 1 minuto e a ação durante esse intervalo era caminhar, trotar e combinar esses dois tipos de atividades. Essa ação era chamada de pausa ativa ou repouso ativo. A partirde 1952 novas alterações surgiram na concepção científicas do treinamento intervalado de Gerschller e Reidell. No decorrer dos anos novos fisiologistas de treinadores aperfeiçoaram o treinamento intervalado, sendo que a principal pontuação científica evidenciada foi justamente a diferença em termos de resultados orgânicos do intervalo longo e do intervalo curto.

O uruguaio Jorge Hegedus em 1976 com base numa minuciosa revisão da literatura internacional sobre o interval training, sintetizou as principais modificações surgidas e empregadas nas preparações modernas de alta competição desse meio de treinamento, principalmente do uso da variabilidade nas sessões. Hegedus preconiza o interval training como um sistema de trabalho determinado por uma sucessão de esforços sub-máximos com intervalos incompletos de recuperação.

Hoje o interval training faz parte das preparações desportivas praticamente em todos os desportos.
O interval training recebe várias denominações: Treinamento com cargas intervaladas, Treinamento parcelado, Treinamento intervalado, Treinamento fracionado, Treinamento de repetições,Treinamento de esforço e contra-esforço, Treinamento de esforço e pausa.

- O treinamento Intervalado modificou-se muito pouco quanto às indicações de qualidades físicas que podem ser desenvolvidas com esse tipo de treino.
- A evolução da fórmula do treinamento intervalado.
- A concepção do treinamento intervalado foi recriada, dando-lhe uma conotação científica, foi estabelecida uma fórmula com 5 fatores de treinamento para as sessões.

Com o avanço científico e tecnológico, algumas alterações ocorreram na fórmula do treinamento intervalado, as quais praticamente atualizaram o emprego do treinamento intervalado em preparações de altos padrões.
A mudança dos fatores de treinamento para variáveis de treinamento já que melhores resultados foram obtidos com a variação adequada dos antigos fatores estabelecidos:
A troca do antigo fator D (distâncias) para E (estímulos), já que nem sempre serão em distâncias os esforços dos atletas. A reformulação da importância dada ao antigo fator A (ação) que durante os intervalos, passaram a indicar a fórmula do Treinamento Intervalado somente com 4 variáveis, sem a ação nos intervalos.

Nova fórmula E.T. R.I. - (E) Estímulos (T) Tempo (R) Repetições (I) Intervalo.

Sem dúvida a variabilidade dos estímulos, tempos, n.º de repetições e intervalos nas sessões foi a melhor inovação nos últimos anos no emprego do Treinamento Intervalado. Além disso pode-se concluir que a variabilidade nas cargas e intervalos provocam um desenvolvimento mais considerável na capacidade anaeróbica em atletas proncipiantes.
Qualidades Físicas de base descritas com a finalidade da sua utilização como estímulos para treinamentos contínuos e intervalados.
Endurance Orgânica: é a capacidade de realizar durante um longo tempo, um esforço de fraca intensidade, com um regime cardíaco entre 120-140 batimentos por minuto (bpm).
Endurance Muscular: é a capacidade de realizar um esforço muscular de fraca intensidade, durante um tempo relativamente longo com numerosa repetições. Em Sterdy State 120-140bpm.
Resistência Orgânica: é a capacidade de realizar, durante um tempo relativamente longo um esforço de intensidade média ou forte, com um regime cardíaco entre 150-190bpm. Atletas de alto nível chegam a trabalhar com 200bpm.
Resistência Muscular: É a capacidade de realiza um esforço muscular de média intensidade, variando de 30 a 50% da força máxima, durante um tempo relativamente longo com numerosas repetições um regime cardíaco superior a 150bpm.
Força e Potencia: força é a capacidade de vencer uma resistência. É o efeito da contração de um músculo ou grupo de músculos.
Pontência: é a possibilidade de realizar um trabalho máximo no mínimo de tempo ou, ainda, é faculdade de realizar uma força considerável em movimentos rápidos.
Esforços Máximos: séries de 1 a 5 repetições com 85% a 95% da força máxima.
Esforços Sub-máximos: séries de 6 a 8 repetições com 65% a 80% da força máxima.
Velocidade: é a faculdade de executar ações motoras num espaço de tempo mínimo. A capacidade de realizar movimentos à velocidade máxima depende, entre outros fatores, da força, do relaxamento e da habilidade técnica.
Explosão: é a faculdade de contrair a totalidade de um músculo com a solicitação do máximo de fibras musculares no mínimo de tempo. A explosão é a mais pura forma de velocidade.
Flexibilidade: é a capacidade de efetuar movimentos de grande amplitude dentro dos limites permitidos pela mobilidade normal das articulações. A flexibilidade depende da elasticidade dos músculos e dos ligamentos da temperatura externa e do movimento em que são feitos os exercícios, do grau de aquecimento ou de fadiga.
Coordenação: é a qualidade que permite a realização de movimentos sem contrações prejudiciais.Ela visa a combinar a ação de vários grupos musculares para realizar um movimento com o máximo de rendimento. É a coordenação dos músculos agonistas e antagonistas.
Efeitos do trabalho de velocidade e explosão no organismo produzem os mais importantes efeitos de espessamento do músculo cardíaco e aumento do débito sistálico.
No plano muscular melhoram a potência, porém, têm efeitos mínimos de resistência muscular localizada.
A sua estimulação usada no treinamento melhora a qualidade e intensidade dos movimentos além de provocar adaptação muscular a esforços intensos.

* EFEITOS DO TRABALHO DE ENDURANCE SOBRE O ORGANISMO

Os efeitos de esforço cardíaco serão mais ou menos sensíveis, dependendo da duração dos intervalos.
Pulso a 120bpm, muito esforço.
Pulso a 90-96 bpm, pouco esforço.
Utilizados exclusivamente provocam poucos efeitos de espessamento da parede cardíaca, sobretudo se forem realizados com intervalos inativos. Utilizados com o trabalho de endurance, preparam o coração para grandes esforços, sem efeitos sensíveis de musculação cardíaca, se feitos com recuperação completa de 90-96 bpm. Com a pulsação entre 150-165 bpm. Através da sua longa duração provocam um débito de O2 importante e em conseqüência fazem o organismo suportar, durante um tempo relativamente longo, uma elevada taxa de ácido lático. Obtem-se de um modo geral, os efeitos da musculação cardíaca. Na prática são utilizados de maneira exclusiva, e produzirão efeitos de resistência. Combinados com o trabalho de endurance, os efeitos de resistência serão menores.
Utilizados durante alguns treinos de endurance, produzirão efeitos mínimos de resistência. Corretamente utilizados com o trabalho de endurance, esse tipo de treinamento se constitui em excelente preparação para a fase de “entrar em forma”.

METHOD CROSS PROMENADE

Known as cross walk, although also, register sessions developed at forests, beaches, parks, fields etc.

A session of Cross Promenade is divided in four parts:

Heating–breathing exercises and of flexibility–10 minutes approximately

Exercises seeking the muscular development–15 minutes

Work of speed

I work continuous combined with work interval –30 minutes

In spite of your parts they be perfectly defined, a session of Cross Promenade should almost be made in your totality in displacement. The application of this method is used as break of training routine, being still taken the advantage of that middle of training to embrace exercises of flexibility, muscular activity and speed.

Cross Promenade still allows a lot of creativity in your formulations for the trainers. However it is essential to clear that the breathing exercises practically are excluded of the context of the sport training of high level.

Cross Promenade was conceived seeking possible applications for all the sports and also for sendentaries, besides a great psychological climate, involved in the sessions, it usually provokes a good motivation in the training.

It uses exercises of continuous movement, in general of long duration and that fundamentally they seek the cardio-breathing development. The continuous training also receives other denominations:

Training with continuous load, Duration training, Training with lingering loads, Over distance training

With relationship to the development of physical qualities, it can be affirmed that the employment of the training continues it will always result in the development of the resistance aerobics (ENDURANCE), of the located muscular resistance and of the rhythm, while other physical qualities: Anaerobic resistances, displacement speed and it forces dynamics they can be aimed at since it is formulated specific incentives in the course of the duration trainings.

Continuous training

In any case of application:

Resistance aerobics

Located muscular resistance

Rhythm

In specific case of application:

Anaerobic resistance

Displacement speed

forces dynamics

Physiologic effects Provoked by the Continuous Training:

Increase of the heart capacity

Reduction of the heart frequency (HF) in rest

Increase of the systolic volume of the heart

Improvement of the lung capacity, to extract oxygen (O2) of the inspired air

Increase of the amount of blood that can transport more oxygen

Storage of more glucose in the liver and in the muscles

Increase of the number of capillary functional in the muscles

Increase of the number and improvements of the composition of the mitocôndrias in the muscular fibers

* METHODS USED IN THE CONTINUOUS TRAINING

Fartlek can be understood as game of races.

The method consists of the superaçao of courses with ascents, gone down, plans, spaces of sand etc.

The sections done in forests, fields and mountains, escaping from the competition places. In the courses the athletes should present variations of work rhythm, although the intensities of the races come in agreement with the distances and the time of the timed efforts.

The intervals among the efforts (distances) they are in agreement with the accomplished work and they should be used with lighter incentives (hazings and you mark).

There is an alternation among run fast and slow.

The muscular work should be accomplished by natural means (ascents, sandy lands, on loads etc.)

The efforts are of intensity it measured and of long duration. The load of effort is made by the athletes' election, there are combinations of all the distances (of 50 meters up to 3000 meters).

The times of the sections are not fixed suffering a variation most of the time between 40 and 120 minutes, it should have an emphasis in the muscular relaxation during the sections.

In the modern preparations, the trainers place that interesting method as one of the means is used her, and obeying the personal computer-cycle always formulated in the scientific period of training.

* SESSION PROPOSED FOR A PLANNING IN THE SCIENTIFIC PERIOD OF TRAINING

trot soft of five or ten minutes

race between 1200 and 2500 meters in speed measured uniform

marches fast of five minutes

cycle of races of speeds between 50 and 60 meters, inserted by hazings until the normalization of the breathing, for the athlete to be rested for new nick (SPRINTS)

marches until the recovery of previous efforts

start of 3 and 4 meters, breaking the inertia the fastest possible

trot for turn to the calm

* HEART FREQUENCY BE OBSERVED HER ACCORDING TO THE INTENSITY OF WORK

120 to 140 beats

130 to 160 beats

140 to 180 beats

Foundations of the training of our TEAM QUILES
André Quiles Team

The Jiu-jitsu has a specific connotation of physical conditioning, with the improvement of the physical qualities integrated into the foundations of the sport Jiu-jitsu. Several training methods exist for the Jiu-jitsu revenue, tends as basic beginning the methods empiric and scientific.

The training with a scientific proposal should be addressed for a total training, that consists of the improvement of four important aspects: Technician, physical, tactical and psychological.

- Technical aspect: Tends as objective the development of the foundations and specific techniques of the Jiu-jitsu, with the study and choice of the most appropriate positions seeking better use of the bio-type of the athlete. It is oh that is our strong point, for that it is enough to verify our results in competitions, besides our victory students they always remain technically, all are guided to fight the whole time without winding the fight and mainly looking for the submission and not only the victory.

- Physical aspect: The "physical conditioning" is fundamental for the success. If there is not physical conditioning, the movement it doesn't accompany the reasoning. We divided the physical preparation in preparation organic, muscular and kinetics. Therefore our physical training is intense, when beginning each person's levels they are appraised and with the time the individual is going developing by itself and in little time it is already in a great level of physical conditioning.

- Tactical aspect: It is of great importance in the study and planning of the athlete's own possibilities, as well as of the opponent in subject, seeking to determine a logical strategy of game, the existence experience in our teacher's competitions and of our more graduate athletes it is fundamental in the development of the least graduate ones.

- Psychological aspect: When the athlete is full aware of all your possibilities in the previous aspects. Being felt very technical, physics and taticamente, is ready for the combat, vibrating positively in all the senses. Being like this, we can affirm that the athlete is psychologicaly ready. . The measure that the athlete is going acquiring technical knowledge your psychological one are growing develops winning trust for the competitions and the " tasks " of the day by day.

Integration of the Technical and Physical Training: Technical training developing the fight situations through the foundations and specific techniques of the Jiu-jitsu: Throws, immobilizations, guard passage, techniques of offensive guard with scratchings and unbalances, techniques of defensive guard with movements of positions using inferior and superior members, mounted for the front, footprint in the backs, exits of bass and turnings of four, besides the submission techniques. To conclude is TEAM QUILES principal foundation, and It has as objective removes the opponent out of combat, and it is the big it differentiates of our Jiu-jitsu in relation to the other martial arts.
This technical and physical integration can be perfected and developed just using the academy, reaching the primordial objectives using the system of called training of " training for the training ", in other words, training the physical conditioning through the technical training with the following specific methods:

- Continuous training, Intervalated, in Circuit, Mixed and with On Load. Always respecting the interdependence Volume x Intensity, that represents Amount x Quality.

Phases of the Training: It is necessary that the athlete is the aware that is impossible to maintain the peak in the way during the whole year, for that the planning of the training is fundamental for a satisfactory acting, without causing damages to the athlete as bruises, fatigues, stresses, it lowers of the resistance of the imunological system , bad acting technician, avoiding like this on training (over training).
The training of high level is divided in four periods: Pré-preparatory; Preparatory; Competition; Transition. Periods those subdivided in cycles weekly or monthly, depending on the available time for the training in order to reach the competition objective, and also the space of time among the competitions, seeking the athlete's recovery.
All know that a champion overcomes the pain and the psychological waste, because your characteristic principal and to support what the common athlete doesn't overcome for comfort and lacks of effort, the champion is overcome day after day, it on Sundays, it seeks complemental preparatory trainings to can in the academy to be devoted 100% to the training . That is the Eschool of the Master André Quiles!

To work out Caught flu

Is it worthwhile to work out caught flu?
According to the specialists in sporting medicine, to practice physical activity in that state can do well, but since it is not in the initial stage of the disease. " In the first 72 hours of the influenza it is not advisable because all the energy of the organism is returned to the combat of the virus. A waste provokes fall of the imunologic system ". Already in the final stage of the infection, the exercises light aerobics (as 30 minutes of swimming) they are beneficial. They " help to dilute the secretion, that will be expelled more easily ".

HEART FREQUENCY

formulates to calculate the Maximum heart Frequency it is:

H. F. M. = 220 - AGE HEART FREQUENCY

formulates to calculate the Maximum heart Frequency is:

H. F. M. = 220 - AGE

NUMBER OF REPETITIONS
In the training with weights, the best scale of repetitions to grow is between eight and 20. The ideal results for muscular increase appear when you are lifting a weight between 60% and 80% of the one that would get lift in a, only a, repetition. To 80%, the normal person can do from eight to ten repetitions; to 60%, she can go from 15 to 20. Most believes that any to struggle between six and 12 repetitions it is the ideal for the muscular growth, but the truth six would be more than 80%.

SIGNS OF OVER TRAINING
Fatigues and aching lingering, repetitive bruises, motivation lack, increase of the cardiovascular rate, reduced appetite, headaches, constant influenzas, fevers, decrease of the resistance, decrease of the time of reaction and a general decrease of the performance. In case there is suspicion of being in over training it reduces the training volume, increase the rest and improve the nutrition.

Lactic Acid
The myth that to the we work out we were aching for the Lactic Acid it was broken, or that inconvenience muscular during the intense activities it is also blame of the Lactic Acid. Definitively both it is not true, The acid is product of the break of the glycogen in the muscle and in the liver during the activity and even in the rest. Studies revealed that the injection of lactic acid the muscle doesn't produce any pain type, and that after less than one hour, the levels of the acid return to the normal. That sustains the fact that the pain in the muscles is not resulted of a durable lactic acid. The theory accepts now on the cause of the pain in the muscles it is of small lesions of the muscular cells and of the connective fabric in the moments that follow the training.

No PAIN No GAIN ???
Old sentence where was believed that there is not earnings without pain. Researches prove that that is not true. To be aching after the training is more commonly caused so much by the overtraining as for the execution of a new exercise. There is a damage in the muscular cells after each training session and that can cause the pain. Her, however, doesn't have to be present so that it has won in the training. Once the body gets used to the exercises, same heavy works should not produce subsequent pain. Most of the elite athletes rarely tries pains since they are there are times.

YOUNG TO WORK OUT?
A popular faith in the academies says that is dangerous to begin to lift weights when if it is very young. Many myths give bill that such activity can harm the growth and to harm the bones. Current studies prove the opposite exactly of that. Not only the muscular activity in the youth strengthens the bones, muscles, ligaments and tendons, as well as it helps to avoid bruises in the athletic field. Now it is true that inappropriate training in young athletes can be dangerous. For that reason, all the athletes should be taught by a competent professional, once that is made, the added force will help in the general form as well as in the performance.

MUSCULAR ACTIVITY, CARDIO AND SEXUAL ACTING
Any study that points the sexual activity as harmful factor to the training doesn't exist it is him aerobic or anaerobic. However any exercise or " sport " that it can take to an intense fatigue or the an overtraining can affect the sexual acting negatively. On the other hand it is not the muscular activity or any other physical activity that it can disturb the sexual acting but yes the excess of any physical activity. The impotence myth related to the muscular activity for instance is clearly associated to Anabolic Steroid's use, and not the muscular activity in sí. However experienced athletes guarantee that one week sleeping in the room guarantees the certainty of larger acting in the fight.

WEIGHTLIFTING AND CARDIOVASCULAR
The muscular activity in the jiu-jitsu should always be made in alternate days or at least in separate schedules and in last case for who doesn't possess time before the jiu-jitsu. As general rule, the training of force has less impact in the cardio than the cardio has in the training of force.

TRAINING OF STAIRWAY
Very used lately by athletes in the preparation in competition periods the stairway exercises they strengthen the inferior members, how to workout: Seek a gym or stairwell with big steps in case doesn't find it seeks a stairwell of normal steps however with many, Go up running maintaining the posture, looking to the front and using the tip of the feet, to go down goes down walking to avoid future problems in the articulation of the knee. in normal stairways it arises of 3 in 3 steps, in the beginning makes 5 series and go increasing the healthy ideal little by little at least 50 mts of steps for each series.

HOW TO WORKOUT
The characteristics fisiological of the predominantly anaerobic healthy competition jiu-jitsu. In the physical preparation, the muscular activity exercises are useful to prevent lesions and to win force. The mistake is in not giving emphasis the muscular activity to avoid a joined game or worse still a jiu-jitsu based on force what changes completely our jiu-jitsu, to be totally based on technique. However two factors exists they be considered, as recovery, weight category and percentile of fat. Never forget to prolongate before and after the trainings it is of muscular activity of jiu-jitsu, because the prolongation is so or more important for who wants to have a power jiu-jitsu.

MUSCULAR ACTIVITY
The more acquaintance activity to aid the athletes, the muscular activity, “it benefits the jiu-jitsu apprentice in the capacity to execute the used movements in a located way”. He with exercises well executed, the fighter increases the explosion, isometric, resistance and it forces perfectly combined.

Over the last ten years, I have had the luxury of working with a multitude of top level athletes in almost every sport one can imagine. From fighting to football, from bobsled to basketball, I have found that there are many attributes that all athletes must share to enjoy success.

About a year ago, a World Cup soccer player I was training asked me what I believed to be the most important quality an athlete could possess. At first, a number of qualities came to mind, but when I really examined the question at length, I believe there is one quality that encompasses them all. This quality is discipline. Every other quality that an athlete can possess and nature must be done using the maximal amount of discipline. If the right amount of discipline is not present, every aspect of performance that it affects will eventually suffer. When I use the term discipline, I am defining the term as control over yourself. You are the only one that can really let yourself down. When you lose discipline, or self control, usually less than desirable results occur. During this article I will give you some memorable tools to ensure that breakdowns in your discipline will happen as little as possible.

When I was an athlete on the US Bobsled team, there were a number of times I did not demonstrate the right amount of discipline. From missing a workout to going out partying to being late for meetings, I will not say I was ever perfect. Around this time, my father saw that I was not focusing myself as well as I could. That is when he introduced me to what in science is called The Butterfly Effect. The Butterfly Effect can best be described as the fact that nothing is predictable, and that enormous positive or negative effects can often be produced by very tiny causes. The example that is often used is that science has shown that the tiny flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Japan could lead to a monstrous storm in Brazil. So always keep in mind that as small as you think something is, it can have a huge positive, or negative effect.

Now examine for a second the ways that you flap your wings each day when it comes to your training. Do you ever miss a workout? Do you always eat correctly? Do you push yourself as far as you need to go? The answers to all of these questions are most often no. Many athletes I have asked these questions usually say, “Who cares, I am only missing one workout” or “Don’t worry, I will eat well tomorrow.” But now let me illustrate the Butterfly Effect as it relates to discipline. Let’s say that over a training period of 12 weeks leading up to a competition you miss 6 workouts which is only one every two weeks. Let us also say that you didn’t eat well 20 of the 84 days of training. Then when the competition came, you were defeated because you narrowly lacked the strength and stamina needed for the win. Even though you felt you prepared, you now see how small breakdowns in discipline at the time lead to very big consequences. Understanding this, you must see that there are no small aspects to anything in training because tiny flaps of your wings can lead to a victory or defeat up to years from now. This knowledge should help you to sharpen your discipline so that you question the result of every decision you make about your training.

Another method to examine the Butterfly Effect and your discipline is a question I often ask my athletes, “How would you train if you knew this was your last competition?” Many answer that they would now attack every aspect of their training with a new overall zest for achievement. I am usually disappointed with this answer because it shows that none of the athletes believe that they are working as hard or as smart as they could. This further shows that there is a breakdown in their discipline along the way in their training. What you must realize, my friends, is that we only have a finite number of competitions and days to train, so you must treat each of those as if it were your last. If you are not living each workout to the fullest, you are not flapping your wings as hard as you could to cause great positive effects later.

An excellent way for an athlete to attempt to examine their current level of discipline is what I call the Discipline Curse. After working with athletes for so long, I have also noticed a trend among most of them once their career was over. Most believe that their lack of discipline or knowledge did not allow them to achieve the level that they wanted. They can also usually pinpoint the times in their careers when this discipline as missing. I always tell my athletes that the worst feeling an athlete can be cursed with the regret of looking back on their career and feeling empty because they could have done much more. If they knew their shortcomings then and regretted it, this means you can pinpoint your errors now to avoid the shortcomings that could haunt you later. No one is perfect, you are going to make mistakes and have breakdowns in your discipline. If you can minimize this as much as possible, great things are bound to happen. There will be good and bad days, just search for the lesson in each. Just make sure you are always looking to avoid the Curse.

The final example I will use to demonstrate the importance of discipline is with the Law of the Shark. A shark, as we all know, must forever keep moving forward, or he cannot breathe and dies. Imagine the discipline that the shark has to possess. Perhaps there are days he wants to stop and take a rest, but this is not an option. You must attack your athletic career with the same ideals. Just like the shark, you must constantly try to move forward. If you are not constantly bettering yourself, you are only staying the same or getting worse. You must become disciplined enough to never let yourself stay at one level for too long. We all know there are going to be tough days. There are going to be times that that voice in your head says “Don’t worry, you can quit right here.” Those are the days to utilize the examples I gave above to make sure that your discipline doesn’t falter. Before you ever quit, miss a workout, stay out too late, or eat what you know is wrong for you, ask yourself, “Am I flapping my wings to move forward like a shark, or am I placing a curse of regret on myself for years to come.”

One of the goals of my training system is to stimulate the athlete to use a greater force in a shorter period of time while shooting in, jumping, punching or kicking. One of the training techniques used to achieve this is plyometrics.

Even though most athletes today are familiar with the term plyometrics, few really understand how this training technique enhances performance. Plyometrics began being used in the late 1960s by Russian track and field athletes. Until the 1980s, plyometrics were strictly used by the track and field athlete. After this period of time, other sports began to apply plyometrics to their training as well.

Simply stated, plyometrics involve maximal muscle contractions at the highest velocity possible. By using this type of training properly, physical performance can be improved.

Research tells us that elite athletes spend less time during ground contact, yet they impart the same amount or more power into the ground than less skilled athletes. The true purpose of plyometric training is to decrease the ground contact time of an athlete while sprinting, jumping, or kicking. Ground contact time can simply be seen as the phase of time that elapses while the eccentric contraction (stretch) of a muscle group is reversed and the concentric contraction (contract) of that group begins.

So if you look at a long jumper, this phase would be seen as the time it takes when his plant foot hits the ground until he pushes off and leaves the ground for the jump. If he can make that phase happen faster and more powerfully, he will jump farther.

This phase of movement is where all plyometric activities are focused. Once believed to be genetic in nature, research is indicating that this period of time can be reduced. By reducing this phase, we are increasing the speed and power of movement. This translates directly into higher velocities for sprinting, jumping, punching and kicking.

Plyometrics can be seen to be related to Newton’s third law of physics that “to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. As the athlete’s body is directed into the ground, the forces are used by the muscles to propel themselves for running and jumping. This does depend on the muscle and tendon’s capacity to store this force as elastic energy and then transmit that force back into the resultant muscular contraction.

When a muscle is stretched, the elastic components are lengthened and when this stored elastic energy is recovered by the muscle the resultant concentric contraction is enhanced. The faster the velocity of the stretch is applied, the more ability the muscle has to develop force.

Specifically, plyometrics target the muscles fast twitch fibers. These fibers are in charge of speed and higher power production. Since most sports focus around the need for explosive movements, these are the type of fibers you want to be training.

Before ever starting a plyometric program, you must assess your previous training experience, age, physical maturity and conditioning, flexibility and strength. The more experienced an athlete is with training, the younger he can begin plyometrics and the more intense the exercises can be. Prepubescent athletes should not perform high shock activities, but low intensity plyometrics should be fine. Full range of motion is a prerequisite for performing plyometrics.

Athletes must also have a good strength base before performing plyometrics. The athlete should maintain a strength program for a few months before beginning plyometrics. During these strength activities the trainer should pay particular attention to using functional strength activities which use the core musculature which will be addressed during the plyometric activity.

Before a plyometric training workout, the athlete should first warm up with a dynamic warmup procedure. This should involve at least 15 minutes of calisthenics and light skipping and sprinting motions. This warmup will enhance the muscle’s ability to perform the plyometrics and decrease the chances of injury. The programs should always involve variety to decrease plateauing during training.

These exercises will include many different varieties of jumps and explosive movements. Recovery between workouts is accepted to be 48 to 72 hours which would dictate about 2 plyometric workouts per week. The volume is regarded by the number of foot contacts performed per session. The intensity and volume of the exercises should have an inverse relationship during your training programs. This means that if the stress of the exercise is very high, the number of repetitions should be kept low.

Try This at the Gym

A great example of a beginner plyometric workout is one I got from an Olympic coach that is sure to make you more explosive. Jump for fifteen seconds with as short and fast jumps as you can staying in one place. Keep your body straight and pull your toes up after every short jump. Let your arms help in quickly pumping yourself up and down. Count the number of contacts you can make in fifteen seconds and try to beat it for 6 sets. Rest 30 seconds in between each set. Try it before your workouts 3 times per week and see if you can increase the contact number over a few weeks. If you do, you have made yourself more powerful using plyometrics!

The abdominal region of the body is a critical training zone for an MMA fighter. Without a strong core, the fighter will be unable to throw powerful punches and kicks, apply throws or takedowns, or work from the bottom or top on the ground. This is probably one of the most neglected and misunderstood areas of the body when it comes to training, not just for MMA, but for all sports.

The abdominal muscles are some of the most popular muscles to train by athletes and fitness enthusiasts all over the world. The only problem is, most people are either using them in training for the wrong reasons, or they are just plain training them incorrectly. When you look at gyms around the world, there are more exercise gadgets, videos and classes that are specific to abdominal training than for any other area of the body. Not only that, you can always find gyms packed with people working their abs almost every day, yet how many of the people in all of these gyms have a good looking set of abs?

Usually it is almost none of them. This fact should tell us all that most people are not doing the right things to show off their abs both in the gym and outside of it as well.

There are three main reasons that I have identified why people train the abdominal area:

1. The most common reason is that people want a thinner, more defined waist and abdominal area.

2. The second reason is that people want to strengthen their abdominal area for fitness or sports related reasons.

3. Finally, people commonly work their abs because they want to protect their back (this is a commonly seen prescription by doctors, therapists, and trainers around the world).

The Fastest Way to a Thinner Waistline

If I had a dollar for every time a trainee or athlete asked me what abdominal exercises are the best to thin their waists and make them look more defined, I would be a millionaire. Even though it may seem commonsense, (and you know fitness equipment manufacturers want you to believe it) working the abdominal muscles is not a good way to thin your waistline. This is known as the Spot Theory, and it is actually a terrible use of your time if that is one of your goals at all. The truth is, diet and nutrition play the biggest role in whether or not you can see those rock hard abs. Let’s face it, everyone has a nice set of abs, just most of us have them covered with a layer of fat. No matter how much you work those muscles, until you decrease your bodyfat percentage, you still won’t see at thing.

So the two best exercises I can suggest for developing better looking abs are the table bench press (where you push yourself away from the table early) and the reading of a quality nutrition book.

Newsflash! The Abs are just like other muscles

Would you curl your arm up and down for hundreds of reps if you wanted to make it stronger? Probably not. Most people would instinctively grab a heavy weight and do a low number or reps with that weight and then repeat. All of us know by now about the Principle of Progressive Overload, yet no one ever seems to apply it to abdominal training. Take a hard look at how we train our abs “to get stronger.” Usually it is with a limited number of exercises for thousands of reps, almost every workout with no external weights involved.

The abdominal muscles respond to training just like the other muscles of the body.

Use heavy resistance and low reps, they get stronger, use no resistance with lots of reps, they build endurance. Either method you choose, you are also going to have to leave time for recovery t improve. If you try to train them every day, increases in strength are going to be hard to find. Beside this fact that most people are training their abs with the wrong reps, sets and recovery schema, they also don’t seem to apply the Principle of Variety either. Usually most people just use some form of sit ups and maybe a twisting motion. The training of the abdominal area requires much more than this to work all of the muscles completely. Knowing this, your workouts should now begin to add heavy resistance to the exercises you are doing as well as adding new exercises periodically to add a new stimulus to the training.

These new exercises should also have purpose toward your specific goals. For instance, if your sport requires rotation with strength, like wrestling and grappling, your training better have some of the same. If all you do is crunches and that is no a major movement in your sporting event, you may be wasting your time.

A great piece of advice is to treat the abdominal area just like you would other parts of your body. Most people work their legs one day, and save upper body for another. What about the core? Why should the most important area that links the arms to the legs be treated any different? If you are training smart, this region should have its own day as well. Start throwing it in and you will thank me for the results.

Want to Protect the Back? Then Work the Back!

Since the muscles of the abdominal wall and lower back are all sheathed in the same envelope, many practitioners believe that the abs are the ticket to good back health. They are on the right track, but unfortunately, they often fail to see the real issue. There is an optimal abdominal to back strength ratio. Most doctors and trainers will focus on the abdominal area, train it incorrectly, and completely forget about training the low back. To strengthen the core properly, the low back region should have the focus, not only because it is more functional, but it is a great way to work the abs as well. For instance, squats, deadlifts and overhead presses are exercises that are feared by many athletes, doctors and trainers, yet they are much more effective ways to train the core than high rep sit ups or crunches that do nothing more than leave you with a burning stomach.

If nothing else, I hope this article has you questioning your ideas about and methods of training the abdominal region. To summarize, if you follow a healthy diet, and train properly, you can have the abdominal region you always dreamed of. If you don’t follow the concepts expressed above, you will probably continue with the abs you’ve got no matter how “hard” you work them.

In the beginning, I was solely concerned with the strength and speed of my MMA athletes. When my athletes reached the upper boundaries of these areas, I began to attack nutrition. After the fighters had their nutrition cleaned up, I started to explore the area of strategy development. Once all of my fighters were prepared in strategic analysis, I was led to mental training.

When I talk about the mental aspect of training, I am not talking about intelligence, but a combination of drive, desire, confidence, toughness, will power, focus and fear. What I am talking about is what I sum up as being a Mental Predator both in training and in the ring. At first, I thought that being a mental predator was just the will to win or the ability to endure more pain than another athlete.

Now, after years of studying my athletes of all ages, I know see how sophomoric those original definitions were. Each year I gain more clarity when training my athletes. I am beginning to hone in on who will make it and who will not at an early stage in all of my athletes training. Yes, there are physical characteristics that help me to predict an athlete’s level of success, but I consider the mental toughness of the athlete far more important.

A mental predator has the ability to control himself under any situation. Without the knowledge that you as an athlete control all of your emotions, or the ability to exert that control, you will be limited in higher levels of performance. I believe that mental predators are both nature and nurture. What I mean by this is that an athlete may have better gifts of self control in extreme situations, but all athletes have the ability to improve this area to increase performance.

I feel that MMA requires an incredible amount of mental predation at the higher levels of the sport. As I have walked out with my fighters at Pride in Japan in front of packed stadiums, I can only imagine the self control needed to stay relaxed and focused before a fight. Then try to imagine being on your back in front of that crowd with a stalker trying to pound your lights out or squeezing for a submission. It is here, and even following the fight where mental discipline is necessary to stay in control. I know that there have been many occasions in my own life that have held me back due to an underdeveloped mental game. This area can surely be nurtured, but the athlete has to be ready, and the teacher has to be there.

Both the shark and the lion are famed predators. When they attack, motivation in instinct, not something that they are forced to create. The desire to finish their opponent is pure, and there is no emotion or remorse. There is no anxiety or stress leading up to the event for the shark and the lion, it is simply part of their daily routine.

There is, of course, risk of injury, but they do not allow fear to interfere. Their lack of abstract thought and the ability to question themselves is an advantage. With questioning comes indecision, with indecision comes anxiety, with anxiety comes mistakes, and with mistakes comes defeat.

The shark and the lion have practiced and mastered many of their methods of attack. There is no fear that they are underprepared. There is no concern for what could have been done or what might be missing. This unconscious confidence is a huge edge, and predicts that the way things have been practiced are the way things are going to be performed. The shark and the lion are master predators.

That is what they do for a living. Don’t get me wrong, they are not wild beasts with absolutely no plan. There are distinct strategies that they are using, so thinking does occur. This thinking is solely directed toward execution, not indecision. This proves, that with great predators, thinking does not hold them back.

I have interestingly found with many of my athletes that this predatory zone is sometimes inversely related to actual experience and knowledge of the sport. Sometimes when there is less knowledge or skill present, and athlete will actually enter a battle with more confidence and abandon of a predator than a seasoned athlete that now questions himself.

Many athletes go into such detail that their thinking becomes paralysis by analysis. The mental predator must remember to keep things simple and in perspective. No attack by the shark or the lion is ever bigger in their mind than any other. We as athletes often make the mistake that an event is too important. This self increased pressure on an event again adds to indecision, stress and opens the door for an opportunity for defeat.

The shark and the lion’s motive for victory is a simple one: survival. The knowledge of the true meaning behind what you do is critical to not only high level performance, but also fulfillment. As an mental predator, it is essential that you know exactly why you are competing. There is no reason that is any more important than any other, you just need to know it. It is the core of who you are and what you do in sport. Without this knowledge, preparation will surely suffer, and eventually the quest will be all too easy to give up when the road suddenly gets rough.

I have heard other athletes call what I am talking about here as “being in the zone”. This predatory zone can be seen as letting the subconscious take over and lead you to supernatural performance. This zone is for real, and the ability to get there can be learned. The first step on the trip to the zone is the removal of doubts and fears while letting performance happen.

The shark and the lion are both going to age. As this occurs with the mental predator, he must be ready to adapt and overcome. With age, certain physical attributes are going to disappear. Great predators will figure out a way to maximize their current gifts and continue to be successful.

There are many top MMA athletes out there today that are what I would consider pure predators. Somewhere deep in their minds they know that victory is critical to the survival as who they are. Their confidence has allowed them to remove fear. In this state, they are relaxed and prepared to dominate their prey. Beware of this athlete as an opponent. Unless you are equally relaxed and prepared to engage in a war, he may be currently at a different mental level.

Here is my quick list of 10 ways to increase your chances of becoming a mental predator:

1. Monitor your daily self talk. Make sure that your comments to yourself are keep positive and supportive.

2. Surround yourself only with positive people that believe in you.

3. Develop defined goals and the reasons that you want to achieve them.

4. Develop the precise strategy for attaining your goals and follow it precisely.

5. Do not overemphasize the importance of any single event.

6. Stay busy. Do not linger over upcoming events.

7. Do not forget that nothing replaces practice and hard work.

8. Monitor your breathing. Make sure that you slow and control your breathing under times of stress.

9. Visualize success. Use mental imagery as a tool. Picture yourself at the event and everything that is going to happen. Be positive.

10. Research everything about your opponent and train under the exact conditions you expect for the fight.

If you answered “yes” to the two questions above, then you are going to love this month’s article. I am going to cover the basics in the art of weight cutting for competition. If you follow the information correctly in this article, not only will your risk of complications be decreased, but your performance should go to the next level.

Over my last number of years training combat athletes, probably the biggest weakness in terms of knowledge about training had to do with their nutrition. Within the realm of this area was even less knowledge about body weight manipulation, or “cutting weight” for a fight or tournament. I categorize cutting weight under nutrition because of how closely the two are related, but I am not talking about changing diet here. I am talking about the rapid drop in body weight and rapid weight gain before and after a weigh in for a competition.

As I stated earlier, cutting weight is an art form. This means that it takes knowledge, skill and practice. I have seen athletes have horrendous performances by cutting too much weight, cutting weight too fast, cutting weight too slow, not rehydrating correctly, and eating incorrectly after their weigh in. By the end of this article, none of these mistakes should ever happen to you.

Why Cut Weight?

Many people not involved in combative sports do not understand why someone would subject himself to water and food restriction to cut weight in the first place. I usually explain this with the example of weight classes. What this means is that most combative sport competitions have weight limits for certain classes. Since the object of being in a certain weight class would be to be the strongest and heaviest person in that class, many athletes cut their weight down to a lower class only to add weight after the weigh in. In the athlete’s mind, they are then heavier for the actual fight, and have the potential to be stronger than their opponent (as long as they don’t do the exact same thing).

The weigh ins are also usually the day before the fight. This gives the fighters 20-30 hours to reload their bodies following the weight cutting. For anyone that has ever seen Tito Ortiz or Matt Hughes fight, you should understand what I mean. Every time those two athletes fight anyone in the same weight class, they always look much bigger and stronger. The Tito Ortiz/Elvis Sinosic fight, where both fighters weighed in at 204 pounds comes to mind. At fight time, Tito looked 230 and Elvis looked 180. This should hammer home the fact that if things are done correctly, cutting weight has huge advantages.

Don’t Forget The Other Half!

Everyone can quickly think of some ways to cut weight. You could stop eating and drinking, you could exercise to sweat a lot in heavy clothes, or you could hop in the sauna for a half hour. All of these methods will be somewhat effective if done correctly to cut weight for a fight or competition. But what about properly putting the weight back on in a safe and timely manner to be ready for the fight? That is where people don’t have as many answers. If you think you should just eat and drink to feel good, you are going to run into problems. Do not forget that the reconstitution of your body is as, if not more, important in the cutting weight and gaining it back cycle.

Shedding the Pre Fight Pounds

This next section is going to cover the techniques for adequate weight loss. Before I begin though, I must remind everyone that their diet should be solid at this point, and you should always be within about 10-12 pounds of the weight you want to reach before the weight cutting begins. Any more than this value and things start to get very dangerous. This means that you should control your caloric intake long before the fight, and get to 10-12 pounds away from the desired weigh in weight. By doing this, you will have much less to worry about when the fight approaches.

Fluid Restriction

The simplest and most effective way to begin the weight cutting process is to decrease or stop fluid intake. Your body is constantly losing fluid by breathing, sweating and urination. Every minute and hour that this goes by without replacing the fluid, you will lose weight. This process takes no extra energy from a fighter to complete, and you can lose up to 5-6 pounds in 24 hours without drinking. My athletes never go over 24 hours without fluid, and we usually start the fluid restriction exactly 24 hours before the weigh in. Before beginning the fluid restriction, there are some tricks to losing the maximum amount of fluid over that 24 hours.

For the fifth, fourth and third days before the weigh in, I have my athletes consume 2 gallons of water a day. They carry the gallon jug around with them so they know how much fluid they are taking in. At this time, the athlete also can be more liberal with sodium in his diet (we don’t go heavy on the sodium, but a little increase can help later as you will see). This increased water intake triggers hormones in the body to excrete more urine than usual. This response will be essential in losing fluid the day before the weigh in. Two days before the weigh in, the fighter cuts the fluid intake to one gallon of water, and cuts out the sodium from the diet. Finally, the last day before the weigh in, the fighter takes in no fluids, no sodium, and only food that I will describe later. This process is effortless, and only requires a little discipline and tolerance of a dry mouth.

Sweating

The next most popular way to decrease weight before a weigh in is to sweat out fluid from the body. This can be done in a number of ways, and can take off 5-10 pounds of weight in a short period of time depending on the conditions. This is a great method because even if the athlete is already lean, there will still be fluid that can be lost. The limitations to this method are that it requires great amounts of energy expenditure, and can sap strength from the fight the next day. The goal for using this method would be to take off the weight you need to lose with the least amount of fatigue for the athlete.

The simplest way to use this method is to exercise. That can be as simple as running or jumping rope, to as complex as cardio fight circuits involving punching, kicks, takedowns and sprinting. Depending on how quickly you need to lose the weight and the temperature of the area you are in, you will get a feel for what style you need to use. In addition to the exercise, athletes commonly use plastic suits and heavy clothing to increase the body temperature and enhance the sweating response. Just remember not to overheat. Athletes have actually died from overheating using some of these methods. (I must repeat that the goal is to be within 10 pounds by the day before the weigh in so that any methods you use don’t need to be drastic).

In addition to exercise, athletes can also use a sauna or hot bath or shower to lose fluid as well. A dry sauna is the most powerful of the three for weight loss and this loss should be monitored. Time spent in the sauna or hot showers should be at small 15-30 minute intervals to check weight loss. This brings up a great point that it would be a good idea to travel with your own scale to monitor how much weight you are losing. The last thing you need to do is lose too much weight. We always travel with a scale to keep track of our weight status.

Bowel Emptying

Another method to lose weight is to empty the bowels the day before the weigh in. This is another method that requires no effort and will not hurt performance if done correctly. Your bowels, or stomach and intestines, are up to 28 feet long and contain up to 5-7 pounds of material at all times. The food that has been ingested over the last 24 hours is all still contained along this set of tubes. This material does not help performance and is actually waste. By clearing out the bowels, an athlete can lose another 5 pounds without having to do anything.

The secret is in the methods.Two days before the weigh in, an athlete will already be eating less if he has to lose critical pounds. The day before the weigh in, he should not be eating much at all (to be discussed later). That material that is still in the gut from the day before, however, must be cleared. How we choose to do this is with a very gentle, all natural laxative. There are much more powerful drugs out there that do this, but you should not be using them. They can hurt your performance and leave you feeling horrible. By taking the gentle, natural laxative before you go to bed the night before the weigh in, you should wake and clear your bowels completely. Remember that you would only do this if you felt you were not going to make the weight with the methods listed above.

Diuretics

I hate to even bring this method up, but I must because I have seen them used incorrectly by fighters in the past trying to cut the last few pounds. There are natural and drug diuretics out there that can help you to lose fluids up to or over 10 pounds. I must say, if you were at the right starting point and you followed the methods already outlined above, this should not be an area that you need to worry about. This method is more dangerous than the others, and can lead to electrolyte imbalances and decreased performance. An all natural, gentle diuretic I have used in the past is called Dandelion Root. If this is a must, this should be used the day before the weigh in, so not to have problems during the fight.

Eating

Yes, I did put eating as something to do while you are cutting weight. You must make sure that your blood sugar levels are normal during this process or you are going to feel horrible and have no energy for the exercise aspect of the weight cutting. The last thing you want to do is take in fluids with sugar or heavy foods as this point. That is why we use a simple Balance Bar to get the job done. The bar only weighs a few ounces, but it will give you some sugar and fuel that your body can use during the fluid and food fast.

You Made It, Now What to do Next

Ok, you made the weight and you are feeling good. Now as soon as you get off the scale, you need to start refilling your body with everything you lost. As I said before, this piece of the process is as important as the weight reduction. Most people make big mistakes here that end up leading to disaster during the fight.

When you are cutting weight, your plasma blood volume decreases, and your blood pressure can increase as a result. In addition to this, your resting heart rate can go up, you can experience fatigue and feel psychologically weak. You need to make sure you reverse these processes not only as quickly as possible, but correctly and completely. Most people ram a bunch of food and water back into the system right after the weigh in, but they do not finish the job.

After the weigh in, you should eat small meals at regular 30 minute intervals. It is critical that you make sure you take in carbohydrates at this time to regain the proper blood sugar levels. Firing a ton of food down immediately after the weigh in is going to leave you feeling bloated and sick. Your body won’t be able to use all the food at once anyway, and it will just sit there. Smaller meals will clear the stomach and you will be able to eat again shortly. We actually have our athletes continue to eat all the way up to a few hours before the fight the next day. Eat meals that you are comfortable with. Don’t start to do anything different.

More importantly is getting the fluid balance back. You should immediately take in fluids following the weigh in and continue to drink at regular intervals. The ultimate goal for my fighters is to see a clear urine stream before we know we are back. This can take 3-5 gallons of fluid over the next day to replace the 10 or more pounds that has been lost. Don’t rely on the thirst response because it will not be accurate. You need to keep drinking to make sure that the blood plasma, fluid space between the cells and the cells themselves are refilled. An I.V. is also a good option here, but it can and should only be performed by a skilled medical professional. There are many dangers involved in this procedure. This is usually used as a last resort or in a medical emergency. If everything, from the weight cutting to the weight regaining has been done correctly and you have 24 hours until the fight, there should be no need for intravenous fluids.

A Few Pieces of Advice

A main motto of mine is that you never try something new a week before the fight. This stands for new techniques, new foods, new equipment, and especially weight cutting. This is something that needs to be practiced just like ground or stand up techniques. You would never attempt a technique in a fight that you have never tried before. You must think the same way about cutting weight. You need to understand everything about it. You must know how to do it, how long it will take your body to lose the weight, and exactly how your body is going to feel. If you don’t ever practice, you are looking to add stress and potential disaster to the plan. Practice, and the better you master the weight cutting, the easier it will be to perform when the time comes.

Another mistake I have also seen at weigh ins is that a fighter may think they made the weight and then still be too heavy. This occurs when a fighter only weighs himself on his scale and does not use the official scale for the event. Remember that you will have access to the official scale, and you should monitor your weight according to it. This is the only way to know if you have correctly made the weight or not. The last thing you need to be doing is frantically exercising trying to cut weight in the last few minutes. The less stress and adrenaline release, the better.

I hope you have learned something from this article. Remember that weight cutting is an art and must be taken very seriously. When used correctly, it can be a powerful tool that can lead to victory. When used incorrectly, it can be a powerful obstacle that can lead to defeat. This, like any art, must be practiced a number of times in advance. Only then can you begin to truly understand its power.

An exhausting training method designed to take your endurance to the next level

Over the last number of months, there have been some incredibly powerful hurricanes that have hit a number of parts of the world, and they have left devastation in their path. This year was a record year not only for the number of storms, but also the severity of them. As devastating as these hurricanes were, the people involved have shown their resilience and the world has rallied around them. In many ways, these storms have been some people’s opportunity to reflect on what is truly important to them and to rise above situations when they become most difficult. A hurricane is a mass of power that wreaks havoc where it lands and then moves on and weakens. Even though a storm may not last for long, the physical effects are often very long lasting and the mental effects are often permanent.

Over the last few years, I have changed what I thought about “endurance” or energy system training. Years ago, I actually didn’t really put much stock in this style of training at all. I felt that just by performing your sport or your martial discipline, you would be getting the specific energy system work that you needed. Because of this belief, my training focused mostly on speed, strength and power work. When I started to work with a number of high level fighters, and started training in jiu jitsu myself, I saw that I had misled myself in this area. I now saw that specific endurance work was not only important, it was essential.

At first, we followed some of the archaic endurance training methods that have persisted over the years from road work to stair climbing to hill runs. Granted, these were all tough at first, but my instincts (and the results that I was seeing with the athletes) told me that this was not enough. It was then that we started to “experiment” on ourselves with circuit style training. To me, when I use the terms “circuit style”, I am describing a series of like or unlike exercises all combined one after the other with minimal or no rest for a certain period of time. Choosing the time for the circuits was easy. What we would do was take the maximal amount that a fight or match could last, and then either add time to it, or rest in between and do multiple sets of that time. This way, I would have the athletes be able to give maximal performances for the same period of time that they would be expected to compete at. Choosing the exercises and the intensity of the performance was another matter altogether.

When you start getting into this style of training, or start to surround yourself with people that enjoy this style of training, you see nothing but gluttons for punishment. Hard anaerobic work for 5 to 10 minute bursts is nothing sort of a form of self torture at first. As my athletes and others involved in this style of training will say though, once you get used to this type of work, it really becomes a sense of enlightenment. This style of training will teach you more about yourself than lifting or sprinting. This type of training tells you who you are, what is important to you, and how skillful you are at pushing yourself to the limit. I say skillful because I have learned that it is not an innate ability as I originally thought, it is, in fact, a skill.

When I started the circuits with myself and the athletes, we always began on the conservative side. As our bodies, hearts and minds got tougher, however, we started to see how far we could actually push on the first attempt of something. This ability to attack and go through pain to learn about what we were doing to ourselves was another step in our enlightenment.

The circuits started with combinations of ladder drills, hurdle drills, box jumps and med ball work. We had stations set up, and performed the prescribed number of reps at each station until the set time had elapsed. If we were doing multiple sets, we then would attempt to beat the original volume of work in the same amount of time (this is always much tougher than it seems). After this, we started working on high speed treadmills and started interspersing exercises in between the sets. From here, we started incorporating in sparring or bag work with the sprints as well. It was around that time, that tings started to get crazy. It was around this time that everyone started to go in search of the infamous “White Buffalo”.

The “White Buffalo” was a coin termed by one of our training partners after one of the original experiments with high speed treadmill and weight work. After the session, we were all laying of the track in our own sweat and Harrison said that all he could see was a shining halo around white. He said that this was his goal to see and called it the white buffalo. For over a year, we experimented with this level of training and kept manipulating the sprint time (from 6 to eventually 30 seconds) the exercises, reps, and sets per circuit, and the time frame that an actual circuit could last. After this was when the most devastating circuits began to be created. Now with years of experimenting and training under our belts, each session became a test to see how far we could go. Enter the strongman circuits and the hurricane analogy.

A number of months before the writing of this, we purchased a few new pieces of equipment that were “strongman” in nature. When I write “strongman” I am talking about exercises like the giant tire, farmer’s walk, sandbag carry, thick rope pull drags, heavy sled or car pulls and the like from television fame. We had used a number of these pieces on a separate training day than the endurance work, but the group was ready for a new challenge. That is how we created the Category 5 Hurricane. We started performing these sessions every Tuesday at the facility and it was the one day of the week I looked forward to and dreaded at the same time. At the end of the sessions, the group would always sit, recovery and talk about fighting, philosophy or whatever was on the national scene. After one particularly tough session (and they are always tough), Igor Gracie stated that “he felt like he had just been hit by a hurricane, and it was no Category 1 or 2, it was a Category 5 baby”! Right then, we all understood, and started to classify the level we took a session to by the 1-5 Hurricane Category scale. After looking over my progression with these sessions over the years, I have broken down this style of training into 5 categories that can be completed over 12 weeks. The list and progression is as follows:

Category 1

Indications:
This style of training is used as the introduction to lactic circuits for your beginner athletes with little experience in the area. This can also be used as a recovery type session if you back down the intensity either if the athlete is feeling overtrained or is coming off a competition.

Methods:
For this method, I use the high speed treadmill alone with 10 second sprints at a low to moderate intensity. The athlete’s heart rate is monitored and after each rep on the tread, the athlete’s heart rate (HR) must return to 120 beats per minute (BPM) before getting back on the tread for another sprint. This way, the athlete can do 6-10 sets comfortably with little fear of nausea. The rest periods should be timed and recorded with the goal of each subsequent training session to have less recovery time per set.

Time Frames:
The athlete should perform this style of training for the first few weeks (2-3) of training.

Sample Circuit:
Treadmill at 9-10mph and 10% grade for sets of 10 sec with adequate recovery to reach 120 BPM.

Category 2

Indications:
As the athlete’s recovery time improves, abdominal med ball exercises are now introduced during what was the recovery portion between the sprints. The sprints can be also taken up to 12-15 seconds.

Methods:
For this method, I use a number of different weighted med balls and perform 3 sets of 2 different ab exercises after the first 3 sprints. Then I choose 2 new exercises for the next 3 sets and then 2 final exercises for the last 3 sets to equal 9 total sprints and 18 sets of abs. The speed can increase every 3rd set on the treadmill. All of the sets are performed as quickly as possible. HR can still be monitored, but 120 is not required to start the next set.

Time Frames:
This style of training can be performed for the next 2 weeks of training.

Sample Circuit:
9.0mph X 10% grade for 15sec for 3 sets with 50# toe touches X 10 and 30# pike ups X 8
10mph X 10% grade for 15 sec for 3 sets with 10# Russian twists X 50 and slams X 10
11mph X 10% grade for 15 sec for 3 sets with 25#Triangle abs X 12 on each leg

Category 3

Indications:
The abdominals should then become tolerable and now sparring exercises (boxing, muay thai, pummeling) are now introduced for a specific timeframe between the sprints. The sprints are now 15-18 seconds.

Methods:
For this method, I have my fighters do 10 “rounds” between the treadmill and pad work with a partner next to the treadmill. The sparring aspect of the training should be 1 minute in length between sprints and each round should have a particular focus from the person holding the pads. This is all now performed continuous with no rest.

Time Frames:
At about 5-6 weeks in the athlete can start to experiment here, or he can move to a lower version of Class 4.

Sample Circuit:
10mph X 10% grade for 18 sec with 1 minute of sparring. (total time of the circuit is 15 min)

Category 4

Indications:
Now the athlete is prepared to tolerate high levels of lactate and his/her mind is strong. At this time free weights are introduced into the period between the sprints. The sprints are now 20 seconds.

Methods:
For this method we again perform 3 blocks of 3 sets of sprints with 2 different exercises each set. For each sprint, the speed will now increase. The intensity of the weight will determine the overall difficulty of the circuit. The rule of thumb is to start with 30-50% of your max weight on the exercises and perform 8-10 reps on each. The exercise sets can be either agonistic or antagonistic.

Time Frames:
This is reserved to about 7-8 weeks in the athlete’s training cycle.

Sample Circuit:
9, 9.5, 10mph X 20 sec at 10% grade for 3 sets with bench and chin ups
10.5, 11, 11.5mph X 20 sec at 10 % grade for 3 sets with dips and curls
12, 13, 14mph X 20 sec at 10% grade for 3 sets with gi rows and high pulls

Category 5

Indications:
This is reserved for the athletes with the highest level of lactate tolerance and that they have no major competition for a few weeks. Now strongman, full body activities are introduced into the period between sprints. The sprints are now 20 seconds.

Methods:
For this method we again perform 3 blocks of 3 sets of sprints with 2 different exercises each set. For each sprint, the speed will now increase. The intensity of the strongman exercise will determine the overall difficulty of the circuit.

Time Frames:
This is performed at 9-12 weeks into the athlete’s training.

Sample Circuit:
9, 9.5, 10mph X 20 sec at 10% grade for 3 sets with tire flips and sandbag carry
10.5, 11, 11.5mph X 20 sec at 10 % grade for 3 sets with farmer’s walk and arm over arm rope pull
12, 13, 14mph X 20 sec at 10% grade for 3 sets with sandbag lift and sled drag

Just like a hurricane, when it passes through your area, things are never the same. Often, the effects of a hurricane are long lasting and something that people will not soon forget. For anyone that dares to go into the eye of the Class 5 that I have listed here, if you find that it is peaceful, it is because you have actually passed out. After these 12 weeks of training, you will be physically and mentally stronger than ever before.

Now get to work!

Over the last ten years, I have had the luxury of working with a multitude of top level athletes in almost every sport one can imagine. From fighting to football, from bobsled to basketball, I have found that there are many attributes that all athletes must share to enjoy success.

One of the goals of my training system is to stimulate the athlete to use a greater force in a shorter period of time while shooting in, jumping, punching or kicking. One of the training techniques used to achieve this is plyometrics.

An exhausting training method designed to take your endurance to the next level

Just about everyone would love to have a great set of abs, but how many people ever say that they would like a strong set?