endurance

[twtguy]

i was always taught high weight low reps = muscle growth. and low weight high reps = toning. i just read two of bill phillips books, eating for life and body for life. what i gathered from it is that it doesnt matter as much if you utilize neuromuscular junction. hitting a high intensity builds muscle. how can u build endurance? how do maintain or increase strength, build endurance, but maintain the weight youre at? i just want to build muscle endurance without getting out of my weight class. how can i do that?

i looked, maybe not hard enough, and didnt find a thread covering this so sorry if this has been covered.

[Guest]

To achieve optimum results in endurance, your training needs to be sports specific. Therefore could you let us know what your discipline is?

[twtguy]

mma friend. muay thai, boxing, wrestling, bjj. im trying to stay the same weight for mma bouts.

[rage`n]

personally i teach mma, and i have 3 champions out of my gym.

we do several things to optimize our cardio, from outside training, to the Bas like workouts. we do boxing and kickboxing on the bag, mixed with sprawls, and some weights. we do those for 3 min rounds to start off with, and the closer a fight gets we move up to 5 min rds.

about a week before the fight we go to 3-4 min rounds of mainly the boxing and kickboxing and watch the weights we use. my guys have yet to tire in the rounds to the point they couldnt continue.

hope that helps.

[twtguy]

not really...lol thanks though. im actually wondering what i need to do weight lifting wise (if i did want to weight left), not so much round wise with the disciplines. i DO want to life. i just dont want to gain weight.

[rage`n]

twtguy,

i would say if you wanted to gain endurance, and maintain weight, and approx size, i would lift light weights higher reps.

you can do lots of other things too, like jumping lunges, sprawls, or squat thrusts. jumping rope will also help you with endurance. the best way to do this is simple, do your weight training first, then your cardio last.

or simply run as stated above, or windsprints.

[twtguy]

thats what i thought. but, nowadays u here the opposite of that. u hear that to get power (along with endurance), use higher weights and lower reps. you work your anaerobic in turn working your fast twitch muscle fibers. this way u gain power, but not mass. but i like your idea of incorporating plyometrics. ill ask my coach and our clubs fighters what they do as well. thanks for the tips though.

[Filero]

To gain endurance as part of your GPP, I feel the best workouts are those that combine muscular endurance and cardio endurance. This has by far the best carryover to fighting. In the ring, if your muscles are burning, chances are your heart is pounding too.

There are a zillion great workouts for this, you can find them on crossfit and rosstraining. Some examples from Ross (see his articles section for more detail):

- 100 burpee race: Do 100 burpees as fast as you can, be sure to use good form, all the way down for the pushups and explode on the jumps. Reduce to 50 for beginners.

- Work Capacity 101: 10 rounds of 75 second work period (5 pullups, 10 medicine balls slams, 15 burpees, 20 jumping jacks) followed by 45 second rest period. This is advanced! Reduce the amount of work in the work periods, and increase the length of the rest periods, for beginners.

- Magic 50: 5 rounds of (5 dumbell snatches each arm, 5 dumbell swings each arm, 10 burpees) followed by 1 minute rest between rounds.

These types of worouts will get you muscular endurance that carries over to general sports better than sitting in the gym and doing a zillion curls or whatever. I have little use for those types of workouts, I don't think they carry over great. Obviously, I'm assuming here that you're also doing endurance work thats specific for your sport (if you're a fighter, your coach has you killing the heavy bag, focus mitts, etc).

[twtguy]

thanks man! thats awesome advice!