The art of the Taper (with a short backstory)

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by liero, Apr 6, 2016.

  1. liero

    liero Valued Member

    I was wondering what peoples experience was with tapering in combat sports.

    What works for you? what do the "experts" say? How do we taper?

    Backstory:

    I've been run down, flu like symptoms and had a chesty cough since lets put it at Friday last week. (It's Wednesday today in Sydney). It's not dramatic enough to need antibiotics, but I have had to rest and focus on good diet and hydration.

    I've got a TKD comp, which will be 1-2 fights (3x2min rds), on Sunday.

    Basically I just had to can my whole routine and rest for the whole week. The last four weeks I've been doing approx: 2-3 sport specific sessions, 1-2 pool sessions, 1-2 weights sessions (which have a serious TKD conditioning focus) and a bunch of other odd ball training here or there. It was heavier than that before hand.

    I run a class on Thursday nights, which will be the last class for a group of my students that I coach who will be competing. I'm planning a light technical session with some good padwork drills for promoting distance and reaction time.

    On Saturday I may need to do a sweat out as I was about 82 kg pre-workout, full stomach, last week. I'm fighting -80kg.

    I've not really experimented with the "total taper" before. Usually I do a normal week of training and have a few days rest, train all the way through, or do a few heavy sessions at the beginning of the week and reduce the load. I know a few sports coaches/physiologists who have suggested that a long taper without training is ideal for recovery before a major comp.

    "End backstory"
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2016

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