Weightlifting for martial arts.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRb5s2lOxV8&feature=plcp"]Double 24 kg Kettlebell Snatch x 25 - YouTube[/ame]

 

This article is laughable.

Most of those myths have been around for well over 100 years now. A book by Arthur Saxon written in the early 1900s (1906?) was debunking the same myths as he was advocating how useful weight training was to combat athletes. The famous Thomas Inch also debunked these same ideas as he was key to helping many famous boxers improve their punching ability through the use of weight training. And he is also incorrect in claiming that no champions in the past lifted weights when there are so many accounts of many of them weight training. Sure not all of them did as they and/or their trainers still believed this myth but there was just as many on the other side who did weight train as those who didn't. And just because they didn't lift a barbell or dumbbell doesn't mean they didn't use weights. Rocky Marciano was big into lifting rocks and other odd objects as part of his regimen.

So an improper approach to weight training for power is the reason and not lifting weights itself? Doesn't really support his article.

And yet despite these sports having snapping motions all of them are big advocates of weight training at the highest levels. Tiger Woods lifts weights to help his golf game. Roger Federer lifts weights to help his tennis. The US women's volleyball team of May-Treanor and Walsh lift weights. Nolan Ryan lifted weights to help his pitching. So if all of these have snapping motions and would not benefit from weight training why do they all lift weights too?

Also - a stronger muscle has the potential to be a faster muscle as well. Another key thing he's missing. It's obvious this is all based on opinion and has no basis in actual physiology.

So learn proper technique. You won't see anyone disagree with this.

Incorrect. If you know how to contract you will develop the muscular control to also relax. Better muscular control means you can relax more when you focus on doing so and also at the very end when you contract you can contract more powerfully and do so more effectively as you will better understand how to do so from being under a heavy weight and having to stay tight just to make the lift.

Wonder if he knows a lot of top ballet dancers also do some kind of weight training?

Again no one is denying this. However if you get two fighters with the same skills in a ring the one who is stronger/more powerful than the other will have a big advantage. Even if it's only 20% of the equation as he says it's still a big part of hitting hard.

So even though boxing is a "snapping sport" and pushing movements have no carryover he still recommends pushing movements? Somehow push-ups are no longer a pushing movement it seems.

Also - after reading his biography can't say I'm too impressed with his experience. He boxed hard for about 6 months at 19 then stopped for college. Fought one amateur fight and lost. And maybe only three years ago got back into it and is now apparently training boxers. Sorry but if my "trainer" has less than four years of experience and has just one fight under his belt then I'm being suckered for sure.

 

Two somewhat current champions, Tyson and Holyfield lifted the hell out of some weights. Two greats, lots of weight training.

Lifting weights also helps strengthen joints, bone density/durability, and tendons. That alone contributes to the "snapping" in boxing by helping to proven injury and giving you confidence to generate more power/quickness. The natural progression of weight training is also not just to lift heavier weights, that's an absolute NO0b opinion. I haven't maxed out for a PR in YEARS. I have however gotten myself to the point that I can deadlift 500lbs for sets of 5, squat 380 for sets of 5 (because I'm tall and currently have an imbalance in strength between my lower back and abdominals which cause my back to really knot up to the point that I have to take 10 minutes to recover just to stand), and can perform a plethora of different exercises for decent reps with some decent poundage.

I recently started boxing 3 months ago and by no means am I bragging or claiming a high level of skill. In fact my conditioning is still pretty terrible to where I want it to be for competing as well as my skill level. The first thing people told me when I started sparring though, "Dude, it's crazy how fast you are. Looking at you and how big you are it's just not expected." The only reason my conditioning isn't good is because I'm not good at breathing yet, put on 20 lbs after I got out of the military, and the last time I did any sort of endurance work was about 6 months prior to starting boxing.

Lifts like deadlifts are awesome for boxing or combat athletes too. It works the entire posterior chain. Those are the major muscles that contribute to generating power with a punch as well as giving you more strength to resist during a clinch or pushing an opponent to the side out of a clinch. I do it all the time sparring and the only people I have trouble pushing around are the guys who are just as strong as I am because they can generate power to counter any 'bullying.' Then you have explosive lifts like olympic lifts, which work on speed and power. Whoever wrote that article is a BOOT.

 

Thanks for the information guys, I appreciate it.

 

To try and answer the question about going in to squat but not calling it a "squat day", I'm going to try and explain with an analogy.

If I train taekwondo, and during training I do kicking drills, sparring, etc, I don't say "time to go do kicking drills and sparring". I simply go train taekwondo.

Same thing for weightlifting. When I lift, I squat, snatch, and clean and jerk - with this and that added in there for variety. But its never a "squat day" or "olympic lift day". I just go train for my next weightlifting competition. Its just "liftng".

Edit: In my mind, it has to do with what the emphasis is on. Yes, I am squatting, yes, its all about leg strength and all that - but at the same time its not. Its not about how much I can squat, or how strong my legs are. It is simply a means to an end to improve my Olympic lifts. I don't care about my leg strength, I don't even care about my squat max. I really just want those two things to go up so my snatch and C&J go up. So while it is a "squat day", its always a squat day. Its always a leg strength day. But at the same time, if I can clean 500 but somehow can't squat 450, or if somehow my legs were actually weak but I got the weight up there anyway, I don't care. I'm not saying that would happen or its even possible, but its a mentality.

@Ero - Sennin: I've also noticed a huge increase in speed since becoming a better and stronger lifter. My conditioning is shot, unfortunately, but I can destroy any of my runner friends at a 50 meter dash. I've been told my sprinting technique is horrible (I tend to windmill my arms a bit and turn my upper body a lot) but I'm still much faster. Same thing with striking - though my technique is thankfully much better there.

 

Cloystreng... dude I was just teasin. I APPRECIATE the explanation but I was just messin with you man. I understand that its different for some folks than it is for BBers and the like. But the vast majority of lifters DO have "days" where they train specific things. Thats really all I was getting at. Maybe its not chest and tris or squat day consciously, but when you leave with the intent of doing specific things on a specific day... then that day becomes "x-day" to me. For me, not having specific goals when I step in to the gym, is along the lines of wandering about aimlessly, doing what ever isnt in use, lol. See what I mean?

I always train with a plan, not laid out to the Nth degree but a body part plan. Hence the bodypart days. If I were a different style of lifter I'd be labelling things by the major lifts I planned to do, such as Deadlift, squat and heartattack day, lol... Just to keep it straight in my head if nothing else.

 

i'll take a moment here to repeat and emphasize a point i made in the OP: lifting heavy weights makes you breathe better. how? simple, adjacent muscles contracting in concert result in stronger force outputs overall. filling your lungs with air, which is of course dependent on the action of the muscles that create and assist inhalation, creates an expansion of the torso that acts as resistance for the muscles used for exhalation, which in turn means that both muscle groups (and the muscles involved in breathing are more than most people would imagine) are contracting isometrically against resistance (they neither lengthen nor shorten) and will not reach active insufficiency (which is where they can't shorten further and effectively become weaker along a range of motion), enabling maximum tightness in the torso and effectively increasing your capacity for deep breathing as you grow stronger (being efficient with said breathing capacity is another matter, but any kind of cardio can be used to train breathing awareness and efficiency, including certain kinds of weight training).

in addition, an increase in pressure inside the abdomen helps to stabilize the lumbar spine against a load, as well as more effectively transferring load between the upper and lower body, which is of vital importance for MA and helps maintain posture while moving. many martial arts have specific breathing training methods that use this, including several styles of karate and a relatively big amount of CMA.

 

No worries, I didn't think that you were giving me a hard time or anything. I just felt like responding anyway.

 

I know im Necroing this... but this should be stickied. This is a pure goldmine of information.

Thanks to all who contributed!