Importance of Roadwork

[kh_s]

Running in a gym

If it`s cold outside, like here where I live right now, does running inside your gym just as good as running outside ? How about when your at home ? Heh, running around the living room, up the stairs, in your room outside the room, go around the basement a few times, you get my point. Now the treadmill idea, it does not strengthen your legs as PentjackSilat stated. How about those stationary bikes that you can put resistance on, will they strengthen your legs ?

[Kingston]

Re: Running in a gym

Originally posted by kh_s
If it`s cold outside, like here where I live right now, does running inside your gym just as good as running outside ? How about when your at home ? Heh, running around the living room, up the stairs, in your room outside the room, go around the basement a few times, you get my point. Now the treadmill idea, it does not strengthen your legs as PentjackSilat stated. How about those stationary bikes that you can put resistance on, will they strengthen your legs ?

im sure you could do stairs just fine in your house.
a treadmill is a good idea, (though i have heard some stuff about it being bad for your knee's).

a stationary bike would work to, only problem is the price of those items.

running inside is just as good as outside, problem is finding the room to do it, if theres a gym near you, it should be fine.

[Scott Kano]

Well I should run in the morning but man, I just dont have time for it. I usually go running at around 5:00pm. I run on the road then into the forest then hit the beach and run on the sand for about 20 mins. I then run all the way back so the whole run is about 40 mins long. Ive been doing this for a bout a month now so I feel my fittness level increase dramatically in the dojo.
I used to have real bad knee problems where I couldnt run anymore than 10 meters before my knee locked up and was real sore, but now after getting some physio done on it im running fine now.

I run about 4 times a week in between trainning days.

[dave_UK_MT]

Bloody hell, I wish I could go running in the forest then on to the beach.
The best I get is a few dirty puddles and dodging dog $hit in the local park

Its grim over here in the UK you know, if its not pi$$ing with rain is freezing cold, the nearest beach is 70miles away and the sea is the colour of dirty dishwater. Still, u gotaa keep on smiling

[jcolvin]

Originally posted by PentjackSilat
Don't run on a treadmill.

Running is to strengthen your legs, and a treadmill will not do that.

question about this comment. I have always treated running as more of a cardio/conditioning activity. In what way is this strengthening my legs?

[dave_UK_MT]

I suppose it depends on the kind of running you do.

If all you ever do is a steady pace over a fairly flat surface then youre legs won't be working too hard and won't build up any extra muscle.

But if youre running up and down hills, incorporating sprints (up hill and on flat) and running on a variety of surfaces then youre legs have to work a lot harder and they'll put on bulk and increase in strength.

IMO that's where treadmills are not very good, you can incline them but they'll only ever simulate running on a dead flat rock hard surface.

Thats by no means a fact but it kind of makes sense to me.

Treadmills just don't do it for me anyway, they always make me feel really dizzy after a go on one and watching that odometer tick by makes the whole process seem long and drawn out. Real life running is much better.

[PentjackSilat]

Ajarn Chai was who told me that running was not for cardio, but for leg strength.

I can tell you, though, that my legs are much bigger and stronger when I'm running, than when I'm not running.

Ajarn Chai told me not to run fast, but at a normal pace, and that conditioning was done on the Thai Pads.

The reason for not running on treadmills is that they are a flat surface and you don't train your stabilizer muscles. Stabilizer muscles are very important.

About the bike. The bike is good to mix in with your running about once week, or to do as a contrasting microcycle, because it trains different muscles that aren't used to working. Biking only instead of running is not advisable however because of the rule of "Specificity of Training Methods."

Same Motion
Same Resistance
Same Speed
Same Posture

Put simply:
The more similiar the training method is to the actual event, the easier the event will be on you system.

This is why Ajarn Chai said that you train cardio on the Thai Pads, and running was only for leg strength.

Hope this helps

[bigred389]

Running is to strengthen your legs, and a treadmill will not do that. It is best to run on the sand or in the woods. If you have neither, run on grass. Never run on asphalt or concrete, always on something soft.

When I don't use my MP3 player, I use my run time to mentally rehearse the combinations I'm going to use in my next fight, and I think of counters that I can pull of against attacks. If you mentally rehearse your game, it will have improved drastically when you execute it.

As you run, imagine yourself throwing the perfect kick. Feel wind rush past your leg as it travels to it's target with your foot and hips rotating...and locking perfectly into place upon impact, and the sting of impact. How does the impact feel? Did you hit with your foot or your shin? Do you feel the warmth on your shin like you get when you kick the bag? Did you hear the "thud" when your shinbone landed against his rib, and the his grunt from the pain? Is he hurt, or did the hit not phase him at all? He's hurt! Go after him! Hit him, feel the kick land again. Now punch, etc...

What you imagine should be pulled from reality. Have you sparred yet? Did you hit him with your jab? What did it feel like...what did it look like? Don't just remember...re-live. What you felt, heard, and saw...see yourself doing it against an imaginary opponent,and when you hit him with your jab feel what you felt when you hit your sparring partner for real. Hear the slight grunt of pain. Now imagine it again with a knee.

And as you imagine...always, always, always imagine that as he is throwing a punch or kick at you...that you never blink...and you watch it the whole way through.

Sorry for the novel.

This man is wise beyond words.

Seriously dude you have you $hit together.
Good advice on the running surfaces, I jacked up my knees already back in the day running downhill on concrete surface hills(sidewalks). A running TRACK is the ideal surface if you can find one.

Another thing, the advice about working combos in your head while you run is good for two reasons:
1)Takes your mind off the pain. As the previously posted article says, fighters dont do LSD(Long Slow Distance ) work. So while running, you SHOULD be experiencing pain...the good kind, not your knees are about to snap kind.
2)If you can do this stuff(think out the combos) while you're exhausted and hurting from the run, you can do it in the fight. This is key...I've seen a lot of guys who excel at slow but complex drills suddenly lose it all in the fight from simple exhaustion.

[Eyegouge]

Guys. Girls. Sissys and Badasses.

I can't run. I can sprint. But I can't run. I can beat a HORSE to the first barrel. But I can't run. I can wrestle three fives, no problem. But I can't run. I suck at it. Everyone has always told me I look retarded when I run. And I do.

I learned how to fight BECAUSE of the fact that I KNEW I would not be able to run away from someone who wanted to hurt me.

So I don't train running....really I don't see a point in it. Kind of like I don't see a point in learning how to fight if you don't already own and know how to shoot a gun. We have cars.

[Khun Kao]

Ajarn Chai was who told me that running was not for cardio, but for leg strength.

???

This is serious news to me. I've been building my endurance by running and cycling for the last 14 years..... I gotta say that while much of what else has been posted was correct, this one statement is erroneous in my book.

Yes, you do continue to build upon your endurance working on the pads, and the heavy bag, and sparring, but running is not just for leg strength. If that were the case, you could skip running and lift weights.

Guys. Girls. Sissys and Badasses.

I can't run. I can sprint. But I can't run. I can beat a HORSE to the first barrel. But I can't run. I can wrestle three fives, no problem. But I can't run. I suck at it. Everyone has always told me I look retarded when I run. And I do.

I learned how to fight BECAUSE of the fact that I KNEW I would not be able to run away from someone who wanted to hurt me.

So I don't train running....really I don't see a point in it. Kind of like I don't see a point in learning how to fight if you don't already own and know how to shoot a gun. We have cars.

We have a saying in our gym.... "If you can't run, you can't fight."

[twtguy]

Can you just replace running with jumping rope? What are some advantages and disadvantages to jumping rope rather than running?

[Khun Kao]

I've heard that some people believe jumping rope is better than running. But I simply don't feel that I get the same benefit from it. I have no facts or data to support one over the other. I would suspect that jumping rope has the advantage of being easier on your joints, but I'm not sure it gives you the same full-body workout that running does.....

[Ryukyu Damashi]

Running uses more muscles and the same muscles in a different way than skipping rope. I think you have to do both to get in fighting shape. Training should start and end with skipping rope for at least 3 rounds each time. Running should be done at a different time, either first thing in the morning or a few hours after training.

The best rope skipping surface I have used is 1/4 inch plywood on top of a 2 inch thick folding mat. Firm yet forgiving...

[Wolverine]

I trained with a guy who fought into his late 40's, I think he bad knees, anyway he didn't run. What he did was an insane amount of rope combined with things like rowing and racquetball. He was always in great shape. He also did a lot of bag and pad work. That being said, if you can run it is defiantly "one" of the best ways to get ready to fight. I think there are just too many variables involved to just say one method is absolutely better than another. Just my two cents.....I may be way off in left field!

[OctaviousBP]

I should preface this by saying I have absolutely no scientific or empirical data to back this up. This is simply anecdotal and an account of tradition.

At my gym, we tend to taper running. We start with LSD running for building up aerobic, muscle and mental endurance. Incidentally, I think this is what Ajarn Chai was getting at when he said "running is not for endurance". There is certainly a mental component to running that is translatable to gym training, and the fight. The Thais also believe it to be a fantastic way to build up leg strength, which I think explains why we still did tons of LSD in Thailand. The camp was starting to implement more and more sprinting however...

Anyways, back to the taper. We start with the LSD and then start dropping in sprints. First fartlek, then more structured sprints. We mix it up, but some are "2-minutes for time" where you run for two minutes as hard as you can. This, I feel, is indicative of "sport specific training". We fight for 2 minutes in amateur competition per round, therefore running for the 2 minutes all out is a good idea. We do this in sets. By the end of the taper, there is no more LSD, it is all sprints. Some of them are as short as 50m, which you are supposed to run as hard as you can. That's how I feel 'bout roadwork.

D