June Link Round-up

Oy! The summer semester was intense. But awesome. And after that I had to move. Thankfully, this was followed by short vacation.

But I'm finally back to posting. This post is the stuff I had put together for the June Link Round-up, but apparently had been left as a draft for two whole months. Honestly, the program was so intense that I didn't even realize that I'd missed posting for that long.

So, what have we got this time?

Tracking your Progress

Jefit is smart phone app for tracking your workout. I've tried a few others and settled on this one.
The advantages of this app, as I see it:

• Can program in any exercise, if it's not in the database you can add your own
• Can set-up rest times, sets and reps - makes it easy to create a complete design
• Can super-set exercises - that is pair them so that you alternate from one exercise and back to another
• Tracks your progress

Tracking your workouts is incredibly important. If you aren't tracking then you are just working out. Just passing time and burning calories.

But what we want is strength training. We need to be able to check that we are making progress. To set goals and challenge ourselves. This all means you need to be tracking your numbers.

You can also just use a notebook. I did initially. But it's 2014 and I know most of you would rather an app on your phone.

If you have another favorite app, then please share in the comments.

Pell and Bag Work for Power & Speed

This article from Ross Enamait talks about additional approaches to heavy bag training. I feel the advice applies to pell work as well. 

The short version is to include periods of pell/bag work done at maximum intensity, with simple actions, shorter periods. Typical bag work is done on the same timer as a boxing match 3:00 on and 1:00 off. Or a variation thereof. But this never gives you a stimulus to go higher - in encourages you to pace yourself. Sometimes you need to push it though, and this will develop different characteristics than regular bag and pell work.

On Intensity

This blog post from my friend J. Forrest Conway talks about intensity in workouts. It's allure and the dangers therein. I know I've had this problem myself. And I think anyone who gets serious about their training has a high risk of 'addiction' to training and then overtraining.


Cheers,

April Link Round-up

Since I've done several Link posts I should start labeling them better. So, I'll do about one a month - and this is the April installment.

Agility Cone Drills for SAQ
This video comes from the maker of various SAQ related sports equipment: SKLZ. It describes 5 agility drills

1. Pro Agility (AKA 5-10-5) - Emphasizes lateral change of direction.
2. 3-Cone - Emphasizes the agility and balance needed to stay on your feet while leaning laterally.
3. Linear W Sprint - Emphasizes forward-backward change of direction with a diagonal component.
4. Lateral W Slide - Combines lateral movement with change of direction
1. Lateral W Sprint - Adds complexity by changing from lateral slide to sprinting and back
5. Figure 8 - Challenges lateral movement with inside and outside curves

Your first question is going to be: what do these have to do with martial arts and combat sports? So let me explain my philosophy regarding agility training for our purposes.

1) Overload -  The first drill there illustrates this component well. If I just drill in class by doing my agile footwork I never train above the level of what I'm trying to achieve - I don't get overload. But by sprinting a few yards from one change of direction to the next I make the change more difficult - I do get overload. The deceleration component is more challenging because I sprinted into it. And the acceleration is more challenging as well since I'm trying to power into a sprint. (Although from an injury prevention standpoint the deceleration part is more important)

2) Permutational Analysis - This is a term that Scott Brown uses to explain a set of drills he uses for swordwork. He has developed a large library of drills that train every possible combination of actions with the sword. This means that at whatever point in a fight you need to go from one action to another it's not something new - you have trained it already. Agility training does the same thing for foot actions.

Building a Superhuman Core
by the appropriately named Tony Gentilcore
Does a good job of providing a variety of anti-motion exercises for the core. These are exercises to prevent motion of the trunk - and very important to martial arts. Think of how much instructors will harp on keeping your shoulders and hips aligned. Well the reason for this is that a stable core like that will transfer power from the hips/legs to the upper body.

There are a few basic categories of such exercises.

• Anti-extension - preventing the torso from curling forwards, these exercises engage the spinal erectors, glutes and hamstrings
• Ant-flexion - preventing excessive arch in the back, these exercises engage the abs
• Anti-rotation - preventing the torso from turning, these exercises primarily use the obliques
• Anti-lateral flexion - preventing side bending, these exercises also target the obliques but in a different patter of activation

That's it for this month.

Link Round Up

Strength Training for Women. It's actually pretty simple. There are more similarities than differences. And programming should be based on a person's objectives.

A modified version of the bottom's up walk that I discussed previously, to make it a bit harder.

A recent blog post from another HEMA-ist, discussing the role of heavier training tools. Weapons up to double-weight are one of the few training tools attested to in historical records on HEMA training.

I like the post, but I have two additions that I'd make. Research with other sports that involve swinging an implement show that using a trainer up to double weight is beneficial. That it doesn't become too heavy until higher weight.
That is, a 3kg trainer is a fine component of a complete program, when used correctly.

Note that anything heavier, like doing a sledgehammer workout, is conditioning and technical skills shouldn't be practiced at that weight.

Second, lighter tools are useful too. By using a lighter trainer we are able to physically able to move the weapon faster. This allows us to train firing our muscles at a higher rate - which we cannot do as well with regular weight tools.

So both heavier and lighter have their place in an advanced, comprehensive training program.

It's not really a matter of lighter or heavier being better. They achieve different results.

Interesting Links: Frontal Plane Lower-body Work & the Hip Hinge

Here's a roundup of some interesting links:

How to Get Strong Outside of the Sagittal Plane - by Eric Cressey
For those of you not versed in the technical jargon of kinesiology, for movement analysis the body is divided up into three planes of motion (our world is 3-D afterall). The sagittal plane is most common plane to of movement and strength training exercise. It is motions that go front-to-back. Because the people who came up with the term don't know how a bow is held and shot (sagittal refers to Sagittarius, the Archer). A squat is a sagittal plane exercise because your knees bend front to back, as do the ankles and hips (more or less). A bench press is a sagittal plane exercise as well.

The other two planes are the transverse plane and frontal plane. The frontal plane is like a sheet of glass standing in front of you - motions that slide along the glass are frontal plane. So this includes an overhead press or pull-up. The transverse plane is like a table that you are sitting at, a motion that slides along the table is transverse. An exercise like the cable fly is a transverse plane exercise. (You may realize then that things are not always cut-and-dry: the bench press is both transverse and sagittal plane motion).

The article makes a good point about the need to train outside of the sagittal plane. Especially for lower body training - the focus of the piece. Furthermore the article provides a nice progression of exercises to develop strength and movement to the side.

While the article is very good advice, I would like to take a moment to insure that it's proper place in a program is understood. You should still do squats and deadlifts etc. Keep doing sagittal plane exercises as your primary exercises. Frontal plane leg exercises are used as a supplement. Something you do at the end of your workout, or as part of your warm-up. Or even just on the off days.

How to Hip Hinge Like A Boss - by Tony Gentilcore
The hip hinge is one of the most important aspects of the squat movement pattern. And it's vitally important to a healthy back in everyday life. But for many people this movement pattern does not come naturally. If you're not sure what I mean by hip hinge then just look at the videos in the link.

This article details a series of exercises to help a person train this movement pattern. Of these, the wall tap and band-resisted hip hinge are my preferred. But I'm sure that different methods work for different people.

Unlocking the Hips - by Eric Wong
A simple exercise based around an important concept - that of being able to dissociate movement at one joint from another. The specific exercise is to separate hip flexion from lumbar flexion. That is, lifting the leg while keeping the back straight, instead of bending forward while lifting the leg.

These two motions, of hip flexion and lumbar flexion, frequently get linked together by doing too many sit-ups - which are a crap exercise anyways.

Interesting Links

A couple of other blog posts I've liked:
On CrossFit and General v. Specific training http://maxwellsc.com/blog.cfm?blogID=90

On Kettlebells http://skinnybulkup.com/kettlebells-are-inferior-to-dumbbells/

In both cases there are little things I disagree with, but overall they are worth reading.