Peaking for Martial Arts - My Return to the Mat Representing USA!
How should you peak your conditioning for a martial arts competition?
How does your practice change? How hard or light should you spar? I'll share with you my answers... and over the next 10 months, my schedule of programs, as I step back onto the mat for the honor of representing the USA Team one last time. This article is the introduction.
From my years acting as USA National Coach for SAMBO, I created several tools to help me program the seasonal periods of training. One of which is shown here: the Performance Diagnostic Trinity (PDT). All three aspects of development: skills, attributes and toughness must be properly integrated. But how?
Most beginners don't like the answer, and don't heed coaching guidance. Many intermediate athletes still train like beginners, or taper too fast with minimal results thinking that they're advanced. Most advanced athletes stumble into their level of expertise carrying generations of injuries unable to maintain their career longevity, regardless of whether they train for recreation or professionally.
Peaking for beginning and intermediate athletes is unnecessary. It's like trying to build a pyramid and either only at merely the base or half way towards the top, the engineers stop major construction of hauling big blocks to call in the finely crafted, tiny stones. All of it will mean little, since major construction of a solid foundation must resume after the nonsense concludes.
For beginners, competition is merely about experiencing the chaos of alive resistance; for beginners, it's just another form of conditioning because they don't know how to vary their intensity safely or effectively.
For intermediates, competition is exclusively about managing the internal emotional demands of alive resistance, not defeating an opponent. If you cannot first control your emotions and you step on to the mat with only one opponent, you're outnumbered. The hard, heavy work cannot be displaced.
Moreover, it's a team effort, where the head coach directs the instructors for training, practice and competition who in turn administer guidance to all of the athletes working together. But again, most beginners and intermediates don't heed this...
I use a periodization model called the Training Hierarchy Pyramid, which CST Instructors begin to study, and which CST Coaches and Head Coaches spend hundreds of hours tooling and retooling to meet the needs of their athletes.
When you read the following schedule, GPP refers to General Physical Preparedness, SPP to Specific Physical Preparedness and SSP to Sport Specific Preparedness. (MEP - Mental/Emotional Preparedness - will be addressed in future installments of my progress toward the World Martial Arts Games with the rest of the USA Team.)
Some athletes consider themselves studied enough to coach themselves, some athletes have not ever actively secured professional coaching. Even with my diverse competitive experience on an international stage (or perhaps because of it), I know that due to my genetic disadvantages, I must exploit every training technology possible to rise above my competition.
Be careful if you tinker with this tapering and peaking outline. You may do yourself more harm than good by misjudging your abilities, the timing, your needs within the PDT, and your weekly sum total training stress. Don't apply this to yourselves without professional coaching. Consider it motivation to seek out professional consultation with a qualified coach.
This is the schedule I use for training my athletes:
Level 1 Off-Season:
Beginning Athletes:
Most athletes don't how to graduate the intensity of sparring. They're like toggle switches: on or off; when they need to develop the ability to be like a dimmer switch: gradually changing intensity to meet the temporary needs of the changing opponent's intensity. This is one of the most important aspects of developing as an athlete which most athletes ignore.
If you're a beginning athlete, you should never spar above 65% intensity because you'll just be training bad habits / poor mechanics. You should be focusing on developing your general work capacity and beginning to sophisticate your work capacity.
Either you want to become a healthy, fit fighter, or you want to spend your life trying to prove that you're the unique exception while recovering from all of the injuries, burn-out, illnesses and disease which result from "short-cuts". You can't do both.
How can you determine your intensity level in sparring?
I use an empirical gauge - the Rapid Energy Sports Enhancement Technique, which is relative to the athlete:
The breath leads the way. Breath determines mental and emotional state, as well as proportional, economic use of energy.
How do you know what level you are?
It depends primarily on how well the athlete has been coached, directly or inadvertantly. An athlete could be in a sport for a very long time and still be a beginner, but an athlete with the right attitude, discipline and coaching can become advanced rapidly (though there are no short-cuts; poor attitude, discipline and coaching are what impedes development for most people.)
We always cycle back to the "beginning." Every break is an extended break as far as our nervous system is concerned.
How can you know when to cycle if you aren't training for a specific event?
It depends upon the sport. In general, cycle every three months, and use the annual seasonal changes as your schedule for evolving / resetting your nutrition, training, practice and competition. I have 9 months to prepare, so I will craft 4 THP macro-cycles: GPP, SPP, SSP, each interwoven with MEP though the final weeks and days will be most intensely mental and emotional.
Age does not impact this preparation. Although age may be a sign of maturity, it's not a guarantee. And age is often a sign of increased number and severity of preconditions (injuries/illnesses). Therefore, greater age demands greater adherence to the schedule. I must meticulously adhere to my schedule, because competing at 40, especially with my genetic history, demands precision planning to prevent poor performance and physical problems.
Get a coach. And stick to the schedule. Yes, you can try and take short-cuts, but at the expense of how long you can perform without injury and illness, and how long you can stay athletic before facing debilitation. Though I've been a national coach for many teams (or perhaps because of it), I will be recruiting my personal coaching staff to ensure that I push with precision and purpose.
As I prepare for returning to the mat, to have the honor of representing the USA one last time as a member and coach for the US Martial Arts Team at the 2010 World Martial Arts Games, I shall share with you my personal training journey, as an example. Please throw shout-outs along the way to keep us motivated!
How does your practice change? How hard or light should you spar? I'll share with you my answers... and over the next 10 months, my schedule of programs, as I step back onto the mat for the honor of representing the USA Team one last time. This article is the introduction.
From my years acting as USA National Coach for SAMBO, I created several tools to help me program the seasonal periods of training. One of which is shown here: the Performance Diagnostic Trinity (PDT). All three aspects of development: skills, attributes and toughness must be properly integrated. But how?Most beginners don't like the answer, and don't heed coaching guidance. Many intermediate athletes still train like beginners, or taper too fast with minimal results thinking that they're advanced. Most advanced athletes stumble into their level of expertise carrying generations of injuries unable to maintain their career longevity, regardless of whether they train for recreation or professionally.
Peaking for beginning and intermediate athletes is unnecessary. It's like trying to build a pyramid and either only at merely the base or half way towards the top, the engineers stop major construction of hauling big blocks to call in the finely crafted, tiny stones. All of it will mean little, since major construction of a solid foundation must resume after the nonsense concludes.
For beginners, competition is merely about experiencing the chaos of alive resistance; for beginners, it's just another form of conditioning because they don't know how to vary their intensity safely or effectively.
For intermediates, competition is exclusively about managing the internal emotional demands of alive resistance, not defeating an opponent. If you cannot first control your emotions and you step on to the mat with only one opponent, you're outnumbered. The hard, heavy work cannot be displaced.
Moreover, it's a team effort, where the head coach directs the instructors for training, practice and competition who in turn administer guidance to all of the athletes working together. But again, most beginners and intermediates don't heed this...
I use a periodization model called the Training Hierarchy Pyramid, which CST Instructors begin to study, and which CST Coaches and Head Coaches spend hundreds of hours tooling and retooling to meet the needs of their athletes.
When you read the following schedule, GPP refers to General Physical Preparedness, SPP to Specific Physical Preparedness and SSP to Sport Specific Preparedness. (MEP - Mental/Emotional Preparedness - will be addressed in future installments of my progress toward the World Martial Arts Games with the rest of the USA Team.)
Some athletes consider themselves studied enough to coach themselves, some athletes have not ever actively secured professional coaching. Even with my diverse competitive experience on an international stage (or perhaps because of it), I know that due to my genetic disadvantages, I must exploit every training technology possible to rise above my competition.
Be careful if you tinker with this tapering and peaking outline. You may do yourself more harm than good by misjudging your abilities, the timing, your needs within the PDT, and your weekly sum total training stress. Don't apply this to yourselves without professional coaching. Consider it motivation to seek out professional consultation with a qualified coach.
This is the schedule I use for training my athletes:
Level 1 Off-Season:
- 40% Conditioning GPP @ RPE 6-10
- 40% Practice - mechanics @ RPT 4-8
- 20% Competition @ 65% intensity
- 30% Conditioning SPP at RPE 6-8
- 40% Practice - drilling @ RPT 6-10
- 30% Competition @ 45% intensity
- 20% Conditioning ASP at RPE8-10
- 50% Competition @ 45% intensity
- 25% Competition @ 65% intensity
- 5% Competition @ 100% intensity
Beginning Athletes:
- 80% Level 1
- 20% Level 2
- 50% Level 1
- 50% Level 2
- 25% Level 1
- 70% Level 2
- 5% Level 3
Most athletes don't how to graduate the intensity of sparring. They're like toggle switches: on or off; when they need to develop the ability to be like a dimmer switch: gradually changing intensity to meet the temporary needs of the changing opponent's intensity. This is one of the most important aspects of developing as an athlete which most athletes ignore.
If you're a beginning athlete, you should never spar above 65% intensity because you'll just be training bad habits / poor mechanics. You should be focusing on developing your general work capacity and beginning to sophisticate your work capacity.
Either you want to become a healthy, fit fighter, or you want to spend your life trying to prove that you're the unique exception while recovering from all of the injuries, burn-out, illnesses and disease which result from "short-cuts". You can't do both.
How can you determine your intensity level in sparring?I use an empirical gauge - the Rapid Energy Sports Enhancement Technique, which is relative to the athlete:
- ~45% intensity (RPE3-5) = flow level breath
- ~65% intensity (RPE6-8) = discipline level breath
- ~85+% intensity (RPE8-10) = force to fear level breath
The breath leads the way. Breath determines mental and emotional state, as well as proportional, economic use of energy.
How do you know what level you are?
It depends primarily on how well the athlete has been coached, directly or inadvertantly. An athlete could be in a sport for a very long time and still be a beginner, but an athlete with the right attitude, discipline and coaching can become advanced rapidly (though there are no short-cuts; poor attitude, discipline and coaching are what impedes development for most people.)
We always cycle back to the "beginning." Every break is an extended break as far as our nervous system is concerned.
How can you know when to cycle if you aren't training for a specific event?
It depends upon the sport. In general, cycle every three months, and use the annual seasonal changes as your schedule for evolving / resetting your nutrition, training, practice and competition. I have 9 months to prepare, so I will craft 4 THP macro-cycles: GPP, SPP, SSP, each interwoven with MEP though the final weeks and days will be most intensely mental and emotional.
Age does not impact this preparation. Although age may be a sign of maturity, it's not a guarantee. And age is often a sign of increased number and severity of preconditions (injuries/illnesses). Therefore, greater age demands greater adherence to the schedule. I must meticulously adhere to my schedule, because competing at 40, especially with my genetic history, demands precision planning to prevent poor performance and physical problems.
Get a coach. And stick to the schedule. Yes, you can try and take short-cuts, but at the expense of how long you can perform without injury and illness, and how long you can stay athletic before facing debilitation. Though I've been a national coach for many teams (or perhaps because of it), I will be recruiting my personal coaching staff to ensure that I push with precision and purpose.
As I prepare for returning to the mat, to have the honor of representing the USA one last time as a member and coach for the US Martial Arts Team at the 2010 World Martial Arts Games, I shall share with you my personal training journey, as an example. Please throw shout-outs along the way to keep us motivated!
Scott Sonnon
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