4 Keys to ‘Cardio’ for MMA Fighters
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Cardio as it’s popularly referred to by Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg every UFC is what will keep you from looking like the Ultimate Fighter Heavyweights.
Man it’s so frustrating seeing dudes on TV who can’t hold their hands up… in the first round!!!
Anyway, the term cardio doesn’t include just one aspect of fitness, like the name implies, and if you don’t understand how cardio is developed, you’ll never be in great shape.
Luckily, I’m going to tell you what you need to do.
So here’s how developing your cardio is more than just running, or intervals, or 5 minute circuits, or CrossFit:
Now let me tell you that these things are in no particular order, because the order in which it’s best to develop these aspects is different for each individual.
The first key is general strength.
If you’re weak, then you’ll be working closer to 100% of max strength than a guy who is strong. You can only last a short period of time working at 100% max strength (like 20 seconds) so then you’ll gas out quickly.
If you don’t quite get it, let’s make it even easier to understand.
Let’s say you can Bench press 100 lbs for 1 rep (you monster, you).
If a guy is laying on top of you, and you need to bench press him off (because your technique sucks) , and he weighs 170 lbs, you’re using 100% of your strength to try to do this.
You’ll be able to push with all your force ONCE, then every attempt after, your level of force will go down, until your energy supply runs out and you can no longer lift your arms, unless you rest them.
Now let’s say you can Bench press 250 lbs for 1 rep and the same guy is on top of you.
Now, his bodyweight of 170 lbs is about 70% of your bench, meaning that you’ll be able to bench him up and down for at least 15 reps before starting to lose strength and tire out.
Make sense now? Good.
Now let’s say you’re strong, but you’ve never trained or don’t know how to train your cardiovascular system (pay attention, TUF Heavyweights).
What do muscles need to recover after they’ve been spent?
If you guessed OXYGEN, you win the Ferrari and 1-on-1 training sessions with your new stretching coach.
The second key is to get blood to the muscles. This is where your cardiovascular system comes in.
Your heart has to be fit enough to pump blood quickly to the muscles that need it.
To develop your heart to do this you need to increase the amount of blood it pumps with each beat in 2 ways: increasing the volume of blood the heart can hold and increasing the % of blood the heart pumps out with each beat (heart strength).
Dreaded traditional steady-state cardio training improves the volume of blood, while strength training and hard interval training improves the strength of the heart.
[One note - heavyweights have more trouble with cardio because they have more muscle mass to get blood to, and their hearts aren't proportionally bigger compared to smaller guys, but that's no excuse for what we've been seeing on TUF]
The third key in the process is that your muscles need to be efficient at extracting the oxygen from the blood and getting rid of the waste products developed from contracting.
This is where specific local muscular endurance training comes into play, where the muscles are forced to recover faster through progressively longer sets and shorter rest periods.
The fourth key is that your lungs need to be able to efficiently take oxygen from the air and they have to be trained well enough to avoid fatiguing.
This is a relatively new concept but there is some good research that shows that specific respiratory muscle training can improve endurance. I just make sure to incorporate different lengths of hard intervals to get the lungs working at high levels, but I’m looking into trying respiratory muscle training myself to see if it’s really beneficial. I’ll let you know the results.
So now you understand that cardio requires general muscular strength, and it also requires a 3-pronged attack to make sure you’ve got all your bases covered from a cardiovascular point of view.
Make sure you’re not leaving yourself exposed by neglecting any of these important aspects of your physical fitness, and you’ll be sure to keep going if the fight goes the distance.
Got questions – comments – milk? Leave them below:
I have no idea how the purity...
Eric,
Nicely put. I’ll be interested to hear how you respond to the respiratory muscle training.
Great info…
Steve Preston
great read, man. you did a great job explaining the hearts volume vs pump rate with respect to the cardio systems. good stuff.
Eric…for the record, I guessed Oxygen. Looking forward to the “stretch personal training”! Oh, yeah, and the results of the respiratory muscle training. I’ve wondered that as well…is there a way to train/improve the exchange of oxygen in the lungs therefore making your blood, for lack of a better way to articulate it, more “oxygen rich”.
yes there is. there are ways to make your body more used to breathing less oxygen(climbing mtns., or plastic chambers that can be placed over your bed) this will make is much easier on your body while training or fighting when you have more concentrated oxygen like at lower altitudes. many divers, football players, and other athletes use these chambers and other methods to get their bodies used to less oxygen
I think there is a subtle difference between getting used to less oxygen and increasing the oxygen level in your blood (if possible)…and therein lies my question.
hi there
just a simple naive question,,what about steam saunas? do they get your body more used to breathing less oxygen? I mean it s bloody hot in those things and humid
yer reply to this is much appreciated
DT – the exchange of oxygen in the lungs is improved through the various methods of cardio training, both steady-state and interval training… basically anything that gets you to breathe hard and suck some wind will result in adaptations – it’s all about finding the proper frequency, volume, intensity, and progression.
Now, here I have to raise the question of oxygen restriction again, because, sometimes excruciating, breath control is a foundation element in my own training, while running on hills and flat ground. It is done by counting the footsteps per in-breath and out-breath, and increasing the length of the breath cycle thereby until you reach a psychological barrier of tolerance to the discomfort. I have thought of it in this way: that it is in effect an isolation of the heart muscle, eliminating the necessity to sprint on the leg muscles and still get the same feelings of cardiovascular exhaustion – this allows me to engage in more lifting or sparring because I don’t get as sore in the legs from cardio training (though even if this thinking is a fallacy, I would still do it to maintain mental familiarity and comfort with the specific sensations of dropping blood O2 saturation…). And when I am already “tore up” from doing hard sparring I can still get in cardio training without necessarily feeling up to hill running for an hour. If you confirm that this is effective and one of your readers decides to try it, it should be said that it takes concentration and self control to restrict breathing, and this part of the mind itself has to develop like a muscle, so be patient with yourself. I also condition the diaphragmatic musculature by restricting air flow against hard inhales and exhales until I hit muscle fatigue, as well as holding the stretch on full inhales and exhales to increase lung capacity. I’ve never heard what an expert has to say on these methods, they just seem to make sense, so I’m eager to hear what you have to say.
-Justin
Oh ya, and what was the cardinal sin of mma training? My computer won’t play the video, I’ve tried it over and over…
Informative info as always, Eric!
Will give you the Ferrari for the coach. What are the mechanics of respiratory muscle training? Keep up the great work.
Good article, as usual. If all you want reading and buying your products is men, you’re on the right track. If you want ANY business from ANY woman with ANY self-respect, you will lose the bimbo approach. You’re too smart and too good at what you do to offend half the population out there.
Hey Juli sorry sometimes I throw that in there but it keeps me amused… some women aren’t bothered, and most guys like it, I’m not trying to please everyone… if you like the content then you can overlook it, if not, well….
Hey man, gret info.
I have been trying to find a good cardio workout for a while now without any luck. do you have a good one that you use that you would be able to share?
cheers bro
Hey Sam, try this:
1 set = 15xburpees, 15xpushups, 30xbodyweight squats, 2 minutes at your effort level 9 (out of 10) on a treadmill.
Rest interval 2 mins aim to get down to 1 minute.
Try 2 or 3 sets for starters, work up to 8 or 10 if you can.
GASSED does not cover it.
Hey Eric
Check out the Ironman triathlon fraternity for gizmos relating to training your chest muscles with respect to reducing fatigue and increasing lung volume. There is anecdotal evidence both for and against, though the theory is sound.
Will do, thanks for the tips Guy!
Hi Eric,
Of the keys you pointed out, which of these is closest or directly related to oxygen saturation is the blood stream? Query is related to the reason some athletes having used “blood doping” to improve red blood cell count. Thanks!
Fabian,
The thing with blood doping is that it increases the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream not through increasing the saturation %, but increasing the available Hemoglobin, which is the molecule that carries oxygen to the working muscles.
Saturation isn’t really the issue because the lungs are good at fully utilizing the available hemoglobin.
The 4th key which I discuss about specific respiratory training has more to do with the endurance of the respiratory muscles, such as the diaphragm and intercostals, as opposed to blood levels of oxygen.
The research that I’ve seen shows that respiratory muscle fatigue plays a factor in the level of work you can produce – those with stronger respiratory muscle could cycle for longer or run longer at a higher pace than those without respiratory muscle training.
Eric,
ABSOLUTELY…I’ve also noted in my own training that it’s possible to decrease my heart rate (thus reducing overall fatigue) simply by relaxing peripheral muscles/muscle groups that I don’t intend to workout. For example, if I run with my fists balled up, heart rate is higher, if I relax my shoulders, heart rate decreases and so on. Of course, relaxing/controlled breathing/overall control of muscle tension reduces heart rate, which helps reduce premature fatigue…and, of course, it absolutely helps your Jiu Jitsu/MMA game to maintain that control and energy level as well!
I smoke about a half a pack a day, how much is that going to effect my oxygen intake because i hear that smoking messes up your lungs but i run faster than everyone in my platoon
In the short term, probably none…but unfortunately, as time goes by and more cigarettes are smoked and the toxins damage your lungs and blood vessels and the older you get, the slower you’ll get and one day you’ll look back and say to yourself, “ole DT was right…my youth went up in smoke”. Do yourself a favor and look at your future square in the eye without excuses and quit smoking. It’s not just smoke coming out of your lungs…it’s your strength and youth. And thank you for serving your country! I, for one, appreciate that you’ve stepped up where so few have the balls to….now just step up for yourself and quit.
corey…
Right now, you run faster than everyone IN SPITE of smoking… I just helped a friend quit, he’s been a non-smoker since October 1st and LOVING IT!
A big thing that helped was a book called Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr. I actually read the book too just for fun and I could see myself quitting if I was a smoker after reading the book!
Here’s a link to Amazon.com:
The Easy Way to Stop Smoking: Join the Millions Who Have Become Non-Smokers Using Allen Carr’s Easyway Method
I highly recommend this book if you want to stop smoking. I don’t recommend you read it if you actually enjoy smoking.
…just to clarify…quit smoking, not the Military!
I’M WORKING ON THE CRAZY’S 8 ADVANCE PROGRAM NOW FOR TWO WEEKS
IS TIME FOR A CHANGE OR JUST KEEP GOING ON THAT DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER GOOD CARDIO WORKOUT
THANKS ERIC
Stop BS’ing yourselves. 5 times 5 minutes, at 90-100% VO2 max. In other words, multiple all-out mile repeats, once per week (to start). Do you really want to face a man that consistently trains in this way, and you choose not to, “because it’s hard…” ??? Grow up.
Different Sam, by the way. Guy, I like your comment. Excessive rest, but you’re on the right track.