martin
This question is for Martin. Do you do alot of body weight work with the fighters and grapplers? What I mean is picking up other people and using that as training. If so what is a good weight person to use? I have both the Training for Warriors book and DVD and they are awesome. I read your posts on this site, elite and graciemag too. Thank you for all the info and support for our sport. Steve
Pictured is Martin working on "pick ups" with nationally ranked judoka Shintaro Higashi at the facility. Although most of the body weight carrying may occur more often in your specific discipline training sessions, this is still a great addition to your physical work!
Steve,
Great to hear from you and I am stoked that you are enjoying all my stuff. I put a lot of time into it, and now that the sport is really starting to take off in this country, the feedback has been worth it.
As for the body weight work in terms of picking up training partners, I think that it is a must in your training if you are a combat athlete, it is just deciding where it is placed. What I mean here is that I see the gym often as a place to build general characteristics that are then applied specifically during your actual sports training. So, in the gym you might work dead lifts, squats, and cleans to develop the general strength and power required to perform great lifts and throws during your sport practice. In the past we have implemented the heavy sand bag and heavy med ball throws. These exercises could be seen as a more specific exercise than the ones previously listed, but are still not picking up people.
When I am training judo or wrestling, we do work a good bit of pick ups in the session. We may do lifts and put downs for sets of 20 yards, carry a partner on our backs and perform foot sweeps, or even carry out partners across our chests and do walks. I think all of these are powerful since the persons weight is not evenly distributed like a bar in the gym. This way, you develop more stability and prepare the body for actual competition. Remember too that throws, takedowns, and the grappling itself is all great bodyweight resistance. To stand there and just do grip work against the wall, however, in my mind is not as economical as saving that for practice and developing strength in the gym to work with.
I hope this makes sense and great question. A great quote I like for this one is "Just like iron sharpens iron, one man must sharpen himself against another".
Martin Rooney
Comments Closed
This is for Martin. I am writing in about sled training. I have your DVDs and now have my sled from elite just like yours. I am now ready to train at my local track with it to get the right resistenace like you said. I plan on doing forward, backward and side pulls on tues and sprint work on friday. Does this sound good to you? What are some other exercises I can work on? The DVDs are really good. John Meadows
Pictured is Bobby Smith, All American javelin thrower that just graduated from Monmouth University. Bobby has been in working on developing his plan to get to the 2008 Olympics. One part of the strength and speed work has been using the sled for both sprints and the crossover pulls seen above.
John,
Thanks for writing in and I am thrilled that you are enjoying the DVDs and that they have made enough impact to get you started. As I have said time and time again, the sled is a very versatile tool that can be used for a myraid of exercises. We have been using the sled for years here and are always learning something new about it.
As for your plan, I dont know what sport you play, but I think your plan sounds good from the outside. What I mean by this is I also dont know what you plan in terms of weights, reps, sets, distance, etc. Just because you have the sled, doesnt mean the job is done. Now it is up to you to utilize correct technique and training principles. With those in place, I think you have a nice plan going.
In terms of other exercises, in addition to the one pictured above, there are loads of drills you can choose from. We do hip flexor pulls, sled "feeder" workouts, duck walk pulls (the rope is held between the legs with the hands passing slightly behind you and you walk bent over using a wide stance to hit the hammies) and the exercise pictured above as an example. All of these can either be found in the DVDs or in past posts here on the site.
Best of luck and I look forward to hearing about your progress.
Martin Rooney
I recently bought the stregnth training for speed DVD and like it a lot. Thanks for producing a DVD that is so simple to incorporate. I have two questions. My first one is, which product would be best to buy in order to train for speed? I go out to the track and work on my accelerations and 100m sprints, but I want a better idea of drills I should be doing to work on my speed. Second, in your stregnth DVD you classify speed into acceleration, top speed, and lateral speed. I'm a hockey player, and I was wondering if acceleration work and lateral work is more important for hockey due to the angles produced from skating. Thank you. Kenny
Pictured are long time clients Andrew Ardnt and Chris Dinallo hitting some zig zag lunges and cross over step ups during a lower body session. Andrew who is a hockey player going into his senior year at Bergen Catholic has been using these movements for years to improve his skating speed.
Kenny,
Thanks for writing in and I am excited to hear you are enjoying the DVD. The feedback has been amazing and it has me jacked to get started on my biggest DVD project to date which I am outlining at this time.
As for other DVDs, I would recommend the warmup, agility and deceleration DVDs for you. These all cover critical information that is not only important for training, but applies very well to hockey.
As for the breakdown of the exercises on the DVD, I would suggest that you utilize all the information. Although the acceleration and lateral work may seem more enticing because it more closely resembles the sport of hockey, do not forget about balance in your training.
What I mean here is that if you only skate and work movements that mimic skating, then you could build up imbalances that could lead to future injury. The best way to work on skating is skating. In the gym, you want to build strength everywhere and then apply that strength to your skating motion. Understanding this, that is is why I say that all the exercises are useful. Like the specific lunge and step up movements for example. Although I have it listed in the top speed section, I still think it is a great exercise that you could be performing. The sled work is big there too.
I hope this makes sense and gets you more on your way. Best of luck.
Martin Rooney
Martin, it has been 4 days and my hammies are still sore from my first ever shot at single-stiff leg deads from the Strength for Speed DVD. Am I always going to have this soreness? What is the purpose behind this exercise for speed if I ever choose to do it again? Seriously, thanks for putting out great products. Carl Baker
Pictured is Trainer John Cirilo showing off the “Hammy Killa”, the 80 pound dumbbell, single stiff legged deadlift. Not only is this exercise not for the weak of heart, it is not for the weak of posterior either!
Carl,
Thanks for writing in and I am excited every day as more feedback comes in about the Strength DVD. (Don’t get me wrong, I am not pumped about everyone out there being sore from all the new exercises, I am pumped that they are actually using the information!).
As for the soreness, which I wrote about recently, whenever you perform a novel exercise, there will be some payment made in pain. Now, make that a single leg activity with an emphasis on the eccentric contraction and throw in weight with long levers working against you and you have a recipe for the initial mother of all soreness. I say “initial” because after the first time you do it, every following time will be milder.
This exercise is useful in terms of speed development and I would hate to see you remove it from you program due to soreness or stop running altogether (I thought that was a bit harsh). As you have seen, the exercise is excellent for hamstring development. The hamstrings, as supported on the DVD, are critical for the hip extension that takes place as the athlete leaves acceleration and moves into top speed. The connective tissue adaptation that takes place from this exercise is also excellent for injury prevention of the hamstrings during sprint work too. The fact that the exercise is also performed on a single leg is also great for balance, coordination and the fact that when we are sprinting, only one foot contacts the ground at a time.
I would suggest that you back down on the weight or reps for the next workout or two using this exercise and then pick it up. I am sure it will pay off and I want leg day to eventually be your favorite, not the day you dread most.
Remember, if you do just what you always did, you will only get what you always got!
Best of luck,
Martin Rooney
Martin! Great work on the Strength DVD. It was educational and inspirational like all your DVDs. I have to also thank you for all the new soreness in my legs. I thought I was ready, but when I started the lunge variations my gluts are killing me for the first time. My question is why would I be so sore if I am hitting squats and deads all the time. Am I missing something here? Thanks again and keep the hits coming. Mike I.
Pictured is 11 year old Michael Pesce showing it is never too early to start lunging with weights. His trainer Ryan, the star lunger on the new DVD loves spreading the message of the benefits of the lunge.
Mike,
Thanks for writing in and sorry to hear about the soreness. I never want to be the reason behind people’s pain (or be a pain in the behind), but this soreness will teach you a few important lessons.
First off, whenever you try a new movement, always start off conservative in both weight, sets and reps. Remember that your body is an adaptive organism, and the whole key behind training is to do something to your body, let it adapt and then increase the stimulus. When that something is new, that is when your body is least prepared for it and your body will let you know it. Starting off even with light weight can really destroy you so take it slow. After that initial week of soreness, the protective mechanisms will be up and you can slowly increase.
Second off, whenever you try a new movement, you will be accessing different motor units in muscles you may already be using, or you may be stressing muscle fibers in ways you have not before. Whenever I hit lunges hard after a layoff of lunges, both my glutes and adductors are crushed like you are experiencing. Make sure if you are addressing large muscle groups with a new change, you are prepared to limp around for a few days and that there is no important event immediately coming up.
Third, whenever you are using a new movement, you are adding variety to your program. That soreness will let you know that there may have been a neglected area in your training. Make sure that there is enough variety and an easy way to do this is by changing your programs or exercises at least 1 time per month (or every 4-6 weeks).
Overall, you were probably missing nothing more than the right application of the principle of variety. Now enjoy this movement for the next month and then hit the other lunge and step up variations that I showed.
Best of luck.
Martin Rooney