In november I have my first kyokushin 'real' kumite (in a championship, not sparring at the dojo). It will be against some other old guy with a low belt. I never really wanted to do 'real' kumite, but you know how it goes... My conditioning is quite weak at the moment. So far, this is the core of my plan: -Cardio: 2 times a week, 4-6km uneven speed run (accelerating, going slower, etc, trying to simulate the changes of rythm in a combat). -lots of sit ups (aiming at confortably doing 100 before kumite) -lots of push ups (aiming at confortably doing 75 before kumite) -squats (need to strengthen those legs for the many low kicks I'll receive) -diet: Not really go on a diet, but cut down carbohydrates and increase proteins. I live in the mountain, so it is no problem to find hills to run up or down if needed (more like the opposite is difficult, I have to take the car to get to the nearest 1km almost flat stretch). I am doing some natural makiwara with pinetrees (for the knuckles and shins), but without overdoing it. I was thinking doing something such as GSPs RushFit. I do have a couple of weights/dumbells. Once the bad sunburns in the top of my hands and wrists heal completely (have been 12 days, they'll need at least 16 days more before some sun can touch) I intend to go swimming at sea and running in the sand at least once a week. Any other hints? More natural weight exercises to strengthen core, legs, etc?
How long before the competition? It'll help with planning out the progressive intensity and the reduced intensity prior to the competition.
Obviously, as they're pairing you up against an old guy with a low belt :yeleyes: How long have you been training in Kyokushin? I'm not gonna ask how it is that you managed to reach kumite level without acquiring some conditioning along the way because I vividly recall sparring in boxing without having near the level of conditioning that I should've had. But I take it that a Kumite in Kyo is akin to a licensed ammy event in western boxing, then? I'm very keen on hearing all you care to elaborate on as I'm taking trial classes at a local kyo school - my first TMA lessons - and would love any input/perspective you care to share.
Personally i have a chart done ( rectified as per advice on here) but some days I do crazy amounts of stuff , others I rebound with hand weights and only eat a chicken breast, sit ups are bull as far as I'm concerned , kettles swings will do much more for core
Yeah, and get in as much 'light contact' sparring as you can and at least one "heavy sparring" session. There's nothing that exposes ill-conditioning more than sparring. It'll also help with technique - so one is satisfying two birds with one stone. So to speak.
The sparring at jkd has opened my eyes to stamina, or lack thereof, one guy had huge biceps, and he ended up puking, never seen him again lol
In knockdown you will really need to ensure your cardio is on top form as you most likely aware as it is a very tiring format. Timed rounds on the pads/sparring and lots of conditioning to your legs and core. ie. squats, planks and raises ect. Is it a single fight or a tournament? What weight catagory are you in, trying to drop from the 80+ open weight for my next competition in October. being the lightest in the openweight is borderline sadism.
Thanks for the tips. I asked some things I should have asked the first moment, such as number of rounds and time. It is only one fight (one hopes!!) and it is the standard, at least here, 2 rounds 2 minutes long. At most it will be 2 fights, but almost surely only one. I'm 97kg, 1m85cm, so it is open cathegory for me, of course. And against an old and low belt such as me (I'm 5th kyu, have been doing kyokushin for around 2 years and a half.) When I mentioned my conditioning being weak, I meant for a real kumite fight. It is enough for light sparring. We do have sparring 3 out of every 4 weeks, and condition is acceptable for that. Basically, the level of sparring depends on the opposition. We don't try to kill the other guy, and we control a lot our kicks. Tsukis to the body, with two of the guys, free range. Today we had kumite class, last class before holidays. It is 1h30 minutes, but of course, in that time you have to include the warm up, etc. I tried some of the tips I got here, such as hitting the pads hard for 2 minutes. First exercises where fine, then after the 5th-6th I was quite tired... and when it got to the sparring, last 15 minutes, I was really tired. A good tired, but tired enough to be slower and hit with less strength. But, I think that for real no holds bared kumite I need to strengthen my muscles, core, etc. That's what I really meant by weak conditioning... I've never been muscular, neither lean, but the other day (after watching a Dolph Lundgren film) I looked at myself in the mirror and saw I'm really really soft. That's part of my more proteins, less carbohydrates mini diet (I'm a pasta and pizza guy). Probably I'll increase to 3 times a week my runs in the mountain.
It is good to read that you are not taking this challenge lightly, and that you are giving the post fight training both the time and respect that it deserves... ...One from me though - Do not neglect the Mental conditioning that will be needed, as for me, especially given the durations of the fight(s), your mind (if you let it) has the potential to let you down, way before your body does... Travess
Need cardio? Need leg muscles? HILL SPRINTS 1. Find a hill 2. Sprint up it 3. Walk down 4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until you can't sprint up the hill anymore and want to cry like a baby Do it twice a week.
You're not planning on loosing, are you? I'd second what Travess said. It sounds pretty tough (Formal Kumite) but I think you're farther along than you may think. Its good that you know there's a sizable gap between what you've done in sparring so far and what you'll be encountering in the formal Kumite and you're taking realistic, proactive steps to address that unknown - which is in itself, reducing the gap. You've a very realistic probability to get where you need to be for this, IMO. Dan, Sifu Ben have very good suggestions - no doubt you'll follow them and have good success. Good luck - keep posting, regardless.
Thanks for all the tips. For the hill, I have one at 500 meters, that is earth, so better for the knees than concrete. Also, being pure nature, no cars, healthier. It is about 1 km and if I recall correctly it goes up 50 meters. For the pads, I started more seriously yesterday after reading Dan's suggestion.
I would start with a section of that for hill sprints then. I don't think anyone on here could do a full out sprint for 0.5 km. use maybe 100 m and start with that. It'll whoop you well enough.
I've seen an online 'fatigue' calculator based on a series of 40 metre sprint tests - I'm not certain as to what goes into the "fatigue" calculation - at the time I saw it, it seemed like it looked very close to what the mean would look like. Mind you, its just a tool to supplement the training in between the tests and one can assume the training is for increasing the speed of sprint runners - but it could give you a numerical indication as to how your HIT is proceeding. Can't vouch for its accuracy or efficiency http://www.brianmac.co.uk/excel/40sprint.xls
Nope! It is just that most of these tournaments are in exhibition format, and you only fight one combat. Very few you fight more than one.
