My next tournament is coming up in 8 weeks and I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips on building match fitness beforehand so I don't nearly die like I did at the end of last year, also I'm moving back up into the HW division so I'll need speed to counteract the strength of the heavier guys. I train at the gym 3 times a week and do TKD training once a week so my overall fitness is better than it was but I still don't think I'm match ready yet, although it's 8 weeks away I'll only really have the weekends free to work on my fitness at home and I work every second weekend so effectively I've got 8 days lol. The first tournament will be 3×1 min rounds so it's shorter rounds than I'm used to but I still don't want to be caught short, also I'll likely have another tournament 3 weeks after this one and it'll likely be 2×90 sec rounds. I was thinking of doing 2 min rounds of skipping and probably 40m sprints, would those 2 exercises be ok and is there anything else I need to look at doing? Any help is appreciated
Roadwork (including wind sprints between lamp posts), skipping (3 x 2 mins rounds) and bag work if you can (again, 3 minute rounds). All will help build your fitness up well. Good luck. Stuart
^QFT^ HIIT should sort you out, Skipping is good as is intensive bag work (could do a HIIT style bag routine I'm sure)
QFT? Thanks for the replies, I've got a BOB at home does that count as bag work? Should I just focus on kicking drills or work punches too?
Quoted for Truth. Do lots of interval work. Google Tabata and work that. Do sparring drills to that format or a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) format. Spar lots and do it to the length of rounds you'll compete in. You need to get a feel for pacing yourself over that distance and being able to save enough to blitz the last bit if need be. A brilliant competitor I know once said he would watch his opponent and as soon as he showed he was tired he would throw everything at him for a short burst, even if he himself was gassing too. Even if he then had to recover for a bit he would have broken the opponent's spirit with that onslaught. So being able to drag out that intense burst of performance is important, and HIIT will help give you that. Mitch
Ah ok thanks for that, I haven't heard that before. Yeah I'm trying to build my fitness to a level where I can outlast my opponent (even by a little bit) and be able to go hard at the end when they're tired if I'm behind in the scores etc, for most part of my matches I seem to gas way too early, I'm not sure if I go to hard to early or my fitness just isn't up to scratch, so I'll work on some HIIT stuff.
It may be me misunderstanding but for me the ratio should be 3 days TKD to one gym day Gym is supplementary to your TKD - otherwise you are a weightlifter who wears pyjamas once a week
Yeah I know I can only go to TKD once a week at the moment due to work, though I'll be moving soon and I'll be able to train 3 nights a week, 2 nights of training and 1 sparring night, I know my sparring and training won't get better until I begin training more so I'm holding off from my next grading until I pick up the amount of time that I can train.
I like working night shift except when it stops me from training, I know 1 night a week is almost pointless but I figure it's better than stopping altogether until I move.
+1 or if you're like me, once every two weeks. try basing the interval training on the ratio of rest to work in an average match.
Sorry, I sometimes forget some people here aren't quite as internet geeky as I am lol, and Tabata was the one I was trying to think of when writing my reply last night, but the name escaped me lol.
