Running Progress

Hey guys, after lifting weights and doing martial arts my whole life (15 years) I started running

I always hated running, so I stuck with explosive training for cardio like working the heavy bag and doing HIIT, however I've been at a plateau for many years.

I took up this new plan to just start running which I always avoided. My running schedule is something like this

Every 2nd day I run on a treadmill (at home), right after waking up
And I'm doing 5 min increments every time I step on the treadmill.

Before December 14 I couldn't do more then 30 minutes on the treadmill or running in general, now I'm up to 70 minutes of jogging.

That's over 100% improvement in under 1 month, and I'm aiming at 90 minutes jogging before I start slowly turning up the speed. So 90 minutes will give me a 200% improvement in my VO2 max / slow twitch muscle fibers.

I'm guessing my cardio is improving at such a rapid pace because I never trained my slow twitch muscle fibers before, as my passion has always been MMA and Weight Lifting/power lifting.

It was depressing to be stuck with limited cardio in a sport like MMA, I'm going to see now how these slow twitch muscle fibers translate to MMA sparring and also I'm planning to start squeezing more workouts in the gym as a result of higher cardio.

I would think that HIIT would assist you more in MMA. I never fought in MMA but I did fight in TaeKwon Do. You need explosiveness. When you use that explosiveness through Low intensity cardio, you are likely to burn everything out of the tank. One of the preliminary fights this last weekend was an example. The guy came out in the first round guns a blazing, was tired very soon and just tried to survive. He came back to start the second round and had a renewed energy supply, but same thin happened. There is no doubt that he would have won had he been better prepared with his cardio.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Steady state and HIIT both have their place. As well as sport specific exercises. I love running myself, had a heel bursitis and had to call it quits for awhile. Stair master, ropes, rowing, jump ropes, and HIIT super sets for me.

Well cardio has always been an issue for me in MMA.. I been hitting the bag, the pads and doing some sparring for many many years and didn't see much improvement in cardio.. Would you say genetics??? So now I'm looking for more general athletic training such as endurance, jumps, agility, cardio.

I'm just surprised that I was able to increase my running time so quickly by pushing through on the tredmill

I'm curious if I'll be able to get the same results in sprint training... such as adding laps to each consequtive workout.
I know this concept of adding weights or increasing the duration of the workout each time doesnt work in body building or powerlifting that well unless you're new or on steroids.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hustler101

Hey guys, after lifting weights and doing martial arts my whole life (15 years) I started running

I always hated running, so I stuck with explosive training for cardio like working the heavy bag and doing HIIT, however I've been at a plateau for many years.

I took up this new plan to just start running which I always avoided. My running schedule is something like this

Every 2nd day I run on a treadmill (at home), right after waking up
And I'm doing 5 min increments every time I step on the treadmill.

Before December 14 I couldn't do more then 30 minutes on the treadmill or running in general, now I'm up to 70 minutes of jogging.

That's over 100% improvement in under 1 month, and I'm aiming at 90 minutes jogging before I start slowly turning up the speed. So 90 minutes will give me a 200% improvement in my VO2 max / slow twitch muscle fibers.

I'm guessing my cardio is improving at such a rapid pace because I never trained my slow twitch muscle fibers before, as my passion has always been MMA and Weight Lifting/power lifting.

It was depressing to be stuck with limited cardio in a sport like MMA, I'm going to see now how these slow twitch muscle fibers translate to MMA sparring and also I'm planning to start squeezing more workouts in the gym as a result of higher cardio.

---

Well congratulations on the improvement first. Older fighters are well known for doing longer cardio sessions. The trend is HIIT now but again some of the successful fighters in the past did long runs. So it's both you want to do. Both are good for overall fitness as well.

Running should be a staple, and so should walking, they are actually different in terms of benefit and hip mobility. Running tends to create tension, a good thing to stabilize, preventing "rocking" of the pelvis (picture being run through with a rod through the belly button and out the other side and your pelvis spinning on that rod, running strengthens our ability to resist and control that spinning) and can exaggerate the "rotation" at the hips (picture vertical rod or twisting at the spine) walking isn't exactly the opposite but provides a different emphasis, and benefit for the hips, for both recovery, mobility and conditioning

Do it all and choose what will be most beneficial for what you need based on your constraints

Cheers