Leonardo da Vinci
“I need to work on my fitness” is a common phrase I hear from a gasping student or instructor following a pressure test. The test is usually very short and, in some cases, it has been done very early in the training. The participant is usually an experienced yet young martial artist. He is not overweight. He is visibly strong, flexible and, looking at their recent training background, I would say they have good aerobic fitness. By general standards they are fit, but this new experience has convinced them otherwise. I have been there many times. When my lungs feel like they are set to burst and guts want to spew their contents I start envisioning getting up the following morning and going for a big run. That will strengthen my lungs, I think, and all of this will be so much easier. “You’ve got to work on your cardio” is a phrase I often heard various coaches tell me when I was lying in a crumpled heap. I know I have been running regularly. I have always done well at long distance running. I know I am fit. The question is: am I fit for purpose?
When I began my martial arts training I was aware that students regularly supplemented their lessons with sessions down the gym or their own fitness routines. Many martial artists did their lessons as just one of several activities they engaged in every week. I knew from the start that I didn’t want that. I wanted to be good at martial arts and not just be fit for the sake of being fit. At the time I knew nothing about functional fitness, but here and there I logged little pieces of information I would revisit years later. I read about wrestlers in the ‘50s that shunned a lot of the body buildingweight training exercises in favour of lifting unbalanced weights and lifting other wrestlers. The novel “The Power of One” by Bryce Courtney described how boxers got jobs in manual labour in order to build the right type of strength for their sport. My taekwondo instructor once made a statement about how, although he was in favour of running, preferred exercises to be more targeted. This was shortly before he had us all do a “burn-out” – a minute per leg of rapid round/turning kicks to a pad.
Nevertheless, I still moved on quite blindly. I did long distance runs and went for lengthy swims. Most of my martial arts friends and instructors trained down the gym like bodybuilders. It was very easy to get sucked into it and, although many doubts niggled at me, I saw the visible gains. We even “invented” our own type of isolation curl for biceps. Training wasn’t all for aesthetics. I got stronger, but it just wasn’t enough. I felt like I was just doing another activity unrelated to my martial arts training. Over time I started collecting more sports specific exercises. My attraction to the scientific approach and my natural interest in diversity led me to look outside the world of martial arts. Within the better funded worlds of professional sports, physical education and the military I saw training being explicitly geared towards gaining provable results. These industries and institutions had a vested interest in improving their participants. The business and culture of martial arts is a retail industry. On the whole, martial arts teachers don’t have a monetary incentive to improve their students. Furthermore, due to the isolated nature of your typical martial arts club, or even association, new ideas or training concepts rarely permeate the layers of tradition and ritual. Being an avid cross-trainer, I had the advantage of being able to see a lot of this from the outside. My move towards what I would learn called functional fitness was a gradual process at first, but once I started immerse myself more in what I loved doing it made more sense.
According to Allison Kyle Leopold’s 2004 article for the New York Times, “Functional fitness means that the goal of working out is preparing your body so it can perform daily activities -- walking, bending, lifting, climbing stairs -- without pain, injury or discomfort”. One of the main differences between a martial arts functional fitness workout and a conventional weight training or fitness session is the objective. A bodybuilder intends to improve his physique for show. That is his goal. He needs his muscles looking big, defined and with good symmetry. When the judges watch him, they are looking for good development of all visible muscle groups. When a power-lifter uses weights he is training to lift the heaviest weights he can. His objective is to do better than anyone else in a particular lifting exercise. This is not to say any of the exercises used by bodybuilders and power-lifters cannot be used as part of a functional fitness routine, but the end goal will be very different and therefore dictate the exercise selection as well as its execution. The martial arts student needs to focus his training on developing greater impact, better grappling strength, faster movement at all ranges, stronger stability, fight specific aerobic and anaerobic respiration, better recovery, explosiveness and increased flexibility. He is conditioning himself for combat. A higher jump, faster sprint, heavier lift, increased all-round stamina and endurance, and an aesthetically pleasing physique should all be viewed as pleasant by-products. Although it is good to mix things up, I urge students to try not to put their training routine under a muscle group or body part. You can have upper body and lower body days if you like, and it is important to understand how the different muscle groups support each other, but when you become focused on a “chest day” you stop thinking about the function of the muscles involved and you start mentally separating it from the rest of the body. Functional fitness has its roots in physiotherapy. It works muscles along their natural planes of movement. Training is often done to correct certain movements or to compensate for damage. Many sports rely on natural movements and require the use of stabilizing muscles rather than isolated muscle groups. This is particularly true of martial arts and combatives. A hand strike should start from the feet, driving up through the legs, core, back, chest and finally the shoulder. That’s a lot of muscle groups working together. And the same applies to kicks, throws and ground work. Therefore, it follows that the training that would best improve a martial artist’s performance is one that mimics the movements of his techniques or, at the very least, overloads the same combinations of muscle groups being used in those movements. If you have a strong internal compass for your training requirements then exercises will fall into place. For example, let’s take the favoured warm-up exercises for martial artists: running. For some reason, running about, interspersed with a variety of very general callisthenic exercises are what most martial arts instructors choose as a warm-up. This is often followed by some static stretching exercises, which are not proven to reduce injury during training. In fact, research shows that they can actually inhibit performance where a ballistic action, such as running and jumping, is required.
If you are going to run, you might as well shadow box. How are the movements of shadow boxing any less demanding on your body than running? Take some inspiration from parkour and free-running, and use obstacles to enhance your running experience. Self-defence students should make escape a part of their training, so this is very relevant. For combat sports athletes, overcoming these obstacles mimics the sudden explosive movements and abrupt changes in a competition. I am not totally opposed to long distance running, but I see fewer benefits in this old practice as I do in a lot of the HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training). If we are to mimic fighting, then we need to be overloading the fast twitch muscles and training sprints up hills. This is not a personal preference either. I am naturally more of a long distance runner than a sprinter, but I do not see the practice as good time management if I want to get ahead with my martial arts training. It has its place and I am not arguing for its total exclusion, but surely all that time jogging could have been better served hitting a heavy bag.
Functional fitness makes use of a wide range of equipment, including conventional free weights used in compound movements. Many programmes use odd-ended free weights, various objects found in strongman competitions like beer-kegs, boulders, chains and tyres, and improvised unbalanced items like slosh tubes (waste pipes partly filled with water), Bulgarian bags (motorbike inner-tubes filled with heavy loose material) and sand bags. It also uses objects taken directly from physiotherapy like resistance bands and stability balls. Functional fitness has prompted renewed interest in traditional training equipment like medicine balls, Indian clubs and kettlebells. Finally it has encouraged coaches to be creative and to look outside their respective sports to acquire certain attributes. For example, the already very functional standard pull-up can be enhanced when it is performed on a trapeze bar or, harder still, on Roman rings. If your main activity is jacketed wrestling then why not try your pull-ups on a gi or even pull yourself up using the crossover choking motion.
In recent years functional fitness has really taken on and we are seeing its influence all over the sporting professions and the leisure and health industries. Many people participate in functional fitness for no other reason than it provides an exciting new alternative to their conventional fitness activities. Although there is nothing wrong in doing functional fitness for this purpose, this is not our motivation. The problem with this approach is the use of controversial exercises. Functional fitness is designed to enhance specific performance in a designated area. Without having a clearly defined goal the student of the regime can easily fall foul of controversial exercises that are not going to serve him and put him at unnecessary risk. There are many sport-specific exercises that need only be practiced by those wishing to improve their sport’s performance. For example, v-sits (sit-up performed where the legs are raised off the ground and the tips of the fingers meet the toes in a “v” formation) are an essential part of a gymnast’s exercise regime. A gymnast will develop supporting muscles that should help prevent injury and the v-sit movement is found in several gymnastic manoeuvres. However, due to the pressure they place on the lower back muscles, many fitness coaches have banned them from their callisthenic routines. Injuries can hinder the development of your training, no matter what your objective. Staying true to the roots of functional fitness, we should ensure that one of the main purposes of our exercise selection is to help prevent injuries. There is little point in carrying out an exercise that puts our health at risk and cannot be balanced against any directly relevant benefits. With this in mind let’s move onto pitfalls and common mistakes found in functional fitness.
Okay, so if overloading natural movements will have a better result than working from fixed positions why is it that there are so many overweight and unfit manual labourers out there? Surely, if what I have said is true about “work” muscles, your local road works or building sight should be populated by the cast of “Masters of the Universe” and it should be the first stop for any combat sports talent scout. Why is it that road-diggers, hod-carriers and brick-layers feel that they need to go to the gym? The problem encountered here is comfort. Like every gym member who doesn’t break much of a sweat and goes through the same old routines every session, the labourer gets into the groove of his work. At first it is challenging - this is where the boxer and wrestler get the benefits of the “workout” - but as his skill level and functional strength increases, he become less exerted.
Once again, objective is everything. An athlete constantly strives to improve his performance; making his times shorter, his weight load heavier and his exercises more difficult. This is not the objective of the manual labourer unless he actively engages in competitions that specialize in these areas. We are hardwired to be lazy and we find shortcuts and the easiest way to perform tasks. Age and other health limitations permitting, the long-time labourer will remain strong at what he does, but he will reach a plateau and soon the work will become commonplace and unchallenging. When this occurs his body starts burning fewer calories and, depending on his metabolism, will start putting on excess fat.
In this respect he is no different from the regular gym attendee who goes through the motions of the same set routine. There are plenty that have allowed their gym sessions to become part of their regular schedule. For a while these individuals will maintain what they do, but if you don’t feel exerted at the end of your session then your body has not been properly worked.
Caveman training is a type of functional fitness that constantly forces the student to adapt and provides a good method to keep “work” muscles working. The name derives from the idea that a caveman would have to improvise and make use of his environment in order to train. Training routines are nearly always unique. Being a martial artist who bought into the idea of discipline I used to abhor the notion that people needed to change their training to stave off boredom. Okay for those doing it as a hobby, I thought. Surely the dedicated trainer will stick to a routine that gives him results. Again, I had overestimated the human threshold for laziness. We simply cannot help ourselves. Without knowing it, we will seek shortcuts to training and our bodies will soon become accustomed to certain exercises. Caveman training does not give comfort a chance. In this respect it mimics the uncertainty of combat. A good caveman routine will never be repeated again by the same athlete. Like any good coaching method, it is principle- and objective-centred as opposed to being technique- or exercise-led. The athlete asks himself what he wants to achieve at the end of the session; what exercises are best and which ones does he fear the most. My coach, Mo Teague, always told me that you should fear your training. By having unpredictable routines, which force you to adapt fast, and by performing them at high intensity, you forcing yourself to deal with a type of chaos; this places pressure on the mind as well as the body, developing mental fortitude.
The flipside of getting comfortable with your training is to allow form to overcome function. Just because an exercise is more difficult doesn’t mean it produces better results. Kettlebell training, like Indian club training, offers a lot to enhance explosive full body movements that can be applied to striking and grappling. By having the centre of mass outside of the hand rather than in it, like a dumbbell or barbell, the kettlebell lifter is forced to use more muscles simultaneously and to perform actions in a swinging or ballistic manner. You are forced to stabilize your body when you perform these movements. So far, they seem like the ideal addition to your functional fitness regime. However, arguments have been put forth that anything that can be achieved through kettlebell exercises can be achieved better through dumbbells. Kettlebell training requires a higher degree of skill than conventional weight training and this means that less weight can be loaded by the lifter. The argument here is that results can be achieved faster using dumbbells and barbells. The skill factor can be an issue. Due to the marketing boom surrounding kettlebells, an entire subculture has grown up around their usage. There are now kettlebell competitions, which has led to the development of ever more complex exercises. The objective with the kettlebell user, in this instance, has been obscured.
The same can be said for strongman training. Caveman training is all about making use of what you can find and often that means manhandling awkward, unbalanced and asymmetrical weights. Strongman competitions see athletes lift, drag, throw, flip, carry and push a wide variety of items you will not find stacked near the rows of treadmills and giant TV screen in your local leisure club. All these movements are overloaded natural motions and the objects – tyres, boulders and even vehicles – are far more awkward to use than a balanced gym free-weight or machine. However, mixed martial arts fitness coach Ollie Richardson showed how by comparison a good number of strongman exercises did not offer any additional benefits over their conventional weight training equivalent. Furthermore, he argued, some were less beneficial for fighters.
It seems a contradiction in terms that a student requires greater skill and more technique to perform natural movements and when this does appear to be the case we should be sceptical about their direct benefits. Is there a more efficient way? Once again, I draw your attention to the importance of staying true to your objective. Every exercise needs to be questioned. Your primary activity dictates the priority of your exercises. Unless your objective is to win strongman and kettlebell competitions I would be wary of exercises that do not translate to direct combat application. I like strongmen exercises because they work muscles in an unpredictable fashion – as they would do in a combat situation – and I like kettlebell work because the actions commonly used to perform the exercise are the same used in many martial arts movements. However, the golden rule is the more you have to justify the inclusion of an activity, the further down the list it must go.
Whilst on this pitfall we should consider the appeals to antiquity and novelty that have snared many a functional fitness fan. It should be noted that certain items of improvised equipment were only used at the time because they were all that was available. Even if a lot of benefits can be taken from the exercise it doesn’t mean it is any better than its conventional equivalent. Likewise, always be sceptical of new supposed science that makes training more difficult. If wearing a training mask that simulates the effects of working at high altitudes improves your mental fortitude then I see little argument against using this piece of apparatus. However, the science is still out as to whether there are any actual physical benefits for a combat athlete.
The final pitfall I would urge athletes to be wary of is an exercise that closely mimics a training action and yet is counterproductive. Just because you are doing a martial arts movement and using a weight doesn’t mean you are working the right line of resistance. For example, if you perform a straight hand strike from standing holding a dumbbell or wearing a wrist weight or traditional martial arts iron ring, you are working against the wrong line of resistance. The gravity of the weight is pulling you down, which is not the direction you are sending the strike. This brings us back to the use of physiotherapy training equipment. Resistance bands are one of the best pieces of apparatus a martial artist than lie his hands on. Judoka were ahead of the game when they began drilling entries to their throws by using old bicycle inner-tubes. By using a piece of rubber the martial artist can increase resistance against the correct plane of movement whilst performing virtually any basic technique. With this in mind, we shouldn’t be overly harsh on the use of machines. The adjustable cable crossover stands out from the majority of weights machines in that it can produce the same benefits as the resistance band and has the added extra of having a far wider range of resistance levels.
In conclusion, as with the entire “Hierarchy of Training” concept, functional fitness is all about making the most out of your training. You should prioritize exercises that overload the techniques you use in your selected primary activity. Next you should select activities that enhance the attributes most relevant to your art or system; exercises that put replicate the physical and mental pressure of combat. Balance exercises that have been scientifically proven to be the most effective in activating certain muscle groups against those that train specific relevant actions. For example, the bicycle crunch works the abdominal muscles more than any other mid-section exercise, but the triangle choke leg raise is going to be more relevant to the submission grappler. Then look at the whole picture and decide what best serves the conditions of combat – fast-twitch muscles or slow-twitch ones, anaerobic or aerobic respiration, compound muscular movements or isolated muscular movements. This is not to say there is not a place for using less functional exercises in your training regime. It all comes down to intention. For example, if your objective is very specific, like retaining your guard, you might find that certain isolation shoulder exercises are worth including alongside the more functional sets or rounds. Remember, the function of combat is to be efficient in chaos. Chaos is not about sticking to the rules. So, create, revisit and improvise, but do so with a firm purpose in mind.
“'Functional Fitness' Means Training for Your Real Life” By ALLISON KYLE LEOPOLD – New York Times -Published: June 06, 2004
Sports Science Update: Static Stretching Before Running By Matt Fitzgerald Published Jun. 8, 2011
“Fighting Fit” by Ollie Richardson, Issue 18, published April 2011.
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