Crossfit for martial arts? Test these workouts without prejudice.
If you’ve ever traveled or found yourself alone around the world for work that took your time in the gym, you know the frustration of not being able to train.
Now there are many workouts that you can do, such as doing rope, shadow boxing, or having with you a TRX (suspensione training), kettlebells,do calisthenic workouts.
I often found myself in the hotel alone and performed Solo Drill movements by Brazilian Jiu Jitsu / Grappling and calistenic functional workouts or if I had the chance I would bring a kettlebell in the car.
Talking to a friend who does Crossfit gave me a number of workouts that you can do without any equipment.
Now it is clear that you do not have to do workouts that take time away from your martial art because it would not be smart and especially athletic training must be very but a lot and I repeat but very functional to what are the athletic movements and the kinematic and motor chains required by combat sport or martial art that you practice.
Consider how many things you can do functional to martial arts that aren’t just about physical enhancement and aerobic endurance such as stretching, or work on your mobility, coordination, and weaker rings that you need to strengthen or improve.
Now the topic I’m talking about has raised a lot of controversy among martial arts purists and those who want to incorporate functional systems for physical enhancement into their workouts.
I honestly have no prejudices because training you have to balance it according to how you are and how your physique responds to stimuli.
I say only one thing certain, you do not need to be explosive or strong if you do not have technique, timing, footwork, balance, etc. etc.
So first learn to hit, to fight, to defend yourself, etc. that has to build an athletic preparation that is then overtaked by a shot or lever placed at the right time.
What I want to tell you is that without controversy you work on a different goal, you want to make a ko, or you want to place a lever that makes an opponent tapout.
The physical shape that needs to be built and sought is functional to this goal!
Different is for the practically Crossfit who is a lover of fitness and nutrition using this training method.
You have a lot to do!!! Because it’s the complexity and variables of combat that require it.
Another thing I tell you is that if you want to insert the crossfit in your workouts you have to do it in your workouts you have to do it by doing WOD (is the acronym of Workout of the day) tailor-made, because what you would do would certainly help your general physical fitness and your athletic preparation but maybe not so evident on the movements you make to hit or fight.
Writing this article, I already know that it unleashes a huge variety of opinions but as you will understand if you follow the blog I have no prejudices especially if I see that there are techniques or systems that I can insert to improve what I do, without necessarily taking everything, but definitely seize what can be useful and positive.
When it comes to CrossFit or Calistenic activities!
Suddenly the but, however, the ifs, etc. are almost always from people who have not tried.
From experience I tell you that I have always used kettlebells again when no one knew them in gyms and fitness, and everyone to say that it is not like weights, it is not like doing this, etc. then comes the ufc round champion and other athletes of the circuit and here is the race to use kettlebells in athletic preparations.
It is something normal that happens in man, at the beginning there is rejection, then there is curiosity and you approach it with suspicion and then there is the acceptance of reality and you become even fanatics of attraction or system.
But do me a favor right now, don’t start by supporting one thing or the other.
I will not justify what I write and I think that just the idea of doing so creates me a tremendous frustration because if I think about the amount of martial arts practitioners with a mental closure that for absurd reasons or to safeguard their garden they shoot crap on other martial arts or on possible training methods related to athletic preparation such as CrossFit in even claiming that it is dangerous or that it does not serve .
Dangerous?.
Why fight in a ring, fight with the stick, fight is not dangerous?.
All sports with different levels and types of injury have the risk, whether it’s playing football that Italians like so much, bodybuilding, skiing, etc. so it’s part of the movement and getting involved.
Clearly the more you move on to professionalism or intense practice, the more clearly you are exposed.
What I want to tell you is that in the practice of your martial art in athletic preparation there are definitely very flawed points, which require you to get out of the gym and start looking elsewhere.
Not long since the current UFC title holder in his category Conor Mc Gregor has done a tremendous job with Ido Portal an extraordinary guy who has created a cultural movement based on movement and body use.
Now I don’t know who you are, but if a Top Fighter spends time doing something like that that has nothing to do with combat, I don’t think he does because he doesn’t benefit him in the octagon.
Or think about the training of Yoga and the breathing made by gracie in Jiu Jitsu, what does it have to do with the fight?.
Yet it brings him a lot of benefit.
Or Alvaro Romano’s famous “natural for fighter, what do you think?.
It is perhaps the most obvious example of bringing work with your bodyweight making functional movements to the fight, extraordinary, because it is a bespoke job.
I love this method.
Let’s do this, doing Crossfit is better than sitting on the couch watching games with the bag of chips and beer maybe thinking it takes nothing to do a certain kind of exercise, just train.
You’re good, you just train, so instead of talking, judging, being on assumptions, watching, kicking your ass and coming up and having fun with us in expert fighting because after you get closer I know you’re going to be a fanatic.
The definition of sport is:
“An activity of physical exertion and skill in which an individual or group competes against another or others for entertainment.”
CrossFit is the physical effort and skill to be able to lift something heavy with the right shape, so if you shit in martial arts because you don’t listen to me you can always say you do Crossfit as a sport but if you shit in martial arts it’s because you don’t listen to me and you want to make your own head and it’s not the time yet , you just have to listen to me.
Now the Crossfit for martial arts you have to build it because in your case it makes no sense to enter the hall and do the same things that others do because you have to do a job aimed at what you want to improve and the needs of your martial art.
You may need to be faster, stronger, more explosive, or more flexible and you need to use your time and energy effectively.
If you talk to an industry professional it definitely helps you to work on your specifics because often those who go to Crossfit gyms do it for fitness, it is not aimed at beating in a ring or fighting.
What I tell you does not search online videos of random exercises and above all consider that technical execution is fundamental.
Even in that industry, gyms are not the same and the trainer makes a difference.
You have to decide and feel if you need this to improve.
If you want to try at the beginning do not overdo it!
Don’t look around and imitate people who have been doing it for a long time, if you can’t do the prescribed weight, scale down.
If you can’t make a certain gesture, choose a change. If you’re not sure about any aspect of the workout, ask your trainer!
I know you’re a fighter you’re a tough guy and it’s a lot on your. zz but quiet that in a few weeks scares them.
So I’ll tell you to try some of these WODs with someone who practices it, you have over 30.
My goal was to make one a day for a month, I wanted to exaggerate but I had time and also the opportunity to rest and recover.
Attention!!! I’m not telling you that it helps your boxing or BJJ technique because they’re totally different. I’m saying it will improve strength and conditioning. In addition, you meet many extraordinary people, just like in the gyms of martial arts and BJJ.
I had time and without judging something I did not know I tried and I have to say that the overall conditioning has improved a lot, I can do several rounds of fighting or sparring without feeling tired, I feel much stronger and overall I do not feel that this test has penalized me.
My friend tells me crossfit is amazing.
I always prefer martial arts and wrestling.
But testing other forms of training push your body to do things you never did or thought you could do, leaving you with a great sense of accomplishment.
It can be a nice way to work on your athletic preparation but without taking time away from what you do, this has to be a plus that you have to manage.
I repeat that often athletic preparation in martial arts and combat sports often has many gaps and also relies on feelings that are not said to correspond to a real improvement in your athletic abilities.
CrossFit is a great activity to integrate into Combat Sports.
✔ It is a great workout to integrate in standing fighting sports such as Boxing, Muay Thai, Dirty Boxing, Kick Boxing, Kali Filippino, Taekwondo, Karate Kyokushinkai.
✔ Great training to integrate in wrestling sports such as Jiu Jitsu, Combat Submission Wrestling, Free Fight or Roman Greek, Judo, Brazilian Jujitsu, Grappling in general.
✔ It’s a great training for mixed martial arts (MMA) and self-defense.
The approach used in Crossfit to count how many repetitions you do in a given time or how many repetitions or tractions you can do until you get to exhaustion serve to do a scientific work and measure the current state compared to “yesterday” so not a feeling but numbers.
In Expert Fighting we also use this approach in Drills, repeats, interva speeds, etc.
Because without using numbers you risk relying on sensations that have their value but you need something more objective especially for those who train you who have to build around you workouts that improve your athletic technical performance.
Now before you judge something you haven’t tried, take a test.
I know this may sound crazy, but expand your workouts and try something new.
Try at least a month, I bet you surprise yourself and after that even if you don’t keep training so you remember it as a nice experience.
All you have to do is find a good gym with good coaches or a smart friend who practices it and train with him.
If you don’t try or dislike something for any reason, you don’t have to do it regardless of your choice but it’s not your business what others are doing with their lives.
If it gives him a health benefit, more form for the sport they practice or makes them happy and fit, for me they are good and I tell him to do it!
I find it smarter to try two or three months a different type of training than to do wall and not know, because if you needed it?.
You always do martial arts but always look around to find athletic preparation forms that are important and often lacking in many martial arts.
When I tried kettlebells many years ago for example I did not think to find in such a simple tool all this potential, it was a beautiful discovery that I no longer abandoned.
In Crossfit I find kettlebells, bar exercises and parallels and basic exercises with the barbell.
What I want to tell you to conclude is that for me that I have always been in the industry was like discovering hot water, I have not seen any news because they are training methods very used in Olympic athletic preparation for decades, today they have brought it to a wider audience with good marketing that responds to the needs of training in a functional and smart (fast) way. , an alternative to the gym, but these are workouts that in the serious gyms and pros of combat and wrestling sports in general have always practiced.
The reality is that Crossfit does not invent anything new but draws its system to something that has always existed in particular at:
✔Ginnastics (all this can be done with your body and interaction with gravity using even simple tools such as the bar)
✔Pesistic (all those movements in which you compare yourself with the ability to raise or move an overload outside the body tup.
✔ Repeated and cyclical movements where your whole body together makes simple and repeated movements for a long time but involving large muscle masses and cinema chains that bind to make the full movement.
It was right here that I wanted to get there, if you’ve never done this kind of exercise before, you’ve always gone to hell gyms, because that kind of movements and crossfit workouts have always been done, with the diversity that there were no competitive forms used in the sport.
So start to make more “modern” and current the way to alletia.
WOD is simply the method used in Crossfit to make the three areas I told you work before.
Below I’ll list the 33 WODs that require little (rope to jump or pull on bars) or no equipment. They can be made at home or in any hotel. Test them have an idea and if you can train with someone who practices it.
Glossary:
“WOD” – Workout of the Day, workout of the day
“RFT” – Number of rounds per exercise set indicated
“FT” – Just do this
“AMRAP” – The maximum repetition you can do in the round
Wod:
1) 10 RFT: 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 10 squats
2) 10 RFT: 10 push-ups, 100m dash
3) 3 RFT: 10 Handstand push-ups, 200m run
4) 10 RFT: 10 sit-ups, 10 burpees
5) 10 RFT: 10 walking lunges, 10 push-ups
6) FT: 100 jumping jacks, 75 squats, 50 push-ups, 25 burpees
7) 3 RFT: 20 jumping jacks, 20 burpees, 20 squats
8) 4 RFT: 20 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, 400 meter runs
9) 20 rounds: 5 push-ups, 5 squats, 5 sit-ups
10) 7 RFT: 7 squats, 7 burpees
11) FT: Run 1 mile with 100 squats at midpoint
12) Run 1 mile and do 10 push-ups every 1 minute.
13) Tabata squats and Tabata push-ups
14) “Susan” – 5 RFT: Run 200m, 10 squats, 10 push-ups
15) FT: 200 squats
16) 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps burpees and sit-ups
17) 8 RFT: 30 second handstand hold, 10 squats
18) 4 rounds: 50 squats (rest for 2 minutes between rounds.)
19) 3 RFT: Run 800 meters, 50 squats
Bodyweight training
20) 21-15-9 reps air squats and push-ups
21) 10 RFT: 10 burpees, 100 sprint meters
22) 10 rounds: Sprint 50 meters, 10 push-ups
23) 4 rounds: Run 400 meters, 50 squats
24) 8 rounds: Sprint 100 meters, 30 squats
25) Run 1 mile, stopping every minute to do 20 squats
26) 10 minutes AMRAP: 3 burpees, 4 push-ups, 5 squats
27) 40-30-20-10 reps walking lunges, push-ups
28) 4 RFT: 25 double-unders, 25 sit-ups
29) 3 RFT: 20 squats, 20 burpees, 20 push-ups
30) 20 minutes AMRAP: 5 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 15 squats
31) 10 rounds: 50 double unders, 10 push-ups
32) “Angie” FT: 100 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats
33) “Barbara” 5 rounds (rest 3 minutes between each round): 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 50 squats
A pull-up bar can be hard to find if you’re traveling, although many parks around Italy are gearing up, especially in big cities, but still a rope to jump is in any luggage and weighs very little, as if you’re driving a kettlebell you can bring it.
So now you have no excuse.
You have the opportunity to train with little or no equipment. Try them yourself and tell me how you found yourself.
Attention!!! Do martial arts and do not do Crossfit, but if you are alone it is also important to do exercises that you usually do not do because it can be a great exercise in athletic preparation.
If you do the rope that’s an exercise you always do it’s probably less stressing your physique than a barpees.
Now martial art requires very extensive training precisely because of its combat-related complexity where incredible skills are required. So practice is experimenting methods like Crossfit away from competitions and competitions because in the final preparation stages you have to devote the time and energy to work on the aspects related to combat.
Don’t forget the specific preparation of your martial art because the crossfit from a general athletic preparation and the kinetic chains involved, the specific motor skills and movement plans used of the discipline practiced are not identical and work in non-linear conditions, so you can not replace the sessions at the Pao, you can not replace the heavy sack, the ground work , sparring, etc.
Don’t be prejudiced but explain to Crossfit friends that they can’t barpees when they’re in Triangle Choke!!!
Andrea
Ps. Now a specific parenthesis on a question you often hear you ask, “if crossfit is good for Jiu-Jitsu?”
The answer is, of course, yes if you do as I told you earlier in a functional and correct way to your goal.
Because one thing I’m telling you you don’t have to do anyway is replace the Jiu-Jitsu with the Crossfit.
Jiu-Jitsu’s training must be on the tatami and must be your number one priority whether you are a competitive professional or a simple Jiu-Jitsu enthusiast.
Let’s take a look along with some of the pros and cons of Crossfit’s formation for Jiu-Jitsu.
Pro CrossFit for Jiu-Jitsu
✔anny resistance increase
✔eA4 increase in strength
✔Most Explosive Power
✔ Cardio Increase
✔A better look lesact to greater fat loss
Against Crossfit for Jiu-Jitsu
✔More prone to prejudice if you don’t get trained on the tatami
✔Meno time on the tatami for skill development
Now to face you if there are really specific reasons why or not you need to add more cross training to your weekly Jiu Jitsu routine is something you need to address based on your time and your ability to withstand additional workouts.
The thing about Crossfit that sometimes drives Jiu-Jitsu professionals crazy and hurts them is the fact that it’s very competitive and it’s not “just a workout”.”
Crossfit is actually a sport, very competitive in that most boys and girls who do Jiu-Jistu do not like to lose.
The problem that you do not work out to do the most repetitions in 3 minutes they are this gass them sin that then on the carpet they beat the tatami as if they should dust it.
But can Crossfit help your Jiu-Jitsu?
In my opinion yes, you should do additional cross training about 2 – 3 times maximum per week if your body can handle it and does not affect with your core activity.
The workouts are short and intense and do not take away much time but the problem becomes the recoveries related to this new intense workout inserted.
I personally use kettlebells and TRX do not crossfit but it is my choice although as you see this tool is very used in crossfit.
Using only a few WODs to verify the improvement of athletic preparation can be interesting but as a training it should be integrated very carefully!
Another very important thing is that the exercises have to be done really well because to do the exercises in speed are often done badly with an increased risk of injury or injury over time.
Yoga and freediving would also be great, but here we open another talk that we will address.
However, you don’t just have to make random WOD (training of the day).
Because??
Don’t ask me this damn question really, the answer you already know it would be a hoax because you want to be the wrestler not being the best at doing as many burpees in a minute.
The problem and one of the few downsides of CrossFit is that it doesn’t address periodization and functionality related to another athletic activity, although I repeat that the basic exercises are preparatory for many sports.
But I’m sure if you expose the “problem” to a good coach with you builds you the WODs that serve specifically for you and also considering your workloads because I repeat that this is a plus of training that you have to manage and must occupy a maximum of 20% but at the TOP of your overall training (20% is not by chance).
Now depending on what you train you need to manage your sessions or classes if you teach, because sometimes you risk doing technical work that have solicited a lot of muscle that you just trained in Crossfit involving the same muscles and energy systems without your body having enough time to recover.
If you are looking for a very organized and systematic way of incorporating Crossfit style workouts into your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training for example you need to build together a program based on how much and how you train and what you expect to work or feel weaker.
Don’t do it by chance, because you risk getting worse than the part that you really care about is being a fighter or a fighter or both.
Especially if you start and you are a beginner use all the time to fight, boxing, etc. do nothing else to maximize time and results.
If you add other aspects related to athletic preparation you risk losing your focus on learning technique, fighting strategies, etc.
Always study your specialty first.