by Thomas Kurz
Study this typical question on training carefully. It may contain elements that relate to questions of yours.
Question:
I received your video Secrets of Stretching a few days ago. I like it a lot and have also shared it with my head instructor at my karate studio. We have been slowly incorporating your methods into our karate classes. We began using your methods a few months ago after reading your book Stretching Scientifically. Many of the students are beginning to see remarkable results!
Since reading your book and viewing the video, I have decided to redo my workout routines. I am a martial artist and, therefore, my primary goal is to train in order to improve my martial arts skills, flexibility, speed, and endurance. I am 35 years old and am in above average condition for someone my age. I have worked out all my life. I also would like to maintain my muscle mass. (I’m not BIG, but I do have good muscle tone and would like to continue working with weights in order to keep my tone.) I am 5’ 10″ and 170 lbs. If I don’t work my upper body I will lose weight and be pretty scrawny looking, especially with all the other exercising I do.
So, even though I want to develop a workout that will improve my karate skills and flexibility, I also want to maintain and even improve my muscle mass in my upper body.
Here is what I have come up with:
Day 1 & 6: Technique/Speed
1. Dynamic Stretching A.M. & P.M.
2. Techniques & kicking drills
3. Sparring
Day 2 & 5: Strength
I have listed the exercises in the order
I do them. What do you think?
1. Dynamic Stretching A.M.
2. Warm-up
3. Bench Press/Dynamic leg stretches
4. Chest Flys/Hamstring curls
5. Military Press/Leg extensions
6. Bicep Curls/Squats
7. Dips/Deadlifts
8. Chin ups/Adductor flys
9. Crunches
10. Back extensions (machine)
11. Isometric stretches (arms, side split, front split)
12. Relaxed stretches
Day 3: Aerobics
1. Jump rope
2. Running/Sprints
3. Bike
4. Relaxed stretching
Day 4: OFF
Answer:
Both the video Secrets of Stretching and the book Stretching Scientifically explain how to schedule workouts, but you managed to miss it. Here is your weekly schedule:
Day 1 Technique/Speed
Day 2 Strength
Day 3 Aerobics
Day 4 OFF
Day 5 Strength
Day 6 Technique/Speed
Day 7 ?
Your Technique or Speed workout should precede your Strength or Endurance workout, a Strength workout should precede any Endurance workout, which should be followed by a day of complete rest or active rest, i.e., easy, fun activity. Don’t do a Technique or Speed workout on the day immediately following either an exhausting Strength or an exhausting Endurance workout, and don’t do Strength after an exhausting Endurance workout because such sequences of efforts lead to overtraining.
In single workouts don’t work on endurance before any other ability with the exception of static passive flexibility, which is developed by relaxed stretches. With exception of your warm-up, the intensity of your efforts should diminish as the workout progresses. Study Science of Sports Training for an in-depth explanation of why the same exercises give different results depending on their sequence in a workout and in the weekly sequence of workouts.
Regarding your strength exercises, I suggest that, instead of leg curls and extensions, you do more squats and deadlifts since they are better for your knees. By doing the deadlifts before adductor exercises, and abdomen crunches before back extensions, you break the rule of never fatiguing stabilizers—in this instance, abdomen muscles, which stabilize your back, or your back, which stabilizes your legs—before prime movers.
(More about this workout in the next article)
Resources for Further Study
Flexibility Express: Flexibility and Functional Strength in No Time
This easy-to-follow DVD offers a proven method of increasing your range of motion while increasing your strength—whatever your age or flexibility level.
You will learn innovative functional exercise progressions from weighted squats to splits and back bridges. Each exercise will build your muscles while increasing your flexibility, saving both your time and energy. The saved time and energy then can be used for more and better practice of your skills.
Science of Sports Training: How to Plan and Control Training for Peak Performance
This comprehensive text delves deeply into topics such as speeding up recovery, using time- and energy-efficient training methods, avoiding overtraining and injuries, applying proven methods of training to specific sports, and maintaining a high level of condition and skills for years. You will learn ways to plan and control training for each workout, over a span of years.
Secrets of Stretching: Exercises for the Lower Body
This DVD features an introduction to general conditioning and follows that with four exercise routines—one for beginners, one for intermediate, and two for advanced athletes. Viewers will learn plenty of how-tos. The focus is on flexibility and strength training.
If you have any questions on training you can post them at Stadion’s Sports and Martial Arts Training Discussion Forum
Hello Mr Kurz,
Firstly, thanks so much for your continuing generosity in sharing your expertise with us here.
In the above article you state that technique/speed should always proceed strength, yet when giving the daily schedule you denote day 5 as strength and 6 as technique/speed. Is this an error, or is there a reason for this order?
Many thanks.
Andy Eadie
I am not giving the daily schedule. I sum up this marital artist’s daily schedule as it is, not as it should be.
Hello !
My name is Wayne I am a strength coach from the UK
Big fan I have all the books off this site. The information is unbelievable !
I do have one question if thats ok. My own training based on Science of Sports Training my split is now –
Day 1 – Systema
Day 2 – Strength Workout A
Day 3 – Aerobic Endurance On My Mountain Bike
Day 4 – Off
Day 5 – Systema
Day 6 – Strength Workout B
Day 7 – Aerobic Endurance On My Mountain Bike
Day 8 – Off
Day 9 – Repeat
is this ok ?
thanks and all the best
You give very little information on your training–just generic names of workouts. But it doesn’t matter because you have the book Science of Sports Training, so I will remind you of the principle of planning workouts and you look up specifics in the book. The main principle of planning workouts is this: Exercise only if you have recovered adequately to exercise again. So, to plan each workout you have to be aware of your recovery or readiness for exercise. For specifics read Science of Sports Training on control of training beginning at page 329 on and on planning a weekly schedule of workouts beginning at page 66.
BTW, you are a strength coach so you likely know the following very simple way of deciding whether you are ready for the next strength workout. For readers who don’t know this way, here it goes:
Press fingers into the muscles that will be primary movers in the next workout. If the muscles feel tender don’t exercise them hard or even at all. Wait until they will not be tender. The book Science of Sports Training describes means of controlling your recovery that are more precise than this simple way.
I’ve violated that tenderness rule based on nothing but pride.( I’m 46 on Sunday. At the age of 33 it took 3 months to achieve a suspended split after following Stretching Scientifically. Amazing. Several of us fathers in our dojo training with our sons turned heads as we were more flexible than the teenagers, so I thank you profusely for your great counsel that has benefitted me in many ways!)
My current issue is recovery during strength training. I’ve been following Christopher Sommers’s straight-arm static progressions via his Gymnastic Bodies page for many years. Prior to that, I had been doing large amounts of pull-ups that had slowly progressed over many years in my early 30s such that I was doing 5 sets of 27 pull-ups in a back workout. A recent transition to starting a new company led me less pull-ups in my workout. So recently my sons began doing pull-ups and I started back with what I assume is too many. I had some mild pain in my inner elbow and “pulled” through it. It soon became too unbearable and I could not really exert any strength with my right grip.
Some websites that I read discussed that if my upper back was not flexible enough it would contribute to developing tendinitis in my inner elbow (golfer’s elbow) based on the mechanics of a pullup. Is there some “formula” to doing a pullup that is harmed by thoracic inflexibility?
Larger fitness context: approx 160 lbs (I fluctuate based on diet between 158 and 165). 7 hours a night sleep on average
My routine daily was to do a series of morning movements, building slowly as to be almost imperceptible (adding 1 repetition/second per month). I culled most of it from Pavel’s book SuperJoints about Academician Amosov’s morning routine.
The morning “Amosov” sequence is as follows: head over heels on floor (20 seconds); standing pike toe touches (curling back slowly) (20 reps); triceps stretch (20 seconds); oblique side bends (20 seconds), arm circles (20 reps/ea); torso twists (20 reps); shoulder bridging (20 reps); knee lifts (20 reps); roman sit-ups (20 reps); deep squats (heel to buttocks on balls of feet; 20 reps); pushups (20 reps). at that point my body is warm enough to do the 12 rep dynamics each of the 3 directions.
I’ve put in cardio nearly each day of the week if possible. Some minor knee pain on the inside lateral part of my knee, so I don’t run if that is there. MWF is run/swim/run or swim/run/swim. T/Th is teaching Krav Maga.
Ideal workout week is:
Monday: Concentric Abs, Oblique, Lower Back Extensions (progressing to a Front Lever/Rear Lever and Manna)
Tuesday: Side Split static (progressing to a pancake split)
Wednesday: Lower Body squat variations (progressing to Weighted Pistol Squats); Front Split static
Thursday: Upper Body static hold variations (progressing to Straddle Planche and Arms-Only Rope Climb)
Friday: Shoulder stand variations (progressing to Press Handstand); Thoracic Stretching
On many weeks by Friday I didn’t get to the thoracic stretching, which may be the cause, but I’m not sure.
Thank you!
Stephen
How did you asses your upper back’s flexibility (thoracic flexibility)?
I don’t have any assessment test, per se. After not having done any focused flexibility on them, the indication from other sites is that my inner elbow tendonitis was related to thoracic inflexibility, which manifested in doing pull-ups. I do know that when I began back into the flexibility routine, I had less mobility.
So you go by guesses. To act successfully it is much better to know for sure. For that you could ask a pro, like a physical therapist, or at least do a self-assessment like this: https://www.nfpt.com/blog/assessing-thoracic-mobility-for-pull-ups
Thank you for the link. I did the assessment. Have plenty of flexibility. I suppose now–as I understand from your response that I did not assess it rationally (thank you)–that I have no idea why the tendonitis got there except for plain overreaching.