Reviewing The Best Ways to Time Your Martial Arts Tabata Method Workouts

Martial Arts Fitness Training
A good level of fitness is essential for all martial artists, regardless of style, that much is obvious. The Tabata method is ideal to use in ANY martial arts class or training session as the full protocol lasts just four minutes. Though very short in duration the gains are extensive.

The intensity has to be high, very high, in fact as high as you can make it. This results in exceptional fitness gains in both aerobic and anaerobic systems and a commensurate level of fat loss, as the metabolic rate is increased for many hours following the workout. The raised metabolism means that fat calories are burned almost exclusively!

An additional benefit of the Tabata method is the on-off nature of this exercise protocol which mimics the requirements of fighting, both tournament and self-defence. The protocol has eight sets of exercise reps (of either the same exercise or different) lasting just 30 seconds each. These 30 second sets comprise of 20 seconds effort and 10 seconds rest. This may very well sound easy enough but to ensure the gains are maximised the effort part has to be flat out, nothing else will do.

The protocol allows you to choose either one exercise to concentrate on or a variety. This can be a mix of conditioning or martial arts skills. Any aspect of your martial art can be included so long as it can be performed energetically, high intensity is absolutely essential.

Timing the Workouts
Given that the key to gaining maximum benefits is working out at as high an intensity as possible the distraction of watching the clock to time the interval sets should be avoided if possible. The obvious way to time the sets is to simply keep an eye on the second hand of a large clock.

While intuitive this will soon become a chore and a distraction from really pushing hard right through a Tabata workout. The alternative is to use some kind of interval timer. There are now plenty of options available some free others paid for.

My personal choice is the Gymboss timer, which has been a good friend to me for the last two or three years. It is possible to set it to beep after each work and rest interval and to countdown all eight intervals, rendering it perfect for Tabata training. It can be programmed to time almost any interval sets you can imagine or can be used as a stopwatch and countdown timer while being small enough to be taken anywhere. I love it and at $19.95 it's great value.

There are watches that can handle similar functions, but these tend to be more expensive. I have found several online FREE options too! Some are just mp3's and offer nothing other than the set Tabata method. However, there are several software options that allow you to program the timer to varying degrees, and some of these can even be used on your mobile phone, adding greater portability to the equation.

If you want to read my review of the alternatives, including the free options, please go to my blog post at http://epicmartialartsblog.com/tabata-clock-review, so you can decide for yourself whether you want to go for something free or plump for the paid option.

Alternatively if you want to find out more about my recommendation the Gymboss timer, which cannot be beaten in my opinion, I have written a hub about how to use this amazing little devise which you can read by clicking through to my Gymboss Timer review.

Dr. Jon Law is a sports scientist, martial arts instructor and blogger from Birmingham UK with almost 20 years experience. For more information and tips on all kinds of martial arts skills please visit the Epic Martial Arts Blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Law

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Strength and Conditioning Workouts For MMA Fighters

Strength and Conditioning workouts for MMA fighters have not been around and tested for many years because the sport is relatively new. One of the biggest problems I have seen though, when watching guys being trained or training themselves to improve conditioning, is they virtually kill themselves for up to an hour in the gym with no carry over to either strength levels or conditioning!

If you have ever worked the corner for a fighter, one of the things I have never heard them complain of concerning their opponent was his conditioning. I have never heard a guy say, Man, the guy is so well conditionined. i just can't gas him out. But What I have heard time and time again, was, Man that guy is so strong.

Believe you me, especially if you are still in Bruce Lee mode, strength wins the day no matter how good your technique. You need technique, but unless you have perfected it, a stronger guy will blow open your shortcomings. We all have a choice as to the pace at which we fight. You do not need marathon runner endurance.

So what you see nowadays is a tendency to either stay old school and burn your fighters out during workouts, and keep them weak, or concentrate on continually increasing strength along with speed.

A lot of those MMA conditioning workouts you see on youtube do absolutely nothing for you except the following:

keep you weak as you are too busy changing stations to concentrate on strength workkeep you or make you prone to muscle and joint injury (they are usually performed far too often)fatigue your adrenal glandslower your testosterone levels

Where does that leave you? On the floor knocked out most probably.

So what is the solution?

Ok, so you want to train strength and conditioning. You like garlic and bananas too, but you wouldn't put them in the same sandwich. Separate the two for the most part. There is a place for workouts that mimic the timing of a fight, but you must never sacrifice strength, by concentrating on these so called strength and conditioning workouts which do neither. This is waht you have to do:

1. Work on strength all year, with heavy work and speed lifts.

2. Make the main focus of conditioning work, sparring, rolling and bag work.

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