Running & Fighting

Why do Fighters Run/Jog ?

We see many MMA fighters, boxers and other martial artist’s performing their “road work”, but does it really improve their fighting performance?

Here is my opinion on the whole road work and fighting tradition.

The Nature of Fighting
Fighting is explosive in nature and requires quick short bursts of strength, speed and power. It also requires the ability to recover quickly from these sudden bursts of energy.

Fighting would be very similar to sports such as basketball, soccer, football, sprinting and weightlifting. These sports are similar in terms of physical requirements to fighting, but how many of the sportsmen from these sports do you see performing road work or long distance running?

I doubt people such as Usain Bolt, Lebron James and NFL footballers would be ensuring they get their running or steady state cardio in each week do you?

That’s because they don’t need to as it has no real physical transfer to their sports.
It’s like practicing your spiriting to get good at running long distances. You would be far better off performing more sprinting work and workouts that mimic that type of energy system ie anaerobic / aerobic or a selection of power, strength and speed based workouts as opposed to doing the compete opposite.

Can running improve power,strength or speed?

Quick answer… No

A good runner will know how to pace themselves, a runner will never require short bursts of energy (unless in a dash to the line) and will never require any real amounts of power and strength.

Power and strength are not needed to be a good runner. The more powerful and strong you are the more lean muscle mass you will have.

High amounts of muscle isn’t good for a runner as this requires more calories to maintain and will slow you down.

Running is all about conserving calories and becoming efficient at burning them, not just burning them for the sake of it. If that was the case then marathon runners wouldn’t be able to run long races at those speeds.This is why marathon runners have very low lean muscle mass ratios and look weak and skinny. They are built to conserve energy not to be explosive and powerful.

So back to my point

Running doesn’t improve any of the 3 main physical components a good fighter requires and doesn’t offer any real significant physical transfer with its type of training.

You might even become slower!

Running for 45-60 minutes is an aerobic exercise not anaerobic.
Running for long periods will do very little if any to improve anaerobic ability or capacity and if anything will only encourage the usage of more type 1 muscle fibers.

Type 1 muscle fibers are the slow type, not the fast and explosive type like type 2. Surely if you use mainly type 2 muscle fibres when fighting it would make sense to perform training that requires the use of more type 2 muscle fibres than type 1?

Can you remember a successful slow fighter?

Were Ali and Tyson slow?

Are Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao slow?

Coaches will say that running for 45 minutes will help your “fitness” levels in the ring as a fight can last 45 minutes or longer.

I disagree. That’s like saying driving a formula 1 car on a motorway for 45 mins will improve its performance on a race track for 45 minutes.

Again there is no transfer between the two. When training to fight we need to be able to recover quickly anaerobically not aerobically.

These are two completely different energy pathways, but just run on the same type of fuel.
Similar to how an F1 car would run on petrol, but the engine would use it completely differently on a motorway to a race track.

However there is one thing running can improve in a fighter and that’s mental toughness.

Anyone who has ever run will know it’s mentally tough. You will hit pain barriers and want to give up when you start getting tired . This can help you in the ring mentally if you’re getting your arse handed to you or your feeling tired and blown out.

The never give up attitude WILL transfer.

If you’re a fighter then don’t think that you need them boring cardio runs to improve your performance in the ring.

Once in a while is ok though if you enjoy it or even a slow walk would be good for some active recovery.

My preferred option would be exercises such as hill sprints, sled pulling, prowler pushing or sprint work with shorter periods of rest. You can do these for the length of time you will be fighting and these type of exercises will defiantly improve your “fitness” levels.

This will still improve your mental toughness and will have a physical transfer when fighting in the ring.

Jay Farrant personal trainer Dublin
The Abs Gym Personal Training Studio Dublin.

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