Tag Archives: fitness

Benchmarks For BJJ: Part 1

Nobody bothered to ask me, but if they did ask me, here’s what I would tell them: Get in really good shape if you want to compete. A jiujitsu competition is not just about who has the best jiujitsu skills, it’s about who is willing to work harder to win. The worst way to lose in my opinion is to gas out because you were not in fighting shape. There are lots of ways to train but if I was going to initially assess your readiness, I would look at these four workouts first and see how your performed. These are just three workouts that I have frequently used to train and assess athletes and there are many more that I could choose. Let’s start here. These workouts are relatively low skill and low weight but pack a punch and are useful to gauge how ready you are for the physical and mental challenges of competition. First learn to beat a barbell that isn’t fighting back before going against a live opponent.

When you enter a tournament you know based on your belt level how long your matches will last.  A white belt match is 5 minutes and a black belt match is 10 minutes (different organizations will have different time limits). You will know your weight and your opponents should be within a certain weight range. You probably will not know how many matches you will have until the day of because brackets are often not set until they have all the participants registered and checked in. Ask around and get a sense if you are in a stacked division or a light division. Obviously it is better to be over-prepared for more matches. On average most people have about 4 matches at local tournaments. Be prepared. Also in terms of strength you should be able to back squat and deadlift a barbell that weighs the same or more than you for multiple reps. You should have multiple pull-ups and dips.

“Fight Gone Bad”

In the early days of CrossFit, Coach Glassman created a workout for BJ Penn to prepare him for the UFC.  The workout was called “Fight Gone Bad” and it was as follows: 

3 5-minute rounds of:  (5 rounds if he was preparing for a championship fight).  

  • 1 minute of Wallballs, 20lbs 10ft target
  • 1 minute of Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, 75 lbs
  • 1 minute of Box Jumps, 20”
  • 1 minute of Push Press, 75lbs
  • 1 minute of Rowing for Calories
  • 1 minute rest between rounds.

The score was the total number of reps (and calories on the rower) added  up over all three rounds. What is great about this workout is that by doing the movements correctly you are forced to do a minimum amount of work for each rep and the more reps you get overall indicates your ability put out power for the duration of a fight. 

 

“The Death Race”

5 rounds for time of: 

  • 15 Calories Bike
  • 10 Burpees

This is a “gas pedal” workout: you step on the gas and go! There is no rest. You have to hit this hard and fast. Getting this workout done in under 7 minutes will require you to go to a dark place. If you want to be physically and mentally prepared for a competition, strive to do this workout as fast as possible.

“StrongFit Conditioning Benchmark”

Originally this workout was written as 8 minutes with a 140lb sandbag. I suggest you set the clock to match your rank level: 5 minutes for white, 6 for blue, etc.  The weight should be 60-70% of your body weight. So a 200lb black belt should be carrying a 120-140lb sandbag for 10 minutes. This is just a simple and painful workout that will test your fortitude.

Pick up the bag and bear hug it or Zercher it and do 5, below-parallel squats, walk 50ft and turn around and do 5 more squats and walk back.  Repeat this as many times as you can during the time. The less you drop the bag the better. The more rounds you do the better. An average of a round per minute is pretty good. You want to exceed that by as much as possible.  Hugging a heavy sandbag is a good facsimile for grappling with another human of similar size.

CrossFit Open Workout 12.1

This is by far the simplest workout you can do to determine your readiness.  The original workout is simple: perform as many burpees as you can in 7 minutes. In its original form the burpees were done to a target six inches above the athlete’s max reach. This dramatically impacts your score. I suggest you modify this to a time that corresponds to your belt level: 5 minutes for white belt, 6 for blue, etc. I also recommend you try it with and without the target. An average of about 12 burpees per minute with a target (and 15 without a target) is excellent. If you can move at that pace it will be hard for someone to out work your during your match. 

There are lots of ways to train and there is no guaranty that being stronger or faster or doing more burpees will get you a medal. But being in good shape gives you confidence it gives you a leg up on your opponent. It’s one less thing you have to worry about when you’re on the mat. Go work fucking harder.

The Best Defense Is Good Fitness

Self defense is important, but let’s be honest, does it work? Largely the failure of self defense techniques to work and adequately prepare people for altercations is the fact that the emphasis is entirely misplaced. The majority of self defense protocols place too much emphasis on techniques and for preparing for a very limited set of scenarios. Where the most emphasis should be placed is on pre-contact awareness, danger avoidance, and application of raw power.

Most victims of violent crimes had a warning. They often describe a “bad feeling’ that preceded the incident. It is imperative that we teach people to recognize and react to those “bad feelings.” Victims are quick to dismiss those feelings (“it’s just my imagination”) and then later regret it. It is better to suffer some embarrassment for creating “a scene” by shouting, looking for help, crossing the street, or running, than it is to realize too late that that uneasy feeling was legitimate.

It is hard to over emphasize how much more important it is to learn how to be aware of your surroundings, than it is to learn how to fight your way out of an otherwise avoidable situation. Learn how to avoid high risk areas. Keep an eye on your surroundings. Look at the people that are around you and notice their features. Avoid zoning out and looking at your phone when you’re alone and vulnerable.

The next problem is focusing in techniques. I have practiced and taught jiujitsu for a really long time. In fact I have taught many movement modalities such as yoga, kettlebells, gymnastics, weightlifting, and more. And one thing is true, movement is a skill. Everyone starts as a beginner. The more complex the movement, the longer it takes to learn it and master it. I have seen countless people come and learn a handful of basic techniques on one night and the next week or even the next night they come back and cannot recall any of the techniques. It is only through countless hours of practice and training that people are able to learn a technique well enough to use it on a larger opponent that is resisting and simultaneously trying to harm them.

It is very wishful thinking indeed to imagine that attending a single self defense seminar can adequately prepare someone for a dangerous confrontation. While such seminars are good and can really do a lot to help empower women (and men). They can also provide a dangerous level of false hope. Leaving a seminar thinking that you are adequately prepared to defend yourself against a larger attacker will no doubt have very bad repercussions. There is no doubt that being proficient in jiujitsu can save your life. However, dabbling can get you hurt. If you want to have skills that will serve you in a real life situation, these skills must be practiced and developed and in your repertoire. Not just something you learned one time. We do not rise to the occasion, rather we sink to the level of our training.

The bigger issue is one of fitness. Are you fit enough is the question you should be asking yourself. Can you outrun someone that is chasing you and bent on doing you harm? Running from danger is probably the single best thing you can do to stay alive. Do not for second think about being a hero. If you have the choice between fight or flight, choose flight every time. The only time for fighting is when the choice to run has been taken away from you. But jogging isn’t going to save your life. And don’t imagine that you are somehow going to develop magical cardio super powers in the face of danger. You have to run sprints often and be prepared to run, jump, cut right or left and stiff arm a tackler. The fitter you are with respect to running, the safer you will be in the long run. All you need to train to be a better runner is a new pair of shoes and a stopwatch. Go run some sprints. They will save your life one day.

Don’t be fooled by what you see in movies. Chases in movies always look way faster and last a lot longer than what really happens. Go to the track one day and see how long it takes you go around one time (400m, a quarter mile). Notice how you probably got half way around the track and wanted to quit. Maintaining a fast sprint for a quarter mile is hard, but it will probably save your life. Go practice that instead of buying a can of pepper spray. Also it’s really good for you. You’ll be in better shape if you go to the track once a week and run some stairs once a week.

Get stronger. It doesn’t matter how many self defense classes you take and how much you practice your spinning back fist. If you cannot put some power behind your punches, they are just for show. Even if you know how to grapple and choke someone, you need to be strong enough to apply your moves to a larger and angrier opponent. Strength is one of the most important life saving attributes you can develop.

If someone bypasses your initial warning signals and gets close to you and if the option to run is taken away from you, it is then that you will have to fight. Real fights look like those on World Star not like what you see in the movies. Fancy techniques rarely work unless you have years of experience applying them and are in a “fair” one-on-one situation. Fear and anxiety will most likely impede your ability to do anything fancy and technical. You will most likely resort to basic animal instincts: hit hard to the vital organs.

At the end of the day, do you have the speed, strength, stamina, and will to persevere? These are elements of fitness that can be trained. When we do CrossFit, we work each of these attributes both independently and together. Get out there and train like your life depends on it.

A Stimulating Review

Electric Stimulation: Should I get a Marc Pro or a Compex?

What is E-Stim? By now you have seen a pic or two on social media of crossfit athletes with little electrode pads hooked up to them getting zapped by a tiny little machine. What is the deal with these things? Is it all hype or do they really work and should you get one?

recovery

I am not expert on these matters and I don’t have any strong scientific evidence to base my opinions on. I have been playing with the Marc Pro  and the Compex unit for the last month and will tell you what I found. In my opinion, both machines are excellent and worth the investment but both machines are different and serve different functions. I give several examples below of instances where I have had success with one machine or the other. Depending on your particular needs, figure out which situation sounds most like you and choose from there.

The two most popular machines are the Marc Pro and the Compex. I have had the opportunity to try both of them and here’s what I found.

What’s in the box?

I have had the Mobilitywod edition Marc Pro for over a year and really like it. It comes with the base unit, charger, 5 packs of electrodes, cables, instructions and carrying case. It is the simplest of machines. You connect the electrodes to the cables and plug them into the base unit, attach the electrodes to the areas you want to work and then turn up the knobs to the desired intensity: zero to nine (Oh how I wish it went to 11!). There is nothing else to do. If you like complicated gadgets, then the Marc Pro will disappoint you. If you want something you can set and forget, then this is the unit for you.

I have had a Compex Super Elite on loan for the last month and it comes with the base unit, 4 cables, 4 square pads, 2 rectangular pads, a charger, belt clip, instructions and pad placement guide as well as a carry tote. The tote doesn’t offer any protection and is too small to hold all the accessories. Despite that, the Compex is more compact than the MarcPro, feels more substantial and the pads are thicker, stickier and last longer. Also the pads have convenient snaps that are easier to connect and disconnect. By contrast, the marcpro pads have male to female connectors that are harder to connect and disconnect.

Based on craftsmanship the Compex wins. The Compex has more settings than the MarcPro. The settings are set & forget, but the Super Elite model has: potentiation, resistance, endurance, strength, explosive strength, recovery, recovery plus. It’s overwhelming and I couldn’t find a clear explanation of the differences. Each setting varies in time and intensity and the contraction algorithms are all different. Additionally, the Compex has 4 intensity buttons to raise or lower the intensity of each pad.

Based on output strength and the potential for unpleasant surprises, the Compex wins. You can quickly find yourself experiencing profound levels of discomfort as the Compex goes through various algorithms and zaps the heck out of your muscles.

But when it comes to whether or not to buy an E-Stim machine, it’s all about the results. I will share some great results I have had with these devices.

You want to prevent soreness.

I have been finding that if I do a healthy dose of self-myofascial release immediately post workout, I can prevent much of the Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) I usually get. That being said, sometimes it is simply hard to squeeze in 30 minutes of rolling on my Yoga Tune Up® balls immediately after working out. Sometimes I find myself on a long train or plane ride post workout and rolling is a challenge. The Marc Pro has been a lifesaver. I can put the pads on and flush the lactic acid from my legs and avoid the DOMS.

For example, I did a workout that involved a LOT of squats (“Bring Sally Up”) with my 6pm class, then I taught 2 more classes and took an hour long train ride. When I got home at 11pm, I placed the electrodes on my quads (per the included placement guide) and then ran it for about an hour. It totally prevented the usual DOMS that comes 48 hours past a brutal squat session. If you have a schedule where you cram workouts in where you get them and don’t always have that optimal time to roll and stretch, then the MarcPro is a great investment.

You have pain and swelling.

Inflammation is part of the bodies natural healing process, and we want to help it along. Ice actually delays the healing process. The bodies lymphatic system is stimulated by movement. Traditional coaches will tell there athletes to keep moving after long, painful efforts. After a long run, a cool down walk assists the lymphatic system in moving the waste products out of the muscles and keeps the oxygenated blood flowing into the area. This is another reason why some self-myofascial massage is also beneficial after a strenuous physical effort. However, there are times when more movement just hurts or the area is painful and tender. This is another instance where the MarcPro excels.

For example, I did a strenuous gymnastic session that involved pull-ups, swinging on the rings and other hanging exercises and my hands hurt really bad. In fact, I woke up in the middle of the night with my hands throbbing and feeling swollen. I got out of bed and grabbed the Marc Pro and placed an electrode in the middle of each palm and one further up my arm (as shown in the placement guide). I kept the intensity low and rested. After around thirty minutes my hands felt normal again and I regained fine motor control. I was able to fall back asleep and woke up and my hands felt great.

Healing an injury.

Occasionally you have an injury that requires you to remain immobilized for a period of time. You have to reconcile this with the fact that movement is the best to heal injured tissues. In these instances there are a few things that work well to aid in the healing process. Voodoo Floss compression bands are great for ankle, knee, shoulder and elbow injuries. A tight wrap around a swollen joint will often blunt the pain signal enough to allow the athlete to gently move through a range of motion (passively or actively) and assist the healing process. Some self-massage around the injured area (NOT ON the injured area) will often help increase circulation. As you guessed, some e-stim around the area helps tremendously.

I have an injured collar bone and doing heavy clean and jerks left me bruised and unable to move my shoulder without pain. I placed the pads on the sternoclavicular joint, the pec minor, the levator scapula and the high pec/subscapularis, essentially surrounding my injured collar bone. I set the marcpro to a low intensity and took a nap. The pain and swelling was reduced and I was able to move without pain after a few sessions.

In another example, I made the classic mistake a crossfit coach makes and demoed some moves in class without warming up. All night my pec was killing me. I definitely strained it. I tried to roll and stretch during the next 3 hours in between coaching athletes but to no avail. I went home and attached the Marc Pro to my pec and left it on for 45minutes. The pain was gone before I went to bed. I woke up and I was sore but the pain was gone.

marcpro

More fun things to try with the MarcPro

I have seen Brian MacKenzie do some interesting work with the Marc Pro (https://youtu.be/jTMDODkTZ8Q) for immediate recovery during interval workouts. Also I have seen him use the MarcPro to increase muscle activation and proprioception. I am curious to try some of his protocols for the Marc Pro in these contexts.

Generally speaking, I am huge fan of the Marc Pro as recovery tool. If you are someone that works out hard and suffers from extreme muscle soreness and pain, then this is a smart investment. That being said, it is not a miracle cure. I have had the best results and the best recovery if I do my rolling and stretching, keep my diet clean, sleep and use the Marc Pro after especially hard sessions. This is not a magic machine that will fix your shitty squat and lower your “Fran” time, but it’s a great investment if you are training hard and looking for a way to improve your recovery game.

compexThe Compex is a different animal altogether and a good compliment to the Marc Pro. It uses varying intensities and speeds and waveforms that are different than the Marc Pro. The Marc Pro pretty much just zaps you at a steady rhythm and you can adjust the intensity but not the speed or any other parameter. The Compex utilizes various algorithms that vary in speed, intensity and duration. For example, you’ll be sitting there all calm and suddenly the machine just zaps your muscle into an isometric contraction that immobilizes you and makes you feel like you’re cramping hard for about 5 seconds. It seems like it is a surprise every time it happens too. For all it’s power the Marc Pro takes advantage of a wavelength and algorithm that allows the muscles to relax and doesn’t leave them feeling fatigued. After a session with the Compex I feel like i just got a tiny workout in the area.

I tried both the ‘recovery’ setting and the ‘recovery plus’ setting, as well as all the other settings, and didn’t have the same result as the marcpro when it comes to preventing soreness. It worked but just not as well as the Marc Pro. So if battling soreness is a priority, I recommend the Marc Pro.

Although I didn’t get as good a result when it comes to soreness, I did get some other great results with the Compex.

Muscle Activation

I have pinched nerves in my neck and as a result my right arm is atrophied and weaker than my left arm. I have been using the Compex in conjuction with corrective exercises to stimulate my right arm and shoulder and have seen an increase in muscular size and strength in my right arm. For a person with similar injuries, I highly recommend getting a Compex to help your injury.

The Compex in concert with corrective exercises is a great tool for getting the right muscles to fire and can be used to enhance the athlete’s proprioception.

Muscle Relaxation

My right lat is always cramping which I assume is due to my pinched nerves and the fact that it has to compensate for my weaker right arm. Using the Compex on my right lat allows my right lat to relax and stop cramping. I have heard similar reports from people that say their backs are tight and sore all the time and they use the Compex to help the muscle release and relax. So if you suffer from cramping or muscles that always feel ‘locked’ or ‘tight’ then again I can recommend getting the Compex.

The Bottom Line

Do you really need one of these expensive machines? Chances are that you do not actually need to get one of these devices. If you are eating right, sleeping enough, doing enough myofascial release, then you are probably fine. If you are a competitive athlete training for an event, sitting/driving/traveling a lot, getting behind on sleep or diet or have some nagging injuries, then an investment in one of these devices is a good idea.

Which one you should you get? The Marc Pro is the clear choice for battling soreness and accelerating the healing process. The Compex is the choice if you need muscle activation and stimulation.