Planning to get back into mma in April when my son turns 3 and can join the local ma school, kind of a father & son deal. It has been 5 years since I did any serious training, and it shows. Have gained 80 pounds and have no stamina what-so-ever.
Right now plan is to start with walking till I can build up to a jog in time, crunches, push ups, squats without weight, to set the stage of more demanding training in 3-4 months when we start up.
Have already cleaned up my diet, no sugar, cut beef & pork to almost zero.
Any further suggestions? I'd like to atleast be able to get through my 1st class without making a deposit in the nearby trashcan.
Thanks!
Shawn
Starting From Scratch After 5 Year Break
Shawn, let me start by saying that I have no experience in MMA whatsoever (I do tae kwon do) so take what I say with a huge grain of salt. I would guess that the grappling aspect of MMA requires a lot of lateral stability that you have probably lost since that is typically not required for most everyday activities (e.g., walking, carrying groceries). Let's see what others here suggest, but my first thought is that you should include some type of exercise that will help you build strength in your ligaments and muscles on the sides of your body to avoid injuries. I think that's important if you have gained a lot of weight and aren't used to "throwing it around" in odd directions.
I think building up your cardiovascular endurance is also very important, which you already realize. I'll take a guess here that your desire to start with walking before jogging (coupled with your description of being over 80 pounds overweight) is to avoid injuries from hard, pounding movements. Perhaps you should try multiple aerobic activities. As others on this forum will tell you, it's best if you can choose an aerobic activity that is closely related to your sport, but since your goal seems to be developing a "general fitness" base, why not try a few different things to avoid boredom? Swimming, elliptical trainer, walking up and down stairs at your local high school stadium (if they allow you to do that), etc.
I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "clean up your diet" since people sometimes have some odd ideas about what constitutes healthy eating, but I'd recommend increasing your fruit and vegetable intake. BTW, beef isn't evil so limiting it to zero isn't really necessary. Just make sure to choose lean cuts.
I hope this is somewhat helpful. In summary, I think your emphasis should be on building up your endurance, dropping weight, and avoiding injury. Once you've got that base, then you can start worrying about other aspects.
Just my opinion. Hopefully, individuals with more knowledge of MMA will provide more suggestions.
Good luck,
Mark
I think building up your cardiovascular endurance is also very important, which you already realize. I'll take a guess here that your desire to start with walking before jogging (coupled with your description of being over 80 pounds overweight) is to avoid injuries from hard, pounding movements. Perhaps you should try multiple aerobic activities. As others on this forum will tell you, it's best if you can choose an aerobic activity that is closely related to your sport, but since your goal seems to be developing a "general fitness" base, why not try a few different things to avoid boredom? Swimming, elliptical trainer, walking up and down stairs at your local high school stadium (if they allow you to do that), etc.
I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "clean up your diet" since people sometimes have some odd ideas about what constitutes healthy eating, but I'd recommend increasing your fruit and vegetable intake. BTW, beef isn't evil so limiting it to zero isn't really necessary. Just make sure to choose lean cuts.
I hope this is somewhat helpful. In summary, I think your emphasis should be on building up your endurance, dropping weight, and avoiding injury. Once you've got that base, then you can start worrying about other aspects.
Just my opinion. Hopefully, individuals with more knowledge of MMA will provide more suggestions.
Good luck,
Mark
The immediate goal is to reduce my weight through exercise and diet so that the stresses that training puts on my body will have, hopefully, a less likely chance to create an injury. I'm not so worried about being in shape for grappling in April, since will worry about that later, its my corrdination and speed for my kempo striking that will be my 1st priority. I figure that the cardio used and required for that will get me in better shape faster than the grappling or TKD we use for leg strikes. Strength isn't an issue, its turning that strength into power and having the stamina to keep it all together.
I suggest you to focus more on anaerobic endurance with your cardio. Exercises like sprints, hill sprints are great, tabatha,.... + you will burn more calories. Circuit trainings are cool too, my favorite: 10 pull ups, 10 dips, 20 push ups, 25 squats - try 10 sets under 20 minutes - that will give you great stamina.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Desty, I read your post again and only now I realise that you have had 5 years break. Exercises in my first post might be too much to start with.
But nevertheless your goal should be the same:
1.build your anaerobic endurance.
2.Build endurance and functional strenght with bodyweight exercises.
So you shouldn't start with hill sprints like I have suggested, but slowly work to them. You can start with tabatha squats or something like that, rounds of shadow boxing, burpees,....
But nevertheless your goal should be the same:
1.build your anaerobic endurance.
2.Build endurance and functional strenght with bodyweight exercises.
So you shouldn't start with hill sprints like I have suggested, but slowly work to them. You can start with tabatha squats or something like that, rounds of shadow boxing, burpees,....