Adding S&C into training

[DannyT]

Basically I'm having a dilemma sorting out a routine for myself. I don't want you guys to spoonfeed me obviously, but just to tell me what you guys think I should do.
I'm currently training in kung fu and sanda. The weekly schedule is:
Monday - 2 hours kung fu, 1 hour sanda
Tuesday - 1 hour sanda, 2 hours kung fu
Wednesday - 2 hours kung fu, 1 hour sanda, 1 hour taichi
Saturday - 1.5 hours sanda, 2 hours kung fu
Sunday - 1 hour sanda, 2 hours kung fu

I feel I need to add some LSD and strength training there, but I'm not really sure how without killing myself (overtraining).

I have two options:
1) wait 'til my membership runs out for the academy (two weeks time), then just focus on strength training and lsd for a few months with no martial arts training, simply to get stronger and improve my aerobic system (maybe work on some sanda technique, shadow box around in spare time)

2) cut down training to maybe just doing sanda and then find someway to fit in starting strength and some morning cardio.

I'm not sure which but I'm kind of low on funds, so I might pick option 1. (Gym membership =

 

[Justice 4 All]

Well I'd say Sanda athletes stand to gain from strength, so you should try and keep it somehow.

I used to train back in the day (before I began strength training), and it was always very hard to throw stronger opponents down. They'd just somehow flip me around instead .

 

[XTrainer]

Is this about money or training? It seems to be the former...otherwise, how could option 1 even be on the table? If you can afford to train, train. If you can't, you can't, and that's perfectly understandable.

But, don't tell yourself you're going to stop training in order to come back stronger later. The loss of the experience in the meantime will not be worth whatever strength improvement you can make. Strength training is a long term thing. You don't train for a couple months, and then say, "OK, now I'm strong enough to do martial arts!"

 

[DannyT]

Well I'd say Sanda athletes stand to gain from strength, so you should try and keep it somehow.

I used to train back in the day (before I began strength training), and it was always very hard to throw stronger opponents down. They'd just somehow flip me around instead .

Haha, so your saying I should somehow fit in strength along with the sanda?

Is this about money or training? It seems to be the former...otherwise, how could option 1 even be on the table? If you can afford to train, train. If you can't, you can't, and that's perfectly understandable.

But, don't tell yourself you're going to stop training in order to come back stronger later. The loss of the experience in the meantime will not be worth whatever strength improvement you can make. Strength training is a long term thing. You don't train for a couple months, and then say, "OK, now I'm strong enough to do martial arts!"

I hear what your saying Xtrainer. It's mainly training right now, but yeah, I do have money on my mind.

So what are you saying? That I should somehow try fit in strength training? The thing is, I'm not sure how I would fit it in with such a hectic schedule. Especially since I want to fit in LSD, would I not be overtraining?

That's what I was thinking Xtrainer, to simply try to get stronger first, then maybe it'll help me improve when I do come back to training Sanda. Is this not the right choice? Because then I could just maintain strength levels while improving Sanda technique. I'm not sure how much I could get stronger, if at all, while training with such a schedule.

I don't know, maybe I'm just over-thinking things simply because I got exams in january and I won't be able to fit in revision while doing 16.5 hours training a week. While I could potentially just do half the amount a week, and get stronger and improve my aerobic system, you know what I'm saying?

 

[XTrainer]

If you want to get better at Sanda, you need to do Sanda. Period. Strength training is important, but it's still just supplementary (unless your goal is to be a powerlifter, weightlifter, etc.).