Sean S said:
That's great and all but take the same situation except with someone who is more applicable strength oriented like me against someone who just does the crossfit thing (seems to be the flavor of the month). Chances are I am going to have a huge advantage strrength wise. Basically what I am saying is that in combat sports, bench can be replaced with much better exercises that fit a broad range of these sports. I am not doubting that in some way the balance training can have a positive effect, but balance training with an arguably non combat sport oriented motion really is wasted energy. That is unless it has some larger carry over like say core strength. You say I am being specific, but we are talking about a specific area in sports, martial arts. From traditional to MMA there are some basic exercises that just don't fit.
Being that I had been a national competitor in sport karate for ten or so years, I can tell you that where things like most traditional martial arts, sport sparring, and really anything but full contact arts are concerned, strength training in this aspect is wasted really.
Point taken. But what about for general wellness and self-improvement? I think the majority of people who practice martial arts are doing it for self-improvement. Even competition; in the end, it's to prove how much you've improved yourself and how good you are. If self-defense was someone's only concern, they'd just buy a gun.
Repeating the same movements over and over again, with no variety, will eventually lead to plateauing after peaking. For example, look at a pro boxer's training routine before a fight. It's usually a 12-week program, which begins with general exercise and slowly works its way to specific movement, until he peaks, which is at the time of the fight. You want to be able to "shock" your body with each workout, so that your body is always trying to adjust itself to the work you're giving it.
Here's the way I look at it. If you're going to be doing a 12-week training program, separate it into phases. Phase 1 conists mainly of GPP (General Physical Preparation); the basic powerlifts, and a good roadwork program, with moderate training in your sport. Phase 2 ups the intensity and shortens the work period; you begin to shift over into Olympic and athletic lifts, and increase the amount of time spent in your sport. The final phase almost cuts cross-training out and focuses entirely on your sport. Your strength training consists of the movements done in your sport with weight or cable resistance. Your cardio consists of performing your sport with greater intensity.
When done this way, you don't plateau. Your best gains are made when you're doing a new exercise. Also, by performing a variety of exercises, you also eliminate the problem of boredom, and injury. Strengthening different muscles in different ways helps to create a balance in your body, which will help you to avoid injury. For example, someone who wants stronger, bigger abdominal muscles will do a myriad of ab exercises. But if he continues to do this, eventually, down the road, he runs the risk of getting serious back problems; his lower back tries to compensate for the imbalance in strength.
With your argument concerning using specific exercises only, a counter argument can be made that if you're doing the technique correctly, you shouldn't need a lot of strength. If you were to figure out the exact amount of force that need to be generated to knock someone out when hitting them in the jaw, the argument could be made that as long as you have this bare minimum of power, you shouldn't need to strengthen your punches. Timing and setups are the art of boxing; not brick-smashing power shots.
A fight is totally unpredictable. You learn as many moves as you can, but in the end, you end up in positions that you didn't see coming. Because of this unpredictability, it helps to strengthen all of the muscles in your body.
Look at it this way. Maybe someday, the Brazilian Top Team will invent this line of exercise equipment that directly resists all of your Jiu-Jitsu movements. There could be an armbar machine, a guard machine, a sprawl machine, a kimura machine, etc. That's great and all, but when was the last time you applied an armbar, and found that the guy's bicep was just too strong? I hope your answer is never. Techniques attack weaknesses, and defenses use strengths that cannot be attacked (or are at least extremely difficult to do). If you're fighting a guy who weighs the same as you, your hips are much stronger than his bicep. You have the strength to armbar him. Now, of course, in a fight, nothing is perfect, and most of the time you need to rely on some extra strength to muscle something in. But still, what I'm trying to say is, the argument could be made that it's a waste of time to try to strengthen movements that require timing and setups rather than power. An armbar machine won't strengthen your armbar. Sparring will.
Weight training, therefore, is really just a form of cross-training. The direct way to get better at martial arts is to practice them. You're not getting any better at sparring or fighting by spending time in the weight room. Weight training is done to increase strength, which in turn is a component of fitness, which in turn is an attribute that will help you in a fight.
What I mean is, the way to get directly better at techniques is to spar and train. Look at weight training like a supplement rather than a meal.
I try to look at it like this: Building a fighter is like building a house. You need three things: Experience/Skill, Fitness/Physical Attributes, and Heart. Experience and skill (improved by sparring and drilling in the gym) are the materials you need to build the house. Without the materials (skills), the house doesn't exist. But even with the materials, the house is much stronger and sturdier when you have a solid foundation to build it on. Fitness/Physical attributes are the foundation that you build the house on. And of course, a house doesn't build itself. You need workers to build a house, and likewise, you need heart to develop a fighter. So, the way I see it, you're not trying to increase your skill and experience through athletic lifts. You're just building a more solid foundation to build your skill on.
. Don't have anything but dumbells in my apartment.
