Why Do Some Fighters Gas Out?

Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester

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According to Bas, lots of muscles require lots of oxygen, which is why some of the body builder types gas out.

Josh Burkman and Phil Baroni, two guys who must have less than 10 percent body fat, are examples of lean, muscular guys who always seem to gas out.

And then you have guys like Fedor and Karo, both of whom look kind of soft, but seem to be able to go full bore all day long.

Any scientific data that relates stamina to body fat? Is it better to be ripped or to have some fat reserves to draw on?
 
there is absolutely no way you're tapping into your fat stores over the course of a fight. it has to do with how efficiently your body can process ATP, then oxygen, and there are many, many, factors. to put it as concisely as i can, jogging > bodybuilding for fight conditioning.
 
Body comp has nothing to do with it. Fighters gas due to poor conditioning, plain and simple. If fighter A gasses out in the second round, it's because he ran out of gas, his conditioning wasn't high enough for him to keep going.
 
It has everything to do anaerobic threshold and ability to aerobically recover between rounds. Zero to do with adipose tissue.
 
Bodyfat is a poor indicator of cardio, when I used to get down to 8% I never did cardio I lifted heavy and maybe MAYBE would run once a week it had everything to do with diet.

Diet is alot i'd say 90% of the battle when trying to be lean.
 
Muscaular guys seem to put more of an emphasis on strength and not cardio. Bigger the muscles the more oxygen they'll need. Improving the Cardiovascular System will improve heart efficiency and increased lung capacity thus increasing the flow oxygen throughout the body.
 
Sonny said:
Body comp has nothing to do with it. Fighters gas due to poor conditioning, plain and simple. If fighter A gasses out in the second round, it's because he ran out of gas, his conditioning wasn't high enough for him to keep going.
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True that
 
JSN said:
there is absolutely no way you're tapping into your fat stores over the course of a fight. it has to do with how efficiently your body can process ATP, then oxygen, and there are many, many, factors. to put it as concisely as i can, jogging > bodybuilding for fight conditioning.
Click to expand...

Not 10 minutes ago I read on another post on this site where the guy was recommended to "skip jogging" and instead opt for 3 minute rounds of push-ups, sit-ups, etc. to "simulate fight rounds.

Is there anything you'd recommend over jogging to help with getting gassed?
 
i was just making a blanket statement aimed at phil baroni, the ex- bodybuilder.

i just meant that fight conditioning comes from conditioning exercizes, which may or may not produce a classically beautiful physique.

jogging definitely is not the be all conditioning program for fighting; there are several more important exercizes IMO, starting with burpees, pad and heavybag rounds, sprints and skipping rope.

jogging is like baseline cardio, whereas in fight conditioning you have to have the baseline plus the ability put forth very high intensity effort repeatedly.
 
Awesome. I already jog and skip and do as many burpees as I can (which is not many), but no pad/bag work yet.

I would like to get my fight conditioning higher though as I'm looking to join a school in the next couple weeks.
 
sometimes it helps to start out by having alot of volume but low intensity. so like a good model for doing 50 burpees could be to start doing 10 sets of 5 with 30 second breaks, then move to starting with a round of 10, then 8 sets of 5, and keep making it so you're doing more and more burpees in certain sets.
 
That's a good idea. I'm going to try that this evening.

Right now I'm doing my cardio the same days as my strength training. Do most people do these on separate days? I'm wondering if I don't get as much out of my burpees (or squats depending on what I do first) because I'm already winded.
 
to me, cardio after lifting is for fat loss, and cardio when fresh is for conditioning. your glycogen stores are depleted through lifting so you'll have less for conditioning. you could always look at it as you're pre-exhausted though.
 
JSN said:
sometimes it helps to start out by having alot of volume but low intensity. so like a good model for doing 50 burpees could be to start doing 10 sets of 5 with 30 second breaks, then move to starting with a round of 10, then 8 sets of 5, and keep making it so you're doing more and more burpees in certain sets.
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I like to do burpees in decreasing sets. A good place to start (for him) would maybe be 10 (1 minute break), 9 (1 minute break) 8 (1 minute break), etc...

I found that has worked for me and helps maintain decent form rather than getting sloppy trying to do a shitload in a row.
 
JSN said:
to me, cardio after lifting is for fat loss, and cardio when fresh is for conditioning. your glycogen stores are depleted through lifting so you'll have less for conditioning. you could always look at it as you're pre-exhausted though.
Click to expand...

Ya, I agree with this more or less.


I don't want to go do HIIT or sprints after heavy training, but a decent run is good after.
 
noobloser said:
That's a good idea. I'm going to try that this evening.

Right now I'm doing my cardio the same days as my strength training. Do most people do these on separate days? I'm wondering if I don't get as much out of my burpees (or squats depending on what I do first) because I'm already winded.
Click to expand...

On days where I do them on the same day, I like to do burpees and then do weights later. I'm sure other people like the other way around. I find my muscles too gassed to do the burpees last. Doing intense cardio post weights for me is killer and my form suffers.

I think the burpees/cardio can really get you warmed up for the weight training also, which helps.
 
Calvo said:
adrenaline dumps too
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This is quite true. If you have ever fought or competed you know how intense the experience can be. Nervousness can have a huge effect on cardio and make you tire quickly if you arent mentally prepared as well. In one of my first amateur fights I gassed in the 1st rd despite coming into the fight in awesome shape...I wasnt mentally ready and it showed. I still won though :icon_chee
 
I heard Fedor and his trainers say its good to carry some bodyfat for fighting, but they never explained why. Anyone got some insights?

I know in weight restricted classes its probably not the best idea but when at HW and can allow it what are the advantages?
 
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