Fight Camp Planning – a Big Picture Approach

Figure 1: The moment when everything falls into place and proper preparation paid off.

Everyone needs a mentor at some point in their life. One of mine was Shinergy mastermind Ronny Kokert. Over the years, we have probably disagreed on as many things as we agreed on. You see, I am as pragmatic as they come. Don’t care much for philosophy or ideology, really. Things simply need to work. I was trained as an engineer and hold an MSc in computer science from the Vienna University of Technology. Accordingly, I like numbers, charts, and evidence. Of course, sports science is a very young research field, so many concepts must be based on best practices rather than hard empirical data. I am fine with that, though, as it is very much the same in computer science, where I had most of my formal, academic training. My approach to system development means that on one hand, I tend to come up with very robust and efficient solutions – eventually. On the other hand, though, iterating over that plan-do-check-act cycle over and over again and tinkering with the system until I am satisfied with the results means that it takes a while until an idea is actually implemented in a ready to use fashion.

Ronny, on the other hand, is a visionary. Very strong views on certain things, too. This man has created not only a fighting system that is based on biological considerations rather than tradition, he has also coined a philosophical framework that transfers old Budo values into our modern-day life. As a fighting style, Shinergy has been tested on the mat, in the ring and more recently, in the cage. What started as more of a pragmatic approach to Taekwondo has evolved into a full-fledged combat system that has been successfully applied in point fighting, full contact K1 kickboxing and MMA.

Because that is not enough, Ronny has written a couple of books on philosophy, did mental coaching for K1 fighters from other gyms, trained soccer players from the national team and teaches business leaders how to implement the strategies employed by top fighters and ancient swordsmen in the business world. More than a decade ago, Shinergy was turned into a franchise and is now taught in gyms across Austria and a location in Berlin, Germany. During the Arab spring and the so-called refugee crisis, Ronny has created the Freedom Fighters, a project where the sport is being used as a vessel to create a dialogue between the arrived and Austrian trainees and hence, integration is facilitated. The whole thing was covered by the media and has turned into a hot topic of discussion, with strong praise from the left and harsh criticism from the right.

With so many things to work on, it is very understandable that some ideas just get lost along the way and projects are discontinued if they are slow to produce results. Visionaries are not necessarily the people who tinker meticulously with details. Steve Jobs did not build the Apple computer. Wozniak did, and freaks like him have been taking care of the implementation side of things ever since. Maybe by this time, you see a certain analogy.

One of Ronnie’s ideas pertains to periodization. Put simply, the idea revolves around a highly concurrent training program that aims at training all relevant qualities in every micro cycle, with a shifting emphasis. While this is not exactly as robust as a 1/n strategy, as a missed session will still result in a certain loss of a training stimulus, it is far more robust than a block periodization template. Although it has been over ten years since we have tried (and admittedly, discarded) this model, I have recently picked it up again and started doing what I do best – analyse, scrutinize, reassemble, tinker. The NMAC 2020 National Championships were the perfect opportunity to battle-test that idea.

Elias, one of our black belt instructors and seasoned kickboxing athletes was just about to make his transition into MMA. From the needs analysis, it quickly became apparent that Elias had all the necessary tools in his toolbox to win as long as he kept the fight standing up. Wrestling and Grappling skills, however, were in dire need of improvement, as was the grinding type of strength endurance that is needed in Grappling, but not Striking. Hence, it was apparent that specific sports practices would need to be made a top priority. On a side note, it is my belief that in a multi-faceted sport like MMA, skill practice should be top priority most of the time. In any case, that tournament presented itself as the perfect opportunity to test the program I am going to present in this article. Before we get to discuss the actual thing, we need to cover some theoretical aspects first, though.

Background

Periodization, programming and progression are sometimes used interchangeably. From my understanding, that is incorrect, though. Programming primarily takes place on the microcycle level. How many sets of how many repetitions, how much rest, etc. Progression is what happens during the mesocycle, say from microcycle to microcycle. Finally, periodization works on the macrocycle level. Here, it is not so much about methods and parameters, but rather about putting together all the pieces of the training process for optimal results.

For example, a linear periodization model in the context of combat sports may start with a block of muscular hypertrophy training, accompanied by non-fatiguing, low-intensity steady-state cardio training. The next block may then aim at the development of max aerobic power and absolute strength. Finally, the peaking block may be aimed at converting strength to speed and building fight pace. For the first week of the hypertrophy phase, programming could be something like three sets of eight repetitions at 70% 1RM. The progression could take that to 3×10 @70% in the second week and 3×12 @70% in the third. Although there is no increase of intensity, higher volumes are accumulated every week. Alternatively, an autoregulative double progression model could be implemented at this point, where a repetition range (eg, 8-12 repetitions) is defined and weights are increased only after the athlete hits the upper range limit on each set. Both linear and double progression are suitable for creating the overload needed to eventually elicit muscle hypertrophy. The overarching theme of the training block dictates the programming and progression, but still allows a high degree of freedom.

Besides traditional western periodization, undulating periodization models have been proposed and successfully implemented. Poliquin describes a model where the goal is alternated bi-weekly between muscular hypertrophy and absolute strength. Issurin propagates a block system, where each block is devoted to a distinct physical quality, which is maximally developed via concentrated loading. Zuordos condenses the traditional model in a single microcycle, committing one day of the week to each quality. In the last case, only strength related qualities (power aka strength speed, absolute strength and muscular hypertrophy) are considered, which potentially makes the model less suited for mixed sports, as interference effects need to be considered. Incompatibility of different training adaptations can be explained from a hormonal point of view on one side and residual fatigue on the other. Block periodization aims at eliminating the interference effect by targeting only a small number of compatible qualities in each mesocycle while retaining the rest. While this concept sounds brilliant in theory, it is hard to implement in mixed sports.

Martial arts will almost always require concurrent training, ie, training for both strength and endurance. Blagrove (2014) stated that interference effects become an issue if upwards of three weekly endurance sessions are performed. Skill practice definitely counts towards these three sessions. What further aggregates the matter is that more often than not, skill practice will tax all energy systems and yield a certain amount of residual fatigue.

Kiely (2018) pointed out that there might not be a single best model of periodization and encouraged practitioners to find solutions to their individual challenges. More than a decade ago, Ronny came up with a periodization scheme that in my opinion, makes sense in the context of combat sports and solves (or at least, alleviates) some of the challenges that come with concurrent training.

Rather than having training blocks exclusively aimed at the development of one motor quality, in the proposed system an emphasis is set in each training period. An initial endurance period builds a foundation for higher training intensities later on in the process and develops work capacity. The following strength-oriented period is aimed at developing muscular strength and power. Finally, a speed-oriented period that is primarily aimed at improving neuromuscular efficiency helps the athlete peak for competition. This model pretty much corresponds to the accumulation of translation and realization phases known from block periodization. The novelty of our approach happens one level lower at the microcycle level. Rather than exclusively focusing on one quality, we still train concurrently. However, sub qualities are chosen in such a way as to minimize the interference effect. Basically, we are implementing a DUP pattern. In Mladen’s terminology, horizontal planning focuses on developing different biomotor qualities.

Jamieson (2009) proposed two-three complementary (ie, physical preparation) sessions per week on top of the sport-specific practice. We will stick with that strength training frequency. As a matter of fact, the original plan was built on three weekly sessions.

We know from Issurin’s (2008) work that morphological adaptations have the highest residual training effect, while transient, neuromuscular adaptations are lost at a much faster rate. Hence, speed should be developed closest to the competition. On the other hand, morphological adaptations take much more time to achieve, so a longer time slot should probably be allocated. Periodization should also entail the degree of training specificity, moving from more general to more specific means of training.

Implementation

Considering all that was said above yields the guidelines for the proposed training framework:

• Allocate three weekly sessions for S&C
• Always train concurrently, but have a priority
• Pick “compatible” training loads
• Go from general to specific
• Go from extensive to intensive

The week’s first session will always have a certain speed emphasis, the session will aim at improving strength qualities, while the third will be endurance-oriented.

Permutation of mesocycle emphasis and day yields the exact session content. For the first mesocycle, this means there will be an endurance-speed day, an endurance-strength day, and a pure endurance day. Analogously, microcycles in the second mesocycle will consist of a strength-speed, max strength, and a strength-endurance session. Finally, in the speed emphasis block, we are looking at an absolute speed day, a speed-strength day and a speed endurance day. Some of those designations may not conform to the typical terminology and admittedly leave some room for interpretation, but examples will be provided for each session so bear with me.

Table 1: Training outline. The focus of each session was determined by the mesocycle emphasis and the position in the microcycle. Each cell contains the place of things as well as the forum for action.

Table 1 illustrates the concept. Each cell contains the training goals for the given session. Both the place of things (i.e., the underlying physiological adaptation we were after) as well as the phenomenological objective are provided. Although Elias (being a state certified trainer like me) understands the implications of having a well developed aerobic system, it is always advisable to provide something more tangible. As you can see in Table 1, some qualities were addressed in different mesocycles. Alactic capacity, for example, was trained in the initial as well as the final block. On paper, both sessions increased the capacity of the ATP-Cr system. However, the adaptations to general and specific training means are quite distinct. The first block was highly unspecific and simply aimed at building a bigger tank. The final block, on the other hand, was quite near the epitome of specificity and aimed at building fight pace. While the place of things (alactic capacity) may appear to be the same, the phenomenological objective is quite different.

Figure 2: Time course of the fight camp. Specificity increased with proximity to the fight. On a mesocycle level, the order in which qualities were emphasised was endurance/strength/speed, while on the microcycle level, that order was reversed.

Endurance block

The aim of the endurance block was to build work capacity and resiliency. In Mladen’s Substance~Form dichotomy, this block was devoted to building substance. Means were mostly general at this point. In later phases, when Form was the primary training goal, the degree of specificity would increase.

Endurance/Speed

It is important to differentiate between the place of things, and a forum for action. Some methods may not perfectly fit the physiological processes one would associate the respective block with. For example, in an endurance block, you may expect the aerobic system to be dominant in all sessions. However, what the fighter is interested in is being able to repeatedly throw short, hard combinations or attempt to take the opponent down without gassing. Hence, this session followed the guidelines by Verkhoshansky (2006), which can also be found in Jamieson (2009). Personally, I learned them from Coach Bott and have avidly implemented them ever since.

Table 2: Explosive repeat training to improve alactic capacity and the aerobic system’s ability to sustain

Endurance/Strength

Strength endurance training was very much what you’d expect – basic strength exercises, performed for sets of 20. The narrative here was Armor Building as much as Mongoose Persistence. I’m usually hesitant to prescribe such extended sets, because of the absurd level of fatigue this type of training brings about. However, this is where the principle of individualisation comes into play. Elias recovers fast from metabolic efforts but has a tendency to get injured. Especially, his hamstrings and groin have proven to be rather prone to injury in the past, so a decent amount of work was spent working on increasing tissue tolerance at these sites.

Table 3: Strength endurance training parameters. Special focus was put on developing resilient hamstrings and groin

Endurance/Endurance

This is your run of the mill cardiac output session. Put on a heart rate monitor and work on the modality of your choice for 30 to 60 minutes. The vertical planning component might entail a weekly increase in time, intensity, or both. Table 4 outlines a very simple progression. In terms of training mode, activities that put less eccentric stress on the muscles are supposed to induce a smaller interference effect, ie, lead to smaller attenuation of the strength training adaptations. This would indicate that cycling is more beneficial than running. On the other hand, fatigue resistance depends not only on physiological factors such as heart volume but also on things like technical efficiency. Hence, with younger, more resilient (yet probably less technically skilled) athletes I prefer shadow boxing and/or heavy bag work. To further increase Elias’ resilience, we implemented an intermittent core strength protocol. This simply involves alternating a cardio exercise (in our case, rope skipping) and a core or PREHAB type exercise. Those exercises were specifically chosen to work around injuries that proved problematic in the past.

Table 4: Intermittent aerobic capacity training. A cardio modality, in this case, rope skipping, is interspersed by core training and PREHAB type exercise.

Strength Block

In the strength block, we strongly considered the Strength~Weakness dichotomy. The agreed-on game plan was to keep the fight standing up and wrestling is the way to ensure that it would. Hence, the strength block primarily aimed at increasing strength for wrestling and grappling, to manage the downside (i.e., losing the fight in the clinch). We chose the trap bar deadlift as a means of developing lower body strength, as it closely resembles the body positions observed in a double leg takedown. The power clean was in the program to improve RFD and help with executing more snappy, Judo-style throws. Also, explosiveness in the lower body helps with throwing kicks, bridging out of a bottom position, or winning the scramble. For the clinch, upper body pulling strength is vitally important, so the weighted pull up was included. To pursue the upside (i.e., winning via superior striking), some floor pressing was added to the program to increase punching power. I decided to use floor presses instead of the bench press to keep Elias’ shoulders healthy. Fighters tend to live in a protracted position and more often than not present shoulder issues, so choosing the more ergonomic option is in my opinion reasonable.

Strength/Speed

During the second mesocycle, the emphasis switched from endurance to strength. Hence,  the speed day revolved around high(er) loads being lifted at high(er) velocities. Specifically, we implemented a complex strength training based on the recommendations of Lim (2016), to make optimal use of post activation potentiation (PAP). Rather than just picking two exercises at different points on the strength/velocity curve, though, we used three: one at high force, low speed, one at moderate force, moderate speed, one at low force, high speed.

Table 5: PAP complex training sessions. Three exercises on different points of the force-velocity curve were chosen for each upper and lower body.

Strength/Strength

When it comes to building absolute strength, there was nothing revolutionary in the program – a heavy push, a heavy pull, a trap bar deadlift, some prehab stuff during the rest periods. Although many coaches will not like this statement, I believe that developing adequate levels of strength in a combat sports population (the exception possibly being wrestlers, who tend to be much stronger than strikers or MMA fighters) is simple and shouldn’t be overcomplicated.

Table 6: Total body absolute strength training parameters. Specific PREHAB type exercises were implemented as fillers in between heavy sets.

Strength/Endurance

When talking about strength endurance, most of the time, physiological processes such as the ability to produce, tolerate and shuttle lactic acid at the muscular level are considered. However, for a fighter, one of the worst scenarios is having to work from the bottom and try to improve his position against a dominant opponent. This requires high levels of strength to be produced repeatedly until the escape is successful. This may or may not push a single muscle (like the glutes, when repeatedly bridging to create space) to the physiological limit, but it best describes the realities of fighting. Our strength/endurance was structured following this line of thought. For six rounds of four minutes each, I had Elias start in a bad place and wrestle back to a better position, preferably his feet. Namely, the positions were:

1. Bottom back control
2. Bottom mount
3. Bottom side control
4. Bottom turtle
5. Bottom guard
6. Start on the feet, in a highly fatigued state, and take down the opponent

We specifically picked big, strong (albeit technically weak) training partners for this drill and had them alternate in a “shark tank” fashion. This type of training is very taxing and, due to its very nature, quite risky. Wrestling a bigger, heavier opponent in a fatigued state, from an inferior position, can easily lead to injury if done too often. On the barbell strategy, this is on the side of high risk, high reward. As such, we used it sparingly – only two sessions of this type actually made it to the program.

Speed Block sessions

The speed block was where we finally started pursuing form. At this point, the race car was already assembled and had a proper engine, to stick with Mladen’s analogy. Now it was about training the driver, so to speak, to get the most out of his vehicle. This means that two thirds of the complementary strength and conditioning sessions were highly specific in nature.

Speed/Speed

The speed block was the concluding mesocycle before the taper. Therefore, the level of specificity was at its peak. Speed is a complex quality. There is a big debate going on concerning the trainability of speed in adults. In sports like track and field, especially in sprinting, speed can be associated with few qualities and is easily measured. However, in sports like MMA, one has to look further than the mere nervous transmission of electrical signals and subsequent contraction of muscle cells. Increased movement efficiency (which I will not cover in this context) will yield faster speeds. Decreased reaction times will make the athlete appear to move faster. In the end, as a coach, I don’t care why my athlete connects a punch or sprawls at the right time. Situational awareness, anticipation, reaction time, technical efficiency – all of these contribute to the bigger picture. Elias’ absolute speed day aimed at improving his greatest strength, which undoubtedly is his striking. On that day, the pad holder just fed him some standard situations, be that offensive combinations or counters to predetermined attacks. Elias would react as fast as possible to each stimulus, with plenty of rest in between repetitions.

Speed/Strength

During the speed sessions during the strength mesocycle, the aim was primarily to develop power in the scramble and during takedowns. In contrast, the strength sessions during the speed mesocycle revolved around building knockout power. From my experience, knockouts rarely come from a single maximal effort. Rather, it comes as a result of good timing, a nice set-up and the ability to sustain explosive, high-power strikes in situations when the opponent is too tired to defend effectively. Hence, the speed strength session was primarily made up of ballistic type exercises which are relatively far to the right of the force-velocity curve (high velocity, lower force), performed for rather high volumes (i.e, multiple sets of 10) with slightly shorter rest periods. Table 7 outlines the session structure. In addition to the linear-horizontal throws that have already been utilized at an earlier point in this, those sessions included rotational throws and frontal plane plyometrics.

Table 7: Ballistic training parameters.

Speed/Endurance

Table 8: Specific explosive repeat to build fight pace.

Taper

The last week was used as a taper. No hard training, no sparring, just some light movement. Luckily, making weight was not an issue this time, as Elias was already inside of a couple percent of his competition weight.

Outcome

Elias went on to decisively win both of his fights. Now as much as I would like to pat my own back for that, as an S&C coach I need to acknowledge that physical preparation does not necessarily make a champion. Lack of proper preparation can break a fighter, though. Put differently, while I cannot say if we maximized the upside, I know that we averted the downside.

Most importantly, Elias was not injured during the camp or the fight. While this might not seem impressive, it is always important to remember that the most important ability is availability. While Elias is a great athlete and martial artist, he is also rather prone to injury. As a matter of fact, the session warm ups were specifically designed by my business partner and physical therapist Anna to work around pre existing issues and minimize the risk of injury. The Armor Building sessions (Endurance/Strength) also aimed at increasing resiliency by working the groin and hamstrings, which proved to be problematic in the past.

Another positive was that Elias did not fatigue. Whether that came from the energy system work, technical efficiency or simply a sound game plan is hard to say. Since the energy system sessions were rather specific starting in block two (the strength block), I do not believe that this distinction can be made, either. Strength was not an issue at any point. Again, it is hard to attribute this solely to strength training. Sticking to the game plan most of the time and avoiding clinching on the opponent’s term minimized the need for high levels of strength in the first place. At one point, however, Elias was taken down and had to defend from the guard, where he controlled his opponent rather easily.

From a tactical point of view, many of the things we drilled during the specific sessions happened just like we predicted they would. Not everything was implemented perfectly, but that is to be expected in a fight. This is where specific training and S&C need to go hand in hand. To use the agile software development analogy, we have identified some new use cases and bugs during integration testing and will tackle those during the next sprint. The drills for the upcoming EST sessions will revolve around the situations that did not go well during the fights.

References

1. Issurin, V. (2008). Block periodization versus traditional training theory: a review. Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 48(1), 65.
2. Jamieson, J. (2009). Ultimate MMA conditioning. Performance Sports Incorporated.
3. Verkhoshansky, Y., & Siff, M. C. (2009). Supertraining. Verkhoshansky SSTM.
4. Blagrove, R. (2014). Minimising the interference effect during programmes of concurrent strength and endurance training. Part 2: Programming recommendations. Professional Strength and Conditioning, 32, 13-20.
5. Lim, J. J., & Barley, C. I. (2016). Complex Training for power development: Practical applications for program design. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 38(6), 33-43.
6. Kiely, J. (2018). Periodization theory: confronting an inconvenient truth. Sports Medicine, 48(4), 753-764.