What Is Pseudoscience?

The article from Scientific American is worth reading.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-is-pseudoscience

Distinguishing between science and pseudoscience is problematic, and its prevalent in martial arts and combative training, where scientific studies are used to prove a point but are used in the wrong context, like Hick’s Law that is very popular and proponents for that it applies to combat is wrong, as it is a study of choosing between various conscious choices and it’s used for simplify menu systems and other machines or electronic products to make it easier and faster to use, but combat is spontaneous and reflexive actions take over and are unconscious with enough training. No matter what sport, if the athlete is feeling that he is loosing and start to focus on every detail, then Hick’s Law can start to kick in as he will focus on every single detail and try to chose the best action to get back to a flow state, he will loose as he descends in a negative mental spiral from fear of failure, there plenty of scientific studies to back that fact. This article has nothing to do with combat specifically but I find that many things I have been taught is based on pseudoscience, old scientific studies that have been proven wrong or used in the wrong context. Updated scientific studies and articles about how the mind works has taught me more than the vast majority of teachers I have trained under, I find that the understanding of perception and how the brain works as the most important information to evolve as a teacher and martial artist, as it is the mind that triggers the actions, having a gun but lacking the knowledge of how it works and the will to shoot renders it useless and will kill you, the gun can be any kind of martial art or combative training. The prefight stage is not prioritized at all in nearly all martial arts, preparing the mind for combat takes time and require the proper training, it is prevalent in Asian and south east Asian martial arts that the will to kill or fight is the primary and most important factor, strength as second, and technique as the last one. In Japan most systems had to change that mindset after WW2, so they could continue to practice their killing arts but had to change it to get it approved by the USA, in the western world the priority is reverse, that is to not get stigmatized as an immoral activity, to get more students by creating the illusion that technique can easily defeat strength, but pure aggression can defeat both if the opponent believes that he can be fearless and have an empty mind, but the reality is that physical and even verbal confrontation will affect the psychological state of mind, as many tend to forget that the mindset of some of the best and most efficient killers or fighters cant be used by everyone, as many are sociopaths on the right side of the fence and can write books about having and empty mind with no fear as they lack or have a lower sense of fear.

How to train BJJ with an injured arm

As I have most of the time had injuries that prevented me from training specific activities I chose those martial arts that I could do with the current injury, the past 3 years my dominant arm has been severely injured, so this kind of information is useful to not only me but to anyone, as injuries will happen if one dies spend a lot of time in a non compliant martial art and even in a compliant martial art accidents happen as Murphy’s Law of Combat is ever present.

Progressive Defense Systems, LLC - free flow training

Cold Steel Training Gladius Test vs Cinder block

I have decided to introduce training with ancient weapons, from Roman Gladius, medieval swords, tomahawks and at some point also sabre fencing which is tons of fun, I have never lost a match the year I was training foil fencing, I lost interest as I never lost a match, so I decided to train something that would challenge me and lose. 

That I found in MMA and BJJ, I really did experience to be completely dominated for the first time in my life and feel that I had no living chance, the only reason that I didn’t quit even if I had bent the ribs on both sides, was that I improvised a submission the first day and didn’t know what the hell to do but managed to get a tap out from a more experienced student. Getting pawned for weeks non stop and only when someone new stepped in was the only victories the first 6 months, when I reached the level that I didn’t get submitted before 10 seconds, could defend myself for a round and once in while submit others who had trained at least the same amount of time as me was what made me come for training, but the discovery of having a huge lack of skills was the primary motivator.

There is as far as I know only one DVD on the market for combat with the Gladius, I didn’t like it as it was FMA with a Gladius, nothing wrong with that but it didn’t show me anything new, or had a historical reference which is impossible as there are none for the use of the Gladius in combat from ancient Roman text as far as I know, only that the biggest problem was that some general was concerned with his soldiers using it for slashing instead of stabbing, which kills a lot faster. So it will be using AMOK!™ methodology combined with my previous training with sport fencing, European medieval weapons, to not recreate but to rediscover and innovate how to use it to its best potential, that was the reason for creating the Kratos Combatives Combat Laboratory, to learn by Guided Discovery™ how to fight with ancient weapons that have no use in today’s arsenal of weapons for combat.

The Cold Steel Training Gladius is unbreakable and a relative safe training weapon, I like steel but it cost a lot more and if the gladiators used wooden swords for training, I see no point in using a steel training model. I have broken 4 steel swords, and one of them was a heavy high quality Lancashire sword that was created to be unbreakable as it was very heavy, but it broke when I blocked an attack that was delivered with maximum force and I applied maximum force to match that. So to keep the cost low and safety high, it is IMHO the best choice, as a broken sword depending on the angle does not stop the attack unless one can control and stop before impact and the piece that is broken can fly anywhere and by accident hit some ones eye. But we need proper protection, as look at the video and think what would happen if a slash hit bone.

Why Martial Artists Should Do Yoga

Astanga yoga did actually improve my performance in martial arts, as my flexibility was enhanced so that some leg locks didn’t have the effect on my knee joint so I could continue and improve my position while my opponent was spending a huge amount of energy as most people tap out and would not try to go to another technique, the breathing with constricted airflow exercises helped me to withstand chokes longer to the point that I could escape more often, getting stacked in MMA and BJJ training was not as unpleasant as my body had adapted to breathe with my lungs being compressed.

Basic Muay Thai Pad Drills: Inside Left Kick Counters

I used to hate math, but later got fascinated by it when I read Rudy Rucker’s book “Mind Tools”, the way he explained the relationship between numbers and geometry, Gödel's incompleteness theorem, changed me on several levels besides gaining new knowledge, see the beauty of mathematics, it had a huge philosophical impact on me. I have a huge interest in patterns as it what has evolved us, to see the connections and discover why specific events happens that has made us the dominant life form, but as everything is a double edged sword, many patterns are constructed that are not related but perceived as related, so I am cautious to assume that when a pattern is visible I should consider about the cause than only a gut feeling, which is based on a recognition of a pattern experienced before, that can save your ass or get you killed.

The number 23 which is by some considered as a special magical number, as many believes that it appears more often in conjunction with tragedies, it is BS and it only proves that if you focus on it that will create a mind searching for that number as a pattern and suddenly see it more often. Curiously what wonders me with the 23 believers and writers of book about the number 23 is that none of them knows that it is the only number that cannot be used to construct a symmetric geometrical structure. I have spent a lot of years researching that, but never did find anyone who knew about that curious mathematical anomaly, I discovered it by reading “Mind Tools”.

I do due to training and teaching AMOK! have a focus on certain numbers 15, 45, 90, 135 (and all of them are divisible with 9 as the common pattern), when teaching about a lot of various subjects as structure as an example, those who knows why I don’t need to write a long explanation, for others who want to know train with someone who knows why those numbers are important. But the number that I see most often is used in most martial arts is 45, which pop up in this instructional video.

Kratos knife combat accidents HD

How to deal with injuries in training, after over 25 years of training and most of them full contact, I have accumulated various injuries, the reason I have trained so many styles is that I changed style depending on the current injuries. As an example I trained MMA and BJJ, but after the second serious contagious skin disease I had to stop to not infect my team and the it took over 2 years to get rid of that disease, so I started training Escrima and combat with medieval European weapons again after a long break, when I was healed I started to train Submission Wrestling again but suffered a serious nerve damage in my dominant right arm and had to stop, as I tried to continue training but the after surgery I was advised to not train any combat sport that would add pressure on my elbow or use elbows to strike and any contact to my fingers triggers excruciating pain, so now I teach and have stopped cross training other martial arts, but as I teach 6 hours every week and have to fight often when teaching, I don’t want to risk to have a permanent injury and get enough training without risking to worsen the damage. If you use an injury as a new way to train other important aspects of combat instead of seeing it as an impediment and not train, you loose the opportunity to learn how to fight under less than perfect conditions, there is no guarantee that you will be attacked when you are fresh and have no injuries, better to do it in a safe environment than have to find a way to deal with it while you are under attack on the street completely unprepared. https://www.facebook.com/KratosCombatives

Knife defence training on the ground

I had planned basic knife training on the ground today, teaching about correct posture, how to use asphalt as weapons, basic escapes as I assumed our new prodigy didn’t have any grappling training, and what a pleasant surprise that he has trained Judo and even did win a competition when he was very young, so no need to waste time on the basics. In every grappling style I have trained, MMA, BJJ and Submission Wrestling there was always situational sparring, starting from the various isolated positions and start from there, very good idea to train isolated skillset but there is a few problems that have changed how we will train it, after those with no prior experience have learned and know about correct posture and escapes, they will ASAP learn how to do it from a random position when they hit the matt after a takedown.

Instead of starting from the various ideal positions, we did a soft takedown and started from the position we landed, that very seldom is like the perfect one you start from in a situational sparing, so from now on we will do various takedowns and start sparring from that position with the primary goal to escape and get up ASAP. Any kind of submission attempts I have chosen that diminishment is primary, as in disarms, as I always have found it hard to submit others unless they land in my favourite positions that I can exploit, there is always room for an elbow on the way to hit with before some submissions as with a top wristlock as the best example.

Southpaw Fighting Techniques: Proof Of Concept

Another great video from Damage Control MMA Having spent half of my life fighting with right lead in empty hand combat styles, and the other last half with a southpaw stance from training with blades and sticks, I can switch and feel comfortable in both stances unarmed, I do it as soon as I feel I get pressured by my opponent and while he has to adjust his plans I don’t feel any need for adjusting anything. That is one of the benefits with being comfortable in both stances, I would always choose the opposite of my opponent to start with as the odds that he has fighting experience against an opponent with stance he has trained less against is higher, better for me worse for him.

One of my all time favourite wrestlers Dan Gable has his right foot in front, as is sure that most wrestlers have trained takedowns 90% against persons with their left foot forward, so he is sure that they will do a crappy takedown and he advocates to go to the side that is the opposite of what most train to defend or attack in training. What struck me most was that his stance is exactly like in AMOK!, and one of my all time favourite MMA gyms in Brazil, Chute Box Academy have a stance that is very close to how we stand, only difference is they don’t keep their feet parallel and are off more than 15°.

I love when the pieces fit together, 2 of my favourite empty hand styles, Chute Box style Muay Thai MMA and wrestling (Catch wrestling). I can adapt it to our training as there are so many similar moves, that only confirms that it has been tested under pressure and works, hence the similarity. I don’t even need to add them as they exist already in AMOK!, but makes it easier for me to instruct newcomers with previous Muay Thai, MMA and wrestling training. All the other styles I have trained and some of them I have been an instructor also helps me to guide people better, if they have trained Wing Chun, FMA, Knock Down Karate, foil/rapier/sabre fencing. I have only added a few things that I always tell that it either is a trick from Catch wrestling, does not come from any system but from self guided discoveries I have made from experiment a lot for countless hours of sparring.

It really feels both good and bad when I discover something new that my body did by itself, that I have never trained but was a flinch response to later discover that it already existed in AMOK!, I feel good as it validates my response but bad as I believed I was the first one to do that technique. I have one which I have never seen in any system, I use it and teach it, I have to show it to Tom Sotis and see if it again is not a novelty. 

Pekiti -Tirsia Kali N Footwork

I have decided a long time ago that stick training in our group should only be with hockey gloves and helmets, using real sticks I prefer using the very heavy Black Mango wood or composite sticks, the JuWe Bolo, Tomahawks, Pinute sword to warm up with various footwork patterns. I prefer that everyone hits the target intended at full speed and intent with padded sticks and protective gear, instead very light rattan sticks and imagining the intended targets and hit the stick or air instead. The reasoning behind this is, the you fight as you train buzzword, better to have practiced 10 times hitting a hand in opposition, than hitting a stick and imagining hitting a hand 100 times with no opposition.

Mike Hughes (shooter) Experiments on his Wife...(teaching your woman not to flinch :) )

http://nextleveltraining.com/mikehughesblog

STRIDE RATE WHEN RUNNING By Jack Daniels, PhD

http://blog.saucony.com/training/stride-rate-running/

SoCal Sit Up Progressions

From My Mad Methods

WRITTEN BY JOEY ALVARADO (WWW.SOCALMMAFITNESS.COM)

SoCal Sit Up Progressions

Joey Alvarado, MMA Coach, Trainer, and creator of Kettle-Jitsu takes a boot camp through a series of progressive sit up variations including Sit Up/Russian Twist Combos, Combat Sit Ups, Sit Up/Rocking Chair Combos, Knee Drops, Shin Boxes and more.

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Find out more at www.SoCalMMAFitness.com or www.youtube.com//kettlejitsu71

KELID IN 8 DIRECTIONS

With that speed, attitude, compliance and power she is attacked with, I can do any kind of counter technique no matter how inefficient it is.  

Tornado Drill - Drill for Skill - BJJ Weekly Issue #122

This is a perfect multipurpose drill. It helps improve your hip movement, balance, core strength and flexibility. It also helps your timing and ability to invert. Our expert always stays connected with her partner during the drill.

Silat Suffian Bela Diri - Joint Dislocations & Takedowns

Even though their training methods are absolutely not my cup go tee, as it is too compliant were anything is possible since it lacks oppositional training, many of their videos have a lot of interesting things to offer, I like what I see but don’t like how it’s done.

This has tremendous value depending on how you look at it, I have chosen to get inspiration and use it as another view as many of their techniques are similar to what I teach, but as I teach with 90% opposition and 10% specific technical training, so all I need to do is train the techniques and then see if it can be done in oppositional training and sparring.

One huge misconception in some clubs is that some techniques do not work as they have tested it in sparring, but I know a HEMA (European medieval combat) club that use that as a yardstick to chose what is efficient or not, the head instructor has only had 3 nights of training 4,5 hours total before instituting himself as an expert in European medieval combat by reading old books, that would be the equivalent to have trained any system 3 times and after reading books from an age where the structuring of the text to pass on information was IMO very lousy, and name yourself as an expert of that style of combat. There are depictions from medieval times but not in sequence, you have to read and in some cases guess how they reached from start to end as there is only one drawing for the technique.

The problem is when amateurs who appoint themselves as experts, it is most likely that the reason why they cant execute certain techniques is because they have not reached a high enough skill level or have not trained it properly and failed. The easiest way to blame the errors is by choosing that it’s the techniques inadequacy and not their own lack of skill and training, and use it for deciding what the high% techniques are.

From My Mad Methods Magazine

The Uber-Athlete: Training for Going Above & Beyond

Yep, you can have your baseball players, your football stars, and OF COURSE your golf wizards, and hell, while we’re at it, you can even pretend that bowling is an athletic challenge. Then, when you finally come to a complete stop from your brain-dead bus ride, you can witness and appreciate what real fitness can and should be. Molded out of necessity, cultivated for multidimensional uses, and developed for a better and more efficient you...

That is to say, PUSHING the envelope and taking a risk of the physical nature that requires a no-bullshit-zone of truth about what you need and should do, as opposed to simply adjusting your treadmill to “Amazonian Treachery Level 7” and hoping that poor excuse of a trainer is impressed and will later brag to other trainers about the veracity of your badassness (after all, they are “certified” of course). This scene plays itself out while you never leave the comfort of your 75 degree, well-lit, yawn-fest of a gym. What a “thrill seeker” you are!

Mr. de Grasse has once again slammed his fist down and demanded: no limit, truthful,and original (if not edgy) workout programs that adhere to an outcome that has a meaning instead of a score. I can almost make out the impatience in his plea: DO THIS! The rage, emanating from his jugular veins. The redness of impatience with the athletic status quo. Damn right, brother man! Let’s kick some comfy ass...

Not to worry! As, once again, I dip into the Hanzo sake of pain and punishment from my vast and extensive history of training real and diverse athletes. To unearth these tasty morsels that were designed for the uber-athletes of athletes. A man who spent 9 months on the God Damn polar cap trying to find the center (what, no map Will?). Apparently, 100 mile an hour winds, blinding storms, and eating one or two of your dogs because the food drop got cancelled, then lost, and then just plain gave up is a real hindrance in this kind of endeavor. Nonetheless, the arctic explorer is a rarified badass pushing beyond; way beyond what you would think of as their limits of endurance and fortitude (let alone their mechanical abilities).

So, when my friend and student, Mr. Will Steger (the first man to trek the south pole with dog sleds) got a hold of me, he had a couple of issues:

1) Time frame. I had 90 days (the summer basically) to meet his demands.

2) Fix his frozen shoulders. There was more flexibility in my Bourget Hard Tail Chopper than there was in Willy’s shoulders. I shit you NOT!

3) Create a flexibility that would be accessible at the drop of a hat. This last one would prove to be the most challenging for Will; basically, when you tense up your body for nine months straight, shit’s not gonna want to go back, if you catch my drift (Get it? Catch my drift? Never mind). Plus, Will was literally layered in clothing during these long periods of time and not moving much. All of these things added up to permanent body stress. Motor response is also at a loss at extreme temperatures. Also, there’s these nasty little things on the polar cap called crevasses (deep cracks in the ice that open without a warning or an option to avoid them and eat everything in the vicinity - your sled, team mates, etc). Will had to rescue a dog that fell down one, then froze up and refused to let go of the sides of the ice, which leads to...

4) Strength that is pliable and complete. Bench pressing your bodyweight ain’t gonna do any good at this point. You had best be able to understand how your body works when cold, stressed, and fatigued (not to mention dealing with a dog that weighs as much as you all while you’re wearing ridiculously bulky clothing).

Pilates anyone? Not so much. Hanzo, always!

The next fucked-up-obstacle that was really going to be a factor was frozen waves called Strgugeis. These things pound on your thighs, mile after mile. Think of it as hanging 10 at 100 below with no visibility. Ride ‘em, moondoggy.

Did I mention that at age 64, he was going to parasail the ice flows in Greenland? You know, a chute hook on your ass and a pair of skis, accompanied by ten college kids. The kit itself, plus the demand of controlling it, would be my easiest problem to resolve. A kettlebell and a jump rope would be my Rx. Ok, why not brother? Bring in, and I’ll design a program. This is the kind of assignment I do better that anyone. I create only what’s needed and nothing extraneous. No B.S. When it comes to a friend and his safety, forget about it (thank you Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco)!

With this project well defined (albeit with a bit of skepticism on Will’s part), I got him dialed in in the following manner. I had to see first hand what I was working with. Next, the Hanzo vault of super secret common sense is accessed to begin to undo what time and the elements had done (the elements beat the shit out of this man’s body and he was still setting records and the leading force in his field).

Anyone with a traditional background of training would have rested on their accomplishments decades earlier, but not Will. The mental toughness of this man is beyond comprehension. This would prove to be a huge asset in this rehabilitation. Will does it and moves on. This is the one lesson that matters more than any other. Just do it good, bad, or indifferent; move forward, and at the end of the day, it’s just that, the end of the day.

The very first thing to do was fix the shoulders. They were, as I said, frozen solid. The range of motion was 50 percent (maybe). Will had his doubts that I could do this, but hey,they don’t call me Hanzo for nothing (or is that bonehead, I can’t remember).

My first thing was to break out the bosu and very light kettlebell. From there, we would do sets getting a reverse arch in his spine, letting him aclimate to the reverse angling of the body/torso. The kettlebell was 16kg; just enough to slowly open the range of motion on his locked down rotators and neck from there. I would put him on the flat floor and stretch his arms over his head, pulling gently on the and the right back to the bosu. As the progress manifested itself, I used benches and the floor, as well as the bosu, to do pull overs.

First set: bosu pullovers. 2-5 sets. 30 lbs. Stretch: 1-2 minutes.

Second set: floor pullovers. 2-3 sets. 16kg kettlebells. Repeat stretch.

Third set: Bench allowing the shoulders to come to full rotation and stretching the pectoral muscles to their limits. Light weights until the strength component is apparent. 2-4 sets. Repeat until his body loosened up and I could bend him without causing more damage, as opposed to fucking him up more. Duhh.

In between sets, I would have him hang from the pull up bar and then do push ups. Cobra type. Knees of the floor, again, working the arch in his spine and naturally opening his shoulders and adding a new strength component he never had.

Next up: hanging pull ups. Changing grips while suspended. This increases dexterity under duress, not to mention hand, back, and forearm strength. The other side effect of free hanging was that it mimicked the conditions of Will’s environment. A lat pull down offers no value to Will (or pretty much anyone else for that matter). At first, I could only get 4-6 sets of max reps. These involved rest and me calling out the changes: “Overhand, Underhand, Alternate hands, Close overhand, Wide Neutral, Wide Reverse.” The continual hanging did wonders for his shoulders and overall confidence in his ability to resist the limitations of his body’s adaptability. Plus, he could do a shit load of pull ups (the right way) by the end of the summer. In between the hanging, we did swings; heavy low reps, high output. This acted as a pallet cleanser. The swing acting as a stabilizer. Plus, the power that would be needed on his skis blasting across the ice being pulled by a parasail and freezing wind.

Next in line: swings to push ups. This is cardio strength 101. Look no further than this combo Hanzo original. A heavy kettlebell (40k) for 5 deep swings, kettlebell down and place your body in a prone position over the kettlebell and (you guessed it) push ups! Five painfully slow push ups. This whole set is done at a nasty and slow pace. Feel the love, Will? Do a total of 25 each, non-stop. Beat a dead horse here. Remember, this is done daily. It adds up real quick.

Lastly, but not leastly, jump rope and reverse kettlebell toss. A super set of these will test any and all friendships. Don’t be in the direction of the toss after an hour of rehab. Rope 1 minute, toss 1 minute. Heavy to light, or vice versa, depending on time constraints. For Will, 1 set totally done with commitment was more beneficial. A finisher from hell or the ice flows. Potato - Paatato.

Will went from 0 to 1000 in a summer (sixty days really). That’s a lifetime to an Eskimo! Our scope of smart and functional mechanics was the driving force for Will’s recovery and his expedition, where he took college kids and made them feel like they were old, beat up walrus meat. That can’t be good. But, he helped them achieve something incredibly adventurous. The message of my article is very important to me: to achieve and accomplish greatness, you only need to deal in truth, not fiction. Trends speak for themselves. When you get asked to create something for a man whose results depend on how good you are at your shit - that is humbling. Will was so pleased with his work, he was kind enough to endorse my book. He also tried to run me over with his car! I guess you could call that a mixed message.

People like Will Steger are my templates for my life. When people say you can’t, your brain says you can. So, with that, I have to go and thaw Will out of my freezer in the garage. It’s work out time.

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Article Information:

This article was featured in the Feb/Mar 2012 Issue of the My Mad Methods Magazine. “The Uber-Athlete: Training for Going Above & Beyond" was written by Ron Morris. Learn more about the My Mad Methods Magazine by Clicking Here

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Contributor Information:

Ron “Hanzo” Morris is an educator and consultant for many agencies, correctional facilities, and college teams. He hold a tactical certification and national recognition for his books and videos, as well as a deep education in martial arts and fitness. Find out more.

Simple Drills For Coordination Development

Coach Ross Enamait demonstrates a few simple drills to enhance reactions, coordination, and more, using nothing but a few sports balls.

From My Mad Methods

Day 3: Calisthenic & Kettlebell Warm Up + Handstand Skill Practice

Day 3 of the Fitness Is Function Workout Program involves a mobility, kettlebell, and calisthenic warm up followed by four handstand practice drills.

Workout Program: Fitness Is Function
Workout Plan: Unconventional Training Basics
Day: 3 of 28

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Purpose/Focus: Mobility, Balance, Conditioning

Difficulty: Beginner-Moderate

Body Parts Used: All
Equipment: Kettlebell

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Day 3: Calisthenic & Kettlebell Warm Up + Handstand Skill Practice Video:

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Day 3: Calisthenic & Kettlebell Warm Up + Handstand Skill Practice Instructions:

Rest as needed between exercises and drills

A: Mobility Drills - 10 reps per Movement
B: Calisthenics - 10 reps per Exercise
C: Kettlebell Swings - 10 reps per Variation
D1: Headstand - 3 x 30-60 sec
D2: Headstand Roll Practice - 3 x 10
D3: Crow - 3 x 30-60 sec
D4: Handstand Kick Up - 3 x 10ES

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Contributor Information:

Mark de Grasse is the owner of MyMadMethods.com, My Mad Methods Magazine, and My Mad Methods Productions. In addition to being a certified trainer specializing in kettlebells and bodyweight training, Mark is also the chief editor and designer of both the website, magazine, and My Mad Methods Productions DVDs. Find out more.

From the Platform to the Pitch: Rugby Conditioning Coach Rithner’s Way

From My Mad Methods

 

From the Platform to the Pitch: Rugby Conditioning Coach Rithner’s Way

Rugby is a complex game. An athlete has to be physically strong AND be able to endure 80 minutes of intense action. Training presents the rugger with a conundrum: do I spend most of my conditioning time running or lifting? What’s more important, strength or endurance? As a strength coach, I would place them as follows:

1. Aerobic capacity and muscular endurance. In rugby, intense action is followed by more action at lower intensity. Rarely the game stops for more than a few seconds. Action cycles (intense play) can last from seconds to a few minutes.

2. Strength. Rugby is, after all, a contact sport. The outcome of many plays is determined by strength and size. Strength is important, but without top aerobic capacity, a strong player becomes nothing more than a hurdle sitting on the pitch.

You must also add explosive power, speed, anaerobic capacity, and speed of recovery. A thorough conditioning program for rugby should address all of these aspects of physical readiness.

Here are two solid workouts for ruggers using kettlebells and other techniques. The athletes in this article are USA Eagles (the USA national team). Nic Johnson plays as #8 on the USA Rugby Union team and Mark “Bok” Bokhoven plays as prop for the USA Olympic Rugby 7s Team.

 

Stranded in Bolivia: Mark "Bok" Bokhoven Workout

Mark’s workout focuses on Muscular endurance and mixed fuels conditioning (a mix of anaerobic and aerobic work)

WARM UP
-Joint Rotation/Dynamic Stretch

MAIN
-Single Half Snatch x 10 x 10/10 (1 minute)

SECONDARY
-Circuit. As many sets as possible in 5 minutes
-Heavy Orbitals x 10/10
-Heavy Off-Side Swing x 20/20
-Hindu Push Up x 10

AEROBIC CONDITIONING
-As many sets as possible in 10 minutes
-15 yards sprint + Core work variations x 10 (i.e. crunches, supermans, etc)

COOL DOWN
-Stretching - 1 x 15 min

Stranded in Bolivia: Nic Johnson Workout

WARM UP
-Joint Rotation/Dynamic Stretch

MAIN
-Double Half Snatch x10 x 8 (2 minutes)

SECONDARY
-Circuit. As many sets as possible in 5 minutes
-Turkish Get Up x 3/3
-Push Up x 15
-Pull Up x 10

AEROBIC CONDITIONING
-Rope skipping x 20 x 30 sec Sprint (15 seconds)

COOL DOWN
-Stretching - 1 x 15 min

 

 

 

 

 

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Article Information:

This article was featured in the Feb/Mar 2012 Issue of the My Mad Methods Magazine. “From the Platform to the Pitch: Rugby Conditioning Coach Rithner’s Way" was written by Nico Rithner. Learn more about the My Mad Methods Magazine by Clicking Here

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Contributor Information:

Nico Rithner is the Colorado Kettlebell Club Head Coach. From this post he trains the general public to achieve multiple fitness and athletic goals and serves Glendale Rugby men team (Raptors) as Strength and Conditioning Coach. Coach Rithner, founded USA Kettlebell Lifting, a non-profit organization devoted to promote the American Rules Kettlebell Sport and other Kettlebell sporting activities, such as Girevoy Sport. Find out more.