Anaerobic training

[evelinadatta]

Do you guys have any tips on improving one's anaerobic capacity? Is it possible to change that? What type of exercises should I do?

My aerobic capacity is quite good, but I feel very tired when I have to do short super intensive activities.

To clarify, I would like this for my martial arts training; not sure if doing something like sprints would contribute to that... is the anaerobic capacity related to the specific muscles? Or is it the heart? I do go to martial arts class twice a week but I'm looking for anything I can do on my own outside of class.

Thanks!!

[FitChick99]

Yes, do sprints, or any kind of short burst, high intensity activity--jump rope, spinning (with enough speed and resistance), stairs, anything that gets your heart rate up fast. This is easily done with intervals. Start the activity out and be conscious to breathe through your nose, when you have to breathe through your mouth to get enough air, that is an easy indicator that you are about at your anaerobic threshold. Continue past that for a bit, recover, and repeat. With consistent training, you will be able to go longer before you hit your threshold and will also be able to continue after it longer and with more ease.

If you're looking to improve certain muscles, that is where weight training comes in. You can get your heart rate up quickly and high with HEAVY lifting, such as in a circuit with little rest in between exercises, but, if you really want to increase your anaerobic capacity, I wouldn't just rely on this.

Good luck!

[Dirty Martini]

Agreed, though I think you can rely just on weight lifting if you want. You just change up your workouts/routine to meet your goals.

A lot of people who do MMA do the following to improve their agility and skills:

1. weight lifting (both high rep + moderate weight and low rep + heavy weight)
2. interval training

[slicknickns]

martial arts? what kind? if you're boxing or in striking a lot, hell even with wrestling, your going to need some long runs.
You want to take this **** (mod edited) seriously start running long, at least 5 miles. Don't forget the sprints though, you're going to need fartleks/sprints while you're running.

What exactly is your 'martial art'? How long have you been doing this? Do you spar? Amateur? Tell me more.

[Dirty Martini]

Where do you get your training information? Why would you recommend long 5+ mile runs to someone who should probably be focusing on building their type II muscle fibers?

[evelinadatta]

Thanks for all the tips! Below are some more details about what I'm currently doing/looking for.

The martial art I do is jujitsu (the traditional Japanese style, not the Brazilian). We do sort of sparring sessions (although no hard contact allowed), and that is what I would like to improve my anaerobic ability for. They are very short, high-intensity sessions. E.g. Fight for 2 minutes, then take a 5 minute break, then fight again for 2 minutes, and so on. After about the 3th-4th repetition of this, I find myself all shaking and it's really difficult to go on.

We do a lot of grappling, etc. We don't punch at each other much (only rarely when we wear special protective equipment). I do sometimes punch/kick on the punching bag though, and noticed that I get tired easily. (Right now I am not doing the punching because recovering from a shoulder injury). I am looking for something I can do on my own though without special equipment (I can't fit a punching bag in my apartment :)).

I do run a lot, I ran a marathon a couple of years ago, and although my schedule now does not allow for such long running sessions, I run about 4-5 miles often. Why would that be anaerobic though? I always thought that running is aerobic activity.

I will definitely look into the jumping rope, intervals, exercises.

I am now recovering from a shoulder injury, but before that I did some weight training (for about 6 months) - I saw great results for that for my overall physyque and am looking forward to going back, but I don't think it had much effect on my sparring one way or the other.

[slicknickns]

Where do you get your training information? Why would you recommend long 5+ mile runs to someone who should probably be focusing on building their type II muscle fibers?

My training information comes my own experiences.
Long runs with good sprints will help type II muscle fibers.
Your also forgetting the importance of stamina and having a 'long wind' in martial arts.


evelinadatta, shadow box. Shadow Boxing is the best for you hand speed, reflexes and punch accuracy. Running is aerobic. Doing fartleks and doing aerobic type activities will cross over into your martial arts