Motivation Monday: Roadwork
All hardened, veteran Muaythai fighters are well conditioned to the grind of waking up early in the morning, putting their running shoes on and jogging at least 4-5 miles everday. We all know how much help putting in the roadwork helps, so in today’s article lets go into depth in regards to the real benefits of roadwork, why we need to do regular roadwork and how you can do effective roadwork that really pays off from your devotion and tolerance.
The first simple answer that you may already know is CARDIO. We can all affirm the fact that cardio is the heart of almost every sport especially for Muaythai. Doing roadwork helps developing cardiac power that makes your heart get stronger and pump more blood effectively to all of the organs when exercising. Also, it makes your body more efficient at recovering from activity. On the other hands, our body consists of three different energy systems that we use in the different type of activities and exercises. The first two, ATP-CP and the Lactic Acid System, are used for the fast bouts movement like sprinting really fast or throwing punches rapidly at your top speed. These acts are called Anaerobic and can only last in the short period of time – commonly, not longer than 3 minutes. The third system, the Oxidative System is used for low intensity activity like jogging, walking and slow movement. This kind of activities is known as Aerobic and can last indefinitely.
Therefore, when fighters are on the ring, they require both Anaerobic and Aerobic systems like when they are throwing punches or striking each other at their top speed and when they are moving around the ring trying to circle the opponent. That means in the battle field there are times that boxers need their intense movements as well as low intense moves.
But when you go jogging, you only train your Aerobic stamina, not your Anaerobic stamina. It means jogging at the same speed for 4-5 miles can only give you a one-sided benefit.
The question is how could you turn a normal roadwork program into the effective training for your next fight?
We suggest that instead of only jogging at the same speed for 30 minute, try changing it into the ANaerobic/recovery/ANaerobic demands. Do the mix between slow Jogging as a recovery and Sprinting real fast and maybe add weight exercise to your schedule like working on the tractor tires, kettlebells, sandbags, sleds and other things enabling you to use all of your body strength. Basically, jogging and roadwork will prepare you for the intense workout afterwards and the HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) will again help you ready for your Fight.
Now that you know waking up early in the morning to have your daily Roadwork is not just the waste of the time, we encourage to continue your routine but maybe you add this extra Anaerobic workout schedule into your working out program too.
Tags: Motivation Monday
