Here is some input on sport specific conditioning (mainly for MMA). I ran across a thread on the UG and thought it would go well here.
This is simly a philosophy I have seen work well, not the be all and end all for conditioning. Nor is it the only way to condition... but it is a step in the right direction and will work well if you have a competition coming up.
Hope you find it useful.
For myself and the guys I train, it depends what event we are training for.
I have found that long distance running doesnt translate very well as a conditioning mechanism for fighting sports.
I am not concerned with how long / far you can run or how well you perform after 1 hr of physical activity. For MMA I am concerned with how much effort you can put out for 3 rounds @ 5 minutes with a one minute break. I am concerned with how well you can perform and move @ 85 - 95 % of your maximum heart rate over 5 minutes and how low you can get your heart rate during the 1 minute recovery period.
For example I would train someone by having them lift heavy objects and do sport specific movements & sprints @ a heart rate of about 175 - 190 BPM for 5 minutes. They are in good shape (depending on the person) when, in the 1 minute rest period, they can get their heart rate back down to about 130 - 140 BPM.
I think a great example was the UFC 65 / Jeff Monson video that was out recently on Spike. His training was almost identical to the type of trianing I run people through in preperation for fights. It is amazing how effective pushing cars is!
QUESTION:
"1) Regarding dropping your heart rate to about 130-140 after 1 minute, are your tracking that with a heart rate monitor so that at the end of the minute that's what the digital readout tells you (as opposed to counting for the last 10 seconds and multiplying by 6, or something like that)?"
ANSWER:
I use either one... they both work fine. I use the numbers as benchmarks only. It doesn't have to be exact, just consistant. (consistant = tracking the same way each time so you can see improvement or decline)
QUESTION:
"2) And where do you like the heartbeat to be after 30-seconds?"
ANSWER:
I have never tracked that
QUESTION:
"3) And do you & your guys do any interval sprints? Personally I like to do four 2-minute treadmill runs at 10 MPH with an incline of 1. I'll rest 30 seconds between each 2-minute "round" or "sprint". I'll do this to warm my muscles up before I get into the weights/plyo stuff."
ANSWER:
Interval training works remarkably well and we work this into our training alot. I like to build it around the round structure we are competing in though. Most our fights are 3 x 4 minute rounds. So we sprint for 10 to 25 seconds / jog for 30 seconds and do this for 4 minutes / rest 1 minute / repeat..