This is the first in a series of six articles on things I have learned from High-Intensity Resistance Training that have influenced my approach to martial arts.
As he was for many, Bruce Lee was my gateway into the world of martial arts. Actually, the first movie I ever saw was not one of his movies, but one made about him: Dragon – The Bruce Lee Story. In that movie, it showed him holding a copy of Tao of Jeet Kune Do (an anachronism, since that wasn’t published until he was dead, and it wasn’t really a “book” so much as it was a collection of his notes, compiled into something that resembled the organization of a book).
I bought the book and subsequently began to read anything and everything he wrote that I could find. Part of this exploration led me to discover the fact that Bruce was one of the first martial artists who believed practitioners needed to adopt an exercise program into their training. We could perform our art so much better if we were stronger, healthier physical specimens.
Ah, but how to do that?
The hunt began.
Who Has Time for Exercise?
As martial artists, we already devote a lot of time to practicing our art. If you agree with Bruce’s ideas on exercise, you will be disheartened when you find out how most workout programs are structured.
Let’s look at the cardio workout Insanity, developed by a gentleman named Shaun T. This program has you working out six days a week. Most sessions are 40-45 minutes. There is one that is a little less than that. Then there are some that go 60 minutes or longer.
Who has the time to do that six days per week? I don’t know who does, but I can tell you who doesn’t: anyone who is a serious martial artist!
However, as it turns out, we don’t need it.
Danny Xuan, John Little, and High Intensity Training
I read a book called Tao of Wing Chun, which had two authors: Danny Xuan and John Little. At one point in the book, Sifu Xuan talked about exercise. He mentioned that his co-author had helped write a book called Body by Science, in which they laid out an exercise program that you did only once a week for 30 minutes max.
Get out of here, I thought. How can that possibly be effective?
Well, I was determined to find out. I ordered Body by Science and tore through it. By the time I was done, I thought to myself, “If this is even half true, then there might be something to it.”
The other author of the book (Doug Mcguff) had a website, on which he had a “find a trainer” page. I plugged in my zip code and found a place in Albany, NY. (For reference’s sake, I live in Troy, NY, which is about fifteen minutes away.) One phone call later, I had set up a free session.
I went in a skeptic.
I came out a believer.
From just one set of slow leg presses, my muscles were so sore that it hurt to climb the stairs to my second-floor apartment. It brought the pain in a way that P90X, Insanity, and all the others hadn’t brought in a long time.
Why There is No “Interval” and How High Intensity Training Works
When I say “High Intensity Training,” most people think of High Intensity Interval Training. That is not what this is. Interval Training is a stop-start workout: brief bursts of intensity followed by long stretches of “steady state” activity.
High Intensity Training is slow throughout the entire routine. It involves lifting weights slowly, stopping just short of locking out your limbs, and then stopping just short of setting them down.
It can be hard to explain in words, so allow me to provide a visual. Here is my coach Jay Vincent leading me through a session:
The reason this exercise works is because you are keeping the muscles under tension for the entire lift. What you see most people in the gym doing is flailing their arms around like someone who just walked into a cobweb. They are using momentum to move the weights, which is never going to get them any results.
I’m not sure who originally said this, but it was one of the High Intensity Training proponents: “The idea of exercise is not to just make weights go up and down. It’s to put the muscle under tension long enough to trigger an adaptive response.”
Slower reps, shorter duration, more intense workout. That is how you fit martial arts and exercise into your schedule.
What High Intensity Training Taught Me About the Human Body
First, it taught me that we are always at war with our bodies. We are trying to lose fat so we can be healthier, but our bodies don’t know that. All the body knows is you are trying to use a lot of energy, and it doesn’t want to!
This is because, thanks to evolution, our bodies have developed into energy-conserving machines. Centuries ago, when we didn’t live in houses and being attacked by vicious animals was more likely, our bodies learned to hold on to as much energy as they could because no one could predict when you suddenly had to run from a mountain lion. The less energy spent, the better, so it was all stored up if we needed to flee.
Second (and tied to the mountain lion example), our bodies don’t know what kind of stress is happening. The body cannot tell if we are lifting weights or running from an animal. All it knows is that it is being put under a massive amount of stress. Should we survive, the body realizes, “Damn, that was intense. I am wiped out! Well, I better adapt and get stronger or else I might not make it if that happens again, whatever it was!”
Third, I learned what the terms “fast-twitch” and “slow-twitch” really mean. Most folks think it is in relation to which muscle fibers come into play with slow or fast movements, but that’s not what they are. Instead, these terms relate to the pace at which a muscle fiber is fatigued. With that being the case, our bodies have evolved so that it takes an incredible amount of tension/stress before the fast-twitch fibers will come into play. (This is known as “muscle recruitment.”)
When someone does a “steady state” exercise routine for an hour or more, they might think they got a hell of a workout due to the length of the class. In reality, they didn’t get much of anything out of it because they never recruited those fast-twitch fibers.
How Did This Influence My Training?
There are many ways HIT has changed the way I train. Some of them will be discussed over the following months, so I won’t name them all right now. Instead, I am going to start with just one: frequency.
Now I’m not saying that I train my Wing Chun skills only once a week. Hardly. However, due to HIT, I have come to realize that “more” does not always equal “more.”
What do I mean? Simple: once your form starts to go south, it’s time to stop.
That seems like common sense, but not everyone believes in it. They think that if they practice every waking hour of every day, they will develop faster reflexes or stronger punches or higher kicks.
That’s just not how it works. Every day, we have a capacity for how much improvement we can see. That depends on how much training we can handle. Once we go past that point, our form suffers, and we might actually see our skills regress instead of improve.
HIT also helped me learn how to take it easy, to give myself a rest, to sit home and relax and enjoy my surroundings instead of constantly training. I learned this from HIT because it was necessary. Once you do this exercise, you can’t do anything that requires a lot of exertion for a few days. In other words, practicing forms and techniques would be okay, but sparring would be out.
Conclusion
Discovering the HIT exercise protocol wasn’t just a light bulb moment for me; it was supernova moment. All at once, I was able to see how a workout routine was possible even if my schedule was already crammed with forms, punches, kicks, and sparring.
However, I bet there are some folks out there who might have one burning question: “That’s all well and good for the strengthening part of an exercise routine, but what about cardio? What about stamina? What about endurance?”
That will be discussed next month.
~~~Steve Grogan
NOTE – Steve Grogan is looking for people to coach through this exercise program. If you don’t live anywhere near him (he is in upstate NY), the workouts can be done via Skype or some other video chat platform. Contact him via email, with the subject line “saw your Martial Journal article on HIRT.”
geekwingchun@gmail.com
His YouTube channel (Geek Wing Chun) gives free training tips and ideas for people who want to get better at Wing Chun but can't make it to class as often as they'd like. Check it out by simply typing "Geek Wing Chun" into the YouTube search field!
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