MMA training – tempo method for muscular endurance

Article by Khurram Aziz

Increasing your ability to utilise your oxidative energy system (i.e. your aerobic capacity), efficiently, is fundamental to producing a high work rate throughout a three round or a five round fight. To that end, most of my supplemental MMA training has focused on long slow distance runs, training at a moderate pace for 60-90 minutes. At these intensities, over that length of time, my body is being trained aerobically leading to a more efficient cardiovascular system.

Another method for increasing your oxidative capacity is to increase the ability of your muscles to use oxygen as a fuel. Tempo method or continuous training, is designed to specifically target those muscle fibres which are best adapted to using oxygen – the slow-twitch muscle fibres. These muscle fibres are much more efficient at utilising oxygen for energy in comparison to fast-twitch fibres, which are better at using ATP/Creatine-Phosphate and glycogen.

Tempo method

Tempo method focuses on time under tension (TUT) to get the desired result. The protocol I’m working on in my MMA training requires lifting weights of around 60% of my 1-rep max (RM) at a slow pace – 2-0-2-0. This means lowering the weight at a slowly over 2 seconds, no pause at the bottom, then lifting the weight at a controlled pace for 2 seconds, and then repeating without any pause at the top. The muscles are in constant tension during the set, no matter how many reps you do.

I use big multi-joint movements, such as the squat, bench press and shoulder press, to target the maximum number of muscles.

In his book, Ultimate MMA Conditioning, Joel Jamieson recommends picking 3-4 strength exercises and performing 8-10 reps for between 3-5 sets. Rest periods should be limited to 45 seconds MAX between each set going up to 6-8 minutes between each exercise.

I use the “big 4” lifts – squat, bench press, dead lift and shoulder press, performing each exercise at a 2-0-2-0 pace:

Exercise Intensity Reps Sets Rest between setsSquat 60% of 1RM 8-10 3-5 45 secondsShoulder press 60% of 1RM 8-10 3-5 45 secondsBench press 60% of 1RM 8-10 3-5 45 secondsDead lift 60% of 1RM 8-10 3-5 45 seconds

6-8 minutes active rest between each exercise (shadow boxing)Effects of tempo training

After only four weeks of tempo training, it is hard to tell what effect this mode of strength training has had on my muscular endurance.

According to the literature, slow-twitch fibres which are crucial for endurance are not fully recruited during rapid explosive movements. Only slow movements, which cause the slow-twitch fibres to be under tension long enough can cause adaptation in these fibres to take place.

One article which discusses this is written by Thomas V Pipes, entitled Strength Training and Fiber Types. In it, Pipes takes muscle biopsies of an athlete before and after pre-determined training microcycles.

Pipes found that following a routine in which 8 reps (at the 8 RM) were used, the fast twitch muscle fibers of the trained muscle (in this case the quadricep via the leg press) hypertrophied.

However, he also found that the slow twitch muscle fibres atrophied (i.e., got smaller); and he also found that the number of reps the athlete could perform at 80% of his 1 RM decreased, yet his 1 RM increased. The athlete was then placed on a routine using 12 reps (at his 12 RM). This time the muscle biopsy showed that hypertrophy did in fact take place, but that this time it was in the slow twitch muscle fibres. Not only that but the fast twitch fibres atrophied and the number of reps possible at 80% 1 RM went up, while his 1 RM decreased.

What this shows is that with increased reps, i.e. an increase in TUT, using a lighter weight, slow twitch fibres are targeted preferentially to fast twitch fibres. In other words, muscular endurance increases in preference to maximum strength.

This correlates with the real-world example of bodybuilders. Bodybuilders have long used the principle of TUT to increase overall muscle hypertrophy. The result is muscles which are capable of a remarkable degree of endurance but poor maximum strength in comparison to other weight trained athletes.

Another study I found relating to this was conducted by Dr Patrick O’Shea, Professor Emeritus of exercise and sports science at Oregon State University (http://cbass.com/SLOWFAST.HTM).

He used electromyography (EMG) to study muscle recruitment order of muscle fibre types in the quadriceps of a trained athlete during execution of a one repetition squat with progressively increasing loads.

Starting with 60% of 1 RM, O’Shea found that the slow-twitch fibres contributed 60% to the effort and fast-twitch fibres 40%. At 100% maximum effort, however, the percentage of slow-twitch fibres involved was found to be only 5%, while fast-twitch fibres contributed 95%. So lighter loads have been shown to target slow twitch fibres better than heavier loads.

Conclusion

That’s the limit of my understanding at the moment. Using tempo training as part of your overall MMA training you can effectively target slow twitch fibres, increase their cross-sectional area and make your muscles better able to utilise oxygen as a fuel.

How far this contributes to the body becoming a better aerobic “machine”, however, I think is still open to debate. There may be another mechanism by which TUT leads to greater muscular endurance.

I posed this question on Joel Jamieson’s forum, where I learnt of tempo training in the first place, and got the following reply:

“The way I understand it, at least in theory, is that the hypertrophy of slow twich muscles reduces their “oxidativeness”, because mitochondrial density declines. Meaning, the same number of mitochondia have to produce energy for a larger mass of muscle. So there is less O2 energy available per unit of muscle. However, if mitochondia and capillaries also increased, which happens with aerobic training, it might not matter and O2 capabilities could potentially improve which would help reduce fatigue. Is tempo training equiv to aerobic training? Not sure!However, generally with more muscle hypertrophy (more muscle fibre protoplasm) the same workload’s lactic acid can be spread over a larger volume, and not affect PH locally as much. So performance decline should be more gradual, increasing endurance. Since muscles generally have mixed fibre composition, and faster twitch are known to hypertrophy more easily and more than slow twitch, there is a good chance this has something to do with it as well.”There are articles which I’ve seen that say that hypoxia (depriving muscles of oxygen) can lead to hypertrophy, so the continuous training, i.e. sets performed with no pauses between reps, can deprive muscles of oxygen long enough to cause hypertrophy.

Finally, Joel himself had something to say on this topic:

“The physiology of tempo training as I’ve described I’ve found pretty much only in some obscure Russian textbooks and I was first introduced to the method by Val of Omegawave. The cause of the local hypoxia has to do with the overall tempo, not pausing at the top or bottom of the rep and the overall loading. This is how slow twitch muscles are targeted, not just being you’re ‘going slow’ exactly.That’s not to say fast twitch fibres aren’t working as well, clearly they are, but from what I’ve read it is effective at increasing slow twitch hypertrophy and I can’t argue with the results I’ve seen so it’s obviously doing something. Slow twitch fibres, by their very nature, are extremely dense with mitochondria so you can’t assume that increasing their cross-sectional area is automatically going to lead to a decrease in mitochondrial density. Even if this were the case, other forms of more direct aerobic work can easily increase mitochondria within these fibres anyway.”

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Tempting Tempo Training

Article by Curt Shryack

Anaerobic Threshold more commonly referred to as Lactate Threshold is an often misunderstood term. A greater understanding of Lactate Threshold will offer great benefits to endurance athletes. In the following article I will explain in simple terminology Lactate Threshold. How a runner can determine Lactate Threshold pace. And ways to better optimize your Lactate Threshold training.

The term Lactate Threshold or LT for short is the exercise intensity at which lactate starts to accumulate in the blood stream. This happens when it is produced faster than it can be removed. When exercising below the AT intensity any lactate produced by the muscles is removed by the body without it building up Lactate Threshold can be increased greatly with training.

A commonly held belief is that Lactate Threshold is exactly 85% of an endurance athlete’s maximum heart rate. Lactate Threshold is actually a moving range. Depending on the fitness of an athlete this range will move up and down from 80-95% of maximum heart rate.

Determining your Lactate Threshold pace is crucial to gain its benefits. After a period of endurance running, referred to as base building. Begin to add runs that last approximately 20 minutes in length. LT pace will be at just below the pace when your leg muscles start to feel heavy. Another way to determine LT pace is by perceived effort. The perceived effort is just below the onset of a burning sensation in the leg muscles or lungs.

Runners can use heart rate monitors to determine their LT pace. Running a 5k race and taking the average heart rate minus 5 beats a very accurate Lactate Threshold effort can be determined.

For example a runner finishes a 5k race and checks the average heart rate for the race. An average heart rate of 157 is given. Subtracting 5 beats from this number will show an LT heart rate of 152.

When running tempo runs do not strain to run at the LT heart rate. The LT heart rate is the maximum heart rate to be achieved when running at tempo pace. Instead gradually increase the effort, until your perceived effort starts to feel uncomfortable. Starting out at too hard an effort will shorten the length of the tempo run.

A good rule of thumb to follow is to begin easily and as the body warms up increase the pace until the desired heart rate is obtained. Decrease pace when the upper limit of heart rate for tempo run is reached. Continue pace for 20 minutes.

As fitness improves lengthen time of your tempo run. Retest every 4 weeks to determine if threshold has risen. Your improvement will level off. This is normal; each person has their maximum level of improvement.