Hitting the dreaded Plateau

[disgruntled]

i just saw some advice on a body building show about how to get past a plateau in your work out.

- take a week off. often a plateau is because you are over training.

- start exercising after that at 20% weight, but more focused on the muscle you are working. you want to use less weight so you can concentrate on training your body how to do a movement (lift) while isolating a specific muscle. you goal is to create neural pathways, not muscle. but by focusing on a muscle and isolating it you will gain muscle and a lot of strength during this period.

- change the movements that you have been doing. if you are isolating the muscles, you have not been over training and you are still at a platue it could because your body has adjusted to doing the movement that you are doing. try to find another movement that works the muscle you want. it will use the muscle differently and thus give it a work out.



how can we translate this to martial arts?

i have some ideas how this method can be used in MAs. like above, take a week off.

after, we cannot really work at 20% given the nature of MAs, but we can do all of our techniques 20% speed. slow down all you movements and make sure you are doing the motions perfectly. this will achieve the same goal. you are isolating the muscles longer for each movement and strengthening those neural networks.

after you have mastered that, you could add wrist/ankle wraps. normally on this website, we would strongly discourage the use of ankle/wrist wraps, but if you are doing all your motions slow and controlled, you will not injure yourself.

finally, if you have done all that and you are still at a plateau, you need to change up your routine. that could mean shifting your concenration to: speed, strength, or height. but it also might be a good time to incorporate some cross training into your routine to move those muscles in a novel way. or you could start incorporating weight training into your routine.

[DuleDragon]

why are ankle and wrist weights normally a bad idea?

[sirdarksol]

For several reasons. The main reason is that, if you use them while putting any force behind your attacks, the momentum of the weight continues to pull while your muscles have stopped your limb. The result is a pull on the joints in the limb, and those joints were made to deal with compression, not expansion (in other words, they can handle pressure toward the body, but not away).

You can do the moves slower, but you aren't affecting the muscles that are most used in strikes as much, and the weights are pulling down more than pushing back.

Many doctors suggest against ankle weights for walking, as well. They drag your gait off, and can mess up your hips and back.

[disgruntled]

you are right, you need a force to push you back, not pull you down....... i would say that it would still be helpful because when you are tired you limbs feel like a hundred pounds and it is really hard to keep your hands up...... so weights will help with that...... what about those elastic band things? they could also be used. and they should give that resistance that is beneficial.

[sirdarksol]

Great minds think alike. I've actually tried them, though I can't get the concept to work quite right. Maybe if you put a hook in a wall and attached the bands to them, it would work.
What I have done that works is using a heavy punching/kicking bag. Don't execute for speed, but for strength. Push all the way through (though don't overextend your reach).

[disgruntled]

with a bag though, you only have resistance at the end, and you likely already practice like that. to change up the routine and target the same muscles differently, you would want tension the entire time.

[sirdarksol]

Agreed, though you can do this to some extent by standing closer to the bag. This allows you to practice striking a closer assailant.

[disgruntled]

huh, good point. never thought of that.

[sirdarksol]

Still, it would be nice to have added resistance through a full-extension punch without killing your joints.

[disgruntled]

does the hard jolt of impacting the bag damage joints?