Grapplearts: How To Stay Fit for Grappling On Holiday
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Stephan Kesting
Apr 8, 2009, 1:27:16 AM4/8/09
to New Grapplearts Newsletter
Hi there
How many people do you know who gained 10 lbs or more over a
relatively short trip to an all-inclusive resort, or a week of
Christmas celebration? I bet it's a fair number.
Well I've just come back from 7 days in the sunny Caribbean and had to
put this to the test. I thought I'd share some ideas about staying
ready for returning to training, even while you're away from your
regular training routine.
Here are my candidates for the four top factors creating the fitness
implosions (and decrease in grappling skills) that often happen to
both regular people and athletic types while they're away on holidays:
1 - Lack of general exercise
2 - Over-eating
3 - Over-drinking
4 - Lack of sports-specific training
1 - LACK OF GENERAL EXERCISE
On a holiday it's often a struggle to get your exercise gear on and
get sweaty. There are a lot of factors conspiring to keep you on the
couch or on the poolside deck chair.
That's why you have to make getting some sort of exercise a priority.
It doesn't need to be long or super intense - it just needs to be
something.
Personally my goal when I'm on holidays is to get some sort of
cardiovascular, muscular endurance or strength-based exercise every
second day. Sometimes this gets stretched out a bit, and three days go
by without an exercise session, but any more than that and I start to
go off the deep end.
Exercising while you're traveling or visiting new locations ISN'T
about improving your fitness level. You just don't want your body to
forget what you're expecting it to do when you get back to your
regular life and training routine.
It's great if you can find a gym, but that's not always possible.
That's why I always bring my running shoes. You can almost always go
for a quick run, and then find a place to do some pushups and pullups.
On this last seven day beach vacation I only got in three exercise
sessions:
1: a six kilometer jog. Foolishly I did this at the hottest part of
a of a scorchingly hot day on the open asphalt road, so this was no
time to push myself. After the run I spent a few minutes doing
bodyweight calisthenics (pushups, pullups, etc.)
2: a seven kilometer run. This was after I had acclimatized to the
heat a bit, and I also didn't go during the hottest part of the day,
so I could push myself a little bit harder.
3: a short-and-easy bodyweight-only workout.
I know, it's not very impressive. Like I said earlier though - the
goal at these times isn't to improve my fitness level with this
relatively slack regimen. I just want to guard against being totally
out of the fitness loop when I get back to my regular world.
2 - OVER-EATING
Most people's day-to-day lives are busy, and that means that they
don't have hours and hours to stuff their faces. Transplant these
same people onto a cruise ship with an all-you-can-eat buffet and
you'll often see some truly gluttonous behavior!
This is one of many reasons that I don't like staying at all-inclusive
resorts, but it's also a problem if you're visiting people who think
that hospitality means never having an empty bowl of chip dip.
So if you want to be ready to get back to the mats and not feel truly
gross after the holiday is over, then you somehow have to keep the
recreational eating and general gluttony under control.
Find something to amuse you on your holiday other than eating...
3 - OVER-DRINKING
Let's be honest - for a lot of people being on holiday means
drinking. And drinking. And drinking...
Obviously bingeing on alcohol can have pretty serious health
consequences. But even if you don't come down with cirrhosis of the
liver then keep in mind that most alcoholic drinks have a LOT of
calories.
For example, a 12 oz beer has around 150 quick-to-absorb calories.
Given that most of our caloric requirements are somewhere in the 2000
to 3000 calorie per day range, it's easy to see how a few beers a day
can significantly bump your total caloric intake.
The amount of calories in mixed drinks and cocktails are even worse.
(http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/calories-in.html)
When it comes to advice in this area, you've really got to find your
own way. I don't drink (at all), so I'm not the best person to offer
advice in this area other than preaching moderation or abstinence.
More calories from alcohol, combined with overeating and lack of
exercise means crappy performance on the mats.
4 - LACK OF SPORTS-SPECIFIC TRAINING
The first three points are applicable to just about everyone who wants
to avoid the holiday bulge.
However anyone doing BJJ or submission grappling also knows that
grappling skills have a shelf life. If you stop training for a week
or two then your timing, sensitivity and coordination also start
heading south.
Part of the solution is to keep working your skills, even though
you're away from your regular training environment. For some ideas
you can check out what to do when schools and training partners are
hard to find:
http://www.grapplearts.com/Training-Without-Partners.htm
On my last trip my plan was to watch a few BJJ instructional DVDs that
I own but haven't had the time to watch yet.
I know that watching competition or instructional footage keeps my
brain thinking about grappling. This in turn helps keep me sharp even
when I can't physically train, and has even led to some technical
breakthroughs for me.
(As a side note I should mention that it's been discovered that your
body has neurons ("mirror neurons") that fire both when you DO an
activity and when you WATCH an activity. So this suggests that there
is some basis for getting better by watching BJJ, even if you can't do
it)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron
Unfortunately my plan to use mirror neuron stimulation to achieve
world grappling domination failed when my portable DVD player broke,
but it was still a good idea...
There's an old joke that goes "take my advice - I'm not using it..."
Well in this case I actually followed my most of my own advice (other
than the DVD watching)! Hopefully sharing my advice helps someone
avoid the post-holiday grappling blues!
Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com
How many people do you know who gained 10 lbs or more over a
relatively short trip to an all-inclusive resort, or a week of
Christmas celebration? I bet it's a fair number.
Well I've just come back from 7 days in the sunny Caribbean and had to
put this to the test. I thought I'd share some ideas about staying
ready for returning to training, even while you're away from your
regular training routine.
Here are my candidates for the four top factors creating the fitness
implosions (and decrease in grappling skills) that often happen to
both regular people and athletic types while they're away on holidays:
1 - Lack of general exercise
2 - Over-eating
3 - Over-drinking
4 - Lack of sports-specific training
1 - LACK OF GENERAL EXERCISE
On a holiday it's often a struggle to get your exercise gear on and
get sweaty. There are a lot of factors conspiring to keep you on the
couch or on the poolside deck chair.
That's why you have to make getting some sort of exercise a priority.
It doesn't need to be long or super intense - it just needs to be
something.
Personally my goal when I'm on holidays is to get some sort of
cardiovascular, muscular endurance or strength-based exercise every
second day. Sometimes this gets stretched out a bit, and three days go
by without an exercise session, but any more than that and I start to
go off the deep end.
Exercising while you're traveling or visiting new locations ISN'T
about improving your fitness level. You just don't want your body to
forget what you're expecting it to do when you get back to your
regular life and training routine.
It's great if you can find a gym, but that's not always possible.
That's why I always bring my running shoes. You can almost always go
for a quick run, and then find a place to do some pushups and pullups.
On this last seven day beach vacation I only got in three exercise
sessions:
1: a six kilometer jog. Foolishly I did this at the hottest part of
a of a scorchingly hot day on the open asphalt road, so this was no
time to push myself. After the run I spent a few minutes doing
bodyweight calisthenics (pushups, pullups, etc.)
2: a seven kilometer run. This was after I had acclimatized to the
heat a bit, and I also didn't go during the hottest part of the day,
so I could push myself a little bit harder.
3: a short-and-easy bodyweight-only workout.
I know, it's not very impressive. Like I said earlier though - the
goal at these times isn't to improve my fitness level with this
relatively slack regimen. I just want to guard against being totally
out of the fitness loop when I get back to my regular world.
2 - OVER-EATING
Most people's day-to-day lives are busy, and that means that they
don't have hours and hours to stuff their faces. Transplant these
same people onto a cruise ship with an all-you-can-eat buffet and
you'll often see some truly gluttonous behavior!
This is one of many reasons that I don't like staying at all-inclusive
resorts, but it's also a problem if you're visiting people who think
that hospitality means never having an empty bowl of chip dip.
So if you want to be ready to get back to the mats and not feel truly
gross after the holiday is over, then you somehow have to keep the
recreational eating and general gluttony under control.
Find something to amuse you on your holiday other than eating...
3 - OVER-DRINKING
Let's be honest - for a lot of people being on holiday means
drinking. And drinking. And drinking...
Obviously bingeing on alcohol can have pretty serious health
consequences. But even if you don't come down with cirrhosis of the
liver then keep in mind that most alcoholic drinks have a LOT of
calories.
For example, a 12 oz beer has around 150 quick-to-absorb calories.
Given that most of our caloric requirements are somewhere in the 2000
to 3000 calorie per day range, it's easy to see how a few beers a day
can significantly bump your total caloric intake.
The amount of calories in mixed drinks and cocktails are even worse.
(http://www.modern-wine-cellar.com/calories-in.html)
When it comes to advice in this area, you've really got to find your
own way. I don't drink (at all), so I'm not the best person to offer
advice in this area other than preaching moderation or abstinence.
More calories from alcohol, combined with overeating and lack of
exercise means crappy performance on the mats.
4 - LACK OF SPORTS-SPECIFIC TRAINING
The first three points are applicable to just about everyone who wants
to avoid the holiday bulge.
However anyone doing BJJ or submission grappling also knows that
grappling skills have a shelf life. If you stop training for a week
or two then your timing, sensitivity and coordination also start
heading south.
Part of the solution is to keep working your skills, even though
you're away from your regular training environment. For some ideas
you can check out what to do when schools and training partners are
hard to find:
http://www.grapplearts.com/Training-Without-Partners.htm
On my last trip my plan was to watch a few BJJ instructional DVDs that
I own but haven't had the time to watch yet.
I know that watching competition or instructional footage keeps my
brain thinking about grappling. This in turn helps keep me sharp even
when I can't physically train, and has even led to some technical
breakthroughs for me.
(As a side note I should mention that it's been discovered that your
body has neurons ("mirror neurons") that fire both when you DO an
activity and when you WATCH an activity. So this suggests that there
is some basis for getting better by watching BJJ, even if you can't do
it)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron
Unfortunately my plan to use mirror neuron stimulation to achieve
world grappling domination failed when my portable DVD player broke,
but it was still a good idea...
There's an old joke that goes "take my advice - I'm not using it..."
Well in this case I actually followed my most of my own advice (other
than the DVD watching)! Hopefully sharing my advice helps someone
avoid the post-holiday grappling blues!
Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com
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