Explosive power

[Kung Fu boy]

hey, I already posted this question in the main section of powerlifting, but I was redirected here...
just resently got into a weight-gym, lots of fun stuff to do now :P
I do combat arts (such as muay thai, kung fu/san shou, boxing and kickboksing).
basicly I'd like (explosive)power, and I'm looking for a number of reps, and sets.....
I'm not looking to max strength, I'm not going to lift and hold the other guy up during the fight, I want my punches to "feel like he tryed kissing the expresstrain", I have technique, I have speed, strength and power, I'd just like more of it :P

so far, a friend has said I should do 4 reps, 5 sets for explosive power......

any thoughts^^?

[GoJu]

hey, I already posted this question in the main section of powerlifting, but I was redirected here...
just resently got into a weight-gym, lots of fun stuff to do now :P
I do combat arts (such as muay thai, kung fu/san shou, boxing and kickboksing).
basicly I'd like (explosive)power, and I'm looking for a number of reps, and sets.....
I'm not looking to max strength, I'm not going to lift and hold the other guy up during the fight, I want my punches to "feel like he tryed kissing the expresstrain", I have technique, I have speed, strength and power, I'd just like more of it :P

so far, a friend has said I should do 4 reps, 5 sets for explosive power......

any thoughts^^?

olympic squats (front and back) for 5 sets of 5-6 reps
snatches and clean&jerks for 5-8 sets of 2-3 reps
box jumps for 8-10 sets of 3-5 reps

max strength strength is never a bad thing in a fight, I train in Goju-Ryu karate and strength DOES help.

[James456]

olympic squats (front and back) for 5 sets of 5-6 reps
snatches and clean&jerks for 5-8 sets of 2-3 reps
box jumps for 8-10 sets of 3-5 reps

max strength strength is never a bad thing in a fight, I train in Goju-Ryu karate and strength DOES help.

Agree. If you want to maximise your expolsive power you definately want to increase your max strength as well

[raffiki]

Following a weightlifting training porgram will do fine for you. For snatches, cleans, and jerks you can do 1-5 reps. For squats and presses you can do 1-10 reps. Use a different number of reps each month to make sure you keep progressing. As for sets, that depends on how often you are lifting and how often you are fighting. If you are doing something everyday, then you only really need 1 or 2 sets with a challenging weight.

[John Prophet]

the word "strength" has many meanings because there r many type sof strength. U r saying you want explosive strength as opposed to "absolute" strength. Absolute strength is just 1rm strength like a powerlifter used...u aint gonna need a ton of that in a fight.

your friend said 5 sets of 4 reps. Thats not a bad idea or something in that range. The thing is though, u have to have the right weight. If its a weight that u BARELY get 4 with (grinding out slow reps), then u r still training absolute strength

so u need to pick a weight u can probably do 6-8 reps with and THEN do your multiple sets of 4. But dont just "cruise" the weight up...EXLODE it up or else you are wasting time.

here is a chart based on explosive strength training...it was developed by checking the training logs etc of hundreds of russian olympic weightlifters. Thats about as explosive as it gets so it should be a good guide for u

http://www.angelfire.com/pe/txpls/prilephin.html

for example, if your bench max is 225, then u look at the chart and lets say u want to use 165 for some explosive work. Ok, 165 is like 73% of 225. So the chart says to do 3-6 reps per set and that 18 reps total is optimal but the range of from 12-24 should be good.

So what r your options?

anywhere from 4 sets of 3 to 8 sets of 3
anywhere from 2 sets of 6 to 4 sets of 6
3x5 to 4x5

3x4, 4x4, 5x4, 6x4

etc etc

its based on bar speed. Any heavier for that amount of reps, or anymore reps for that weight and the bar will probably slow down so u lose explosiveness.

now if u benched 225 max, u could probably grind out sets of 4 with a heavier weight but at some point the bar speed gets slow and u are training more absolute strength. for instance the chart suggest 85% as the highest weight u could do 5x4 with and that is at the high end of the spectrum

[™da1™]

Yea he is damn right ^^^^^^^^^^

if u wanna to be more explosive triain fast and explosive

the 4 reps inst like u gonna be pushing it up like a streghnt workout takeing a couple seconds it has to be as fast as possible and explosive as possible

[James456]

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/vertical_jump.htm

This article a good read its about the vertical jump but i am sure you could apply it to your fighting

[Kung Fu boy]

hmmm, thanks for all the feedback guys^^

now, more spesifcly, I love the leg press and leg extensions....

so I should basicly do 3 or 4 reps with weigth that I'd manage to do 5 or 6 reps with...around 10 sets....
should I do them slowly down and as fast as possible up?

[ehlpitel]

Your freind sounds like he's more or less on the right track, but then again I'm not a strength trainer.

IMO, if you want more power in your punches, hit the heavy bag as much as you can, along with a decent amount of sparring.

You don't learn how to develop power for your punches from leg presses and leg extensions.

[Kung Fu boy]

Your freind sounds like he's more or less on the right track, but then again I'm not a strength trainer.

IMO, if you want more power in your punches, hit the heavy bag as much as you can, along with a decent amount of sparring.

You don't learn how to develop power for your punches from leg presses and leg extensions.
yeah, but they'll help my kick right^_^?
(I forgot to mention I'm looking to improve my kicks as well, I don't only do boxing, I do muay thai and kickboxing and san shou, alle of which are more kicking then punchin' really..)

I'm already doing heavy bag training with both punches and kicks and also do heavy sparring, so it's basicly the weigths I don't kno jack about xD..

[ehlpitel]

Do you train with anyone?

As in a fighting gym?

Best bet would be to ask some of your training partners what they think.

[Naix]

Leg presses and extensions are garbage for what you want to do.

Front and back squats are all you need.

[sillz100]

Leg presses and extensions are garbage for what you want to do.
x2

[Kung Fu boy]

Front and back squats are all you need.
I'll do those, thanks^^

oh, another kickbokser said that whatever I was "lifting", I should do the lifts as quick as possible, and 3 sets: first one of 8 reps, then 10, then 15.....

does this make any sence? I mean, from all I've read so far, that reps/set ratio will work towards building muscle mass, right? that's not what I'm after, right?

[Kiknskreem]

Front and back squats are all you need.

Hardly.... an MMA fighter would definitely benefit greatly from performing olympic lifts and their variants.

[Kung Fu boy]

still wondering a bitt on the reps/sets thingy, but another thing just popped up, how lond should I rest my legs after working em out before working em out again?

[ehlpitel]

still wondering a bitt on the reps/sets thingy, but another thing just popped up, how lond should I rest my legs after working em out before working em out again?
A day or two IMO.

[rogan181]

for some reason i always liked cleans with the sand bags for fighting, seems like itd work out well being that its real weight instead of a bar...

but setsxreps i think 4x5 or 5x5 would be great...front squats, incline bench press, squats, dead lift, clean and press, and dips would all be good excersizes

[rogan181]

still wondering a bitt on the reps/sets thingy, but another thing just popped up, how lond should I rest my legs after working em out before working em out again?

depends how you feel, im usually fine after one day, but if i havnt worked legs in a while and then have a really intesne workotu it can take up to 3 days, also recovery supplements, sleep and food help alot