When I started this blog my primary concern was increasing my high intensity endurance. This term, which I just made up as far as I know, means my ability to do high intensity work (like sparring, full speed kata, etc.) for a long (relatively speaking) time. I'm sure there are other better names for this, but you get the idea. I was also interested in increasing strength, power, and skill, but mostly in building an endurance base.

One of the tools I used to do that was Tabata intervals. In case you don't remember what they are, the Tabata protocols involve 20s of high intensity work followed by 10 s of rest, repeated some small number of times (maybe 8 or 9, although I tend to do a few big sets of 8 or 9 intervals each). They're named after a Japanese researcher who was studying cyclists.

I still think Tabatas are a great way to build up strength - endurance, or whatever you call it, certainly much better than long slow distance. I personally like them more than other protocols - 30s on/ 30s off, etc., although I'm not going to argue which type of high intensitiy interval training is better, as I'm really not sure.

I was, at the time I started this blog, using kihon (basic techniques) for my exercise. That is, I'd do 20s of roundhouse kicks, rest 10 s, etc. I was basically mixing skill training with my endurance training.

Lately I've been rethinking that approach.

Why? Well, as I learn more about skill acquisition I keep noticing that practicing a skill (like throwing a kick) when you're fatigued might not only be less productive in terms of furthering your neurological mastery of that skill, it might be counterproductive. That is, compare someone who throws 100 kicks with someone who throws 1000 kicks (assuming the 1000 kick guy would be pretty wiped out by doing all those kicks). The 100 kick guy might actually end up a better kicker, because the 1000 kick guy would have practiced a few kicks, say the first 100, while fresh, but he would have practiced many of them while tired, slow, and probably sloppy. The last 100 kicks in the longer workout are actually "teaching" the kicker to kick slowly and un-explosively. The guy who does the shorter workout doesn't practice anything but kicking while fresh.

The problem is that doing my old workout, which was basically kicking and punching oneself into exhaustion, might be bad for one's technique.

The alternative?

There are two. The first is to practice your kihon separately. Do your techniques just a few times, at full power, stop before getting tired, and repeat frequently (as in even many times a day, time permitting). To build up your stamina do something completely unrelated to karate. Sprint, use a Concept II, one armed snatches, whatever, but nothing where fatigued movements will interfere with skill acquisition.

The second, and I think better option, is to mix the two approaches. I like doing kihon to near-exhaustion for a few reasons. It builds up muscular endurance specific to the techniques. For example, nothing will prepare your upper back for high volume punching better than high volume punching. It's also more efficient - you're killing two birds with one stone.

So how to mix the two without causing skill regression? I was thinking of two methods of preventing problems. The first is to alternate upper and lower body movements (so you do 20s upper body, rest 10s, 20 s kicks, rest 10s, OR 8 sets upper body, 8 sets lower body) so the local muscle fatigue never gets high enough to interfere with skill acquisition. That is, don't do kicks until your legs are rubbery - stop and punch for a while. You might be able to get a great cardio workout (your lungs and heart will be fried) without getting enough local muscular fatigue to be a problem.

Another option is to structure your workout so you "finish off" your cardio system with a more general movement, like sprints, but start off with kihon. Say you're doing (like me) 32 overall intervals (8 sets, rest, 8 sets, rest, 8 sets, rest, 8 sets). Your legs and arms might stay fresh for the first 16 total sets, but you find that you're rubbery and slow by the end no matter what. So do your 16 sets of kihon, then move into snatches or sprints or the rower or bodyweight squats or whatever for the lat 16 (or some combination of several different movements).

What you shouldn't do is punch and kick yourself into exhaustion as a regular training method. I think. I'm not positive - I don't know everything there is to know about this whole skill thing, but guys like Pavel and other trainers seem to be pointing me in this direction.

By the way, punching and kicking yourself into exhaustion on occasion is probably good for you. Just not several times a week.

Let me know what you think.

Osu.