Unfortunately, particularly here in the US, our exposure to general physical development sucks. Due to a lack of proper physical education in our school system and the fact that our kids are usually pushed into specializing in particular sports at a very young age, proper physical fitness training is nearly non-existent. As a result athletes usually experience shorter competitive careers and increased injury rates unlike athletes who are more highly qualified.
I have spent a good portion of my 20+ years as a trainer working with combat sports athletes, including wrestlers, BJJ players, and MMA fighters. The wrestlers I've trained, as well as the grapplers and fighters with wrestling backgrounds, are some of the best conditioned, most resilient athletes I've ever worked with. It's no surprise that a significant portion of a wrestler's training is dedicated to the development of physical fitness.
I am currently working with some BJJ players who are getting ready for competition and need some serious work on their general conditioning and muscular endurance. Two in particular are quite strong in regard to maximal strength and it's benefits for BJJ, but are seriously lacking in aerobic capacity and muscular endurance. One of the best forms of training for this is good old fashioned circuit training. My favorite forms are resistance for circuit training are bodyweight and kettlebells. Circuit training with bodyweight and light kettlebells is a great way to build muscular endurance and increase cardiovascular fitness and overall conditioning.
The Shingitai "Six-Pack"
"Strength and Conditioning Secrets of the World's Greatest Fighters" is hands down the best book on physical training for combat athletes I've ever read. The author is John Saylor, a multiple time national Judo champion, coach and owner of Shingitai Jiu Jitsu Association. You can learn more about John and pick up his books by clicking here!
A great workout that John presents in his book is something he refers to as the Shingitai Six-Pack. Basically six exercises you perform in a circuit. On this surface it may look very basic and it is! This is an excellent example of how the ultra basics deliver the best results. By working a series like the Six-Pack hard and building up to very high reps and athlete will experience superior gains in muscular endurance, conditioning, and joint integrity through the development of the connective tissues. This will make the athlete extremely well conditioned and more resilient to injury. If an athlete spends a great deal of time working on their general physical preparedness and builds a tremendous base, they will be able to tolerate higher training volumes and intensities as they progress allowing for the highest levels of physical development to be attained in their sport career.
The Shingitai Six-Pack is simple and requires little equipment. The core exercises are:
- Neck Bridging
- Hindu Squats
- Hindu Push-Ups
- Pull-Ups
- Glute/Hamstring Raise (GHR)
- Sit-Ups
John does note that you may regress or progress the exercises based on the athlete's level of physical preparedness. For instance move to single leg squats, jumping squats, etc.
Since my athletes have been using this method for their conditioning, I decided to add it in as part of my personal program as well and found this to be a great means of training. Some of the guidelines we use are to perform the six exercises in a circuit format with no rest between exercises and a short rest between circuits in which we strive to reduce the rest interval to 30 seconds or less. We begin most exercises in the 10-15 rep range and increase reps over time and perform a total of 3-5 circuits. This makes the workout only 10-20 minutes in length. If you don't have a GHR bench at your gym you can easily substitute back extensions or kettlebell swings. If you don't have those options find a new gym!
My experience with the Six-Pack.
For my first session I decided on the following for five total circuits, rest periods were basically taking a drink of water after each circuit and since beginning with the neck work that allowed for a bit of recovery since the exercise is not very dynamic:
1. 4-Way Neck with a neck harness and band x 10 reps each front/side/side/rear.
2. Hindu Squats x 10 reps, these were full range of motion butt to heels.
3. Chin-Ups x 10 reps.
4. Glute/Ham Raise (GHR) x 10 reps.
5. Push-Ups x 10 reps. I prefer to do these on a barbell placed on the sumo base of my power rack as it feels better on my wrists than traditional push-ups.
6. Ab curls x 25 reps.
The total training session, 50 reps each of the neck drills, squats, chins, GHRs, and push-ups and 125 reps of the ab curls took only 20:00 and as you can see from the training data from my Morpheus app each circuit pushed me deeper into my conditioning zone with a max HR of 163 BPM and average HR of 137 BPM. I had a high HRV/recovery score the day of this session so my conditioning zone threshold was fairly high.
Hopefully you enjoyed this article and it inspires you to consider going back to the basics to push up your general physical preparation!
If you have any questions or suggestions for future blog topics please feel free to email me at scott@eptsgym.com. Be sure to follow my on social media and YouTube and subscribe to my Strength and Health podcast all of which can be found on my website at www.eptsgym.com.
Thanks to my BJJ teacher and long time athlete from EPTS Gym Chris Jones of Nucleus Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for providing the photos for this article.
Stay Strong AND Healthy!
-Scott
