This is the fourth installment of Stephan Kesting’s 4 day workout. If you have read the previous issues you know that Stephan is describing his workout routine outside his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu the club for him to stay in shape.

To be a top level grappler, one needs to work hard inside the club as well as outside he club. Being in shape means doing activities that are fun and challenging as the same time so you won’t get bored.

For Stephan he personally loves the outdoors so he incorporates his outside training regiment to suit his like and dislikes. This may not be for everyone but it will demonstrate that you can enjoy and create a workout routine that is hard yet fulfilling.


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Fourth & Final Day of Blitz

A lot of experts training MMA fighters and BJJ competitors recommend against doing aerobic (i.e. extended duration) training and say that you should only do sprintwork, but I don't find myself in agreement with them. I've found that aerobic work really helps my grappling, as I've previously discussed in this tip:

www.grapplearts.com/2006/06/hiit-of-lsd.htm

So far on my four day fitness blitz I've done a lot of anaerobic and muscular endurance training. Today I wanted to do some aerobic work, some 'cardio' in the purest sense. And I wanted to do it outside.

I love running outdoors. Most of the time when someone who tells me that they find running boring I find out that they actually mean that they find running on a treadmill boring. If I’m running on a treadmill I have about a 20 minute attention span – any more than that and I’d better have some really good music on my iPod. Running outdoors, however, is an entirely different situation, and I’m happy to go for an hour or more and never feel bored.

If you can pull it off, running outdoors on gravel or soil as opposed to asphalt and cement is also a lot easier on the joints. Better shock absorption characteristics and slight variations in the angle of the terrain make running on natural surfaces much more joint friendly.

Part 1: 40 Minute Run

For this workout I picked a nice park that is located on my way to work. I ran for about 40 minutes at a moderate pace on the trails along the river and through the forest. Although I wasn’t running with a partner today I went at an intensity that would have allowed me to speak in short sentences, but not paragraphs. For me this translates to keeping my heart rate at about 140 to 145 beats per minute (I measure my carotid pulse for 10 seconds and multiply that number by 6).

Part 2: Bodyweight Exercises

After this run I found a good place to do pull-ups, and did 12 bodyweight pull-ups followed by 30 bodyweight pushups. I did this twice, for a total of 24 pull-ups and 60 pushups, just enough to get a little bit of a ‘pump’.

If you're a grappler but think that running isn't for you, then do yourself a favor and check out the following post before you give up on running entirely:


www.grapplearts.com/2007/12/i-cant-run-excuse-listhttpwwwbloggercom.htm

Next newsletter: back to the nitty gritty of grappling! Thanks for bearing with me for the four day fitness blitz.

Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com

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