FIT FOR THE FIGHT

By Arnie Lipson

Imagine just for a horrible moment that you look out of the window of your home, only to witness your child being abducted up the block. How fit would you need to be to handle this emergency? What type of fitness would you need to succeed? You would have to sprint at least 100 yards as fast as possible, and still have something left to fight off the attackers, which would likely be intense if they didn’t flee. That was one scenario that played out in my mind when I designed my workout program. Of course there are many wild situations that we can all imagine. Some may be remotely possible, and others more probable, but I want to be prepared for the worst of challenges. What do you consider when you design your workout program? Let’s look at the four legs of my workout program table.

1st Leg - Flexibility

Flexible muscles are very important not only for performance, but for injury prevention. I warmup and stretch out well before training. Usually about 10 - 15 minutes will do. I start out with some light exercise as a warmup to get the blood moving. It could be jumping jacks, an exercycle, or an elliptical machine. Sometimes, I just take the dog for a 10 minute walk. Then I stretch out all of the major muscle groups, starting with the legs and moving on up. I avoid bouncing as I stretch. I use a slow and easy pull and hold each stretch for 30 seconds or so. I realize that I will not have the opportunity to stretch out prior to an emergency, but muscles that are routinely stretched properly will be more flexible in general, and less prone to injury when performing during an emergency that gets you going from 0-100 in an instant.

2nd Leg - Strength

Back in “the day” when I was 26 years old , I was benching 325lbs. I did ridiculous amounts of weight because it was expected that we lift more and more in order to improve our performance. I was able to lift more weight, but it did nothing for my performance. Well, that “day” is long gone. I am now 46 years old and my spine and my shoulders no longer appreciate 325 lbs. Back then, I felt less mobile despite constant stretching. I also had more problems executing combative techniques with speed and fluidness. I’m not down on weight training, as it works well for many when done right, but it was not very beneficial to me. I began working with body weight exercises alone back in 1992. Those of you who are familiar with Matt Furey and Combat Conditioning understand what I mean. Since I’ve been using body weight exercises only, I have greatly reduced injuries, and I have maintained my practical strength. They do wonders for my muscular endurance as well. I do a circuit program which consists of pullups, abdominal work, various types of pushups, handstand pushups, and dips. The best part is, I’m done in about 20 minutes! That’s a plus for everyone who says that they just don’t have time to train.

3rd Leg - Cardio

My days of long distance running are over. My knees started complaining, as well as my lower back, but I was determined to never quit my conditioning. Face it, I’m way too short to get fat. I realized though, that running 5 miles at an 8 minute pace is fine for some, but as we get older, it takes more of a negative toll on the body. For me the benefit didn’t outweigh the cost. Besides this, I felt that this type of running was not the best way to prepare for a scenario as I described in the beginning. Through researching various fitness programs, I came across the concept of HIIT. High Intensity Interval Training. Avoiding the monotonous details of the research, it was shown that short bursts of high intensity intervals of activity followed by short periods of rest were extremely beneficial to athletes. It strengthened their hearts, they had a higher oxygen uptake (VO2 uptake) when needed, and caused them to burn more fat than long slow distance training. When I train using HIIT, my heart is working at about 90% max and I run a great sweat. Best of all, once again I’m done in 20 minutes! I vary the workout to keep it interesting. I either do hill sprints, run bleachers, skip rope, or use the elliptical. Just alternate intense blasts of activity with short periods of rest.

4th Leg - Task Related Activity

If you want to improve and maintain proficiency at performing a specific task, then perform the task correctly over and over. If you want to box, then spar. If you need to sprint 100 yards and fight an assailant, 100 yard sprints, and hill sprints combined with practical combatives is a good course of training. Technical skills on off days is also a good idea. Re-load drills and dry fire with your firearm, DT training, or even stick and knife drills are helpful. We need our skills to be there for us when emergencies occur.

Summing It Up

Emergency situations bring us from a peaceful static state to an occasional high intensity adrenaline- pumping activity for a short duration. With this in mind, I designed my program to include each of the 4 legs of the table. Fifteen minutes of warmup and flexibility, 20 minutes of strength training, 20 minutes of hard cardio, and a good share of combatives and technical skills. It keeps me fit, I have much fewer injuries, and I feel more prepared to perform from 0-100 if I need it. It’s very time efficient as well. Taking a concept from Lt. Col. Dave Grossman in the Bulletproof Mind. Those of us who train for emergencies are the sheepdogs protecting the sheep from the wolves. We need to be on top of our game.

If you find yourself short on time, short on wind, short on strength, but big on extra weight, get the doc’s O.K. first, and start the new year with a good workout program. Then, when the bad stuff hits the fan, it will be just another workout for you.

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