Swim Sprints – High Intensity Interval Training

High Intensity Interval Training for upcoming  MMA Fight

As the date of my first MMA fight approaches – July 18th.  I have been kicking it into high gear.  Every day now consists of multiple training sessions, including a combination of striking, MMA, jiu-jitsu, weight training and cardio.  For the next 6 weeks I wanted to add some high intensity interval training to increase my cardiovascular ability so that when I fight, I have the lungs to do it.  The best time to do this activity is first thing in the morning before I eat.  This can aid me in my final pounds to drop as well as “start the day right”.

But, I had a choice – wake up early every morning and go for a run mixed in with sprints, or go wake up early every morning and go for a swim. For me, swimming sounded like much more fun and something I could look forward too. Also, it had some other additional advantanges.

• Using both arms, legs, and core – full body sprints
• Less strain on knees and joints
• Keeps me “cooler” – I don’t feel as umfortable while I am swimming compared to running.  I love a good sweat, but it’s nice when you’re kept cool by the water
• “Funner”

Swimming Background

I’ve always loved to water and was a very powerful underwater swimmer and had a good breast stroke and side stroke.   But, even though my crawl stroke form was good – my body just did not move as fast as I wanted it to.  Good for sprints – bad if I wanted to be the next Micheal Phelps.    I discovered my love and “skill” for swimming when I was a life guard / counselor at an overnight camp for a summer as well as a outdoors camp counselor.  We would take 2 week trip either canoeing or kayaking, or hiking the white mountains… some great times during those trips.  During these times we would have to do “Lost Bather Drills” where / when a kid went missing, we had to dive into the lake and search the swimming areas for a body.  I quickly discovered I was good at swimming underwater and at a fairly deep mark (20-25 feet) and for a fairly long distance.  But, put me in a crawl stroke race and 5 year old will kick my ass.

How to Swim Sprint?

I read some posts online about swim sprinting, but nothing really struck me as something I that I really wanted to do.  I decided to keep it extremely simple and effective.  I now my strongest stroke and most comfortable stroke is the breast stroke, and I know my weakest and the stroke I exert the most energy on is my crawl stroke.

My thought process of the sprints.  I would use the breast stroke as my resting or jogging equivalent and the crawl stroke as my “sprint”.  The crawl will take me longer, plus I will be using my whole body constantly (kicking, twisting, and rotating arms).  In the breast stroke, I’ll do a powerful stroke, then glide for second, then repeat.  Each stroke I try to really drive forward and get as much distance as I can for each strong. That way I’m constantly training both power and cardio, but still getting the benefits of HIIT.

The Swim Sprint Workout

• 5 laps warm-up of just breast stroke
• Touch the wall – count t0 ten – Crawl Stroke Sprint
• Breast Stroke Back
• Touch the wall – count t0 ten – Crawl Stroke Sprint
• Repeat… 20 Times
• Treadwater for 5 minutes or 5 minutes of Breast Stroke or other cool down swimming exercise.

Other Fun Stuff to Do in the Pool

I can also be a “goof” in the water, I just love swimming.  So here are some other martial art related exercises I play around with if I feel like I’ve got time.

• Swim Underwater – hold my breath and go for as long as I can…. repeat
• Underwater Boxing – I start in the deep end and hold my breat underwater and shadowbox.  I slowly move down into the shallow end, work my way back and just fuck around.
• Roundhouse kicks / Side Kicks – throw them underwater, good way to work on your form as well as stretch your hip joints
• Use the Kickboard  – my weakness if my crawl stroke is I get no power from my legs, I kick, kick, kick and it doesn’t seem to get me anywhere.  So I grab the kickboard and use that.  I get a great workout!
• Be a Tool – Just fuck around, swim around, dive underwater, do an underwater flip, spring off the bottom, then dive back down… Be “that guy” in the water and have some fun!

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5 Responses to “Swim Sprints – High Intensity Interval Training”

1. tai says:

   June 2, 2009 at 6:44 am

   nice article. my profession is in music, but I definitely try an keep in shape and found that swimming has tonnes of advantages. Im pretty shit at the crawl as well haha. Anyways Imma try the workout u put up!
2. Bastian says:

   June 2, 2009 at 3:51 pm

   You inspired me with this post!

   Since my legs are already bruning from my daily running sessions I could also vary between running and swimming each day. Also I’ve never been in better shape than when I was playing waterpolo twice a week.

   Under what rules/in what organization are you fighting?
3. admin says:

   June 2, 2009 at 5:06 pm

   I think it helps breaking your training up and doing different activities that achieve the same main goal – improving your fitness level.

   I am fighting in “Reality Fighting Throwdown” on July 18th in Plymouth, MA. It will be a pro-MMA fight.
4. Derek Manuel says:

   June 3, 2009 at 9:22 pm

   This is a great post. There are so many different ways to train for MMA.

   I think that strength and conditioning for mixed martial artists and fighters is still in its infancy in terms of developing programs for optimal performance and we can expect a lot of growth in this area over the next couple years.

   Derek Manuel
   MMA Strength and Conditioning
   http://www.bestmmatrainingworkouts.com
5. Bill says:

   July 1, 2009 at 6:01 pm

   Good luck on the fight. I think I’ll head to the pool. Needed some motivation.