Mma or boxing for hiit

Bigbear

Bigbear

The Kodiak
Trusted Member
I usually jog and do sprints for the summer. Now that winters coming I'm oimg to switch to mma and boxing drills for cardio. What I do is 3 minutes of given er like crazy and 1 minute rest for 10 revolutions. The drills are anything from footwork, defense, combos, heavy bag, power punching with medicine balls etc. So it's altogether 30 minutes minimum of hard pushing and 10 minutes rest all together. What I don't know is when is it too much stress on the heart? Does anybody do hiit for longer then a half hour? I know when I used to train train our classes would be 1 or 2 hours sessions but I don't remember how much we would push and how much of it was recovery
 
You know what we can be like, take something we love that's good and push it too far lol. I only want to reap the cardio health benifets while tuning some skills a bit. @Bagua @Oldguyjiujitsu probably have some experience in structuring programs for classes, maybe some other guys do too
 
One of the rules we used was if you were training for a three-round fight, you would do three rounds of three minutes of skipping, with each round getting progressively more difficult. We would use music that had solid rhythms, like funk. That might have been the personal preference of most of the guys, though. I preferred to listen to the Clash when I was training alone. We would take a thirty-second rest period between rounds. Shadowboxing came up next with three rounds of three minutes each of shadowboxing with just hands for the first two and kicks, elbows and knees in the last round. Once again, there was a thirty-second rest between rounds. Next came the heavy bag or top and bottom bag if there was one. Once again, it was three minutes, but this was both hands and feet with elbows and knees. One minute rest between rounds on this because you didn't want to get sloppy on the bag because it was more demanding, and that was when injuries hit. After the bag work came sparring for three three-minute rounds with the level of intensity determined by the two guys sparring. We did acknowledge that nobody should be hurt sparring, so it was never full blast, and anyone who did go full blast was invited to spar with the best fighter in the club to settle him down. We changed opponents after each round until we managed to fight everyone in the class. The amounts of rounds weren't fixed in number. You could be sparring for quite a few rounds. Therefore, that was 3+3+3 -x 3 for 27 minutes minus the sparring. The next phase was working on combinations with focus gloves and also on the bag; this was meant to develop a smooth flow between the various combos of both hands and feet. Some guys like me opted to work on shadow kicking during this period. Bear in mind this class was for guys who had the basics down and could free-flow between techniques. The classes would usually last two hours. Beginners were not allowed because they would slow down the class and lessen the intensity. To end the class, we would stretch, and some would hang around to fight some more, but in the tourney style of the day.
Traditional Karate or Gung fu classes were structured differently, but I don't think that would help you.
 
@Bigbear
As you know I'm very quick to ask for sources but I'm not gonna provide any to the up coming statement, take it like an opinion I guess. I've spent a fair bit of time looking at the subject but not saved any citations like I normally do. I'll suggest anyone with concerns to do their own digging but be prepared for information overload, tons of non science backed opinion and twisted, cherry picked stuff.

As always the first question for me if what is the goal? Might sound like it's obvious and silly to ask for this subject but it's important.
With your question in mind " when is it too much stress on the heart?" and barring the matter of training specificity to any particular activity or the enjoyment factor, time constraints etc -

HIIT doesn't deserve all the hype it has gotten in the recent past. Elevate your heart rate a bit, a fast paced walk is just as beneficial for the average persons CV health.

I'll see myself out.
 
gondar1 said:
@Bigbear
As you know I'm very quick to ask for sources but I'm not gonna provide any to the up coming statement, take it like an opinion I guess. I've spent a fair bit of time looking at the subject but not saved any citations like I normally do. I'll suggest anyone with concerns to do their own digging but be prepared for information overload, tons of non science backed opinion and twisted, cherry picked stuff.

As always the first question for me if what is the goal? Might sound like it's obvious and silly to ask for this subject but it's important.
With your question in mind " when is it too much stress on the heart?" and barring the matter of training specificity to any particular activity or the enjoyment factor, time constraints etc -

HIIT doesn't deserve all the hype it has gotten in the recent past. Elevate your heart rate a bit, a fast paced walk is just as beneficial for the average persons CV health.

I'll see myself out.
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Yea I was going by this perspective for a while and stuck to long jog days and some sprint days. Im switching it up for a few reasons, nice weather is coming to an end and my treadmill is broke. My previous cardio didn't really seem to do any miracles with blood pressure and cholesterol. Diet aside of course. I've always loved mma training it's one of those things where you love it so much you have to remind yourself to keep the time limited. Jogging isn't like that for me it was just a chore most of the time. I wanted to build a little more stamina and endurance and lastly If time, money etc where perfect I would train at mma/bjj/boxing gyms but currently I have none in my area other then judo. Doing judo I've had some bad injuries and just at my age I don't feel like getting thrown around and slammed anymore lol. That's a lot of info but I hope I covered what you were looking for.
 
There is not really “too much stress for your heart” assuming you are healthy with no underlying conditions. Your heart just makes you stop and puke or you feel dizzy with no air 🤣 before giving up.

I play soccer and my heart reaches 190 sometimes 🤯
 
Bigbear said:
Yea I was going by this perspective for a while and stuck to long jog days and some sprint days. Im switching it up for a few reasons, nice weather is coming to an end and my treadmill is broke. My previous cardio didn't really seem to do any miracles with blood pressure and cholesterol. Diet aside of course. I've always loved mma training it's one of those things where you love it so much you have to remind yourself to keep the time limited. Jogging isn't like that for me it was just a chore most of the time. I wanted to build a little more stamina and endurance and lastly If time, money etc where perfect I would train at mma/bjj/boxing gyms but currently I have none in my area other then judo. Doing judo I've had some bad injuries and just at my age I don't feel like getting thrown around and slammed anymore lol. That's a lot of info but I hope I covered what you were looking for.
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Twas more of a question for each person to ask themselves, not really me looking for anything. the most important thing is just doing something to raise your heart rate with some regular frequency. Anything that fits and you enjoy!

Good on you, you've got your reasons, knock yourself out. Or in your case maybe be careful not to ;)

PS I fucking hate "cardio" of the boring repetitive kind, I'm fortunate and also amazed at how high I score on my annual CV treadmill test.
 
gondar1 said:
Twas more of a question for each person to ask themselves, not really me looking for anything. the most important thing is just doing something to raise your heart rate with some regular frequency. Anything that fits and you enjoy!

Good on you, you've got your reasons, knock yourself out. Or in your case maybe be careful not to ;)

PS I fucking hate "cardio" of the boring repetitive kind, I'm fortunate and also amazed at how high I score on my annual CV treadmill test.
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Yea I honestly wonder if it's built into us to like combat, kind of like we are natural at driving, building etc..if anyone hasnt tried boxing classes or bjj I'd say try it out. You'll probably love it. At our age boxing is probably the easiest on our bodys and the safest. Not including sparring. Even bjj going lightly can bang up your joints, neck back...
 
Bigbear said:
I usually jog and do sprints for the summer. Now that winters coming I'm oimg to switch to mma and boxing drills for cardio. What I do is 3 minutes of given er like crazy and 1 minute rest for 10 revolutions. The drills are anything from footwork, defense, combos, heavy bag, power punching with medicine balls etc. So it's altogether 30 minutes minimum of hard pushing and 10 minutes rest all together. What I don't know is when is it too much stress on the heart? Does anybody do hiit for longer then a half hour? I know when I used to train train our classes would be 1 or 2 hours sessions but I don't remember how much we would push and how much of it was recovery
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Are you doing this just for fat loss/cardio and to get the heart rate up or are you trying to become better at self defence? I never came remotely close to what Bagua did/does and never will. I have a BOB, a heavy bag, and a group to spar with I trust won't lose their cool and we have to show up at work with a broken jaw or black eyes.
Either will do - I think it was @gondar1 that said find something you like. I would definitely agree.
The only cardio I really like is with my better half, walking & training my dogs, and heavy bag, focus pad, and work with BOB. They don't hit back. If you are going to spar - make sure you know the other people well if you have a job you can't show up at with black eyes or a broken nose. Sparring is a blast but inevitably if you don't know the person well, it can get dangerous especially if someone has a bad temper. The control on this is what @Bagua said - if someone stands out and can slap the shit out of everyone. If your a prick and hit to hurt your partner, your present it to spar with him next and he puts a beating on you.
Off topic but did you watch the movie made about Dustin Poirier and he was one of the top guys in the gym (before he was in the UFC) - top level guys who may go somewhere. One of the guys got lazy and stopped showing up, his first time back his reward was to spar with Dustin and the coach told Dustin to put a beating on him. These aren't your average guys who go to work everyday in a suit or train for fun - they were competing and trying to get to the top so it is somewhat different but gets the point across.
I do it because I enjoy it - I can't stand sitting on or standing on machines for 30 minutes.
 
Goldenrod said:
Are you doing this just for fat loss/cardio and to get the heart rate up or are you trying to become better at self defence? I never came remotely close to what Bagua did/does and never will. I have a BOB, a heavy bag, and a group to spar with I trust won't lose their cool and we have to show up at work with a broken jaw or black eyes.
Either will do - I think it was @gondar1 that said find something you like. I would definitely agree.
The only cardio I really like is with my better half, walking & training my dogs, and heavy bag, focus pad, and work with BOB. They don't hit back. If you are going to spar - make sure you know the other people well if you have a job you can't show up at with black eyes or a broken nose. Sparring is a blast but inevitably if you don't know the person well, it can get dangerous especially if someone has a bad temper. The control on this is what @Bagua said - if someone stands out and can slap the shit out of everyone. If your a prick and hit to hurt your partner, your present it to spar with him next and he puts a beating on you.
Off topic but did you watch the movie made about Dustin Poirier and he was one of the top guys in the gym (before he was in the UFC) - top level guys who may go somewhere. One of the guys got lazy and stopped showing up, his first time back his reward was to spar with Dustin and the coach told Dustin to put a beating on him. These aren't your average guys who go to work everyday in a suit or train for fun - they were competing and trying to get to the top so it is somewhat different but gets the point across.
I do it because I enjoy it - I can't stand sitting on or standing on machines for 30 minutes.
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I'm doing it for all those reasons, I love it, I'm bored of other cardio, I'm not doing it to lose weight just build better stamina, endurance and heart health and to touch up self defense skills a bit. Sparring would be great but I don't have any partners in my area, or that can fit into my work scheduel. I also wasn't sure how long I should push it for, I'm not familiar with programing hiit workouts and didn't want to go too hard if it would be detrimental. I can get carried away having fun and and hour and a half will fly by like nothing
 
My Dad was an amateur boxer, and taught us a little as kids. Skipping rope was the hardest and most intense training we did. There's no better or cheaper cardio, imho.
 
BobTbay said:
My Dad was an amateur boxer, and taught us a little as kids. Skipping rope was the hardest and most intense training we did. There's no better or cheaper cardio, imho.
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Do you do cardio? I know you could do rounds on a speed bag and agility bag
 
Obviously i love BJJ and its great for cardiovascular health. My resting heart rate is 49-53.

It is hard on the body…. At most clubs you spare some part of every class. At mine we do a minimum of 3 five minute rounds and usually 4.

Not sure bjj qualifies as hiit. 2/3 of the class is steady state. Then sparing is a series of constant tension with sporadic high explosive moves for 5 minutes straight. We take 2 minutes between rounds. Typically I believe hiit sessions, the high intensity is a small portion of each minute. During a 5 minute round none of it would qualify as low intensity.
 
Oldguyjiujitsu said:
Obviously i love BJJ and its great for cardiovascular health. My resting heart rate is 49-53.

It is hard on the body…. At most clubs you spare some part of every class. At mine we do a minimum of 3 five minute rounds and usually 4.

Not sure bjj qualifies as hiit. 2/3 of the class is steady state. Then sparing is a series of constant tension with sporadic high explosive moves for 5 minutes straight. We take 2 minutes between rounds. Typically I believe hiit sessions, the high intensity is a small portion of each minute. During a 5 minute round none of it would qualify as low intensity.
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That's probably better then hiit. Your heart rates constantly going up and you get breaks. I'd probably go back to classes but with work and travel I can't fit it in anywhere. I bet if you wore a fitbit and checked the data after it's probably the equivalent of ten hiit exercises.
 
To be completely honest, neither...

True Hiit cardio is a very scientific and measurable approach.. It's only truly able to be accomplished when you can replicate each cardio session EXACTLY to get repeatabe results..

Pulling a weighted sled or pushing a weighted sled timed over a specific distance is the most repeatable hiit cardio Ive come across.
 
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