Don’t Wait, Weight - Crosstraining

What is cross training? Training outside your normal core exercise or aim. For anyone training in Muay Thai, kickboxing, MMA or any other combat sport, that cross training is going to be strength and cardio focused. There are lots of ways to do this, but some you’ll find more efficient than others.

One of the most effective, simplest ways to cross train in this context is with interval runs with wrist weights. 

Running is fine cardio, but people are generally bored by it. Make it a little more challenging and efficient by doing intervals. These can be timed (e.g. walk or jog for 30 seconds, run or sprint for 30 seconds) or by distance (slow for a block, fast for a block).

1 to 5 lbs of wrist or hand weights (something attached to the thumb like these are great and can be used for shadow boxing as well) will hugely increase the cardio challenge of these intervals by involving way more of your upper body muscle than running normally does, putting your heart rate through the roof.

Not only does this kind of ‘peak’ cardio have its own health benefits, it prepares you for the spikes of intensity that come with combat. Give it a shot, and let me know if you have similar cross training recipes!