Here’s a great workout for you: the Combat Challenge Sprint workout.
This is the same sprint training protocol used by many of the best competitors in the Firefighter Combat Challenge, a sport that focuses on a viciously difficult obstacle course in which firefighters push themselves to their limits simulating foreground activities. This worker was a key component of my friend Jamie McGarva’s preparation for setting a two new world record in 2012, and then leading his team to victory at the World Championships in 2013.
And I think it’s very relevant to the energetic demands of BJJ as well.
The first time I tried the Combat Challenge Sprint Workout I must have gone just a bit too hard, because halfway through I bolted from the gym, ran to the bathroom, and threw up in the toilet.
So it’s a tough one!
Now it’s true that I have written about how I’ve found that longer cardio sessions seem to help my jiu-jitsu more than sprint work. But that’s an individual preference, and the same finding doesn’t apply to everybody!
Some jiu-jitsu practitioners – maybe even the majority of them – seem to benefit more from sprints than L.S.D training (long, slow distance). Which is why I’ve previously written about anaerobic sprint protocols here, and here, and here.
So you’ve got to try them both – aerobic and anaerobic training – and then also try mixing them together to find out what the right formula is for you.
Anyway, to do the Combat Challenge Sprint Workout workout first do a brief warmup, then set your treadmill to a 10% incline (which is pretty steep).
Then set the speed for something that initially seems too slow. For most in-shape people 6 mph should be do-able, but the top guys are dialling the speed up to 8.5 or 9 mph.
The key is to keep the speed and the incline the same the whole time, and then vary the work and rest intervals.
You do 3 sets of 4 sprints, back to back, consisting of:
- 4 sprints of 90 seconds on the treadmill and 90 seconds resting (i.e. bent over double, gasping for breath), flowing directly into
- 4 sprints of 60 seconds on the treadmill and 60 seconds rest, flowing directly into
- 4 sprints of 30 seconds on the treadmill and 30 seconds rest (the guys often crank up the speed here for the last couple of reps).
If that’s unclear then here’s the long-play version of the very same workout:
- 90 seconds on the treadmill (at 10% incline and a speed you can barely maintain)
- 90 seconds of rest (leave the treadmill running)
- 90 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
- 90 seconds of rest
- 90 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
- 90 seconds of rest
- 90 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
- 90 seconds of rest
- 60 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
- 60 seconds of rest
- 60 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
- 60 seconds of rest
- 60 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
- 60 seconds of rest
- 60 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
- 60 seconds of rest
- 30 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
- 30 seconds of rest
- 30 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
- 30 seconds of rest
- 30 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
- 30 seconds of rest
- 30 seconds on the treadmill (same incline, same speed)
It takes 23 1/2 minutes total, and you’re only under load for 12 minutes of that.
As you become more fit you keep the incline and the interval lengths the same, but you increase the speed of the treadmill.
When I was doing this exercise regularly I typically did it once a week, and no more than twice a week. That’s about what most of the Combat Challenge guys do too: they do other cardio of course, but this particular monster is usually just once a week.
The Combat Challenge Sprint Workout is a hell of a protocol. Give it a try, just keep a bucket handy if you’re going to push it the first time like I did.
And, just for fun, here’s footage of my buddy Jamie setting a new world record and establishing himself as the world’s fittest firefighter. Some fire departments require their recruits to be able to complete this same course in 5 minutes or less: thanks to his insane conditioning and great technique Jamie screams through it in a mind-blowing 1 minute, 13 seconds!
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