HOW should I do running intervals for martial arts?
TL;DR: Exactly HOW should I do running intervals to supplement Muay Thai?
I'm a relative beginner at Muay Thai (and, compared to many people here, a casual one who only trains 2X/week) and am interested in adding more conditioning work to my non-training days. I think my level of conditioning is currently not too bad, since I seem to have good staying power in class. Before taking up Muay Thai, I was doing various forms of cardio including (at various points) boxing, swimming, and treadmill intervals. The treadmill intervals had been 60 sec on/60 off for 8-9 rounds, where the "on" part was running ~7.8 mph at a 10% incline and the "off" part was brisk walking also at a 10% incline.
I am specifically interested in running-based intervals because 1) it's convenient (the Muay Thai gym is far away, so training more often isn't possible right now), and 2) I am also lifting (Starting Strength), which I need desperately, and feel that barbell-based conditioning will interfere more than running.
I found some other great existing answers on this topic, but none address the 4 more specific questions I am about to ask:
Something about cardio in general
Something about intervals in general
Something about running for BJJ
Here are the parameters I need advice on:
1.) Session length
For example, 7 minutes of intense hill sprinting? Or 20 minutes of something less grueling?
2.) Work : rest time ratio
Equal work and rest? Tabata? etc.
3.) Work : rest intensity ratio
To use the limiting cases, should I run some short distance like a mile as fast as possible at a steady speed? Alternate all-out sprinting and walking? Or somewhere in between?
4.) Hills/incline vs. flat
Self-explanatory.
(1)1 Comments
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I'm no expert, but in lieu of one, what I do for interval training is to warm up for about three tenths of a mile, then alternate sprinting and jogging/walking each tenth of a mile for two or three miles, 20 or 30 minutes. That seems to help me a lot.
For your format:
1) Session length: 20-30 minutes of interval sprinting on level terrain
2) Equal work/rest ratio
3) Sprinting as fast as possible and alternating with jogging/walking, so a high intensity ratio
4) Flat. Hills complicate the issue.
Good luck.
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