i’ve been reading up on mr. king’s 12 week programs. i don’t doubt they work, but i am concerned about the fact that much of the movements are done very slowly. will this program make you slower? i am a grappler that relies on my speed very much, and cannot afford to get slower. thank you all for your help
Absolutely. I believe that if you train slow, you will become slow. I have a friend who has been training very slowly for 10 years now. Don’t get me wrong, he looks great, but he is extremely un-athletic. I’m not really sure what your goals are, but if you are using weight training to help your grappling, I would reccommend training like an athlete. Power and Olympic training should help you improve your explosiveness and athleticism greatly. Since I have incorporated some of these movements into my training I have noticed a definite increase in things uch as my verical leap etc. Just my 2 cents.
I would really defer to Ko on this on since he is an experienced trainer/MMA fighter but my opinion on it is that doing this program will make you a bit stronger but it is ultimately a hypertrophy program. This is good if you are wanting to move up in weight class but not if you don;t want to. My suggestion to you would be to try some renegade training(renegadetraining.com), get Coach davies MMA training plan, read charles Staleys book on MArtial arts training. You might also want to read Matt Fureys book on MMA training wiht BW exercises for a change of pace as well.
Groove
Although I’m aware that Ian’s 12-week programs include macrocycle’s at which excercises are performed at a more explosive tempo, I dont believe that they are performed frequently enough in the grand scheme of things to increase or even maintain current power levels. [Use/Disuse Principle]
Generally speaking, programs highly concerned with increasing performance over apperance rarely stress the importance of using slow tempos [not to say they are never used]. Check out some articles by Dave Tate, Charles Staley, Christian Thibaudeau’s articles geared towards non-bodybuilders, Coach Davies.