# Training for a tournament - what extra stuff can I do?



## john-called-van-lamb (Mar 16, 2017)

Hi all!

There's a state karate tournament coming up in 8 weeks that I'm going into. I'm going to be competing in Traditional Forms and Semi-contact continuous sparring

Just wondering what training I can do outside of my karate sessions? Should I be working hard at my cardio?I've seen something about kettlebells being good for explosiveness in kata but I have no idea about it. I can train anywhere up to 6 hours a day if I really push it so load me up with stuff! ATM I have been:

-Stretching
-Lots of kata practice with a video camera
-Weights twice a week
-Karate 5 nights/week (plenty of bodyweight exercises and cardio involved in the sessions)

Are the weights really a good idea? Should I add anything or take anything away?

Thanks!


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## Tez3 (Mar 16, 2017)

Do what your instructors/coaches say you should do, they know you better than we do. 

Welcome to MT, why don't you pop over to the meet and greet and say hi?


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## Gerry Seymour (Mar 16, 2017)

john-called-van-lamb said:


> Hi all!
> 
> There's a state karate tournament coming up in 8 weeks that I'm going into. I'm going to be competing in Traditional Forms and Semi-contact continuous sparring
> 
> ...


I think @drop bear would say "cardio", and that would be my best generic recommendation.  You'll use more energy because of the newness an excitement, so you want to be capable of more. Any other recommendations should probably be based on the tournament rules or your personal needs (so as Tez said, what your coaches say).


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## Dirty Dog (Mar 16, 2017)

Cardio. Footwork. Timing. Distancing. Precision.


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## JR 137 (Mar 16, 2017)

If you have access to a punching bag, doing timed rounds - 2-3 minutes, 1 minute break - worked great for me.  I kept track of my heart rate using a Fitbit, saying in the peak zone as much as possible during rounds, and really trying to relax and bring my heart rate down during breaks.

During a tournament I competed in last summer, I had to fight twice back to back (3 minutes each), one fight off, then went again.  The scheduling got all messed up, and they asked me nicely if I'd go again, which I smiled and went with it.

Honestly, I wasn't that tired.  And no, it wasn't because the competition sucked.  I was used to going 12 three minute rounds.  I was pretty surprised by it.

Regardless, don't alter your day to day stuff too much.  If you normally lift, keep at it; if not, don't get crazy with it.  You're not going to pack on a ton of muscle nor strength in 8 weeks.

If you're really pushing the exercise stuff beforehand, give yourself some time to recover too.  The last few days, warm up and stretch and call it a day, exercise-wise.  Still do your regular dojo routine, but lay off the outside stuff IMO.


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## Buka (Mar 16, 2017)

Welcome to MartialTalk, bro.

I suggest learning the kumite rules of the state tournament, inside and out. If there are any related tournaments before yours, go check them out and see what calls the refs tend to make.

Other than that - just spar a lot. Spar, spar, spar.


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## john-called-van-lamb (Mar 17, 2017)

Tez3 said:


> Do what your instructors/coaches say you should do, they know you better than we do.
> 
> Welcome to MT, why don't you pop over to the meet and greet and say hi?



EDIT: thank you for that! I'll head on over there now 



gpseymour said:


> I think @drop bear would say "cardio", and that would be my best generic recommendation.  You'll use more energy because of the newness an excitement, so you want to be capable of more. Any other recommendations should probably be based on the tournament rules or your personal needs (so as Tez said, what your coaches say).



Sounds awesome, thank you I shall start doing some rounds 



Dirty Dog said:


> Cardio. Footwork. Timing. Distancing. Precision.



Cheers!



JR 137 said:


> If you have access to a punching bag, doing timed rounds - 2-3 minutes, 1 minute break - worked great for me.  I kept track of my heart rate using a Fitbit, saying in the peak zone as much as possible during rounds, and really trying to relax and bring my heart rate down during breaks.
> 
> During a tournament I competed in last summer, I had to fight twice back to back (3 minutes each), one fight off, then went again.  The scheduling got all messed up, and they asked me nicely if I'd go again, which I smiled and went with it.
> 
> ...



Awesome thanks for the advice! I think I'll lay off the weights then.



Buka said:


> Welcome to MartialTalk, bro.
> 
> I suggest learning the kumite rules of the state tournament, inside and out. If there are any related tournaments before yours, go check them out and see what calls the refs tend to make.
> 
> Other than that - just spar a lot. Spar, spar, spar.



Thanks majorly! There will be a lot of sparring at the dojo the closer we get to competition hopefully haha


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## CB Jones (Mar 17, 2017)

Where?  We are always looking for new tournaments to try.


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## Tez3 (Mar 17, 2017)

We train MMA fighters, pro rules as well as amateur and promote fight nights. One of the biggest mistakes we find people make is to over train, they don't seem to understand that their coaches/instructors who have the experience of preparing people for fights know what they talk about when they put them on a schedule of training and it doesn't look as hard as they think it should. Those without coaches are very prone to over training.
Your coach/instructor knows you ( or should!) knows your weaknesses, your strengths and what you should and shouldn't be doing. While there is a wealth of information on this site, as I said, we don't know you so any advice is going to be general not specific to you.

Yes, cardio training is good but you should be working on it all the time not _just_ leading up to a comp, sparring yes, of course, why wouldn't you? Weights etc what do your instructors say?  
Is weight an issue btw?


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## Flying Crane (Mar 17, 2017)

Something tells me that making a significant change to your training habits shortly before a competition might cause more problems than it solves.

If you need cardio, that is an option if you go about it properly.  Or, you could train your karate more, and get cardio from that.  More basics and fundamentals, more kata, more sparring under the competition rules.  Get your cardio by preparing for the competition.

And like Tez says, don't overdo it.


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## senseiblackbelt (Dec 25, 2017)

Work on punching/kicking power building exercises
Do shadow boxing 
Do footwork exercises like skipping 
Work on overall body strength..

Goodluck


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## Kung Fu Wang (Dec 25, 2017)

john-called-van-lamb said:


> There's a state karate tournament coming up in 8 weeks that I'm going into. ,,, I'm going to be competing in Traditional Forms and Semi-contact continuous sparring


- No sex activity starting from today.
- Try not to sweat in the last 3 days before the tournament.
- Have a small lemon peel in your mouth during the tournament.
- Record your form on video and try to fix the deflects.
- Find yourself a sparring partner and spar as much as you can.
- Try not to develop any new techniques. Try to make your old techniques as good as you can.
- You need to have a "plan" with "entering strategies - how to enter" and "finish strategies - how to get score".
- ...


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Dec 25, 2017)

This guy had his tournament over half a year ago


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## Kung Fu Wang (Dec 25, 2017)

kempodisciple said:


> This guy had his tournament over half a year ago


Thanks for pointing it out.


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## drop bear (Dec 25, 2017)

Kung Fu Wang said:


> Thanks for pointing it out.



Lemon peel?


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Dec 25, 2017)

drop bear said:


> Lemon peel?


I was curious about that, along with avoiding sweat. All the rest I've heard before.


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## Kung Fu Wang (Dec 25, 2017)

Avoiding sweat for the last 3 days before your tournament can give you the most energy for your tournament. To have a lemon peel in your mouth can reduce your nervous and keep you calmer. In modern day, people may use chewing gun, or chewing tobacco.


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## drop bear (Dec 25, 2017)

Kung Fu Wang said:


> Avoiding sweat for the last 3 days before your tournament can give you the most energy for your tournament. To have a lemon peel in your mouth can reduce your nervous and keep you calmer. In modern day, people may use chewing gun, or chewing tobacco.



Man I would be disappointed if I had to compete against a guy who was chewing tobacco.


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## JR 137 (Dec 25, 2017)

drop bear said:


> Man I would be disappointed if I had to compete against a guy who was chewing tobacco.


I’d try to hit him in the throat so he swallows it


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## JR 137 (Dec 25, 2017)

Kung Fu Wang said:


> - No sex activity starting from today.
> - Try not to sweat in the last 3 days before the tournament.


What is the justification for “no sex activity?”  Does it give you pent up rage that you release on your opponent (no pun intended)?

Does not following that make someone too relaxed and/or tired?  Too happy?

Seriously, I’ve never been able to figure that advice out.


As far as not breaking a sweat the last 3 days...

I actually prefer to do a good warmup and stretch the last few days.  No other physical activity though.  Stuff like light bag or mitt work for about 10-15 minutes and some stretching afterwards.  It keeps me “in the zone” physically and mentally.  And it keeps me loose.  When I do nothing at all, I feel far tighter and rusty.  I know it’s all in my head, but it works for me.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Dec 25, 2017)

JR 137 said:


> What is the justification for “no sex activity?”  Does it give you pent up rage that you release on your opponent (no pun intended)?
> 
> Does not following that make someone too relaxed and/or tired?  Too happy?
> 
> ...


While I didn't compete with MA, I did with fencing. I would need to do a light workout the days leading up, along with fencing a couple bouts. Directly before the meet/tournament, I would need to do footwork to get my head into it. The two times I tried without doing anything the days leading up, I felt stiff/rigid, and would lose my first few bouts trying to get into it. With one, I bounced back, in the other it was a domino effect, worst meet of my career.

And I can't say I ever noticed a difference with fencing at least what my sex life was like leading up to it. Maybe MA's are different, but I don't see how...


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## DanT (Dec 25, 2017)

john-called-van-lamb said:


> Hi all!
> 
> There's a state karate tournament coming up in 8 weeks that I'm going into. I'm going to be competing in Traditional Forms and Semi-contact continuous sparring
> 
> ...


My advice for the Kata would be to practice without a mirror occasionally, as it can be a bit unnerving to do it without a mirror if you usually use one, and obviously, when you compete, there will be no mirror. 

Also, practice occasionally with headphones in and the music loud (at a safe level) as tournaments can usually get louder than you would expect, and can cause you to lose your concentration.

You should also practice Kata in front of at least 3 people many times to get used to eyes being on you.

To prepare for the Sparring, when you spar in class (which should be 3-4 times a week now) follow the rules you will use in the tournament exactly to get you used to them. Get a fellow sparring classmate to rotate in as ref during their break (make sure they know the rules too).


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## JR 137 (Dec 26, 2017)

DanT said:


> My advice for the Kata would be to practice without a mirror occasionally, as it can be a bit unnerving to do it without a mirror if you usually use one, and obviously, when you compete, there will be no mirror.
> 
> Also, practice occasionally with headphones in and the music loud (at a safe level) as tournaments can usually get louder than you would expect, and can cause you to lose your concentration.
> 
> ...


If you’re pretty much exclusively practicing kata in the dojo, practice it facing different directions when you start.  I get thrown off a bit when I start somewhere else in the dojo if I haven’t done that in a while.  I think I develop subliminal cues about which way to turn next because I get used to seeing certain things and associate them with my next move. Ie where I normally start, my first turn is always facing the entrance to the locker rooms, my next direction change is always to the front door.  If I’m facing the opposite direction when I start, I get thrown off when I’m facing the front door first and have to think where I’m supposed to go for a split second.

When we’re getting ready for our annual tournament, one of the first things we do is perform the kata we’re planning on doing facing all 4 directions in the dojo.  Even if you’ve been doing that kata for years, if you’re not used to changing the scenery, it can throw you off.

As for background noise... absolutely.  We were going through kata in front of a row of “judges” (a bunch of us were sitting in chairs and judging each other).  On of the seniors who was standing behind them started calling out scores and clapping half way through someone’s kata.  Everyone, including our CI looked at him like “what are you doing?”  He smiled and said “there’s going to be 6-8 rings going on at the same time.  You’re pretty much guaranteed to hear this going on in the middle of your kata.”  We all nodded, the guy started over, and someone would randomly do that during most people’s kata.

Watching my kata from a tournament on video, it happened twice during mine.  I didn’t notice it until I saw the video.  It didn’t throw me off at all.

Have realistic distractions go on during practice.

Regarding sparring, our “judges” will occasionally make bad calls or miss calls intentionally.  Not often enough to be counterproductive, but often enough to get us used to dealing with it.  Frustrating as hell, but it keeps you focused.  At my last tournament, one of my opponents was awarded 2 points that didn’t land.  Somehow 3 corner judges and the head ref awarded them.  As we were walking off the floor, my opponent asked me if they landed.  I said “don’t take this the wrong way, but they weren’t even close.”  He wasn’t happy about that either.  Then I said “we both landed some stuff that they missed, so it balances out somehow.  You would’ve still beat me if they called every single thing right, so what’s the difference.”  That’s one of the many reasons why I hate point fighting.

I only compete once a year at our organization’s annual tournament.  I do it mainly for the training and to see people I don’t normally see.  I go in with the mentality to do better than I thought I could.  Some people in the division are really good and others aren’t.  I don’t beat myself up over how I placed, I just focus on how well I did personally.  I used to get all worked up about it when I was younger.  It never got me anywhere.  I got far better after I realized I should be competing against myself.


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## _Simon_ (Jan 8, 2018)

I wonder how the tournament and training prep went . But anyways some awesome advice in this thread, will refer to it if I compete this year.




Tez3 said:


> We train MMA fighters, pro rules as well as amateur and promote fight nights. One of the biggest mistakes we find people make is to over train, they don't seem to understand that their coaches/instructors who have the experience of preparing people for fights know what they talk about when they put them on a schedule of training and it doesn't look as hard as they think it should. Those without coaches are very prone to over training.
> Your coach/instructor knows you ( or should!) knows your weaknesses, your strengths and what you should and shouldn't be doing. While there is a wealth of information on this site, as I said, we don't know you so any advice is going to be general not specific to you.
> 
> Yes, cardio training is good but you should be working on it all the time not _just_ leading up to a comp, sparring yes, of course, why wouldn't you? Weights etc what do your instructors say?
> Is weight an issue btw?



Ah yeeeeees hehe.. with my first tournament last year the schedule I set for myself was hectic.. I absolutely overtrained and even had a few niggling injuries develop, silly.. Even as i wound down and tapered off training in the week before the tournament i got a cold, go figure!

But have definitely learnt from that. It's just not necessary to up the training to insane levels, you just end up so drained.

If anyone was curious (what NOT to do..) here are some schedule notes written in my phone, I think it was a general plan for each week, but intensity/progression was ramped up each week... not all were performed for example in the kumite-based session, but they were just ideas I had and alternated between drilling them. I tend to get far too enthusiastic and go all out with planning too much XD

------------------->

Week:
1x weights + SS run
2x karate (1x kata, 1x kumite) + plyometrics
1x intervals
1x rehab and stretching (PNF)

WEIGHTS:
bench, EZ bar rows, overhead press, squats, db curls, tri pushdowns, db swings, leg curls, bodyweight circuit (squats, pushups, crunches, lunges)

KARATE:
-1x extensive kata practice, w/little sparring (shadowsparring rounds, plyometrics 1-2ex, bagwork alt betw contact+no contact rounds)
-1x kumite
Footwork drills (different stepping, different techniques, sabaki)
Combinations
Reaction/countering work
Bagwork/footwork around the bag+distancing
Shadowsparring
Plyometrics (2-3ex), agility ladder training, **skipping, sprints between floor cones to develop explosive action.
w/little kata

RUNNING:
1-2x running (1x SS, 1x intervals. Maybe do the runs straight after karate? Or just the SS run after weights or karate; intervals on a separate day?)
*Visualisation!

PLYOMETRICS:
Sets short, 15s at most.
Pogo jump: keep body stiff, knees stiff, bouncing on balls of feet, no heel touching ground.
Lateral jumps
Tuck jump: knees are higher
Hurdle hops: jumping forward, MUST bounce, as little contact time with ground as possible
Depth jump: just step off platform and rebound as soon as you hit the ground.

Plyometric pushup: again, VERY little contact, very quick, not full pushup. Either top range or bottom range.

Even hop and explode technique into bag

So short sets (15s or less), long rest (2-3m) and a low number of total sets (3-6) and total exercises (2-3 at most, decreasing in intensity/complexity as you go).
Phase 1 (4 weeks)- warmup, plyoz (1 simple exercise eg tuck jump), strength 2-3ex.
Phase 2 (4 weeks)- warmup, plyoz (2-3exercises), strength (1-2ex)
2 days per week.


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