a "functional" power question

[mattjf]

Just have one more question. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any "functional" power routines. I am headed off to the US Marine Corps and while having the ability to curl a lot, or do some exercise is very helpful, I also need to develop functional power. There is a lot of martial arts done, including blocks, throws and other moves. If I ever was sent to a combat situation, I would want to be able to be able to just use a ton of pure power to overwhelm the other person. My brother for example has this. I think with quite a few exercises, I can outlift him, and I have a lot of endurance from being a distance runner, but he has a ton of pure power. He is a hockey player and can just overwhelm someone. While I might be able to curl more, or do more pec work, if we were to get into a fight, he could probably throw me around like a rag doll. I saw a workout schedule somewhere, it was 3 or 4 weeks long and was all about developing functional strength. A person reviewing said it was not uncommon to puke during a workout because you were just lots of weight many times, every muscle was pretty much at failure, and your body was filled with lactic acid.

-Matt

[ballast]

When comparing your abilities to your brother, you have to look at the two activities you mentioned; distance running and ice hockey.Distance running is slow, steady-state activity for the most part.It requires very little power.Hockey on the other hand is an explosive sport.The participants are required to sprint at max speeds throughout the duration of a game.That's power.
If you want to build some "functional" power, and something that will carry over to grappling-type martial arts, try sandbag or barrel lifting.Before you start lifting, consider the oldtime weightlifters and wrestlers use to lift bags of sand, rocks, barrels, etc.Anuthing to help build strength when they didn't have access to a barbell.Lifting odd objects are totally different than lifting a perfectly balanced barbell or dumbell.The awkwardness of the sandbag or bareel filled with water forces all the stabilizer muscles to come into play and requires more balance.Used in conjunction with traditional weightlifting and calisthenics, odd object training can increase strength and power dramatically.Look at some of the World's Strongest Man competitors as an example.They train with odd objects all the time and they have plenty of power and strength.
BTW, if you are going to the marine core, get to know the pull-up very well.The marines thrive on pull-ups and the number 20 is what seperates the men from the boys.Good luck!

[Merrida]

Your recruiter should have given you a booklet showing what you'll need to do, and it will explain, as he probably did, what you "should" be able to do compared to what you'll "actually" be doing.

You can't prepare for the most part, know that going in. The experience can't be reproduced or planned for, so anticipating it may just make it worse.

What your DI will have you doing will not be anything even close to resembling work you've done in a gym. Toss the headset away, no music, no free weights, and speak to other Marines who have made it through. It has less to do with what you know how to do,....as it has to do with what they'll teach you with regards to how to respond to what happens in your environment. Knowledge is secondary to reaction, and they'll teach you there. Everything you think you know, will be reinvented and probably won't even apply.

You're in for a treat, my friend.

[Jackal]

For usable power, football players do power cleans. That may help you out.

[slimmarine]

hello there Matt. Great to hear that you've made the choice of joining the greatest fighting force the world has ever known. I'm a Marine with several years in and I can tell you that no matter how hard you train to get ready for boot, you will still suffer. boot camp is very demanding both physically and mentally but it can be done and you will do it my friend.

i suggest doing a lot of pullups, pushups and situps every day and running 3 miles every other day. also wear a back back and load it up with weights(40-50) and go on powerwalks(5 miles) if you really want to prepare.

know this, the running that you'll do in boot camp is going to be less than the amount you'll do while at your m-o-s school and then in the fleet.

good luck and btw, where are you going to boot camp? Parris Island or San Diego?

oo-rah

[Symzie]

If you're interested in functional strength, I recommend "Dinosaur Training" by Brooks Kubik, I'm just half way through it a the moment but it's probably the best training book I've read. If you're intested in the stuff that Ballast talks about in his post you might want to take a look.

[jetws]

I would check out NASM website. They have several "functional fitness" workouts.

[mattjf]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't really worried about being physically prepared for boot camp. I am at 1st class in terms of PFT and will probably be at a perfect 300 before I go. Since I'm a distance runner, running in boot camp is no problem either, unless they have added advanced marathon training since the poole book I have came out. What I am more interested in is developing all around power. I know people who can do a 300 PFT, but would get thrown around like they were nothing in any type of fight. I then know people that would fail the PFT, but could handle themselves anywhere. Then of course there are people that can do both, which is what I want to go for. A friend just got back from Iraq. I could probably beat him on the PFT test, and he is also about a foot smaller than I am, but he has this enormous amount of strength. This is the type of power I am looking for right now. As in if at boot camp they had us wear a 75lb pack and do the obstical course, then martial arts training against someone 6' 6", 250lbs right after. I of course am exagerating and realize they don't make you do it, but thats the type of strength I'm looking for.

Oh, I'm going to Parris Island by the way, with an MOS of Intelligence. Any thoughts from current/former Marines?

-Matt

[Plucas8916]

You could be a Marine that does a high security prisoners routine...

http://www.eden.rutgers.edu/~aelliot...rt_prison.html

Really random, but this is the only thing that I could think of to say, and I just felt like posting... Hey you could always do them on the side..

Quote off the site:

"It was made to give someone the type of functional fitness needed to fight, run, and move with speed and explosiveness whether you're standing on your feet or lying on the ground. "

Just seemed to be what you wanted

[mattjf]

Originally Posted by Plucas8916

Just seemed to be what you wanted

This sounds very similar to a workout the Marines already do. I've done it quite a few times and it is pretty tough when you do a lot of them. Thanks for the link. I'm not going to use it for the core of my workout, but I think I'll throw this in at the end of each workout.

Yes, the goals of this workout is what I am looking for.

-Matt

[slimmarine]

hey matt, my mos is combat correspondant, i'm a journalist (writing, photo and videography) went to boot in cali.

good luck and be happy your going to parris island and not san deigo because the mountains you have to hump there suck

[Merrida]

Not that the sand fleas are going to befriend you or anything either....