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Lower Hutt Kyokushin Karate

Fight Training.

 

Understanding the Energy Systems in Kyokushin Karate.       By Paul Kleer, May 7th 2024.

 

It’s weeks out until the New Zealand Kyokushin karate champs in Napier and Lower Hutt Kyokushin has been preparing with intensive Saturday training sessions for the competitors. Check back into Lower Hutt Dojo’s blog later for the results of our junior and senior competitors. With match rounds of either 90 sec for novice or juniors and 120 seconds for senior elite fighters, it’s essential to get your fitness at the right level. Saturday trainings at Hutt Valley Dojo, specifically for competitors only, focuses on shadow sparring, heavy bag work, speed pad combos and sparring including drills. For the best result, preparation for tournaments should begin months in advance. On a personal level, my competitive training started 6 months out with heavy weight training and regular runs between 45 – 60 minutes. Weight training is quite beneficial not only for powerful techniques, but to condition the muscles for the high impact work on the body, particularly from plyometric exercises used to develop the fast twitch fibres in the muscle. 

It's important that competitors put together a training schedule to monitor their fitness including plenty of rest. I found that as the competition gets closer, too much training can lead to mental exhaustion as well. You start to find the repetitive nature of it all quite tedious, going to the same place, doing the same thing over and over again, so variation is necessary. The other concern is getting sick, usually a cold. Always change into a dry t-shirt and warm clothes before leaving the dojo and reduce exposing yourself to the elements, especially with winter approaching. Finally, keep your Immune system strong by including fruit and vegetables in your diet. 

 

Peaking your fitness too early. 

At this stage in your training, you should be fatigued after 3 rounds of intense bag work, but there should come a stage when you won’t be gasping for breath and have gas for more and more. This is when you’ve peaked. The key here is timing it for the week of the competition. For the high intensity of speed, power and fitness required for Kyokushin karate tournament rounds, an understanding of the 3 different energy systems and how to implement them into training is really important. Below, I’ve laid out 3 basic explanations on the energy systems and how they work. Below this article is a diagram of the three systems in a triangle format. The base or foundation is represented by the Aerobic system followed by the next level, Lactic in the middle and the Alactic system capping the pyramid. A copy of this diagram and the training examples is displayed in the dojo to get a better understanding of how to train for them. The more you train in that particular type of exercise, the better your body adapts to being able to effectively use that energy system. 

 

The 3 different energy systems and how to maximise them for Kyokushin Karate.

 

The Alactic energy system (phosphagen energy) 

This system fuels near maximum power for up to 10 seconds. This energy system operates very quickly and can bring the out the highest output of the three energy systems. The easiest example is sprinting as fast as you can and then having to slow down after 10 seconds as your energy runs out. This is your alactic or creatine energy system. In karate it would be equivalent to striking the bag / pad as hard and fast as you can for about 10 seconds. 

 

Two questions to ask yourself are,

1. How strong and explosive are you with your punches and kicks?

2. How often can you repeat these explosive combinations?

 

The Glycolic or Lactic energy system (glycolytic energy) 

This system fuels longer high intensity efforts of 10 - 120 seconds. A strong lactate threshold means that you can sustain a fast pace or longer intensity efforts before your breathing becomes arduous and laborious, your muscles fatigue and you slow down. This energy system uses the glucose stored in the muscle but is also responsible for the build up of lactic acid in our muscles which contributes to fatigue. 

 

The Aerobic Energy System (oxidative energy)

This system fuels efforts of more than 120 seconds. It will allow you to sustain low intensity slower paced activity. Unlike the others, this energy system requires oxygen. This energy system is slow, but the most efficient using fat as its primary energy substrate. It’s also important for the energy system recovery. It helps clear the lactate system, produce energy and lower the heart rate to get you ready for the next high energy bout.