The Train to Fight, Don’t Fight to Train Series
The High-Effect, Minimalist Options for Strength, Conditioning, and Muscle that Leaves You with Plenty of Gas in the Tank to “Roll”
“Jim Madden offers a simple and straightforward, NO B.S. guide to getting it done. His workouts are intelligent, hard-hitting, and FUN and carry over to your other activities and goals.”
— Pat Flynn, chronicalsofstrength.com
For a combat athlete or martial artist, the point of working out is not just to get good at working out. The point of “off the mat” work is to get better on the mat. Fighters and grapplers can’t afford to do anything that detracts from performance and skill development. Even if you are not a martial artist, hopefully there is something in your life you are trying to master (profession, education, service to family, art, sport, etc.). You need to structure your training to support your body and mind to that end, not to distract and wear you down so that you cannot perform when it really matters. Always remember that you are training to fight (whatever THE FIGHT is for you), not fighting to train.
Train to Fight, Don’t Fight to Train is a series of short programs designed to serve these ends. Each volume is efficiently minimalist, including just a few highly functional “big bang for your buck” movements that will check a lot of boxes. The training sessions are time efficient (usually approximately 30 min), and will always leave you feeling better walking out of the gym than when you walked in. The idea is that a combat athlete should be able to do a Train to Fight workout in the morning and still be ready to get after it on the mat latter that day. Likewise, a busy parent should be able to Train to Fight and still chase the kids around the park with vigor, a student should be settled and alert to study for an examination, a professional should be looking forward to the challenges of day, a casual athlete be ready to play in his or her soccer league, etc.
This is your guide to highly effective performance with extreme minimalism – addressing strength, hypertrophy, conditioning, and explosiveness with “just” the Turkish get-up, pull-up, and sprints. Three movements, four days each week, for only thirty minutes each session with plenty of energy left for other pursuits is your “match-winning” formula for whatever your endeavor.
If you are interested in discussing options for personalized programming or coaching, please contact Jim: jmadden@benedicitne.edu.