Complete Fencing Workout Including Weights

[Talyn]

Been a while since I've posted but here goes...

I have recently sought out medical advice because of getting cramps after or towards the end of fencing and the reason for these cramps seem to be because my body is extremely.... EXTREMELY assymetrical.

As a result of this I need to clearly even out my body while working out at the same time for strength and speed.

Does anyone have a Daily Fencing Programme I could use? I have 2 times 6 kilogram dumb bells... and a skipping rope. Anything else I REALLY need?

I can easily trade in these dumb bells for other ones, I am about 60-65 kilos and around 5'10".

Are there any specific things I should concentrate on?

I'm kind of looking for something like "Bicep curls 15 reps x 4" (please tell me how to do them to because im quite ignorant in this stuff) something like that, and tell me how many times a day I should do it and preferably when as well. I am in my senior year of school so I don't have to time to go to the gym and would prefer something I could do at home.

So far I've been doing pushups about 4 times a day 20 in the morning, after school, before dinner, before bed. Thats pretty much the only times I can do training

Please fit in foot work if possible:P

I know I'm asking for a lot of help here but please help me guys, I read the other post about this kind of stuff but I really can't figure out which one is right for me. I'm looking for something that will make me a better fencer (FOIL).


So far

[Artisan]

What kind of cramps? Muscle cramps? Where? Arms, legs, hand? When I've gotten muscle cramps, I've been led to believe it is probably due to electrolye imbalance from the amount of fluid lost as sweat during fencing. In three hours of fencing I will drink about 3-4 quarts of water, and another quart on the way home. Usually I try to make half of that gatoraide to help replace electrolytes (potassiom and sodium)

[aikijohn]

Greetings, Talyn...
There is a book out there, "The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Fencing" put out by an organizaton called "sportsworkout.com" and available through Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books
that has a variety of workout drills; I would suggest that you make sure you combine muscle endurance exercises with "small twitch" muscle exercises to enhance quick reflexes. My fencing instructor always has us spend some time doing fencing drills using our opposite hand so as to balance (and relax) the opposite side of our bodies... this really works!... (no competing this way, though)

Also, there are a number of drills within this fencing.net site that are valuable.

Cheers...

[Peach]

The "Weight Training for Fencing" book isn't really fencing-specific at all--I think fencing is mentioned in the introduction, and that's about it. Any good weight training book will be fine.

[Talyn]

OO so you guys recommend that book right?

[Peach]

Not really. Nothing wrong with it, nothing particularly great about it.

[The0ne]

One thing to do is make sure you exercise every muscle in your body when you do work out. For arms do Biceps curls, sets of twenty or so since you are using light weights (6 kg), do these to failure (until you can't do another set of twenty, then stop.) Next do push-ups for chest and triceps, try not to space your sets out over the day, you improve muscle efficiency if you do the sets closer together rather than spaced over the day. If you have access to a pull-up bar do those, I don't know how many pull-ups you can do, but start with 3-4 sets of 5-7, if you can do more, do more, if you can't do that many, do less. . . That helps with your back and biceps some too.

For your legs, and without access to heavy weights, there are a couple exercises you can do. Wall-sits are very good, shoot for maybe 2 sets of 2-4 minutes, whatever you can do. Calf raises are also good, do them on an incline, like stairs or a dictionary or something. Do whatever you can do maybe 3-5 sets. . . Good luck!

[usfafencer]

Hey all, I recommend this website for finding an incredibly wide variety of books. It's great and all their books are of high quality.

Main home page = www.humankinetics.com

weight training specific =

http://www.humankinetics.com/product...yle=2&suic=0st

[Talyn]

Hmmm

RIghtio I'm not completely clueless now but can someone help me with my routine?

Right now I fence 3 days a week 4 if there is a competition on.

THe sessions are on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

How should I fit the work out in?

seperate into Upper body and lower? or just do everything on one day then rest the next? (Completely clueless about this)

Plus, Should I do slow reps or fast reps? I need endurance but still the fast twitch stuff so i can parry/attack/beat/flick quickly you get the idea

[eagle3]

<preface>
This is my first post here and turned out to be a really long one. I just went back over it and decided to throw in this preface. i'm not a trainer, doctor, or nutritionist. i've been fencing and weight lifting for around 8 years. I've recently been working with a personal trainer to make sure my form is proper. I fence foil.
</preface>

Talyn,

Here's how I train when I get my act together:

I have fencing on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and optionally again on Mondays and Wednesdays. I use Tue. and Sat. for classes and lessons, whereas Mon. and Wed. are pure bouting.

I used to have a 3-day rotation on weights (e.g.: day 1: chest, triceps, day 2: shoulders, biceps, forearms, day 3: legs, back), but really, that means you only work on a certain muscle group once per week, and I think that's not enough. There's a set of research out there that believes that one set of any weight exercise is as good as three, so I kind ause that in my new thing, which is as follows (it's similar to Hypertrophy Specific Training (Google it)):

Since I dont' always fencing on Mondays, day 1 is on Sunday, which gives me a day of rest before training on Tuesday.

Before I start out with weights, I warm up with 30 minutes of footwork. My gym has an aerobics room that isn't used late at night, and this gives me lots of space and freedom. After the footwork, I stretch and hit the weights.

I do two sets of reps for the entire body. Now since I'm doing the entire body, it can take a while, so I try to do compound exercises, e.g.: instead of two sets of flat bench press and military press each, I just two two sets of inclined bench press, which works both the arms and the shoulders. There are other such combination exercises for the rest of the body. Also, I do the same set of exercises for all three weight-training days.

If I feel up to it (and these days I need it), I throw in an extra 20-40 minutes of stationary cycling (no use ruining your knees running. We're not training for track and field, are we?).

Sunday - day 1 of footwork, weights
Monday - rest OR maybe just some cycling OR 2-3 hours of bouting
Tuesday - fencing class, lesson, bouting, extra drills with teammates
Wednesday - rest OR maybe just some cycling OR 2-3 hours of bouting
Thursday - day 2 of footwork, weights
Friday - rest, drink at some location where there are lots of girls
Saturday - fencing class, lesson, bouting, extra drills with teammates

I squeeze day 3 of weight training wherever I can, depending on how busy I am that week.

My weight sets go like this (2 sets of each at 8-12 reps, depending on how I feel and what weight I'm using):

Squat (be careful with these!)
Leg Curl
Inclined Bench Press
Wide Grip Pulldowns
Dips
One-Arm Rows
Inclined Hammer Curls
Lying Triceps Extensions
Shrugs
Abdominal Crunches

If you've never had someone show you how to properly lift weights, I recommend getting a personal trainer for 2-3 sessions, to at least make sure you're doing everything right, and not overdoing the range of motion. It's really easy to hurt yourself, especially with squats.

As far as the slow/fast training is concerened, weights make your legs stronger, but train them to move slowly with that strength. When I do footwork I do outside the club and at the club, I'm focusing on speed and balance. Hopefully in the end this will balance out to stronger, faster.

Get lots of sleep, because some chemical is released during sleep that aids in muscle growth (so I'm told), but really because it feels satisfying to wake up in the morning with that muscle soreness. You don't get that if you don't sleep.

You also listed your body weight in kg, I think, but I'll give you my nutrition rules in pounds an dlet you convert. For people weight triaining and looking to gain muscle, you need to eat 0.7 to 1.0 gram of protein per pound of body weight (depending on who you talk to, how hard you train). For carbs, you need anywhere from 3 to 4.5 grams of carbohdrates per pound of body weight per day (same caveats). I weight-trained for a long time but saw dramatic improvements once I increased my protein intake. Spread the consumption of those carbs and protein throughout the day.

And don't forget the few appointments with a personal trainer! I think they're well worth the money if you're seroius about your training.

Man, I hope something out of that helps you.

eagle3.

[wpotere]

I think everyone is missing the point here. If he/she is cramping, then more than likely the muscles are dehydrated. Working out with weights will only make it worse, not better and could cause serious injury.

My questions are these...

How much water do you dring in a day?

Are you using any supplements to increase muscle mass? (creatine or such)

What muscles are cramping? (this could help to solve the problem)

Do you eat regularly balanced meals?

When you cramp your body is telling you that you are close to injuring yourself badly. Listen to your body and try to figure out what it needs. Putting more stress on it because it is cramping is not the solution. If suplpements are being used, then water intake needs to be increased dramatically. Creatine type supplements require that you keep your body hydrated and if you don't drink enough, you can quickly cramp.

One last tip is that while you workout, you have a water bottle near by. In between bouts, drink, then bout somemore. Keep drinking and you will notice that the cramping will go away. I would try this first before weights. Once that problem is solved then weights will help to build or tone mass to make you stronger.

Good luck

[Zelda]

Weird...admitting I dont train half as much as talyn due to lack of clubs down here, but I had the exact opposite problem in Singapore.
The Sinaporian sabre coach (who is a lovely Polish guy) and I were having a conversation about training and comittment. He asked me how long had I been fencing and when I said around 6 years he wanted to know WHERE my muscle assymetry was. So, how come my muscles aint as big as the should be 6 years after starting fencing??