Conditioning: High Intensity Continuous Training (HICT)

I had been doing HICT work with box steps. But I've long thought that what would really work well for HICT, especially in the post-training environment, are just hipscape laps from one side of the mat to the other.

I managed to do 4 laps after training on Saturday and will look to add one lap after each training until I'm up to 12 laps.

Here's the skinny on HICT from Joel Jamieson at 8 Weeks Out

This method is different from other forms of aerobic training in that it is both high intensity and relatively high volume. This unique characteristic is also why it is so effective. Whereas most aerobic training methods are either high intensity/low volume intervals, or high volume/low intensity continuous training, the high intensity continuous training method is high intensity based on resistance rather than speed and thus it allows form a higher volume of stimulus.

The archetypical HICT workout is either a spin bike or a Versaclimber cranked up to maximum resistance. But my bet is that a bodyweight exercise like hipscapes might suffice. After doing HICT with box steps (one of the alternatives that Joel suggests), it seems that there is a similar (though more jiu-jitsu specific) effort doing hipscapes.

We'll see how I'm feeling about all this in mid-August. For now, I'm grateful at having been able to adopt yet another routine from Joel's great book Ultimate MMA Conditioning to jiu-jitsu.

*Update: In terms of the specific aerobic adaptations that HICT delivers is "greater oxygen utilization and increased endurance of the fast twitch fibers." Again, given my sprinter's gas tank (and transmission, for that matter) this is just what I need. Far more often than not, my legs give out long before my lungs do.