There are a lot of arguments that happen in the self-defense training community. 9mm vs. 45, AIWB vs. strong side carry, WML on a pistol or not, spare mag carry or not, knife carry or not, hand-to-hand training or not, ad infinitum. Almost all of the acrimonious debates are a massive waste of time, and do little to make people safer and more capable.

One minor argument, but one that may have far more reach and functionality, is the discussion over whether cardio or strength is more important in a fight.

Both sides are passionate in that focus. The strength proponents will say that being strong enough to overpower an opponent is a good way to ensure that the fight is short and cardio does not enter into it. The pro-cardio side will say that you cannot know or ensure that your fight will be over in a few seconds. Think of the recent situation from Florida where a disabled elderly man had to fight off three home invaders while the police did not respond even though they had set up a perimeter around his house. He had to continue for a long extended time (over 15 minutes!). Your fight may end in seconds, or it may not. And along those lines, how many times have you seen online experts advocate “just running away” from an attack. How far and for how long do we need to run? Are we assuming that the bad guy will not bother to chase, or will give up after a few steps? And if he doesn’t? And you need to run a mile or even more before you escape, but your cardio sucks because you have never bothered to run?

As in most debates of this nature, I tend to be the one who says “it depends”. I think both sides have much merit, and once again, it comes down to specific and individual context. It is absolutely a good idea to be as strong as possible because at the very least it prevents you from being overpowered even if you are not strong enough to overpower the attacker. And it is just as good an idea to have as good a cardio engine as possible because as anyone who has been through a life or death assault can attest, those few seconds can seem like hours and you do not want to gas out under that level of stressor.

Outside of ego or financial reasons to argue for one side (don’t be surprised when that coach who is known as a trainer for powerlifters or Olympic lifters pushes for everyone to focus on strength), you need both. I will entertain no discussion about that. Both are needed, in different amounts in different situations. It is all well and good to say “get as strong as possible”, but if you are 5’ 2” and weigh 120lbs, you will never truly build the strength to outmuscle someone 6’ 2” and 230lbs. It is just not possible for most people to reach those limits. Conversely, you may have great cardio and go for hours, but if you have little power, you may find yourself still controlled and thrown around by that bigger, stronger, but less conditioned attacker. Both qualities are important and should be trained. The real decision, in my opinion, is how we allocate precious training time to each side of this equation.

Few of us will be able to have the free time to train as a professional fighter and it is difficult to find enough free time to do what we want. Add to that the very real item that we also have a lot more skills to work on H2H, shooting, medical, legal understanding, pre-fight threat containment, etc.  So a major aspect of our focus is to figure out how to get the most out of what time we have.

Here is a suggestion for the strength and conditioning (S&C) work – Your immediate focus should be on which one you are most deficient in. How do we determine that? The best way is by doing some kind of fight oriented training. Taking the ECQC course with Craig Douglas, or MDOC with Paul Sharp (or my coursework even) will give you a weekend look at where you have the greatest gap. Did you gas out right away and had a hard time getting work in? Then obviously cardio should be the main thing to work on. Or did you get manhandled by your training partners? Were they able to control and dominate you and kept you from performing the physical skills you were attempting? Then you need to move some iron. Look at your most dire gap, and start to work on it.

For some, it will certainly be strength. I have always been okay in that department, but I have had severe asthma my entire life, so my cardio is a massive and ongoing concern. I absolutely need to make sure that my lungs can overcome the bronchial constriction that I will experience in a life or death encounter. We all have to make that calculation, but do so from an honest assessment, nit from what you prefer, or what some Subject Matter Expert has said.

I like the approach of doing 4-8 week blocks of singular focus. For example, currently I am doing a strength block. 3 days a week I am lifting some heavy weights and making sure I have moved the needle forward in that arena. While doing so, one day a week I do a basic 45 minute long, steady distance (LSD) cardio workout for general maintenance. Along with 3-5 days a week on the BJJ mats, this keeps my cardio at a reasonable state. When I reach the end of the current cycle, I will most likely transition to a focus on the cardio with multiple days doing that, with a single strength day for maintain what I have achieved.

By the way, here is a really nice feature of strength work. You can indefinitely maintain gains there by one workout a week of a near maximal, low volume, low rep session. So as long as you do that, you will not lose anything. I wish the same could be said for cardio, but the best we can hope for there with one day a week is a slower loss. But still, we have some flexibility in our long term planning.

If you want to really look at this area, there are a few resources I would advise. Drop me an email if you would like some direction. One that I am hoping will be available soon is an e-book written by Larry Lindenman for Point Driven Training. I have a copy and it is a terrific “one stop shopping” info manual on training for not just S&C, but nutrition and mobility work as well. He has not finished it or made it available for sale yet, but I am trying to convince him to do so. If it happens, I will shout about it everywhere I can. Keep looking here.