The odds are mighty good that if you are reading this article you "train" some form of combat sport. Did you notice the quotation marks around the word train? I didn't place them there in a lackluster attempt at sarcasm implying that we are aren't working hard enough. The quotation marks are there as I don't want to make any assumptions about how you approach bettering your sport/game/art/combat endeavors. What I do want to do today is distinguish the differences between working out and training and then allow you to judge for yourself which you are doing. And then, if you decide that you are merely working out and wish to make the step into actual training I will provide concrete steps to make that happen no matter what your particular discipline.

            First, a few questions and then we'll define some terms. When you go to the gym, do you free-form it moving to whatever station or machine happens to be open at the time? Do you more or less use the same conditioning regimen with a few minor changes here and there occasionally? When performing rote exercises, push-ups for example, do you pay no attention to how you are doing the push-ups and simply knock out the reps until you're done? When you run do you keep to the same general distances? Approximately the same speeds? Same terrains? When you bang the bag do you improvise and bang away? When you roll or spar is it more along the lines of an informal match? If you answered yes to any or, all of these, then you are working out.

Next batch of questions? When you go to the gym do you have a plan? If you are lifting weights do you know what the weight totals are on each exercise? Repetitions and set numbers? Do you have your last lift numbers recorded and with you (both poundage and reps)? Do you have your target lifts for each exercise? If and when you run, do you have set distances and designated times? Do you have previous run times recorded and with you to compare and contrast with prior benchmarks? If you are doing, say pull-ups, do you not simply put in your targeted reps but actually examine and tweak form in an effort to improve mechanical advantage? When you bang the bag are you working from a specific skill menu to hone a particular combination? When you run a set of 50 double-leg takedowns are you breaking down each takedown looking for what went right and what went wrong? When you roll with a partner are you focused on honing a specific skill, say a streamlined reverse lever choke set-up? If you answered yes to any or, all of these, then you, my friend, you are training.

Now those definitions I promised. Working out is any unstructured physical activity that loosely resembles what athletes do in preparation for their designated sport. Training, surprise surprise, is a tightly structured regimen that is constantly tweaked to ever edge both conditioning and skill on an ever upward course. In a loose analogy we could call training akin to an actual train-a powerful locomotive set firmly on unwavering tracks moving inexorably towards its destination. Whereas, working out, no matter how powerful that engine, without being on those tracks may spin its wheels and never get to where it's going or, if it does get there has a much harder and longer time of it.

Don't get me wrong, working out (substantially goalless work) has its benefits: a conditioning effect, some skill increases, and of course, hopefully, some fun. Working out is far, far better than nothing but, if ever higher levels of conditioning and skill are the goals then training might be the wiser course. Training doesn't just imply a plan it is based around the plan itself. No plan, no training. This is all no-brainer stuff, I know, as we would find it hard to imagine an elite competitor in a combat sport showing up at the gym with only a vague idea like "I guess we'll work on fighting today."

No, the top levels have more in mind than that when they walk through the doors of the gym; in fact they know precisely what aspects of conditioning and skill work and in just what proportions they will address. The elite level self-talk is more along the lines of "Today I will do workout A, 5 pounds up, and attempt to match or beat my previous time on it and then I'll ladder combination B on the bag for so-and-so rounds, and then take combination C to the mitts for this many rounds, and use targeted sparring to tighten my sprawl and whizzer off of the left side."

To make the step from working out to training (assuming that you are not already) you can follow a simple 4-Step Process to transform both your conditioning and skill cultivation goals.

1. Records-First, you must begin keeping track of your efforts: exercises, poundage, times, rounds worked, et cetera. These records are the backbone of your training progress; they allow you to evaluate how you're doing in a quantifiable manner.
2. Plan-Step 1, records, allows you to know where you are and where you were but, you've also got to know where you want to go. What is your training destination? Want to add 50 pounds to your bench? Trim time off of your 100-meter repeats? Increase the power of your inside kick? Tighten that knee-bar? Lay out a plan that addresses your specific goal-set.
3. Chunk It-You don't go from 0 to 60 overnight and that can be discouraging if you have some mighty high ambitions written in your plan; that is, unless you chunk your goals. Don't revise your end goals downward but, break them down into bite-size manageable steps. Such minute bites that you can address small portions of your goals at practically every training session. It is these minute/marginal improvements that accumulate into large rewards.
4. Feedback-How do you know you're getting somewhere? How do you know if you're spinning your wheels? Well, we've come full circle-we're back to step one and record-keeping. If you notice a trend after, say, 30 days of training that progress is being made in some goals then that portion of your training is on the right track. If you see slim to zero progress in other training goals then perhaps there is a flaw at either Step 1 or Step 2. More often than not, slim returns can be accounted for by improper chunking (that is assuming you're actually showing up and doing the work).  

Use your recorded feedback to continually adjust the ongoing training. Training is all about the plan (and discipline, of course) and a flawed plan can hamper you a bit but at least a plan can be altered. If you have no plan, no harm no foul as I don't go so far as to agree with the homily "A failure to plan is a plan to fail." No, that assessment seems to go too far but, I do think that a good plan is like a GPS system, knowing "Left turn at the next light, then merge right in 200 yards"  is a far better way to get where you're going than "Go north until you see the Wendy's sign." In combat training GPS terms those who train know "If I do this, then that, then improve this skill set, then this goal is likely to result." Those who work out think along the vague lines of "After I've been dong this for a few years it'll all come together." It seems, to me, that that thinking is akin to "Drive until you see the Wendy's sign." It's far easier to take the train with a good GPS system you'll know where you're going, where you are at every mile of the way and, you'll have a really good idea of how long it takes to get there.