Everyone has a area of fitness they need to improve on.
Maybe you need more endurance, maybe strength training is whats needed, maybe your a little to heavy or a little to thin or maybe your just not loose enough to get your kicks up where you would like them.
Harold Liederman, old time strong man and editor of Strength and Fitness magazine suggested " that a man should....
* Be able to swim at least half a mile or more
* Be able to run at top speed for the length of two football fields
* Be able to jump over obstacles higher than your waist
* Be in condition to pull your body upward by the strength of your arms, until your chin touches your hands, at least 15 to 20 times
* Be able to dip between parallel bars or 2 chairs 25 times or more.
"If a man can accomplish these things,' Liederman said, 'he need have no fear concerning the safety of his life should he be forced into an emergency from which only he alone may be able to save himself".
So, how do we get to this level of fitness?
Balanced and slow progressive training is whats needed.
Most people don't reach these basic levels because they let their desire to achieve push them to over train and they end their training as quickly as they started.
Weight training: Pick 5 or 6 basic exercises, perform 1 set of 10 repetitions for the first two weeks, ( get the feel of the weight, find the weight that you can perform 10 reps and feel it in the last few), the next two weeks add a set of 8 reps with a small increase in weight. After this 2 week period add 1 more set of 6 repetitions, for a total of 3 sets 2 to 3 times per week. Now you can make small gradual increases in the amount of weight you lift.
This program will add strength and size to your muscles.
Stamina: Exercise bike, Jump rope, jogging, swimming or repetitive calisthenics are all excellent ways to improve your endurance.
Remember to take it slow so you don't burn out;
Take any of these forms of exercise or better yet, mix them up.
Do a few minutes each day, add time as you can, but be consistent, Try to achieve 20 mins. of continuous work and you will have all the stamina you need.
Flexibility: Being a Martial Artist you should already know how to stretch. Take you Dojo routine and try stretching for 10 to 15 mins before going to bed and again when you get up in the morning. Be sure you include some light stretching for you upper and lower back areas and your neck, these areas are often neglected.
You are a Martial Artist, your exercise program is to enhance you M.A. training, along with developing a solid flexible body.
Here are a few sites I strongly recommend:
1. MUSCLE BUILDING 2. BODYWEIGHT TRAINING 3. DUMBELL TRAINING
Martial Arts Fitness and Strength Training
Ippon Kumite: The Essense of Karate
Ippon Kumite
The most practiced and least understood part of most martial artist training regime.
As a beginning karate student you are taught Ippon Kumite as a basic exercise, Attacker steps forward with an attack, defender steps back and blocks. This is fine, it teaches the new Karateka to use good form and how to transition from one stance to another.
Most martial art instructors have their students increase the power and speed as they advance, but never take it to the next level.
In Shotokan Karate, when we would train Ippon Kumite, we wouldn't know what attack was coming, we would be attacked from a standing or a fighting stance. The defender, who usually derives the most benefit from this kind of training would have to block or evade and would return with his own ippon, learning to see the opening, picking the correct weapon and striking with focus.
All of this needs to happen as a reaction, someone throws something at you, you duck or weave out of the path of the object, no training or practice, just reaction. Now lets combine this natural reaction with training, timing and focus.
Eventually every strike will be the final blow, not a combination of feints leading to the kime, but every blow as kime. Attaining this level is the essence of self defense taught in Shotokan Karate.
Ippon Kumite is so much more then basic training.
