Bodyweight Training and Martial Arts By John Grube

[Bob Hubbard]

Bodyweight Training and Martial Arts
By John Grube (http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=John_Grube)

For years I was involved in the martial arts and have
seen a lot of martial artists that aren't in good enough
shape to defend themselves.

Today it's seems a little different because of the explosion
of mixed martial arts and most of the traditional martial arts
today are far and few between.

But if you go back many, many years ago martial artists were
hard core and in some countries it still is, however to find that
type of hard core training today, in the traditional arts is tough
to find.

The legends of martial arts trained hard everyday, as often as
possible and these men were made of iron, these men were as
hard as they come.

Most old school martial artists trained using their own bodyweight
to train and these men were tough physically and mentally.
This is why martial arts and bodyweight training go hand in hand
they are natural body movements.

Martial arts moves the body at different angles- throwing kicks,
punches, delivering spinning kicks, jumps, etc, the body must
be conditioned physically and mentally for this type of training.

A person who is involved in the martial arts needs a strong core,
flexibility, strength, muscular endurance and anaerobic conditioning.
One workout that you can do is the 6 minute gut check workout.

This workout you need a heavy bag:
1 minute kick and punch the bag all out.
1 minute pushup ( as many as possible ).
1 minute on bag.
1 minute jumping jacks.
1 minute on the bag.
1 minute situps.

These rounds are 6 minutes of tough pain.

If you don't have a heavy bag just throw as many punches and kicks
as you can for 1 minute.

This is one round rest 2 minute then repeat 3 to 5 rounds

This type of training will get you in to fighting condition in no
time flat.

John Grube is an expert on the subject of bodyweight training He has over 25 years of training experience and is the author of The Wildman Training Program manual , The New Expanded version The Wildman Training Course and The Super Strength Playground Training Manual.For more info

http://www.wildmantraining.com (http://www.wildmantraining.com/)
Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=John_Grube

[Archangel M]

Try this one too.

20 minutes on the clock:

Do as many repititions as you can of this circuit

-5 chin-ups
-10 push ups
-15 bodyweight squats



over..and over...and over again.

PS: The goal is to count how many cycles you do in 20 min and try to do more the next time.

[Archangel M]

Another one:

20 min on the clock:

-Stand in front of a heavy bag.
-Do one burpee. (mimics a sprawl..or getting up from the ground n' pound)
-throw a combination of choice ( at least a 1-2)
-Repeat


This one "kills".

[tshadowchaser]

Endurance excercises useing your own body weight seem to have gone out of style with the "lets keep students and not drive them away by makeing them excersise" schools.

[exile]

I'd like to look at the flip side: while MA movements are to some extent natural movements (and to some extent not: a full hip-powered side kick, even to a low target, takes a lot of training against natural inclinations), the same is true for swimming, at least to the same degree—yet swimmers' time improvements have gone through the roof over the last few years partly because of heavy-duty, high intensity weight training using press machines, barbells, weighted hanging dips and a range of exercises that go well beyond the trainee's own body weight. That goes for sprinters, skiiers and rock climbers as well. Anything that increases your strength will, all other things being equal, increase your power—and your speed, because increasing strength using free weights always begins with a period in which neural motor units are trained to fire in synch, before actual muscle mass is added. Rapidly synchonized motor units that activate muscle contraction/extension translate into greater speed for delivery of the same force—and that in turn equates to greater power, greater impact. So if MAists are interested in resistance training to augment their strictly MA drills and workout, they'd do well to consider regular routines that go well beyond bodyweight.

Remember, there are a host of older weight-training routines that karateka and CMA experts did a century ago, using what now looks like fairly exotic equipment—e.g., specially shaped jars (kame in Okinawan, discussed in Mark Bishop's great 1999 book Okinawan Karate: Techniques, styles and secret techniques) that you filled with water or sand and carried around with your fingers in a 'claw' configuration, adding enormously to finger and hand strength; very heavy mallet-shaped weights that you carried upright by the shaft to stress wrist strength—many of you have seen these devices, I'm sure. There's plenty of evidence that MAists of the past made use of equipment to stress their muscle strength beyone what bodyweight would normally supply. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with bodyweight exercises; they're great for when you don't have access to a training facility like a gym—but you can do still better, I believe, by adding extra weight in high-intensity routines.

[Archangel M]

Id say it all depends on your physical goals. Check out crossfit.com for an interesting combination of "weighted stamina" type training. If the goal is to be able to exert maximal power over an extended period (like a 5 min round) then trad weightlifting isnt going to get you there by itself. IMO you need a combination of exercises.