Fitness?

[ralphmcpherson]

This was sort of touched on in another thread, the breakdown in class of fitness, poomsae, sparring etc. Im just curious how much emphasis do you guys put on fitness in class? Do you believe fitness is something the students should work on in their own time and the dojang is for learning tkd? Do you believe that being physically fit is impotant in being a good tkdist/martial artist? do you have entire classes put aside just for fitness training, and what level of fitness do you believe a good black belt should have?

 

[andyjeffries]

Do you believe that being physically fit is impotant in being a good tkdist/martial artist? do you have entire classes put aside just for fitness training, and what level of fitness do you believe a good black belt should have?

A Taekwondoin should be able to last the entire lesson, putting up a good performance level throughout. I don't believe that fitness beyond and above is necessary. If they want to improve their fitness outside of the work normally put in during class, they can work on it in their own time. We do warm-ups and cool-downs, but additional conditioning beyond that is up to them.

 

[ralphmcpherson]

A Taekwondoin should be able to last the entire lesson, putting up a good performance level throughout. I don't believe that fitness beyond and above is necessary. If they want to improve their fitness outside of the work normally put in during class, they can work on it in their own time. We do warm-ups and cool-downs, but additional conditioning beyond that is up to them.

what level of fitness is required to be able to last a session? For instance, could an average guy off the street with average fitness levels last a session? are black belts required to have significantly higher fitness levels than a coloured belt to make it through a session or are all belts trained equally from a fitness perspective. For instance where I train our instructor will say "white, yellow and blue belts do 50 push ups, red belts do 70 and black belts do a hundred".

 

[andyjeffries]

what level of fitness is required to be able to last a session? For instance, could an average guy off the street with average fitness levels last a session?

No, definitely not. But the ability to last the session comes with experience.

are black belts required to have significantly higher fitness levels than a coloured belt to make it through a session or are all belts trained equally from a fitness perspective.

They generally have a higher fitness level, gained through the experience of keeping training.

For instance where I train our instructor will say "white, yellow and blue belts do 50 push ups, red belts do 70 and black belts do a hundred".

Ahh OK, now I see what you mean. In our class all grades do the same amount of work. If coloured belts drop out early then that's more accepted than if black belts do. But the physical conditioning side of it is definitely less stressed. As we're a small club with mainly black belts (in the adult side) we tend to warm ourselves up, so the days of regimented push ups are not really what we do now.

That's not to say those days won't return if we get more beginner students, but at the moment it's not "how we roll"...

 

[ralphmcpherson]

No, definitely not. But the ability to last the session comes with experience.



They generally have a higher fitness level, gained through the experience of keeping training.



Ahh OK, now I see what you mean. In our class all grades do the same amount of work. If coloured belts drop out early then that's more accepted than if black belts do. But the physical conditioning side of it is definitely less stressed. As we're a small club with mainly black belts (in the adult side) we tend to warm ourselves up, so the days of regimented push ups are not really what we do now.

That's not to say those days won't return if we get more beginner students, but at the moment it's not "how we roll"...

I see where coming from. I have noticed that when I go to black belt camps there is less focus on the fitness side of things and more on the technical. When the coloured belts are involved there seems to be more conditioning/fitness to bring them up to speed in that regard.

 

[StudentCarl]

I see a definite period of adjustment with the new student, but otherwise I think the standard is that you need to be able to complete the activity without fitness issues interfering with your performance. If you just do classes, you need to be able to do all that is included in that. If you compete, then you need to be fit enough for however many fights you can expect in your bracket...or peformances of your forms. Where I study, the higher belts have additional tasks, so the standard does change. For example, when doing line drills, we're generally expected to double the fast-round, jump the back kick, and add a spin hook on the end of kicking drills. Anyone above green belt is expected to have the fitness and experience to keep up, though injury recovery would be an exception.

 

[K-man]

We do a quick warm up und then straight in to the training. Even though our sessions are two and a half hours we still haven't got time to work on perfecting pushups. Fitness is the responsibility of the student, not the MA instructor.

Personally I do five one hour aerobic and circuit training sessions in the gym each week and I expect my students to organise their own fitness training. The training itself has some fitness benefit but a lot of out training is technical.

That said, our guys do have enough fitness to get through the training without wilting.
:asian:

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

This was sort of touched on in another thread, the breakdown in class of fitness, poomsae, sparring etc. Im just curious how much emphasis do you guys put on fitness in class? Do you believe fitness is something the students should work on in their own time and the dojang is for learning tkd? Do you believe that being physically fit is impotant in being a good tkdist/martial artist? do you have entire classes put aside just for fitness training, and what level of fitness do you believe a good black belt should have?

I run my students through enough of a warmup to prevent injuries and enough pushups to let them know that they need to be keeping fit outside of class. The rest of class is for instruction. If they want a muscle building class, Ballys is better suited to deliver than I am.

However, if you train in kumdo (or any martial art) three or more times a week, chances are, you'll get enough fitness to make it through the class without regimented strength training drills.

Daniel

 

[puunui]

I see a definite period of adjustment with the new student, but otherwise I think the standard is that you need to be able to complete the activity without fitness issues interfering with your performance. If you just do classes, you need to be able to do all that is included in that. If you compete, then you need to be fit enough for however many fights you can expect in your bracket...or peformances of your forms.

That is a good summation. I go through phases but I think that you will get some cardio benefits from class, but I do not believe that should be the focus of the class. I think that primarily class time should be devoted to the transmission and assimilation of knowledge. If cardio is the focus then that student should go take a zumba class, not a martial arts class.

 

[ATC]

You class training in itself will develop some level of fitness, or it should.