Taekwondo for Fitness

[Skip Cooper]

Okay, so I will admit that I hate the thought of aerobic conditioning. I loath the treadmill...serious ADD issues...and I don't really have the time for roadwork. I do squats daily (lots of them) and they seem to help with the cardio conditioning, but I am still a balding fat guy. Unfortunately, I cannot do anything for the balding, but the weight loss is essential for more than cosmetic reasons.

My hapkido training does little for weightloss, except for the temporary weightlessness of a throw. I was considering taking Taekwondo for fitness...don't worry, I don't mean to cheapen the art to that of Taebo. My school offers this style as well and I rarely see fat guys in class nor at local competitions. Besides, I need a little hand and foot training anyway to complement the joint breaking and tendon tearing of my chosen style.

Any suggestions?

 

[Shaderon]

I'll leave it to the more experienced to give advice but my opinion is that TaeKwonDo and Hapkido should compliment each other very well. TKD is very good for aerobic and muscular conditioning, but I do extra training out of class also, weights, running, rowing... that sort of thing and I still only just keep up with our instructors killer warm-ups. If you do take it up for fitness, personally I'd use it as a measure or motivation to get fit, I'd train fitness extra out of class too. I've been told that rowing is better for you than the treadmill and if your local gym has tv's in, you can watch your tv programs while you row, or just strap on an MP3 player and listen to music.

 

[Kacey]

Shaderon is right, TKD and Hapkido complement each other well - just remember, you get out of any MA what you put into it. If you train hard, you'll get more benefits than if you train lightly; if you are training for technique you may not get as much aerobic benefit as if you are training for power. Talk to a few instructors, tell them what you want, watch their classes, and then take the class that suits your needs.

 

[exile]

I'll leave it to the more experienced to give advice but my opinion is that TaeKwonDo and Hapkido should compliment each other very well. TKD is very good for aerobic and muscular conditioning, but I do extra training out of class also, weights, running, rowing... that sort of thing and I still only just keep up with our instructors killer warm-ups. If you do take it up for fitness, personally I'd use it as a measure or motivation to get fit, I'd train fitness extra out of class too. I've been told that rowing is better for you than the treadmill and if your local gym has tv's in, you can watch your tv programs while you row, or just strap on an MP3 player and listen to music.

Shaderon is right, TKD and Hapkido complement each other well - just remember, you get out of any MA what you put into it. If you train hard, you'll get more benefits than if you train lightly; if you are training for technique you may not get as much aerobic benefit as if you are training for power. Talk to a few instructors, tell them what you want, watch their classes, and then take the class that suits your needs.

Both Shaderon and Kacey are giving you great advice, Skip. I agree: rowing is probably more demanding than treadmill running, and it's also true that it's much harder to do interval training—longer periods of moderate exercise interspersed with very short (5-10 second) bursts of all-out effort, e.g., 50 seconds of jogging, 10 seconds of 100m.-dash-intensity sprinting per minute—on a treadmill than running on a track.

Most definitely, you should train fitness outside of class, as Shads points out, because a lot of the stuff you need to do won't involve expenditure of enough energy to get an aerobic workout. TKD requires you to develop very good balance skills, something far fewer people have than have perfect pitch in music, especially if you don't have a deep background in athlectic activities which demand demand and reinforce balance skills. Without good balance, you can't perform even mid-height kicks properly, but then, as Kacey says, balance training, and technique training generally, won't really stress you aerobically. The point about training for power is right on target—the most severe workouts I've ever done, aerobically, were kicking workouts using a heavy hanging back. Twenty continuous minutes of hard interval training I can manage (just), but there is no way I could kick a heavy hanging bag really hard continuously for twenty minutes.

BTW, it goes without saying you have consulted, or a planning to consult, your physician for a good going-over before you start any kind of demanding exercise regime, right?

 

[tkd_jen]

Great advice so far. I highly recommend watching at least 2 classes from each school. I say this because each instructor leads a warm-up/workout differently. My warm-ups tend to be fairly high energy, high cardio, etc. Some instructors focus more on pushups, situps etc. so I would watch a few instructors from each school.

 

[tkd_Jaz]

Great advice so far. I highly recommend watching at least 2 classes from each school. I say this because each instructor leads a warm-up/workout differently. My warm-ups tend to be fairly high energy, high cardio, etc. Some instructors focus more on pushups, situps etc. so I would watch a few instructors from each school.

You should tell him that awesome warmup that you usually do. Trust me people it's awesome and you'll be sweating (nothing beats those power pyramids!!)

 

[matt.m]

Poomsea, Poomsea, and more poomsea.....In that order. However, I have to ask, "What style of hapkido are you training in?" Moo Sul Kwan Hapkido is huge on kicking. Hapkido is known for its dynamic kicking as a whole.

Tae Kwon Do is awesome to take alongside of it, so as long as you get into a kicking/poomsea traditional over sparring dominated class you will do great.

Good luck!

 

[exile]

...so as long as you get into a kicking/poomsea traditional over sparring dominated class you will do great.

This hits the poor old nail right on the head.

 

[Skip Cooper]

Poomsea, Poomsea, and more poomsea.....In that order. However, I have to ask, "What style of hapkido are you training in?" Moo Sul Kwan Hapkido is huge on kicking. Hapkido is known for its dynamic kicking as a whole.

Tae Kwon Do is awesome to take alongside of it, so as long as you get into a kicking/poomsea traditional over sparring dominated class you will do great.

Good luck!

I am currently training in jungkikwan hapkido. As of yet, I have seen no kicking, but I have recently joined this organization so I have not been exposed to all of the techniques.

However, I do have some shotokan experience from many years ago.

 

[Skip Cooper]

BTW, it goes without saying you have consulted, or a planning to consult, your physician for a good going-over before you start any kind of demanding exercise regime, right?

I guess I should do that, huh? Not getting any younger, just afraid of what I might find out.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Skip Cooper]

I'd like to thank everyone for their generous suggestions. I would also like to add, that I am already training outside of class. I am just looking for alternative methods of training to supplement what I am currently engaged in. With my work schedule and family obligations, I have little time to devote to training outside of class. My son will be starting taekwondo at the same dojang on the nights that I don't have hapkido. There is an adult taekwondo class immediately following his class. So my thinking is "since I'm already here..."

 

[exile]

I'd like to thank everyone for their generous suggestions. I would also like to add, that I am already training outside of class. I am just looking for alternative methods of training to supplement what I am currently engaged in. With my work schedule and family obligations, I have little time to devote to training outside of class. My son will be starting taekwondo at the same dojang on the nights that I don't have hapkido. There is an adult taekwondo class immediately following his class. So my thinking is "since I'm already here..."

I also started TKD because my son was in a TKD class. In my school there aren't separate kids and adult classes, so I got to stay and watch everyone at once and it looked very good to me...

I guess I should do that, huh? Not getting any younger, just afraid of what I might find out.

Skip, I turned 60 less than 2 weeks ago; getting, ahem, older doesn't necessarily mean things have to go wrong with you. You are probably fine, and anything that's not fine is probably something that a few simple changes can fix. Really, it's important to make sure that all your various numbers are in the range they should be—when people hear things they don't like from the doctor, that's what it usually involves; and it's remarkable, to me anyway, how many of those numbers can be changed for the way better by getting more sleep, a bit more of the right kind of exercise, and modifying your diet a bit... don't let your anxieties here put you at real risk...

 

[Shaderon]

Absolutely right Exile, I used to get chest infections at least twice a year, I mean I'm allergic to VIRUSES ferchrissake! But since taking up TKD, running and eating better, I've not had a single one. My respiratory system is much stronger and therefore my immune system too.

 

[tkd_jen]

OK Jaz, just for you here is Jen's version of the Power Pyramid:

Round 1: 1 Burpee; 2 Pushups; 3 Situps run down the gym and back, do jumping jacks until everyone is done.

Round 2: 2 Burpees; 4 Pushups ; 6 Situps repeat running and jumping jacks

Round 3: 3 Burpees; 6 Pushups; 9 Situps repeat run/jumping jacks

Round 4: 4 Burpees; 8 Pushups; 12 Situps repeat run/jumping jacks

R5: 5;10;15
R6: 6;12;18
R7: 7;14;21
R8: 8;16;24
R9: 9;18;27
R10: 10;20;30

I added the jumping jacks because it gives the really in shape people a little more challenge AND because (I know this is hard to believe) but some people sometimes try to cheat on pushups!

 

[Shaderon]

OK Jaz, just for you here is Jen's version of the Power Pyramid:

Round 1: 1 Burpee; 2 Pushups; 3 Situps run down the gym and back, do jumping jacks until everyone is done.

Round 2: 2 Burpees; 4 Pushups ; 6 Situps repeat running and jumping jacks

Round 3: 3 Burpees; 6 Pushups; 9 Situps repeat run/jumping jacks

Round 4: 4 Burpees; 8 Pushups; 12 Situps repeat run/jumping jacks

R5: 5;10;15
R6: 6;12;18
R7: 7;14;21
R8: 8;16;24
R9: 9;18;27
R10: 10;20;30

Sounds like a great warm up, that one will get the blood pumping!

I added the jumping jacks because it gives the really in shape people a little more challenge AND because (I know this is hard to believe) but some people sometimes try to cheat on pushups!

NO!!!!!! I'd not believe it.... :uhyeah:

 

[K31]

If you are truly looking at it from a weight loss perspective, doing something at 80% of your cardio heart rate will make you lose more than doing pure cardio.

I find that TKD is sometimes cardio and sometimes less, at least in my class. You can get a rough feel for this without a heat rate monitor by whether you can talk as in carry on a conversation while you're doing the activity.

The best thing I find about TKD is that it's never boring so I feel motivated not just to go to class but to do things outside of class to improve my technique.

For me, that's the most important thing, staying motivated.

And yeah, you can't do anything about the baldness but you could shave your head and tell everyone you're doing mixed martial arts.

 

[Skip Cooper]

More great advice...one more thing, what is a burpee?

 

[Skip Cooper]

And yeah, you can't do anything about the baldness but you could shave your head and tell everyone you're doing mixed martial arts.

LOL! I've been shaving my head for the last six years and my co-workers have asked me if I am training for the UFC!!!

Once, my wife and I went to her company's Christmas party. One of her inebriated co-workers worked up the courage to ask me if I was a skinhead.

I get it all from Kojak to King Kong Bundy to Mr. Clean. The other day, one of the security guards at work said I look like the guy from the tv program "The Shield". It's a good thing I have a great sense of humor.

 

[tkd_jen]

More great advice...one more thing, what is a burpee?

Here you go: http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/burpeeclip.htm

We love them at our gym!!!

 

[Skip Cooper]

Here you go: http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/burpeeclip.htm

We love them at our gym!!!

Thanks for the clip...we called them squat thrusts back in my wrestling days. Those alone can get you into shape.

Thanks again, guys.