Your Cardio Workout

MJS

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In another thread, there was mention of how long a fight lasts and is cardio a big factor. Not to side track that thread, I wanted to start this one, to discuss everyones cardio workouts. I'm looking for the following:

-How many times a week do you do cardio?

-How long do you do your cardio for?

-What types of cardio work do you do?

-In your opinion, how important do you feel cardio is?
 

KempoGuy06

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In another thread, there was mention of how long a fight lasts and is cardio a big factor. Not to side track that thread, I wanted to start this one, to discuss everyones cardio workouts. I'm looking for the following:

-How many times a week do you do cardio?

I generally do cardio 3 - 4 times a week depending on what else Im doing that week

-How long do you do your cardio for?

any where between 30min to 2-3 hours depending on the type

-What types of cardio work do you do?

In class training is very good cardio, also our sparring and BJJ. These are different types that use different muscles along with high intensity monement. I also use the eliptical or stationary at the gym or ride my bike on or off trails

-In your opinion, how important do you feel cardio is?

I feel cardio is very important. It strengthens your heart and lungs. These things can not be improved with weight training no matter how much you can lift. Improves stamina and endurance. It improves flexibility, joints, conditions muscles. It is very important.

B
 
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MJS

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For myself:

-How many times a week do you do cardio?

I focus the most on it during my weight workouts, which I do 3 times a week.

-How long do you do your cardio for?

A min. of 15 min to a max of 30 min.

-What types of cardio work do you do?

I have a treadmill. It has preset programs, so I usually pick one for 30 min. and walk. The machine alternates speed and incline. I'm not a big runner, so when I opt to do that, its more of a jog. I'll also alternate between jogging and walking. I have a small stepper that my wife bought. It counts the steps and keeps track of time. I live in a condo. Its a half mile around the block, so I'll walk the dog and go around at least 2 times, weather providing. I take him out 3 times before I go to work. Of course, my MA training provides a great source of cardio. :)

-In your opinion, how important do you feel cardio is?

I think it is important. I have a sit down job and I'm a big eater, so if I don't do cardio, I'd hate to think what I'd look like. In general, I think you tend to feel better about yourself by getting some sort of exercise. You don't feel as tired and you have more energy. Due to different lifestyles, its hard to keep up with it, but a little is better than none.

Mike
 

Shaderon

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-How many times a week do you do cardio?
I do a long run on a weekend, sometimes a shorter run during the week and do a cardio type warm up on my 2 training days so that's four times. On my 2 weights days I do 5 minutes, I don't count this as cardio work as I'm not doing it long enough.

-How long do you do your cardio for?
Anything between 30 minutes and an hour, on weights days or training days it's more like 15 minutes. On training days our warm up finishes with a heavy cardio blast sometimes.

-What types of cardio work do you do?
I run at the moment, once I've done my 10k race though I'm going to switch to rowing because of ankle problems.

-In your opinion, how important do you feel cardio is?
Very important, it allows me to build up my steady state endurance, which in turn gives my "short blast of energy" endurance an edge. I can do short blasts of intense workouts and rests with shorter stops in between, it helps my recovery rate and my general fitness is at a better level. I can training weights and MA for longer and harder than I did before I started it.
 

KempoGuy06

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In another thread, there was mention of how long a fight lasts and is cardio a big factor. Not to side track that thread, I wanted to start this one, to discuss everyones cardio workouts. I'm looking for the following:

-How many times a week do you do cardio?

-How long do you do your cardio for?

-What types of cardio work do you do?

-In your opinion, how important do you feel cardio is?
You should start like this one only about weight training because the two go hand in hand

B
 

bushidomartialarts

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i bang out five miles of jogging 3-4 times a week.

cardio is fairly important for martial arts, but not terribly so. honestly, fights don't last long enough for it to be an issue.

cardio is very, very important for personal health, fitness, longevity, quality of life.

and cardio training is a discipliine exercise for me. i hate jogging. but it's good for me. so i make myself do it.
 

terryl965

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I walk almost every morning around my nieghborhood about two miles and every night we run at the school I also do Steppers and run with a medicine ball that wieghs 16 pounds for 20 sprints across the workout room. I believe this is one of the aspect of MA that gets the least amount of time for the students.
 

jdinca

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Every instructor workout and every lesson with my teacher involves a lot of cardio, just because of the nature of the workout. I'd say three times a week for a total of about 2-3 hours.
 

Flying Crane

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I tend to work thru my training at a fast and energetic pace so everything I do is pretty focused on cardio, even if accidentally. I practice a lot of Chinese forms that are quite long and done at high speed, so it's kind of like running long sprints. I also try to swim a couple times a week, altho I haven't been very consistant with that lately.
 

The Kidd

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I do cardio 5 times a week, for about 20 to 40 minutes, I hate cardio!!!!!!!!!!!! I will lift weights all day but cardio is a pain but I make myself do it anyway.
 

wingchun100

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In another thread, there was mention of how long a fight lasts and is cardio a big factor. Not to side track that thread, I wanted to start this one, to discuss everyones cardio workouts. I'm looking for the following:

-How many times a week do you do cardio?

-How long do you do your cardio for?

-What types of cardio work do you do?

-In your opinion, how important do you feel cardio is?

I do cardio 3 times a week, 30 minutes at a time (due to work schedule I can do no more, so I do what I can). I do cardio that also involves holding weights to have a bit of a strength component too. As for how important, I think cardio is the most important thing for martial artists to improve on. Body mechanics will give you the ability to hit hard (my Sifu is several inches shorter than me and weighs less but can knock me across the rom), but nothing other than cardio training...constantly pushing your limits...will increase your ability to last...and by "last," I'm talking about scenarios where it would be better to run than fight!
 

jks9199

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The question is what are you preparing for? If you're training for an MMA match, a boxing match, or a point tournament, or similar events, you need more aerobic cardio training. If you're focusing on preparing your body for real violence -- than it's typically going to be more anaerobic and your emphasis needs to shift that way.

My personal training varies. Currently, I'm doing 30 to 50 minutes or so of moderate intensity cardio, like biking, running, or elliptical training. Then my strength workouts tend to be balancing more anaerobic -- getting the heart rate high, with high effort in short rounds. For example, I might do a set of squat presses, followed with push-up/rows, then weighted step ups, kb swings, and close the round with something like squat jumps or burpees or something else like that. Take a short rest, and do it again... and again. And sometimes again some more...
 

K-man

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The question is what are you preparing for? If you're training for an MMA match, a boxing match, or a point tournament, or similar events, you need more aerobic cardio training. If you're focusing on preparing your body for real violence -- than it's typically going to be more anaerobic and your emphasis needs to shift that way.
Spot on. If you need to fight three five minute rounds or five three minute rounds then you need a fair measure of cardio fitness. If you are not in that scene then it becomes subjective. Do you need to be fit to run away? Sure. Can you rely on aerobic fitness to outpace your attacker? No, and that gets more apparent as you get older. So aerobic fitness needs to be part of your training and it is essential just to live your life, but in normal circumstances it is not a huge factor in self defence training as that type of altercation is normally over quickly.

I sometimes get the guys to punch the heavy bag as hard as they can for as long as they can. Hat off to you if you can last longer than a minute, without losing speed or power, regardless of underlying aerobic fitness.

Personally, I take part in an hour of group circuit training six days a week with a different trainer each day. It combines aerobic and resistance training and I find it particularly good in maintaining overall fitness. At any time you can go as hard as you like but you will likely burn out pretty quickly so you do need to pace yourself.
:asian:
 

mook jong man

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I like to perform intervals.
During the interval of the commercial break , I like to execute a bodyweight squat as I arise from the couch , and walk briskly to the kitchen and make myself a sammich.

Making sure to adhere to strict form I then grab a beer out of the fridge and try to get back before my program starts.
Be warned this workout is of rather an intense nature so be sure to perform and adequate and thorough warm up.
Doing a couple of lunges for the TV remote on the coffee table should be sufficient to raise the hear rate and get a light sweat happening.
 

Mauthos

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I tend to go to the gym 6 times a week at the moment mainly for weight training but I always start with 20 mins of cardio. I also attend 2 sessions of body combat a week that last an hour each, so I guess I am doing approximately 4 hours of cardio a week on top of any cardio I get out of my MA training.

I believe that all exercise is important in some way or another and I don't think I have a preference as to which I think is more beneficial.

Weight training keeps me feeling strong and my muscles in good shape which enables me to find all the body weight exercises I have to do in MA training relatively easy. Then with the cardio I do, I have found that this has enable me to last hard training sessions without my lungs feeling like they are about to explode or without my heart pounding in my chest. Especially true on Thursdays where I always do 1 hour in the gym, body combat and then 1hr to 1.5 hrs of kick boxing.

I will always exercise as a compliment to my MA training and it will always consist of regular cardio, weight training and body weight exercises, which has also had the added benefit of improving my general wellbeing and fitness levels whilst controlling my glucose levels incredibly well.
 

wingchun100

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I tend to go to the gym 6 times a week at the moment mainly for weight training but I always start with 20 mins of cardio. I also attend 2 sessions of body combat a week that last an hour each, so I guess I am doing approximately 4 hours of cardio a week on top of any cardio I get out of my MA training.

I believe that all exercise is important in some way or another and I don't think I have a preference as to which I think is more beneficial.

Weight training keeps me feeling strong and my muscles in good shape which enables me to find all the body weight exercises I have to do in MA training relatively easy. Then with the cardio I do, I have found that this has enable me to last hard training sessions without my lungs feeling like they are about to explode or without my heart pounding in my chest. Especially true on Thursdays where I always do 1 hour in the gym, body combat and then 1hr to 1.5 hrs of kick boxing.

I will always exercise as a compliment to my MA training and it will always consist of regular cardio, weight training and body weight exercises, which has also had the added benefit of improving my general wellbeing and fitness levels whilst controlling my glucose levels incredibly well.

I used to do a similar pattern, except I didn't start with cardio. I would do something more like circuit training:

*3 exercises for a muscle group, one after the next
*3 exercises for another muscle, same way
*2-5 minutes on the treadmill, making the speed go up and down to simulate "broken rhythm"
*rest and repeat

It actually got good results for me back in the day (2000-2001).
 

Dinkydoo

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I run twice per week for around 30 minutes at a time (I hate it, but force myself to do it!) but I'd say that I do cardio related training 5 times per week to some degree.

I train in two Chinese martial arts and the forms in one of the styles are particularly long and energetic. I'll run through five one after the other at full speed, which only takes around 8 minutes, but I'm absolutely wrecked after it! In addition to that I'll do warmups on maybe 3 days per week that involve skipping for 30 seconds, jog on the spot (knees high) 30 seconds, 5 plyo pressups, 10 sit-ups, jog for 15 seconds on sport (knees low) - repeat X 5

Cardio is great for overall health and well being - and it does feature heavily in most aspects of my training - but in terms of self defence, I can only really echo what's been said above; anaerobic, high intensity stuff is much more beneficial.
 

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