Your physical conditioning?

[Kong Soo Do]

Whether you're an instructor or a student, how would you assess your personal level of physical conditioning?

And what do you currently do to maintain or improve that level of conditioning?

Is there anything in particular that you'd like to try that you think would assist or benefit your martial arts training?

Thank you.

 

[K-man]

What do you mean by 'physical conditioning'? Is it physical fitness or the ability to absorb punishment, or both? :asian:

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Physical fitness, stamina, strength, flexibility etc.

 

[K-man]

Apart from MA training, I do an hour of circuit training 6 days a week. That includes aerobic work, dumbells and machines.

 

[zDom]

My instructor found over the years that the more conditioning we do (calisthenics) the fewer injuries there were in class.


So we do a LOT of conditioning.

The least we do is 200: 100 pushups (divided by three types) and 100 situps.

Nowadays it is usually no less than 300, though, divided among various exercises. Usually 300 to 600.

An upper belt (purple and above) workout is usually 500-800.


No less than 400 kicks for regular classes when we kick (usually about every class). Upper belt workouts often have 1,000 kicks.

 

[Paloma]

Currently: Extremely out of shape. College has turned my body to mush, but (hopefully) is sharpening my mind. No guarantees on that, though.

I go running every couple days and do some ab workouts, but for the most part, I'm pretty well out of shape.

 

[oftheherd1]

I have mentioned before that I took a break from training for health reasons, and that turned in to apathy and laziness. I am not trying to get back in to some kind of shape. Mostly I am doing my stretchs, kicks, and going through my techniques (but without a partner). I do some light workout on machines at the gym as well.

That's enough for now for me.

If you are talking about what was done when I was studying, that is a different animal. We certainly did stretching, pushups, situps, leg exercises that were both stretching and body building. Then group kicks were a set of our basic kicks. Next, often a series of kicks as called off by the instructor, usually at least 8 or 10, then when the first in line got back to the front, different ones. That was usually 4 or five sets. One ran to the back of the line after doing a series, same for focus pad kicks which were before the series. We tended to look forward to break time, but tried not to show it as if our GM noticed that, it seemed to have an proportional effect on his memory of when we should get a break.

 

[Omar B]

Aside from the Seido Karate background that is all about conditioning and calisthenics I also do yoga and swim.

I'm heavy into body weight routines/calisthenics/Dynamic Tension (Charles Atlas)/Yoga because I'm really into this never gymless idea, that the body is your own gym. I don't run a lot because I don't like pounding my knees (old surgery) or back (car accident 2 years ago) so I'm back to swimming, but I was on my college swim team so I know that routine and how to push myself in water from stealing everything my coaches taught me.

For me it's usually wake up and start coffee maker at 5. Practice guitar and drink coffee till 5.30 or 5.45 depending on when I feel up to it (i'm a slow starter). I alternate mornings at the pool or at the park a couple blocks away to use their jungle gym as my apparatus.

 

[dancingalone]

Hojo undo, calisthenics, and yoga in addition to actual martial arts study. I don't have a set proportion as I don't have particular strengthening or cardiovascular goals at this point in my life. Just whatever I feel like. I am in good health (other than needed to be cognizant of my body due to a back disc injury) and I can pretty much eat whatever I want and stay in good shape.

I'd like to retard whatever aging effects I can, and I feel like I can accomplish by continuing to practice martial arts while keeping an active lifestyle.

 

[Gentle Fist]

My judo club does A LOT of randori and ne waza. Aside from Judo, I do olympic style powerlifting and running (3 to 5 miles). I would say I am in pretty good shape for being in my mid-30's but could always improve

 

[pgsmith]

12 ounce curls. I lift a lot of beer. I usually alternate that with heavy food lifting.

 

[chinto]

reasonably good.

 

[DennisBreene]

As I'm returning to training with a heart condition, my routine is restricted by my cardiologists. Even so, I am gradually building endurance, flexibility and strength. I use forms, stationary bike, kicking and light weights, resting as I need to to keep my breathing and heart rate under control. I try to do a lot of stretching to avoid injury as I elevate the height of my kicks. At my age (almost 58) injuries don't heal well and I'd rather not loose momentum by recovering from something I could have avoided.

 

[bluewaveschool]

Slowly getting better. I need to lose a bit off the stomach, and I need to start doing more for the legs than running. I could be a lot worse, could be a lot better.

 

[StreetReady]

I don't know how to personally assess my level of physical conditioning other than sparring other people. If you get tired during sparring, you'll probably gas out during a real fight. With that being said, I take classes at an MMA gym to help my physical conditioning. MMA fighters train hard and are usually in shape.