The Martial Arts Academy of Marin - 1570 4th Street San Rafael, CA 94901 - Lessons in Wing Chun Kung Fu & Shorinji Ryu Karate
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Schedule
  • Appointments
  • Karate
  • Jujitsu
  • Kids Karate
  • Videos
  • Blog
  • Store
  • FAQ
  • COVID-19 INFO & Training

Training Sensibly, Injury Recovery, & Diet, Part I

5/26/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
As a martial artist, one of the most important aspects of our lives is how to balance our training properly. Getting the most from our regimens, maintaining our health, getting sufficient rest, and injury avoidance and recovery is paramount. Understanding how to train in a balanced way has to do with a proper attitude, and sound underlying principals of how the body works. After a lot of research, trial and error, I have found in my years of training and teaching, some
basic guidelines that have served me 
exceptionally well. 

Training for Martial Power:
There are countless methods for developing power in the Martial Arts. Whatever method you choose, I strongly encourage you to seek out a regimen that emphasizes full body power. They produce results much more quickly than conventional resistance/isolation type exercises. The methods I prefer for this are simple, and require no special equipment. More to the point, what I mean is that you should avoid any kind of exercise that isolates muscle groups, or dynamic tension. The body works as an interconnected whole. Using methods such as weights that focuses on one muscle group over another leads to excesses and deficiencies all over the body. Isolation strength exercises also lead to excessive muscle tension, which should be avoided. If you still feel weight training is beneficial (it can be when done properly), seek out an expert that understands the principal of full body power. Weighted vests that allow you use your whole body while training, or the Russian Kettle Bell are good examples of this.

Training under the 75% rule: 
When training, it is best to keep your enthusiasm in check. Proper moderation helps mitigate the possibility of getting injured, therefore it is wise to keep your efforts at 75% of your maximum capacity. This ensures a safe and productive training regimen, without excessive strain on the body. Once you get used to your 75% and it starts feeling like 65%, increase your efforts to what feels like 75% again. Steady progress is accomplished in this manner. If you want to push yourself to maximum performance for a tournament, or just because you want to be at your best, 90% effort is fine. You must first work your way up in strength and endurance, then give it all your effort. You must keep in mind however, that with increased activity that you will need more rest and recovery time. If proper measures are taken, training at 90% for extended periods of time can be quite beneficial.

Qi Gong/ Nei Gong:
Lastly, it is always a good idea to adopt a time proven nei gong system to round out your training. Methods such as the Eight Brocades of Silk, the Tendon Changing Classics, or the Fives Elements work very well. The meditative process they use are particularly beneficial to cool down at the end of a hard training session. They balance out the internal with the external, and enhance the overall relaxation of your body and mind.


2 Comments
Mike
6/8/2015 10:16:06 am

What kind of workout routine would be best for your fighting style? To me, gym workouts all have different goals

Reply
Will link
6/9/2015 09:57:49 am

Hi Mike. Good question. Essentially, what I am emphasizing here is a full body power workout. From my experience, typical gym workouts that attempt to isolate different parts of the body do not work so well for martial arts. While they do increase bone density and help with joint stability, there are too many muscles in the body that need to be worked all at once. Isolating different parts of the body and working them independently almost always leads to not using or strengthening other muscles that work as synergistic augmentation to those muscles.

Here is an example of what I mean. Say you attempt to strengthen you upper body for more punching power for your Karate practice. You do weight training for the latissimus dorsi, biceps/triceps, and and deltoids. You do a specific workout for each of them. Great! But there is a problem: You have ignored the hips, the legs, the abs and so on. There are many other muscles involved. You must train to bring all of you muscles, weight shifting, intention and spirit to a singular point to be an effective puncher.

You are better off doing a heavy bag routine with a weighted vest, or use a Russian Kettle bell if you want to use weights. Those ensure that you use all of you body at once. We are all different. My suggestions is to follow the full body power principal and form a personal routine that works best for you.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    author

    Will Yturriaga, 
    Chief Instructor of The Martial Arts Academy of Marin

    Archives

    June 2020
    May 2020
    December 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    November 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    May 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
1570 4th Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
sensei@martialartsmarin.com
415-747-4483
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Schedule
  • Appointments
  • Karate
  • Jujitsu
  • Kids Karate
  • Videos
  • Blog
  • Store
  • FAQ
  • COVID-19 INFO & Training