I am a BJJ black belt and a Shotokan Black belt. I have been training Shotokan again for the last 3 years. I recently took a 60 day break to recharge. I ran and lifted weights extensively. Now that I am back at Shotokan, I am reconsidering the way I treat my training away from the dojo.
In the past, I train in class (Shotokan) 2-3 times a week. When I was not in class, I stretched 45 minutes and then spent an hour every day doing basics, kata, and hitting the bag. I would do this 6 days a week in addition to going to class. It did not leave much time for weight lifting or running.
As a result (56 years old), I started to look and feel frail. I used to be pretty muscular during BJJ. I had a few friends comment and confirm my observations. My style of karate with thousands of reps really brings out your innner Kenyan body style. Muscle is burned off quickly.
Now that I am back, I am considering not doing any karate on my days away from the dojo and focusing on weights 4 days a week, stretching, and running for cardio. No home based karate training. So, it would be a pure cross training program. I would still train in the dojo 2-3 days a week.
I only have so much time in the day. So, I feel I need to choose one. The downside of substituting cross training for home karate training is that my karate skills may not improve as much. But, cross training would be better for me physically.
Which approach would you take?
In the past, I train in class (Shotokan) 2-3 times a week. When I was not in class, I stretched 45 minutes and then spent an hour every day doing basics, kata, and hitting the bag. I would do this 6 days a week in addition to going to class. It did not leave much time for weight lifting or running.
As a result (56 years old), I started to look and feel frail. I used to be pretty muscular during BJJ. I had a few friends comment and confirm my observations. My style of karate with thousands of reps really brings out your innner Kenyan body style. Muscle is burned off quickly.
Now that I am back, I am considering not doing any karate on my days away from the dojo and focusing on weights 4 days a week, stretching, and running for cardio. No home based karate training. So, it would be a pure cross training program. I would still train in the dojo 2-3 days a week.
I only have so much time in the day. So, I feel I need to choose one. The downside of substituting cross training for home karate training is that my karate skills may not improve as much. But, cross training would be better for me physically.
Which approach would you take?
