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An easy way to get ahead in martial arts class is to start training outside the classroom. When we all start out as white-belts or beginners in our selected disciplines and proceed training, those of us that stick around over the years find it best to separate fitness and strength training from our class sessions. In the beginning, fitness is a mandatory part of training but as we progress, there’s just too much technique to practise and more to learn, that we don’t want to waste our senior instructors time or ours by doing 20 sets of push ups.
That’s when it’s time for the martial artist to take his or her responsibility for physical fitness outside of the classroom. I started with a morning fitness routine built around the principles I learned in class and began with a 30-minute session every morning that included stretching, bodyweight calisthenics and a run to cool down. Within a month, I found myself stronger and fitter than all my class mates. As time went by, I moved on from group classes to private instruction. Due to my physical fitness level, my instructor had more time to teach me technique and I progressed through the system faster than the class mates that I had long since left behind.
About 2 years ago, I started incorporating out door training on the weekends, wind sprints were great but when I found my prowler and fell in love with sled drags and suicides, things really started improving. My grip became iron when I decided to start doing farmers walks with heavy dumbells and when I started buying bars, barbells and invested in a squat rack for my garage, my strength rose noticeably within a year.
About a year ago, I moved close to a primary school that is closed on the weekends and I have been using the embankments around the sports field for hill sprints. I have never felt fitter.
So don’t rely on the classroom to make your fitness improve, it should be a stepping stone to you taking responsibility of your own fitness and opening your time up for your instructors and your technique skillset.
What kind of outdoor or homework do you do for fitness training? Or do you leave it for class time?
That’s when it’s time for the martial artist to take his or her responsibility for physical fitness outside of the classroom. I started with a morning fitness routine built around the principles I learned in class and began with a 30-minute session every morning that included stretching, bodyweight calisthenics and a run to cool down. Within a month, I found myself stronger and fitter than all my class mates. As time went by, I moved on from group classes to private instruction. Due to my physical fitness level, my instructor had more time to teach me technique and I progressed through the system faster than the class mates that I had long since left behind.
About 2 years ago, I started incorporating out door training on the weekends, wind sprints were great but when I found my prowler and fell in love with sled drags and suicides, things really started improving. My grip became iron when I decided to start doing farmers walks with heavy dumbells and when I started buying bars, barbells and invested in a squat rack for my garage, my strength rose noticeably within a year.
About a year ago, I moved close to a primary school that is closed on the weekends and I have been using the embankments around the sports field for hill sprints. I have never felt fitter.
So don’t rely on the classroom to make your fitness improve, it should be a stepping stone to you taking responsibility of your own fitness and opening your time up for your instructors and your technique skillset.
What kind of outdoor or homework do you do for fitness training? Or do you leave it for class time?
