6 Tips to Build a Better Warrior

1.  Get Stronger.

Whole body strength, along with mobility, is the foundation for all athletic movement.  Being strong makes everything else easier.  Your conditioning, your skill acquisition, your endurance, all become quicker and easier to attain and maintain once you have a solid base of strength.  Don’t underestimate how important it is for a warrior to be strong.

2.  Toughen Up Your Mental Toughness.

Your body is much, much more capable than you realize.  It’s the mind that almost always gives out before the body.  Do not allow negative thinking and the demons of distraction to take hold in your mind.  Set up a belief in yourself and your goal so strong that nothing can deter you from completing it.  Remember, it’s always easier to talk yourself out of doing something hard and walk away than to step up and push through.  The lesson here?  Step up and push through!

3. Do NOT Stretch Before Training.

I’ve spoken about this many times in the past (see HERE), but it bears repeating.  Static stretching prior to training not only has zero benefit but has actually been shown to increase the likelihood of injury.  I know you’ve always been taught to stretch before you exercise, but here’s a news flash – your grade school gym teacher was wrong.  So was your high school wresting, track, football, baseball, or lacrosse coach.  And so is any trainer who tells you to stretch before working out.

4. DO Stretch After Training

Now is the proper time to stretch.  Post training stretching will help to cool you down, normalize the body, and remove residual tension.  Make time for stretching after your workout.

5. Mobility, Mobility, Mobility

As a corollary to #1 above, you must constantly work to increase and improve mobility.  Strength without mobility is just as worthless as mobility without strength.  The 2 must work together to create a better warrior! Get my free Follow Along Mobility Routine HERE!

6. BIF (Breathing is Fundamental).

As a warrior you should not underestimate the value of breathing exercises.  This body/mind technology has been studied and vetted for thousands of years through Indian Yoga, Chinese Qigong, Internal Martial Arts, and most recently, sports science.  Used properly, the breath can help you to recover from intense exercise, fire you up for training, relax the body, or even stretch your endurance and push pass your current perceived threshold of pain.  Do not neglect breath work in your training. Learn how to Evolve Your Breathing <<==

What’s the best way for you to get stronger as a warrior? Find out here.

So, there you have it.  6 awesome tips for building a better warrior.  Got any of your own to add?

Let’s hear them – drop me a comment below!

Jon

Jon Haas, "The Warrior Coach" has been training in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for more than 25 years and is currently ranked as a Kudan (9th degree black belt) under Jack Hoban Shihan. He has also trained in Okinawan Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Russian Systema, BJJ, Krav Maga, as well as Internal Martial Arts of Yiquan and Aiki.He is a certified Underground Strength Coach-Level 2, a certified Personal Trainer as well as founder of Warrior Fitness Training Systems. In 2008, Jon wrote the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts, and since then has created numerous other online training and coaching programs helping people around the world become the strongest, most capable versions of themselves!

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