Welcome to Warrior Fitness!

I have been involved in martial arts training, in one form or another, for over 25 years.  My passion for fitness grew naturally out of my love for budo (martial arts).  I grew up on Bruce Lee movies and Saturday morning Kung Fu, for those of you old enough to remember!  When I read my first Bruce Lee book, Tao of Jeet Kune Do, I began to see the parallels between martial arts and fitness and how Bruce used all sorts of conditioning methods to augment his performance in martial arts.  This grabbed my attention!  If the greatest martial artist in the world (at the time) was adapting fitness methodologies to make him better, stronger, faster, maybe there was something to this.

Beginnings

The idea for Warrior Fitness, as it exists today, began almost 10 years ago while I was working as a business consultant in the financial services industry.  The job involved about 80% travel and we usually worked 10-12 hour days, long after the client had left for the day.  Since most of the work involved sitting in front of a computer, or in meetings, for long stretches at a time and eating out on a daily basis, I began to put on a little weight and develop low back and neck pain.  I realized that I needed to do something to help compensate for the periods of inactivity, but long workouts simply did not lend themselves to such crazy work hours.  I began to formulate brief, yet intense workouts in my hotel room using just my bodyweight and usually a chair or two.  After discovering kettlebells, I usually brought one along in the trunk of my car as long as the client was in driving distance.  Daily joint mobility work helped to keep all my joints lubricated and using yoga asana (postures) after workouts, or as a low intensity workout of their own, helped to abate muscle soreness and compensate for the training, as well as for the hours of inactivity at work.

As my ideas gradually formulated, and the resulting benefits increased, I began to share my fitness and conditioning discoveries with friends, co-workers, family, and students.  My knowledge and experienced deepened as I read books and articles on sports science, experimented with fitness protocols, and applied these on both self and others.  My book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts, is the culmination of my experiences.  But, it mustn’t stop there; I keep learning, growing, and my outlook evolving, so this blog will be the record of my growth, and I hope yours as well.

Please see my post on Not a Warrior?  Not a Problem. to see how I can help you Awaken Your Inner Warrior!

Thanks,

Jon