Warrior Fitness » Body

Preparing Ninja for a Mission

Jon — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:09:44 +0000

My name is Ichiro Watanabe. I am a chunin, a middle level ninja of the Togakure clan. Our small village is secluded deep in the mountains near Mt. Togakushi, otherwise known as Togakure Mountain. I could tell you exactly where, but I’d have to kill you. No joke, it’s a matter of survival for my family and clan. You see the year is 1601, one year after the famous Battle of Sekigahara which brought Ieyasu Tokugawa to power uniting Japan. There is still much to do, however, and the need for the services of our ninja clan is still very great.

In the past I was one of the top operatives for my clan successfully completing dozens of missions all over Japan. I went by many names, played many roles, and brought great favor to our clan. My exploits are “legen- wait for it -dary” among ninja warriors. Today have retired from active duty and assumed a position where I am in charge of the physical preparation training of our up and coming ninja recruits.

Based on my background and experience, one of my goals as an operative turned trainer is to completely revamp our ninja fitness training program. My main concern is – What Does a Ninja Need?. What I’ve done is put together a sample training program for you to get a glimpse into my world and see how I am training the new recruits. Remember, this is just a snippet of the complete training package, based on my decades of operation and training experience that I have put together for the ninja in training. There is much, much more….

So, how does one prepare ninja physically for a mission?

Pulling and grip strength are an absolute must for scaling castle fortifications,
Anaerobic and aerobic endurance,
Burst-recover-burst ability for escape and evasion,
Not to mention power- a unique blend of strength and speed to enhance technical ability and fighting prowess should a ninja come face to face with a samurai intent on doing him harm.
Jumping ability
Agility
Core strength/activation since power is generated from core out to the extremeties

If you decide to attempt this sample workout, make sure you begin with a good warm-up.

I’ll tell you about the super-secret dynamic warm-up that we do here in a future installment. Keep an eye out for it!

Ninja Warrior Physical Prep Workout

5 Towel pull-ups

10 Rock-up Deck Squat and Leap

10 Fingertip Pushups

10 Hanging Leg Raises

Repeat as many times as possible (AMTAP) in 20 minutes (rest as needed).

Finisher – Heavy DB farmer walk or heavy sandbag carry x 3

There you go, an officaly ninja warrior workout direct from the 16th century! How well do you stack up?

Ninja Stars and Strength Training

Jon — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:16:11 +0000

Yesterday I decided to do something a little bit different in my workout. As an experiment, I wanted to look at the effect lactic acid build up in the muscles had on my ability to throw rubber shuriken (ninja stars) and hit a target. The theory being that as fatigue in the muscles increased, throwing accuracy would decrease. Seems like a solid hypothosis, right? Well, here’s what happened…

The Dynamic Warm-up

mobility work,
jogging forward and backward,
side shuffles,
high knees,
butt kickers,
bear crawls,
crab walks,
walking lunges,
bodyweight squats,
push-ups,
and leg raises

Strength in Motion Workout

The main body of the training was a fun study of strength throughout a 3 dimensional range of motion.

1) Suspension Trainer Push-ups: 5-7 reps

2) 15# Clubbell Mills: 10 reps each arm

3) 15# Clubbell Reverse Mills: 10 reps each arm

1-2 minutes active recovery between rounds:

Light jog / vibration drills
Throw rubber shuriken for target practice (hey, it’s a ninja thing!) – 9 throws each arm

Repeat 5 rounds

Both the Clubbell Mill and Reverse Mill work on rotational and angular strength at an extreme range of motion while the Suspension Training Push-ups work the hell out of the stabilizer muscles. The combined synergistic effect of these 2 exercises creates an awesome workout for strength in motion!

But what happened to the shuriken thows? As predicted, the lactic acid build up in my arms had an adverse effect on my ability to hit the target during my shuriken throws as the rounds increased.

However, the more I was able to shake out the residual tension and relax, the better my throw. But when I failed to do so my accuracy was horrible! This is a very important idea for all you shuriken throwing ninja out there!

The ability to control the balance of tension and relaxation in the body is essential for performance. Learn more about how to do it with these resources HERE!

Holiday Belly-Busting Met Con

Jon — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 19:37:38 +0000

If you’re like many people perhaps you’ve over indulged a little bit this holiday season. Too many great meals and even greater desserts maybe? Well here’s a quick metabolic conditioning workout to help you out. The great thing about metabolic conditioning workouts is that, unlike traditional aerobics, they stoke the fat burning furnace and keep it burning for hours after your workout is completed.

Today’s holiday belly-busting met con workout consists of the following:

5 KB Snatches each arm
10 KB Swings
10 KB Goblet Squats

If you don’t have access to a kettllebell, feel free to substitute a dumbbell.

Perform 5 rounds. Rest 30 to 60 seconds between rounds depending on your level of conditioning. If you want an even greater challenge, set the timer for 10 minutes and perform as many rounds as possible, nonstop.

Drop me a comment below and let me know how you did!

A Word on Recovery

Jon — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:03:27 +0000

Training harder demands training smarter.

We all know people who think they can continue to grow and continue to make gains indefinitely by simply pushing harder and harder in their training day in and day out. But what always happens to them? Injury, burn out, sickness, stagnation. Then what? Well, once they get back on their feet they start the same cycle all over again. Why? Because maybe, just maybe they weren’t pushing hard enough or using enough brute force last time to succeed and this time will be different. Riiigghhht…

How about this instead?

Train Smarter AND Harder.

Bring the intensity every workout, yes. Push the limits, hell yes. Keep moving forward, always. But not always in a straight line. What do I mean? Training smarter involves the usage of planned back-off workouts and deload weeks which, in effect, allow the body to take a step back in order to spring forward again with greater energy and intensity.

Additionally, it is of paramount importance to have a properly structured strategy in place for recovery and restoration. Continued progression and development demands it. Without a recovery strategy, the gains in fitness slow, plateaus are hit and NOT overcome, injuries occur, and as we said earlier, progress sputters to a screechinghalt.

And, no, a proper recovery strategy does not mean simply doing a few half-hearted static stretches at the end of your workout!

So then what does a proper recovery strategy entail?

Here are the 9 essentials I think are necessary to ensure rapid recovery and continued progress:

Daily Joint Mobility – this is requirement number one as it acts as a tune-up for your entire body opening range of motion (ROM), increasing flow of synovial fluid to lubricate the joints and keep them healthy while washing away toxins.
Supplemental Joint Mobility to target specific problem areas
Breathing Exercises – see my post on Breathing 101.
Yoga Asana as compensatory movement – the goal here is not to “do” yoga (although there’s nothing wrong with it and I do highly recommend yoga as a practice), but to use a few big bang for your buck postures to bring your body back into balance and help remove residual muscle tension.
Vibration Exercises – see my post on What’s Hindering Your Performance
Contrast Showers – at the end of your shower, make the water as hot as you can stand it for 30 seconds, then turn it as cold as you can stand it for 30 seconds. Repeat 3-4 times making sure to end on cold.
Foam Rollers for soft tissue work
Nutrition - it’s long been said, you are what you eat. If you eat like crap, well, nuff said.
Sleep – this is one of the most important aspects of recovery that often gets overlooked. Most experts recommend getting 8 hours of sleep a night. Yes, I know it’s hard, but turn off the latest episode of NCIS and get some sleep!

Check out Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts for a more in-depth look at mobility, breathing exercises, and a complete workout program!

What recovery strategies do you use in your training? Drop me comment below or on Facebook, let me know!

10 Minutes and a Chair

Jon — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:35:53 +0000

So here is the challenge, you have only 10 minutes to train and the only piece of equipment available is a dining room chair.

Are you prepared?

Can you rock a great minimalist workout with this limited time and equipment? Or, should you just use the chair for a short snooze?

Here’s one answer:

10 minutes nonstop get as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) of

5 Chair Dips
5 Feet Elevated Push-ups
5 Chair Step Ups (each leg)
5 Chair Jumps

Ready? Set? GO!!

What’s your 10 minute chair workout?

Underground Shock Training

Jon — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 20:34:07 +0000

Warrior Fitness readers, here is an awesome training tips article on Underground Shock Training by Zach Even-Esh. I hope you enjoy it! Drop some comments below and let me know what you think!

Underground Shock Training

If you have hit a plateau in your performance training, there are likely many variables missing that can help you break your plateau. Often times you need a change of pace and must be taken out of your comfort zone. This is where “shock training” comes into play.

You will take your mind and body into a zone they have never experienced before. This style of training does not need to be performed every single time you train, but here and there it’s a great idea to implement something similar to what I’m about to outline for you.

When performing shock training, we utilize basic barbell lifts, odd objects such as Kegs, Tires, Russian Kettlebells, Thick Rope Movements and sandbags. We also perform various calisthenics, sprinting and jumping drills. Each compound movement or sprinting / jumping drill is followed by a specific combat drill required for that athlete’s sport. Workouts are performed for timed rounds (5 minutes per round) with predetermined rep patterns or for maximum rounds in a specific time period (i.e. max rounds in 15 minutes).

Below are some of our favorite movements we will incorporate into a Shock Workout. We often choose 3 strength movements, 1 jumping or sprinting drill and 1 version of the combat specific drill (i.e. pad work, ground submissions, takedowns, fit ins, throws). If you own a martial arts school, much of this equipment can be stored behind your school or in a corner, out of the way from your students.

Keg Clean & Press – This is a powerful full body movement which works the entire body intensely. The water moves around in the keg forcing you to ground your feet and maintain balance. This is an explosive movement and must be performed with aggression and speed!

Trap Bar Deadlift – This is a powerful movement for developing the power and strength through your hips, entire lower body and your entire back, in addition to strengthening your grip.

Tire Flipping – The massive amount of energy required to flip a tire is tremendous, as are the benefits of ripping through circuits of tire flips mixed in with more shock treatment. There is not one muscle which does not get worked during the tire flip.

Stone Lifting – Once again, we are choosing a movement that requires the entire body to work together as a unit, no isolating here. Your entire body will be worked like never before and the focus must be intense here. Any type of stone can be used during this drill. Many of our stones are from old playgrounds that were sitting around collecting dirt until we came along, hosed the dirt off and turned them into strength equipment.

Farmer Walks – Carrying objects is one of the simplest forms of strength training as well as one of the most challenging. Carrying kettlebells, anvils, kegs, sandbags, stones – you name it, you can carry it. The awkward nature of the carry forces the body to work as a unit and places you in uncomfortable positions. You can quit or keep pressing on!

The moral here is to organize several full body movements in a circuit while also placing your body in an uncommon environment. For us, this means training in full Gi, wearing a mouth guard, knee pads, outside in the sweltering heat and humidity. Combining all these elements shocks the mind and body and causes you t step it up a notch or two. It may be exactly what you needed to make it to the next level.

Try this workout for 3 rounds of 5 minutes each, rest 1 minute after each round:

1A) tire flip x 5
1B) keg clean & press x 5
1C) odd object farmer walk x 100 ft.
1D) sprint x 100 ft.

Want to experience more Underground Strength Training Methods in depth plus up to 12 months of Underground workouts? Click HERE to start developing brute strength and rugged muscles.

Warrior Workout in the Park

Jon — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:25:20 +0000

This past Saturday was a beautiful fall day here in Jersey. A perfect day for a Warrior’s Workout in the Park! This workout was directly inspired by Zach Even-Esh’s Ultimate Underground Strength System.

Warrior Workout

15 minute warm-up – mobility, movement, animal crawls, band work, breathing exercises followed by…
1) KB Clean & Press – 5×5
2A) Picnic Table Push-ups on fists – 4 x submax
2B) Thick Tree Branch Pull-ups - 4 x submax

3A) KB Goblet Squats 4×10 (forgot to take pics of these – sorry guys!)
3B) KB Swings 4×10

4) Abs / Grip work 3 sets each

The cool-down consisted of various yoga asana and breathing exercises as both normalizing work and compensatory movement.

Hope you enjoyed this! How did you workout this weekend? Let me know!

8 Reasons Why YOU Need Striking Power

Jon — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:40:15 +0000

Remember, striking power is not just about hitting harder; it’s about hitting smarter. Here’s a few reasons why this program is something you should incorporate into your martial training:

New, innovative exercises to push through plateaus in your training and stave off boredom.
The right tools for the job – low tech / high yield!
Teach your body how to increase force production through stored elastic energy rather than recruiting more tension.
Efficiency is the key to preserving energy levels. Efficiency is defined as useful work over total work.
Coordinated whole body power in 3 dimensions. Life, sport, and martial art happen in 3D – the same old 2 dimensional exercises are NOT up to task!
Specifically develop angular and rotary strength to augment and assist prime movers.
Target postural and stabilizer muscles to strengthen structure behind the strikes. You can‘t fire a cannon from a canoe!
Solo training is the key to martial greatness – how do you train?

Want to know more about this unique Warrior Fitness product? Click HERE!

What Does a Ninja Need?

Jon — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:10:29 +0000

Historically, ninja were the consummate combination of super spy / super soldier. They possessed outstanding levels of fitness due to their intensely physical training and highly demanding mission requirements. Their levels of fitness and training have been the subject of many stories and the genesis for many myths surrounding them. How did they do it? How did they train? What type of methodology did they employ since creating this kind of warrior certainly required a very diverse fitness profile?

Ninja fitness needs were much more multi-faceted than most physical pursuits. They had to be as they were at once a combination of Olympic decathlete, Navy Seal, and martial arts master rolled into one. Let’s examine this a little more closely though, what kind of qualities did they possess and what did they need to be able to do?

Ninja Must Possess …

Strength
Agility
Coordination
Excellent balance
Flexibility / Mobility
Whole body power
Endurance

Ninja Must Be Able to….

Move silently
Run fast
Walk far
Leap high
Climb trees, walls, castles fortifications, etc.
Wield weapons
Fight unarmed – striking, kicking, grappling, locking, choking, etc.
Roll / fall / dodge / avoid
Crawl
And more…

As you can see from the 2 lists above, the ninja had a wide range of skills and abilities that had to be supported by a comprehensive fitness program keeping him at the top of his game. Remember that for a ninja, fitness wasn’t just a nice to have; it was an absolute necessity to accomplishing his mission and getting him home safely. And the kicker is, they did it all with little to no fitness equipment. Certainly a 16^th century ninja did not possess a Gold’s Gym membership. Nor did he own an Olympic weight set or have a stair master at his disposal. And, while kettlebells and dumbbells would have been great, he most likely had never laid eyes on either one. So here we have one of the most highly trained and fit agents the world has ever seen created without the use of modern training equipment or modern training methods. What might some of this training looked like? I’m glad you asked. One of my favorite scenes in Hatsumi Sensei’s early Bujinkan training videos (DVDs now for you younger folks!) comes from Shinden Fudo Ryu. Here’s a short clip I found on Youtube. This stuff is seriously old school!

“One trains using the things of nature to make the body strong” – Hatsumi Sensei

What if we were to take the spirit of historical ninja fitness training and combine it with a little modern sports science and know how? Modern methods allow us to take advantage of periodization, or programing and organizing training, to create a comprehensive fitness plan which will apply logical sequences to get the most out of each session. Protocols like HIIT, high intensity interval training, will be utilized to maximize both aerobic and anaerobic endurance in the same short, high intensity session. Advances in recovery work from such sessions will allow us to recover faster thus making gains greater, and increasing our overall general physical preparation (GPP) will allow us to push higher into more sophisticated training. Effectiveness and efficiency will be combined in order to allow for shorter training sessions which maximize the use of one’s time. As the ancient ninja did, we will create a strong, supple, highly conditioned warrior and accomplish this with little to no fitness equipment. We will, as Hatsumi Sensei says in the video clip above, use the things of nature to make the body strong.

If I were able to point to just one resource for the warrior that combines old school training with modern sports science, I’d look here at the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts.

However, keep your eye on Warrior Fitness because what we have coming out in the next few months will blow your mind!

Sample Exercise from Warrior Fitness Guide to Striking Power

Jon — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:53:11 +0000

A Word on Strike Conditioning

Swinging your sledge hammer at an old tire is an excellent old school conditioning exercise for anaerobic strength and work capacity. It will insure your strikes have not only power, but endurance and as well. Old tires are fairly easy to come by, usually any Tire and Auto place will have a bunch of old tires sitting in a pile outside waiting for disposal. If you ask nicely, they are pretty happy to give you a couple for free.

There are a few different protocols that I like to use for this exercise:

Density training is one option. The concept of Density Training is pretty simple. Do more work in the same amount of time or do the same amount of work in less time. So, for example using hitting the tire with a sledge hammer as the exercise and the last time you used this protocol you managed to do 100 swings in 5 minutes, then this session you would either try to increase the number of swings you can do in 5 minutes or strive to do 100 swings in less than 5 minutes. Not rocket science, right? What if this is your first time attempting this type of training? Pick an amount of time, say 5 minutes. Then try to do as many hammer swings as you possibly can in those 5 minutes. Crank them out. Push yourself. Remember the time limit used and amount of reps achieved, or preferably write it down, and the next time do more.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is another one. It is perhaps one of the best ways to train for endurance. It will enhance all 3 energy systems in the body (2 anaerobic and 1 aerobic – see here for an overview), as well as prime the nervous system to recover automatically during lulls in activity. Simply put, HIIT alternates periods of high intensity exercise with periods of rest and recovery. It can be performed with almost any exercise and can be utilized both with and without equipment. The variety and adaptability of this style of training is second to none in results.

No discussion of interval training would be complete without touching on the Tabata Protocol. Dr. Izumi Tabata at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan performed perhaps the most well known study on interval training. A group exercising with moderate intensity endurance training was compared to another group using high intensity intermittent training. Each group exercised 5 days a week. The moderate intensity group exercised for 60 minutes, at 70% VO2 max. The high intensity group did 8 intervals of 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of recovery. They operated at 170% VO2 max.

After 6 weeks, both groups experienced improvements in maximal oxygen uptake. The biggest difference between them was that only the high intensity group gained improvement in anaerobic capacity. The high intensity group actually realized a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity AND a 14% increase in VO2max. So, the study concluded that high intensity intermittent training can improve both the anaerobic and aerobic systems simultaneously. Very impressive results!

I know that after reading the amazing results achieved by Dr. Tabata you’ll be ready to try using his protocol, I sure was! The protocol itself is pretty simple, in theory. Choose an exercise – say sledge hammer swings, for example (since we’re talking about them). Perform the exercise for 20 seconds as fast as possible while still keeping good form. Rest 10 seconds. Complete 8 rounds.

There are several different ways to swing the sledge hammer. I don’t care which way you do it – vertically, diagonally, hands apart, hands together, all are fine. Just make sure that no matter which way you choose, you do not bend your back – we do not train bad habits!

In this particular example, notice the slight turn of the spine where I store energy (SEE) in my lower back. The hammer swing is powered by the release of that energy, not by my arms. Also, notice the knees bend as I squat down to hit the tire and not bend my back. Keep good structure throughout the movement.

Like this exercise? This one and many more sledge hammer, medicine ball, resistance band, and body weight exercises are described in detail along with sample workouts in the Warrior Fitness Guide to Striking Power. Pick up your copy today!!