Warrior Fitness » general physical preparedness

All Strength is Not the Same for the Warrior!

Jon — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 13:17:58 +0000

As martial artists most of us tend to cringe and shy away from words like “strength” and “power” in favor of seemingly more budo-friendly fitness words like “agility”, “coordination”, or “balance”. Yet, often we do not understand the actual definitions of the words and simply avoid them because of some misplaced fear that they will be detrimental to our taijutsu and make us “muscle” through our techniques. Nothing could be further from the truth! Let’s examine some of the components that make up strength in more detail to understand just how much they are applicable to creating a strong physical and mental base from which to launch the rest of our Budo Taijutsu skills.

General physical conditioning is essential for the warrior to develop a broad-based platform of strength, endurance, agility, coordination, and flexibility from which to launch and further refine skills. But, what exactly is strength? Strength is defined as “the ability of a given muscle or group of muscles to exert force against resistance.” It is a function of the appropriate muscles contracted by effective nervous stimulation. This alone, however, is insufficient. There are also at least five different sub-categories of strength which we will break down to give you a more complete understanding of the term.

The first sub-category is Maximal Strength. This is the maximum amount of force that a person can voluntarily produce. Example exercises to cultivate Maximal Strength are: one arm pushups, one arm chin-ups, one legged squats, and heavy weight lifting. But what on earth does Maximal Strength have to do with Budo Taijutsu? Aren’t we training to only use as much force as necessary and appropriate to a specific movement or technique? Why would we need our maximal voluntary strength output when training for taijutsu fitness? These are all good questions. On the surface, it would seem like this sub-category of strength is a big “N/A” for us. What possible benefit could this particular strength quality have for budoka? To begin to appreciate the benefits of training maximal strength, we must first understand the different types of muscle fibers. Generally, when people speak about fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers, they tend to separate them out as two distinct types. This can be a little misleading due to the fact that muscle fibers are not either /or, but in actuality they appear to lie somewhere on a continuum between the two. Thus to emphatically state that one type or the other is predominate within certain groups of muscles can cause confusion. Because low intensity exercise, like jogging at a steady-state pace for example, does not activate the fast twitch (FT) muscle fibers, we must increase the intensity of the exercise to stimulate the motor units that contain the FT fibers. If the motor units are not stimulated, then no response occurs and no adaptation occurs. Fast twitch muscle fibers and slow twitch muscle fibers are both recruited in high percentages when performing maximal strength exercises. Maximal strength training creates potent neural adaptations which lead to increased intermuscular and intramuscular coordination. A side bonus for working on maximal strength with body weight exercises is that the majority of them that fall in this category also require balance, coordination, flexibility, and appropriate tension throughout the entire body. Examples include, but are by no means limited to, one arm push-ups, one-legged squats, one arm chin-ups/pull-ups, etc.

Does this mean that we should devote every training session to developing maximal strength? No – far from! As warriors, we must understand the different qualities that make up strength and learn how to apply them to optimize our fitness levels specific to our goals. Since our goals do not revolve around winning any Strongman competitions or Power lifting contests, we can relegate working on maximal strength to only once a week, at the most, or a every couple weeks at the very least, to reap the benefits. The rest of the time, consign maximal strength to its rightful place back in our strength and conditioning toolbox. Too much emphasis on maximal strength can lead to becoming muscle “bound”, as in bound, constrained, unable to move freely and without appropriate tension.

The second sub-category of Strength is Explosive Strength. This is the ability to produce maximal force (see above) in a minimal amount of time. Explosive strength? Jon, you’ve got to be kidding me! We don’t use explosive strength in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu! Really? Are you sure? Every time you leap, sprint, dive out of the way of an errant sword strike, or (and this is a big one!) use stored elastic energy to create power in your movement, you are using explosive strength. Sure, the terminology sounds like something that will adversely affect our taijutsu and that any serious budoka should avoid like the plague, but rest assured, that the much maligned concept of strength does play an important role in budo taijutsu and utilizing the strength exercises prescribed in this manual will provide a solid physical basis on which to build real skill. Plyometrics is a specific training means for developing explosive strength designed by Russian sports scientist, Yuri Verkhoshansky in the early 1960’s. Closely linked to Explosive Strength are Speed Strength and Reactive Strength.

The third sub-category of strength is probably one of the most familiar to us. It is Strength-Endurance. OK; much better… now we are in familiar territory. Endurance is a concept that a ninja can relate to! This strength quality involves the production of muscular tension without a noticeable decrease in efficiency over long periods of time. Development of strength-endurance is a fundamental necessity for warriors, whether on the battlefield, in training, or just everyday life. A helpful analogy to keep in mind when applying the different aspects of strength training to budo is that they are like a recipe for success. All of the ingredients in any recipe are not utilized in the same amounts. A little bit of salt may be all that’s required to enhance the flavor, while a lot of flour may be necessary to provide the base. The same idea applies to strength training. Warriors will normally require a lot of strength endurance and cardio-respitory endurance, but maybe only a little bit of maximal strength development is necessary to round out their overall skill. “When effective methodology is used, exercises with resistance promote not only an increase in movement speed but also perfection of coordination, motor reaction, quickness and frequency of movements, the ability to relax muscles, development of local muscular endurance and an increase in maximal anaerobic capacity.” (Verkhoshansky, Special Strength Training – A Practical Manual for Coaches) The key here is in how these various strength qualities are trained. For martial arts, specifically Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu, we want to work exercises which emphasize intermuscular coordination of the whole body. Isolation exercises should be avoided as they are antithetical to what we are trying to accomplish in training. When performing all of the exercises listed here, try to use as little tension and muscular effort as possible; just enough to accomplish the task and no more. Try not to utilize general tension (tightening of the entire body) to carry you through the exercise. Since everything that we do acts as conditioning for our Central Nervous System (CNS), for good or for bad, we want to make sure our exercise philosophy is in harmony with our overall training strategy. Remember that in our day-to-day Bujinkan Budo training we are striving to perform techniques efficiently and effectively with minimal muscular recruitment, therefore our physical fitness training should not use a separate strategy.

Hopefully this short look at the various types of strength has been helpful!

Fitness Requirements for Bujinkan Martial Arts Training – part 2

Jon — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:58:10 +0000

In part one of this series, here, we discussed why it makes sense for Bujinkan practitioners, and indeed all martial artists, to include a fitness regimen as part of their training. We also reviewed the basics of General Physical Preparedness (GPP), and why it is necessary. Today, I’d like to talk about some specific examples of GPP type exercises and how to incorporate them into an overall training plan for both martial arts and fitness. If you are attending classes and training on your own outside of class (highly recommended by the way), then you probably already have a pretty full schedule. Add in a full-time job, spouse and kids to the mix and any extra time you may have dwindles down fairly quickly. What is required is a way to obtain the benefits of this supplementary training without consuming more time you just don’t have. Therefore, let’s make it easy and eliminate a few of the top time-consuming excuses right off the bat:

Time Saving Strategies

1. No gym will be required. Right here you save the time it takes to commute to and from the gym, waiting for equipment, and the general socializing chit-chat around the water cooler.

2. Virtually no space required. We can do these exercises anywhere from a park and backyard to a small apartment living room or hotel room.

3. No equipment required. We can begin training right now with only our bodyweight as resistance and obtain amazing results. In future installments, I’ll show you how to add in portable equipment as I discuss here.

So, we have pretty much eliminated time constraints, space constraints, and financial constraints from the equation. No more excuses! Let’s get down to work!

Oh, did I forget to mention that this workout will be brief, but intense, and help to build whole-body functional strength? Another time management function brought to you by Warrior Fitness. The only caveat I have is this – remember that GPP exercises are not sexy. Yes, they will help you to look sexy, but the exercises themselves don’t get seriously cool until we move up to Specific Physical Preparedness and beyond.

Exercise One

Push-ups. Do them on your fists to strengthen the structural alignment for striking. We will be incorporating the Dynamic Effort Method here, which is basically lifting a non-maximal load (your bodyweight) as fast as possible. Begin in the top portion of the push-up. Descend in a slow, controlled manner. At the bottom portion of the exercise, explode upwards as fast as possible. Try for 5 repetitions. Rest 60 seconds, then move on to exercise two.

Exercise Two

Bodyweight Squats. Do them in Jumonji no Kamae, as shown below. Utilize the same protocol as above. Descend in a slow, controlled manner. At the bottom of the squat, explode back to standing. Try for 5 to 10 repetitions. Rest for one minute, then move on to exercise three.

Exercise Three

Straight Leg Sit-up. Lie flat on your back. Exhale, contract the core, and begin to sit up slowly keeping your spine straight. Inhale at the top of the movement. Exhale again and slowly lie back down. Perform 5 repetitions of the straight leg sit-up. Rest for 60 seconds and return to exercise one. Continue until you have completed 5 sets of all 3 exercises.

How Often?

This workout can be performed 2-3 times a week, depending on your schedule and your fitness needs. If you are including conditioning work as well, for an example see Warrior Fitness Workout of the Week #1, then this strength based GPP workout should only be done twice a week. Here is an example of what a weekly schedule may look like:

Monday	Joint mobility warm-up Class training
Tuesday	Joint mobility warm-up GPP Strength Workout
Wednesday	Joint mobility warm-up Class training
Thursday	Joint mobility warm-up Warrior Fitness Conditioning Workout
Friday	Joint mobility warm-up Yoga for compensatory movement

This is just one option of how fitness and marital arts can be combined in a weekly schedule. If you have the luxury of being able to do a conditioning workout after your martial arts class instead of on a separate day, you can save more time. Or, try getting up earlier and doing the workouts in the morning so your evenings are free for family time or more budo.

Future articles in the series will look at Specific Physical Preparedness, as well as Activity (martial art) Specific Exercises for Bujinkan training. Additionally, I will expand on GPP, showing new exercises, and how to increase the difficulty levels of the exercises discussed today.

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To learn more about the Warrior Fitness training method, exercises, and programming options, check out Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts.

Fitness Requirements for Bujinkan Martial Arts Training

Jon — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 02:00:52 +0000

As a 20 plus year veteran of Bujinkan martial arts training, as well as being the owner/founder of Warrior Fitness, one of the things I pride myself on is my ability to access the fitness needs of my fellow martial artists, particularly those who train in the Bujinkan. A common misconception that you’ll hear bandied about from dojo to dojo all across the world is that strength, and by association overall, general fitness, is not required. I think this has to do with a fundamental misunderstanding of how we train. In class, when practicing techniques, it is imperative to be as efficient in one’s movement as possible, and thus avoid using excess, unnecessary power (read – strength). In order to accentuate the study of distance, timing, angling, and space management, one must put strength on the back burner in the dojo to avoid powering through the movements and missing all the wonderful subtleties that taijutsu has to offer. However, in an actual conflict, you can and in fact, you must, use all your power, including strength, to survive. As Jack Hoban said in his interview here, “real fights are very physical – tiring and punishing”. Anyone who thinks physical fitness isn’t required in the traditional martial arts is really just kidding themselves.

Bujinkan Practitioners and Fitness

Why do Bujinkan practitioners need fitness training? Fred Hatfield, aka “Dr. Squat” once wrote, “Optimal physical conditioning provides the platform from which the skills can be used.” Meaning that the specific physical skills of taijutsu must be built upon a solid foundation of basics, like sanshin no kata and kihon happo, and even more fundamental, a strong budo-body. Without this platform in place your martial art skills are like a house built on sand.

From the book, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts:

”Since combat occurs in a volatile and unpredictable atmosphere, training must prepare the warrior to adapt. Remember that the goal of all the exercises in this manual is to develop the ability to control the degree of tension in our body and be able to utilize just the right amount of force at the appropriate moment. This way we may be able to sustain activity for longer and longer periods of time without exhausting ourselves.”

The first step in ensuring you are building skill on top of a solid foundation is General Physical Preparedness (GPP). The goal of GPP is enhanced work capacity. This is the ability to run faster, jump higher, and hit harder. When work capacity increases, it allows the budding warrior to adapt more easily to increases in both mental and physical demands. In other words, it increases your capacity and level of readiness to absorb higher levels of specificity. In a martial art as seemingly limitless as Budo Taijutsu, one must possess the endurance to “keep going!”

In the forthcoming part 2 of this series on fitness for Bujinkan practioners, we’ll look at some examples of GPP type exercises and how to incorporate them into an overall training program.

For more information on increasing your level of readiness for martial arts training, please see the book on Warrior Fitness here.