The 3 little words which hammer nails into the coffin are,

“I used to…”

I used to do martial arts.

I used to be in shape.

I used to run marathons.

I used to train hard.

I used to have energy.

I used to be thin.

I used to be able to play sports with my kids.

I used to have muscle tone.

I used to be able to fight.

I used to eat healthy.

I used to …. Fill in the blank.

Whatever the blank in the sentence may be, the point is that there is way too much “used to be doing” going on in the world today and not enough “am doing”.

For me, it must always be about moving forward.  Getting better.  Getting stronger.  Moving better.  At 40 I am in the best shape of my life NOW.  Not 10 years ago.  Not even 20 years ago.  Now.  Today.  Next year I intend to be even better.  And the year after that.

Whatever age you are, wherever your starting point, if you are still breathing then you have the ability to improve, to get stronger.  To train more.  To learn more.  To experience more.

Get out and do more.

Make it your mission in life to never catch yourself uttering the phrase, “I used to…”

Watch this video as a reminder of how great you are.

Related posts:

1. Get A New Body in 2012
2. Fitness or Fatness, Your Choice
3. Goals for 2010

3 Words I Hope to Never Utter is an original post on the Warrior Fitness blog. If you are not reading this on WF, please visit today to support the content's creator.

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1. There Are No Fitness Secrets!
2. 7 Mistakes You May Be Making at the Gym
3. After Class at Warrior Fitness Gym

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In my teacher’s and my own dōjō (道場 – “martial arts training hall”) we spend a lot of time cultivating our skills as uke. An uke (受け) is a martial arts student who, during a given training session, “receives” a technique from another student acting as the tori (取り). Wikipedia defines the difference as one “who completes a successful technique [tori] rather than who initiates one [uke].” Having a good uke as a training partner is very important, but being a good uke is paramount.

The role of uke often gets a bad rap. Too many times I have seen students relegate themselves to becoming little more than an “I attack, then stand around while the other guy does something to me” participant. When it’s time to be uke, the “pause” button gets pressed and human punching bags are born. That doesn’t seem right, does it?

It certainly doesn’t feel right, at least not to me.

Here’s the reality check: if 50% of your training time is spent as an uke, which I hope all of you do, but 100% of your focus and concentration during your training occurs only when you are the tori, that means you spend half of every training session doing absolutely no training at all – 0%!  Does that make sense? Or, perhaps it’s better to ask, “should that make sense?” The 10 years of training you are so eager to talk about during parties and social gatherings is realistically closer to five years of actual time. Humbling, isn’t it?

Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

– Vince Lombardi

With a small change in your approach to the responsibility of being a good uke, you can double the effectiveness of your training without doubling the amount of time you actually train. Here are some suggestions on how you can do it:

Engage and Communicate

First and foremost, be an active and willing participant. Engage and work with your tori in a way that provides direct feedback on several levels – physical, mental, and spiritual. You should be working together and helping each other, so let your tori know exactly and specifically what he is doing wrong and what he’s doing right. Even small hints go a long way towards perfecting a technique. But don’t over communicate; say just enough to help him figure it out on his own.

Move With Clarity

My teacher often stops us in the middle of a technique and asks if we are aware of what certain body parts are doing. It keeps us on our toes (pun intended) and gives us the reality check we need to see if our taijutsu (体術 – “body movement”) requires more clarity and better integration. For example:

• Are your hips open?
• Are your knees bent?
• Are your knees over your toes?
• Are your toes spread apart and gripping the ground?
• Are your feet pronated or supinated?
• What is your right hand doing?
• Where is your left foot pointed?
• Is your back straight?
• Is your neck craned forward or properly aligned with your spine?
• When you are finished punching or kicking, are you leaning forward so far that you can’t left your front leg?
• Is your punching arm locked or slightly bent?
• Are you supporting your arm with your bicep and triceps or your shoulder and lat?
• Are you supporting your leg with your hamstring and quads or your hips and spine?

Take this opportunity – take every opportunity – to clarify the biomechanics of your movement.

Realistic Attacks

“You fight the way you train” is a popular saying in our dōjō. Put another way, “You protect yourself and others the way you train.” Punching six inches too far away from your tori is not effective. It’s a great safety measure to avoid lawsuits from overly-protective parents, but it’s not realistic. When you punch or kick at your tori, do so in such a way that he will get hit if he doesn’t move. Don’t knock him out, of course, but “remind” him just hard enough that he didn’t move in the right direction or with the correct speed and timing. It not only helps your tori to respond accordingly but also trains you to use the proper distance. Be focused and punch with reduced power while maintaining the same intensity and intention as you would when punching at full strength. You can have 100% intensity without 100% speed and power; you don’t want to hurt anyone during training.

Use Active Resistance

Present enough of a puzzle so your tori has to work to solve it. Just enough resistance, just enough force, just enough of a challenge. If he’s trying to apply a technique but not quite getting it, coach him through the correct movement while maintaining active resistance so he can feel how it works. Once he starts to “get it,” change the angle and direction slightly so it doesn’t become a rote exercise.

Be Willing to Get Hit, Locked Up, and Thrown Down

Let’s face it, not many people enjoy being hit. But we are studying “martial” arts, after all, so a degree of combativeness is ever present and should not be removed from your training. It is important to know what it feels like to be hit, locked, and thrown; you need to know that when you get punched you will survive and you can continue to protect yourself and others during an attack. Your tori also needs to understand what it takes to punch, lock up, and throw someone.

When you do get hit, locked, or thrown, approximate what your natural reaction might be and let your body be moved so flow is maintained throughout the technique’s execution.

Be Considerate of Skill Level

When training with new students you must accept that they don’t know as much as you do. Be mindful to not force-feed 800 things for them to remember every time they do a technique. New students should be allowed to get away with bad habits more so than seasoned budōka (武道家 – “martial artists”). (Seasoned budōka should not be allowed to get away with any.) Also take the opportunity to double-check and make sure you’re not guilty of the same mistakes you are trying to correct! If you are training with someone of similar skill, work in detail on the finer points and see if you can solve the puzzle together. If your tori is of higher rank, listen to what is being said to you and watch what they are doing.

Protect Yourself and Your Partners From Injury

It’s all about ukemi (受身 – “injury prevention”). Ukemi is not just rolling, flips, and cartwheels. Ukemi is also knowing how to protect your joints from injury when locked, being aware of where you’re going when you roll, are thrown, or fall, and also knowing when to not be thrown. If you get hurt you cannot train effectively, right? Be mindful of the dynamic between you and your tori and protect yourself at all times. Not overly-protective to the point of being impossible to work with, but protected and safe so you can continue to train.

Your ability to protect yourself also directly correlates to your ability to keep your tori safe. If you are not confident in your ukemi then there is a chance that you might respond in a way that ends up injuring your training partner. In the “real world” this also directly correlates to your ability to keep your attacker safe. Protecting self and others; all others, if possible.

Ukemi! Ukemi! Ukemi!

So Be a Good Uke, Won’t Ya?

In case you didn’t get the gist by now, being an uke is about your training just as much as it is your partner’s training. You might find that training as an uke, when done right, is actually much more challenging than training as a tori. Not only will you become a better martial artist, but your buyū (武友 – “martial arts friends”) will most assuredly become better, too. When you work together to cultivate a feeling of cooperation, support, encouragement, and hard work, that feeling spreads within your entire organization and the potential for progress grows exponentially. That is what training is all about, and it could all start with you working to become a better uke.

Ganbatte (頑張って – “Keep Going!”)

Related posts:

1. The Warrior’s Key to Greatness – The Way Lies in Training!

Double Your Training Without Doubling Your Training is an original post on the Warrior Fitness blog. If you are not reading this on WF, please visit today to support the content's creator.

Although the car felt good and right to me; one of the things that I immediately noticed was that it had many blind spots that my other car didn’t have… well, wait a minute, re-thinking that, it wasn’t that my other car didn’t have any blind spots, it’s that I got used to them and I eventually learned how to see around them, so much so that I almost didn’t even know that the car had any blind spots at all. Now, that I have owned this current Civic for a few years now, I don’t notice the blind spots that were so apparent when I first bought it. It is funny to think that once these blind spots were so apparent and difficult to see around, and now my mind has trained itself to see around these dangerous short comings and it is once again giving me the illusion that those spots aren’t even really there at all!

This same concept also applies to training and life. Each method, system and person has its blind spots; things that are just taken for granted and often overlooked until something happens to change that perspective. Growth and evolution sometimes can be a smooth, natural progression and other times, it can be challenging, difficult and cause great conflict.

How a system or person approaches their training be it martial arts, military tactics, verbal communication, health and fitness, strength, conditioning, world philosophy, politics, economics, science, etc., is due to a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, the environment, context, past experiences, education, conditioning, limitations, strengths, objectives, philosophy, preference, etc.  There are many ways to do many things, all aren’t right, nor are all wrong; however, some ARE better than others for sure. Many believe they have the corner of the market on the “right” way to do whatever they are trying to accomplish. This attitude lends itself to stagnation, justification and conflict with self and others. It is good to be confident; however growth and progress means change and change sometimes can be tough and take you places that were never anticipated.

“1500 years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was the center of the universe. 500 years ago, everybody knew that the Earth was flat. And 15 minutes ago, you knew that people were alone on this planet. Imagine what you’ll know tomorrow.”

 ~Agent K (played by Tommy Lee Jones) talking to Will Smith’s character in the movie Men in Black.

Ok, so let me rein in this article a little bit to focus on the point I am trying to impart:

Always be open to the idea that no matter how good you or your training are, there are blind spots. Things that you just don’t see, obstructions that you have been looking around for so long you no longer see them.  This is why not only instructors, teachers and coaches are necessary, but also having the “beginners mind.” Like the old Zen story about the student coming to a teacher with an empty cup so to speak. We all need to be perpetual students, remain flexible, seek to improve, be curious, and keep our egos in check.

A saying I frequently use is, “Learn like you know nothing, perform like you know everything.” This means keeping an open mind when learning, but when it comes time for action, whether in life, in the sports arena, or during a real conflict, where hesitation can cost you more than a trophy; (in the moment) do what you think you need to do with confidence.

No matter if today was your first day training or you’ve been at it for forty years, whether you are training the Israeli Defense Force, for the UFC, or just for fun, here’s your homework:

What are your blind spots? (In training and in life?)  Uncovering those blind spots is a process that never ends. Remember it’s a journey not a destination. Enjoy the ride!

Keep going.

~Craig Gray

www.roninempowermentgroup.com

www.rgi.co

Craig Gray is a world traveler, speaker, trainer and Subject Matter Expert (SME) for numerous law enforcement agencies as well as Nationally Syndicated Talk Radio Show Frontlines of Freedom & WZZM TV 13 Web Community. Craig is responsible for creating the MCOLES (Michigan Commission of Law Enforcement Standards) approved Krav Maga Self Defense for Law Enforcement Training Program. Craig is one of twelve hand picked instructors with Resolution Group International a conflict resolution training organization developed for the needs of military, law enforcement and business organizations. He is an adjunct instructor for hand to hand combatives and warrior ethics at the Homeland Security and Protective Services Academy within the Gerald R. Ford Job Corps. Craig also serves as education director for Her Survival Guide an organization that teaches empowerment skills, risk management and conflict resolution skills to college bound girls and their mothers.

Related posts:

1. What is the Essence of Defense?
2. RGI Conflict Resolution Course Review
3. Battling Demons

Blind Spots is an original post on the Warrior Fitness blog. If you are not reading this on WF, please visit today to support the content's creator.

Principles:

• Get off the line of attack
• Counter-attack
• Intercept/destroy the attack
• Unbalance the opponent
• Continuous movement
• Escape
• Much more….

Movement:

• Positioning
• Footwork – angles, distancing
• Safe space
• 3 dimensional movement
• Much more…

Tools:

• Body weapons
• Blunt objects
• Edged weapons
• Improvised weapons
• Hidden weapons
• Much more…

Who should attend The Essence of Defense seminar?

Anyone who wants a working knowledge of practical martial arts principles that allows them to create their own techniques in response to a specific threat of violence. 

When:  Saturday, June 18th from 11 AM to 4 PM

Where: Redemption Kettlebell Gym in East Windsor, NJ

Cost: $50 before 6/11, $75 at the door

Who:  Eric Chasko is a fully licensed instructor in Jeet Kune Do/Filipino Martial Arts with over 15 years experience.  Jon Haas is a 9th dan in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu with over 25 years experience.

For more information and to sign up, please go to http://www.iwantredemption.com/

See you there!!

Related posts:

1. Women’s Self Defense Workshop
2. Blind Spots
3. Ninja Weapons Seminar

What is the Essence of Defense? is an original post on the Warrior Fitness blog. If you are not reading this on WF, please visit today to support the content's creator.

For me, it’s a daily battle with my demons.  These are the insidious little creatures that lurk in the dark recesses of my mind.  Their sole purpose being to distract me from becoming the person I want to be.  They rationalize and cajole to pull me off the path of self improvement.  The path of training.  For others, the path may be their daily struggle to make good food choices and lose weight, or it may be the daily battle to study at night while working a full-time job in order to earn that MBA.  The path is personal.  The demons are universal.

Currently I train for a few minutes every morning which provides the dual function of waking me up and setting me on the right path for the day.  It primes my muscles, movements, and nervous system for the more involved training I will perform later that night.  Additionally, I will train during the day at odd intervals when I have a few minutes of down time.  These little periods provide the consistency I need to help me keep going.  But, as I stated above, the bulk of my training is done at night after putting the kids to bed.  Usually around 9 pm or so I head down the basement to my home gym.  This is my dedicated training spot.  For me, it helps to focus my efforts since the only thing I do there is train.  It’s minimalist with very few distractions.  Perfect for doing the work.  For the most part, I beat the demons by just getting downstairs and setting foot in the gym.  Getting there is the most difficult part, but once there, the demons are beat and the daily training progresses.

Sometimes, like last night, the battle isn’t won by just getting to the gym.  Last night was different.  I was tired.  I was comfortable sitting on the couch watching TV with my wife.  The kids were asleep.  The house was quiet.  Peaceful.  I thought that the demons hadn’t even shown up to fight because getting down there was so easy.  Once I was in the gym though, they attacked.  It was a sudden, violent onslaught that took me by surprise!  “You’re tired,” they told me. 

“You don’t need to train anymore today…”,

“You did enough over the weekend.  Relax.  Take it easy.”, 

“Why don’t you just go to bed early for a change?  You need your rest!”

On and on it went, not just verbal but real feelings of being sleepy.  Feeling like I should go upstairs and go to sleep.  I almost gave in.  Almost succumbed.  Almost quit.

But mental fortitude kicked in.  Training kicked in.  The battle was on!  I heard myself talking to one of my training buddies saying – “you have to train every day.  You have to want it bad enough.  How do I do it?  Well, it’s like brushing your teeth, Dude.  You just do it every day (usually twice!) no matter what.”  This began the rally.  But it was far from won.  What won the battle once and for all (at least for last night) was the fact that I just started doing my solo conditioning exercises.  I was in the right place.  My mindset was returning.  But the way to win the battle is to simply begin doing the work.  Understand that your training is a necessary part of becoming who you want to be.  Understand that daily training is a necessary part of that process.  And get it done.

Related posts:

1. A Case for Mini Workouts
2. The Warrior’s Key to Greatness – The Way Lies in Training!
3. Blind Spots

Battling Demons is an original post on the Warrior Fitness blog. If you are not reading this on WF, please visit today to support the content's creator.

Is Your Cup Already Full?

Another way we limit ourselves is by equating knowing with being able to do.  For example, when your teacher demonstrates a fundamental principle of movement for the hundredth, or maybe hundred thousandth time, do you smile smugly to yourself and think, “I know that already”?  Maybe you have.  I know I have.  I admit it.  But this type of attitude makes us lazy.  It lowers our skill level because it allows us to hold fast to the superficial without the hard work of plumbing the depths.  It lets us check those basic movement(s) or principles of movement off our mental list and move on to something more advanced; more worthy of our time (we may think)… big mistake.  If we were truly honest with ourselves, we’d be asking a different question.  The better, more appropriate question to be asking ourselves is -”how well can I do that?” or “How well do I truly understand those movement(s) bodily, not intellectually?”   This is hard though because most often the most authentic answer we can give ourselves is, not well enough.   Watch your teacher closely.  Look deeper.  Pay attention because there’s always more.  Be careful.  Practice.  Practice.  Practice!

Related posts:

1. Ninja Endurance – Part II
2. Unlocking Flow in Your Taijutsu Practice
3. Your Sanshin No Kata Under a Microscope

Knowing is Not Enough! is an original post on the Warrior Fitness blog. If you are not reading this on WF, please visit today to support the content's creator.

Ukemi Flow

1. Begin in Shizen No Kamae (natural stance), squat down to ball of foot squat
2. Zenpo Kaiten (front roll) over the right shoulder
3. Ushiro Kaiten (back roll)
4. Stand up into Shizen No Kamae (natural stance), squat down to ball of foot squat
5. Zenpo Kaiten (front roll) over the left shoulder
6. Ushiro Kaiten (back roll)
7. Stand up into Shizen No Kamae (natural stance)
8. Yoko Nagare (side roll) with the leg crossing in front to the right
9. Yoko Nagare (side roll) with the leg crossing in front to the left
10. Stand up into Shizen No Kamae (natural stance)
11. Zempo Ukemi (forward break fall)
12. Stand up into Shizen No Kamae (natural stance)
13. Yoko Nagare (side roll) with the leg crossing behind to the right
14. Yoko Nagare (side roll) with the leg crossing behind to the left
15. Stand up into Shizen No Kamae (natural stance) – repeat!

Start out with 4 rounds of 3 minutes each with a 1 minute break between rounds.  Use the minute break to get your breathing back under control and shake out the tension.  When this becomes easier, decrease the rest period to 30 seconds between rounds. Finally, try to perform the Ukemi Flow continuously for 12 minutes.  You can also adjust the difficulty level of the flow by adding directional leaps at the end of each roll.  Or, it can be made easier by performing it from kneeling in Seiza no Kamae instead of standing.

Notes: Make sure you warm-up with brief joint mobility session prior to the workout.

Got your own version of an ukemi-specific workout?  Please share with us in the comments section below!

Related posts:

1. Unlocking Flow in Your Taijutsu Practice
2. Conditioning for Striking
3. Ninja Walking

Ukemi Flow Conditioning Workout is an original post on the Warrior Fitness blog. If you are not reading this on WF, please visit today to support the content's creator.

Philosophers and sages throughout the ages have consistently extolled the virtues of facing adversity for the purposes of becoming a better, stronger person.  No matter what form this adversity takes, wisdom dictates that it must be faced head-on, weathered through, and successfully beaten by coming out the other side, maybe scarred, but assuredly battle-hardened and spiritually tougher.   Oftentimes, adversity comes to us unbidden simply due to the path we choose to follow, or even for no fathomable reason at all.  It tends to be one of those things life throws at us unexpectedly to “help” us prove our mettle and forge our character.

It has been said that “God comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable”.  If this is so, perhaps creating your own adversity isn’t a bad thing at all. 

The goal in creating your own adversity is to design a challenge that will push the limits of your physical strength, mental toughness, and spiritual fortitude in order to propel you forward to the next level in your training.  For the warrior, this process is known as Shugyo.  Shugyo (修行) may be defined as “conducting oneself in a way that inspires mastery”.  These periods of severe training were usually undertaken by warriors to achieve a type of enlightening experience which opened their minds by destroying their concept of previously perceived limits.  It is the same for us today.

Ueshiba Morihei, the founder of Aikido, was well known for taking his students up into the mountains for periods of Shugyo.

 “Once a year, Morihei took several of his best disciples to train with him on Mount Kurama, located near Kyoto. The small group lived on rice, pickles, miso soup, and wild herbs. Morihei would rise at five AM to pray. After morning prayers and misogi, they would swing heavy swords five hundred times and then practice footwork. From ten AM to noon they trained in body techniques. Afternoon training ran from three to five PM; the disciples took turns acting as Morihei’s partner as he ran through series after series of techniques. In the evenings the disciples would review the day’s training. Every three days, Morihei would announce at midnight ‘time for night training’…”
Excerpt from “Invincible Warrior”, by John Stevens pg. 125

Now, do you have to seclude yourself in the mountains for several days in order to practice Shugyo?  No.  For most of us, that’s not realistic or practical, but that doesn’t mean we can’t create the same type of experience for ourselves.  So, how do we do it?

Create Your Own Adversity!

Caution:This type of training is not for everyone.  Before you begin, there are a few common sense type precautions you should take.  First, prepare adequately.  For example, you would not go out to run the NY Marathon tomorrow if you’ve never run more than 5 miles.  Second, if you decide to conduct your Shugyo outdoors, let someone know where you’re going, what you’re doing, and how long you’ll be gone, or better yet, take them with you!  Third and most importantly, think before you do and plan accordingly.

1.  Pick a time or day that has personal significance to you – it can be your birthday, New Years Day, or the anniversary of something important in your life.  Is this absolutely necessary?  No.  You can pick next Tuesday if you’d like, but I think tying your Shugyo to a significant day makes it more special.

2.  Decide what form your Shugyo will take.  This must be unique to your goals and capabilities.  Choose something that is currently beyond your reach, but not so far as to make it completely unattainable.  You want to focus and hone your physical, mental, and spiritual abilities, not your imagination.  Some examples are:

• Run a marathon
• Climb a mountain
• 1000 cuts with a heavy bokken (wooden sword)
• 1000 Kettlebell snatches
• 1000 reps of any basic techniques or combination of techniques
• Sparring 20 opponents in a row, nonstop
• 1000 Push-ups/Squats/Sit-ups

While any of the above would more than qualify as Shugyo, my personal preference is to plan an entire day where the whole becomes greater than the sum of the individual parts.  Some recommendations for the parts are:Junan Taiso warm-up, run (distance TBD by you), practice the basic strikes, kicks, and footwork of your particular martial art, Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for me (high reps to push your limits, of course!), weapons practice (sword cuts, spear thrusts, bo swinging, etc.), high repetition bodyweight exercise(s) or workout with weights (dumbbells, kettlebells, clubbells, sandbags), end with an extra long yoga session to wring out all the tension accumulated throughout the day followed by meditation and rest.

3.  Create a training program to get you there.  Let’s face it, most of the above examples are not something most people can decide to do in a day, they take time, preparation, and work to bring the goal within reach.  Remember the “6 P’s”: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance!

4.  Get to work!!

Creating your own adversity through Shugyo has the effect of focusing not just your mind, but your entire being for the purposes of expanding your potential.  Push yourself harder than you ever thought possible and blow through your preconceived limitations – remember, the only limits that truly exist are those set up in your own mind – there are no limits! 

“God brings men into deep waters, not to drown them, but to cleanse them.”  ~John Aughey

Related posts:

1. The Sanshin of Warrior Fitness
2. The Warrior’s Key to Greatness – The Way Lies in Training!
3. A Day in the Life…

Create Your Own Adversity! is an original post on the Warrior Fitness blog. If you are not reading this on WF, please visit today to support the content's creator.

This is a record of my activity from yesterday, Memorial Day 2010:

Morning

Life begins early here, even on long holiday weekends, since our 19 month old, Juliana, doesn’t distinguish weekends from weekdays yet!  So at 6 am I was up making coffee and searching through her Elmo DVDs to find the particular episode she wanted that morning.  As the coffee was brewing I began working through my joint mobility routine in the kitchen.  Each joint from neck down to ankles and toes is rotated through its entire range of motion to flush the joints with synovial fluid and increase blood flow to the surrounding muscles.  This has the effect of lubricating the joints and removing the “rust”, as well as awakening the entire body.

As interest in her Elmo episode waned and Juliana wandered off to “read” her books and play with toys, I began working through San Shin no Kata, the Bujinkan basic movement exercises.  Each movement was practiced stationary, then walking forward and backward with emphasis on using the spine to generate power for the movements.

Mid-Afternoon

In the afternoon I took the kids to the playground.  My older daughter, Caitlin, rode her bike while I pushed the baby along in her little buggy.  As I walked each step was coordinated with breathing to work on breath capacity.  For example, inhale for 5-steps, hold on the inhale for 5-steps, exhale for 5-steps, then hold on the exhale for 5-steps.  This can be done continuously with the same pattern or you can alter the number of steps for each breath cycle up or down to make it easier or more challenging.  See my post entitled Breathing 101 for more breathing related exercises.  At the playground, in between pushing the kids on the swings and taking the little one down the slide, I used the monkey bars for random amounts of pull-ups and chin-ups.

Evening

Finally got the kids to bed around 8:30 and went down to the basement gym for my workout proper.  My current program is geared towards developing unarmed striking power and basic weapons work. 

• Brief joint mobility warm-up
• Suburi with Yari (spear) – 3 rounds of 10 thrusts from Seigan no Kamae, 10 thrusts from Jodan no Kamae, each side
• Suburi with heavy bokken – 3 rounds of 10 cuts from Jodan no Kamae, advancing and retreating
• Swipes with 15 lb clubbell – 3 sets of 10
• Mills with 15 lb clubbell (think omote shuto type movement) – 3 sets of 10
• Reverse Mills with 15 lb clubbell (think ura shuto type movement) – 3 sets of 10
• Clean to Order with 25 lb clubbell – 3 sets of 5 each arm
• Clean to Order with 45 lb clubbell – 1 set of 5 each arm
• 5 minutes of various yoga asana to cool-down

This is just a quick glimpse into a much larger program that I am testing on myself for eventual release.  For more information on my previous programs, please check out my ebook, Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts.

Related posts:

1. Ninja Walking
2. Your Sanshin No Kata Under a Microscope
3. Ukemi Flow Conditioning Workout

A Day in the Life… is an original post on the Warrior Fitness blog. If you are not reading this on WF, please visit today to support the content's creator.