Get ready stay ready.
There is no such thing as an off-season for a warrior.
As a warrior, we don’t train with the goal of “peaking” for a particular event, fight, or game. That being said, our training requirements are also a little bit different than the average athlete.
We must consistently train for multifaceted development of all-around fitness, conditioning, and readiness rather than training specific strength qualities, or body parts, individually on a cycle-by-cycle basis.
As a warrior, we need to be in a constant state of preparedness, ready for whatever real life may throw at us. Otherwise all of our years of training are no good to us when we actually need them.
No Warm-up!
When a sudden, violent encounter happens, or in the event of an emergency, you don’t have time to warm-up. You have to be able to act immediately.
But how do you prepare yourself to move into action without the benefit of your joint mobility routine, foam rolling. preparatory stretches, and warm-up reps????
I keep a 400 lbs tire in my garage gym. Several times a day, with zero warm-up or preparation, I will just flip the tire a couple times and then walk away.
What if you don’t happen to have a 400 lbs tire handy?
Simple.
Here’s a list of a few things you can do to stay ready at a moment’s notice:
- Load a barbell with a challenging weight and keep it in your basement/garage/living room. Lift it several times. day with no preparation
- Install a pull-up bar in your house. Every time you pass it, do several pull-ups with zero warm-up
- Every time you enter a certain room in your house (I use the kitchen), drop down and do a random number of push-ups, squats, or bodyweight exercise of your choice.
- Keep a heavy kettlebell next to your desk. At random intervals throughout the day, do 10, 20, 30 swings. Try to get to 100 a day.
- Shadow box during the day.
- When walking outside, suddenly sprint to a telephone pole or randomly execute some rolls/breakfalls.
- Show up late to your martial arts class once in a while and skip the warm-ups (tell your teacher I said so!) 🙂
This stuff is not hard. You just have to be aware of it and do it on a regular basis.
“The warriors heart is ruled by preparedness, and nature’s heart, or God’s heart, is fundamental. The heart also governs the Warrior’s physical kamae. Therefore, if there is no unity in spirit and body, you will never understand the reason for being a martial artist.”
– Masaaki Hatsumi, Bujinkan Soke
Wow – what an awesome idea!
Read it again.
You must train so that you are more prepared than any challenges you have to face in life.
Enhance your own physical preparedness and gain an unfair advantage in your training HERE.
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