Category Archives: Express Workouts

How Warriors Train for ENDURANCE

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Warriors Need to HIIT!

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is one of the best ways to train for endurance. It will enhance all 3 energy systems in the body, 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.

How else does improving your endurance through this type of conditioning aid your martial arts training?

I’m glad you asked!

If the benefits discussed above weren’t enough, consider that having a high level of conditioning also aids in learning new skills.

How’s that possible?

To put it simply, when the central nervous system (CNS) is fatigued, the body cannot effectively process new skills, especially technically advanced skills. So, in essence your lack of a general level of fitness and conditioning will actually impede your learning process as you will tire more readily and not have the ability to recover quickly enough during training.

 

  • Want to train more, at a higher level, for a longer period of time?

  • Want to get more out of your training time both at home and in the dojo?

  • Want to build new skills and enhance your technical arsenal?

    My brand new WarFit Combat Conditioning Program will show you how!

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The Warrior Workouts – FREE Resource from Warrior Fitness

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The Warrior Workouts

A Free Resource Brought to You by Warrior Fitness…

The following is a free preview of my upcoming program of the same name, The Warrior Workouts.

This sample program consists of a complete 4 weeks of training and is designed to give you a taste of the various types of training methods used within the Warrior Fitness Training System.

Each of these workouts has been specifically crafted to provide complete, full-body strength, conditioning, and power for martial art, sport, or anything else life can throw at you!

The Warrior Workouts Cover

 

 

Download your FREE copy by clicking ====>>>>Warfit -The Ultimate Combat Conditioning System

Training in Confined Spaces

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If you have Warrior Fitness Training style questions, send them to me.  I answer any and all serious (well, mostly serious) questions about training, my Warrior Fitness System, my views on fitness, martial arts, self defense, strength & conditioning, or training for sport/athletic performance.  

Here’s a video answer to a question I received the other day from Robert, a Bujinkan student in Sweden. Continue reading →

Preparing Ninja for a Mission

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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. Continue reading →

Ninja Stars and Strength Training

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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…

Continue reading →

10 Minutes and a Chair

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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:

Continue reading →

Warrior Workout in the Park

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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!

Ninja Endurance – Part II

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In part one of Ninja Endurance called,  How to Train for the Endurance of a Ninja, we discussed strength endurance and I provided a sample workout to help you build yours.  Here in part 2, I ‘d like to delve a little deeper into the whys of endurance training and how specifically high intensity interval training is an excellent choice for it.

What is Endurance?

Endurance is defined as being able to keep going without fatigue setting in, or being able to push oneself through fatigue.  Essentially, it is the ability to resist or bear fatigue.  What is fatigue?  Fatigue is weariness or exhaustion from exertion, or the temporary loss of power to respond.  An equally critical corollary to the definition of endurance, especially for the warrior,  is that your level of endurance also determines how quickly you are able to recover between bouts of activity.  Combat, like life, does not happen at one constant rate of speed.  It is multi-faceted in nature.  There will be periods of brutally intense activity followed by lulls in the action, again followed by another flurry of activity.  Being able to use those lulls in action to recover is a critical ability for the warrior.

Steady state cardio, Long Slow Distance (LSD) training simply will not cut it.  Running on a treadmill may be appropriate for a hamster in a cage, but human beings require more.  Long distance running can be beneficial for mental toughness and/or active recovery, but it should not be the primary focus of a warrior’s endurance training.  So then how should we train to maximize our ability to endure?

Warriors Need to HIIT!

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is 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.

How else does improving your endurance through this type of conditioning aid your martial arts training?  I’m glad you asked!  If the benefits discussed above weren’t enough, consider that having a high level of conditioning also aids in learning new skills.  How’s that possible?  To put it simply, when the central nervous system (CNS) is fatigued, the body cannot effectively process new skills, especially technically advanced skills.  So, in essence your lack of a general level of fitness and conditioning will actually impede your learning process as you will tire more readily and not have the ability to recover quickly enough during training.  Want to train more, at a higher level, for a longer period of time?  Want to get more out of your training time both at home and in the dojo?  Want to build new skills and enhance your technical arsenal?  Get yourself in shape!

There are several sample conditioning workouts here on the Warrior Fitness site.  Here are a few examples:

Workout of the Week #1

 

Workout of the Week #5

 

Stay tuned for more Warrior Fitness style conditioing workouts to help you get and stay in fighting shape!

Get Beach Fit – Warrior Style!

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Summer is coming and, hey, let’s face it – even warriors need to look good at the beach, right?!  So, if you’re going to workout with the intention of getting is shape for summer, why not do it in a  balanced, functional manner that syncs up with and supports your other activities rather than distracting from them?  To that end, here’s a newly designed Warrior Fitness workout to help tone and sculpt that beach body!

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Pull-up Pyramid

  • Start with 1, pyramid up to 3, then back down to 1
  • Depending on your fitness level, do pull-ups, chin-ups, or commando pull-ups

Push-ups

  • 5 Pike Push-ups(begin in downward facing dog posture, bend arms to touch head to ground)
  • 10 Hindu Push-ups
  • 5 Diamond Push-ups (hands are touching at pointer fingers and thumbs directly under chest)
  • 10 Fist Push-ups
  • End with a static hold mid range of the push-up position for 1 minute

Dips

  • 4 sets of 10
  • Use a bench, chair, or couch

Bodyweight Squats

  • 4 sets of 15
  • If too easy, make them jumping squats

Seiza Step-ups (Begin in seiza, Japanses kneeling posture, on the balls of your feet.  Step up right leg, followed by left leg to half squat so legs are 90 degrees, then back down to seiza.)

  • 4 sets of 10/10

Static 1/2 Squat

  • Hold mid range of squat for 1 minute (wall sit)

V-ups

  • 2 sets of 10

Warrior Sit-ups

  • 2 sets of 10

Plank

  • Finish with static plank hold for 1 minute
  • Side plank 30 seconds per side

Take a look at the vibration drills in this article to see how to shake out and release that residual muscle tension.

Want to know more?  The strength and conditioning exercises in Warrior Fitness will not only provide a strong, functional body, but help burn fat and build lean muscle as well.  When used in conjunction with the mobility warm-ups, breathing exercises, and compensatory cool-down movements in the book, Warrior Fitness is a fully balanced approach to fitness and conditioning!

Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Got Some Spare Time? Try Isometrics!

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If you’re like me and can’t stand to waste any amount of time no matter how short, you’ll love how isometrics can fill in some strength gaps.  Nowadays, my days are jam-packed full with work, meetings, conference calls, networking, family time, training time, teaching time, writing time, and oh yeah – a little sleeping in my spare time.  Since there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish all the things I want to do (not to mention those pesky things I have to do!), I try to make the most of those few free minutes of downtime in between tasks so I can be just a little more productive.

The only way to constantly improve is to consistently work on improving your self.  One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Calvin Coolidge:

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

And, since I don’t consider myself particularly talented, or even all that smart, it’s a good thing I am persistent!

So, let’s talk isometrics. 

Isometrics are a great way to work on increasing strength, or shoring up a strength deficiency in a certain movement or exercise, with virtually no equipment and very little time.  They are both effective and efficient – good news for us!

So what exactly are isometrics?  Basically, isometric exercise is exerting force against an immovable object.  The idea is that the length of the muscle does not change, but the tension remains constant during the exercise.  There are 2 general types of isometric exercise:

1.  Holding yourself (or a weight) in a static state.  For example holding the mid-point of a push-up position or the mid-point of a squat.  Or, holding yourself statically on a pull-up bar.

2.  The other type of isometric exercise consists of pushing or pulling against an immovable object.  This picture of Bruce Lee is a great example of just one of the ways he used to train isometrics.

For our purposes, when training the first type of isometric drill, try holding the mid-range or hardest point of the exercise for 30 to 60 seconds.  Make sure to keep breathing!  Then shake it out – see the vibration exercises here  – and go again.

We will use much shorter time frames for the second type of isometric exercise.  Here we will be pushing or pulling against an immovable object as hard as possible (maximal contraction) for 1 to 3 seconds each rep.  Exert force as quickly as possible to improve speed strength.  Studies have found that the intention to move fast was more important for speed development than the actual speed of the the movement.  Interesting, eh?  Train about 4 to 6 reps per set and use the vibration exercises referenced above to remove residual muscle tension between sets.  Since there are innumerable variations here – pushing with the arms (one or both), pushing with the legs (one of both), pulling with the arms (one or both), pulling with the legs (one or both), not to mention the number of different joint angles one can use with either push or pull, I will leave it up to your creativity to determine how to best apply it in your training.  Let me know what you find works best for you.

I hope you enjoyed this short primer on isometrics.  We will be exploring them in more depth, as well as showing how isometrics can be used to not only increase strength, but increase power for your strikes in my upcoming book… Stay tuned!