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Breathing 101

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I was planning to title this post, “Breathing for Dummies” after the famous how-to guides, but I realized most dummies aren’t interested in bettering their health, fitness, and extending longevity in their sports, martial arts, or activities.  Plus, I dislike the subtle insult of refering to my readers as “dummies”.  Nor would I want dummies for readers anyway.  So instead today we will go over Breathing 101.  These are what I consider to be the most effective ways to integrate breathing exercises into your daily training, and use them to increase lung capacity and efficiency of how your body processes oxygen.  We will look at several different exercises that will enable you to lower your heart rate, blood pressure, and stress levels, as well as to increase energy.

Breathing as a Bridge

You may not be aware that breathing is a bridge between our voluntary and autonomic nervous systems.  Meaning breath is plugged into both.  The autonomic system will keep you breathing continuously without your conscious control, or sometimes, without even your awareness of it going on.  But, you also have the power to override that control and decide at any moment to take a deep breath or hold your breath.  What does this mean to you though, right?  Well, here’s what it means, you have the power, at any time, to consciously choose to influence things like your heart rate and blood pressure which are not under your conscious control.  Now that’s fascinating to me!  Because breath is tied into both systems it can be used like a bridge to gain access to aspects of your body that you cannot directly control.  How do we do this?

Try This Experiment

Take your pulse.  Count beats for 10 seconds then multiply by 6.  If you’re sitting and relaxed, that number should be your resting heart rate.  Now, inhale as deeply as possible and hold your breath and tense your whole body for a few seconds.  Are you red in the face?  Take your pulse again.  What happened?  Your hear rate jumped up and your blood pressure spiked right along with it, right?  Now try exhaling for a count of 6, but don’t inhale yet.  Extend the pause before the inhale a little bit.  Feel more relaxed?  Check your pulse.  It should have dropped.  Pretty cool, eh?  And this is just the beginning.

The Exercises

 

Relaxing Breath (Square Breathing)

This is very similar to the experiment we did above.  The basic premise of our ability to influence the autonomic nervous system is that inhalation increases heart rate, which subsequently increase blood pressure, to a slight degree, while exhalation lowers heart rate and blood pressure to a slight degree.  During our normal cycle of breathing, these changes are too minute to register, or even notice.  But, by gradually lengthening our breath and extending the pause before inhaling and exhaling, we compound the effect.

  1. Begin by exhaling through the mouth for 5 seconds.
  2. Do not inhale.  Try to extend the breath pause for 5 seconds.
  3. Before tension begins to creep in, inhale for 5 seconds.
  4. Hold the breath on the inhale for 5 seconds.
  5. Repeat the cycle 10 times.
  6. As this becomes easier, and your capacity expands, try increasing the duration to 6, 7, 8 seconds.

 

Energizing Breath

In this breathing exercise we will utilize a protocol founded by yoga and improved upon by Russian sport science and martial art.  Here we will divide the breath into 3 levels: clavicular (upper level), intercostal (mid level), Diaphragmatic (lower level).  This exercise will focus only on the clavicular, or upper level.  I first learned this exercise, and several others including the next one below, about 10 years ago from my good friends Dave Rusin and Oleg Yakimovich who are ROSS Russian Martial Art instructors.  More information about ROSS can be found at their website here.  Check it out!

  1. Exhale through the mouth in a short, quick burst by compressing the upper chest.
  2. Do not actively inhale.  Allow the inhale to happen by relaxing the muscles in the chest.
  3. Repeat rapidly 20 to 40 times.
  4. Build up to where you can perform continuously for 60 seconds.
  5. If you become dizzy, stop and sit down!

Restoring Breath

Here again we will depend on Russian sport science and martial art for our technique.  This one is literally a life saver when doing high intensity anaerobic workouts!  It can be used in between exercises as well as in between sets, during the rest period, and at the end of the workout to normalize breathing and dramatically lower heart rate.

  1. Forcefully exhale as deeply as possible by rolling your shoulders forward, tilting the pelvis up, and contracting the core strongly.
  2. Pause before the inhale for a few seconds.
  3. As stated above, do not actively inhale.  Allow the breath to be sucked back in through the nose as your body returns to a natural standing posture.
  4. Repeat for about 60 seconds, or as long as needed.

Try these out and let me know how they work for you.  Any questions, please feel free to contact me here.

So Ya Wanna Be a Ninja?

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Masaaki Hatsumi, Grandmaster of the Bujinkan Dojo, once stated, “endurance is of primary importance for the ninja.”  One definition of endurance is the ability to resist fatigue.  Looking at the kanji (Chinese character) for Nin, there is the ideogram for “sword” over the ideogram for “heart” giving Nin a meaning of, “even though you hold a sword over my heart, I will endure.” 

How many of us training in the Bujinkan, or any other martial art, can truthfully claim that ability?  How long can you train?  How far can you push yourself?  In martial art, endurance, or the ability to “keep going” is defined in years, not minutes, hours, or days.  How can we create an effective training program that will instill in us the ability to continue, to endure?

Physical Endurance

Let’s begin by examining the concept of physical endurance.  There are 3 basic types of physical endurance:

  1. Aerobic endurance
  2. Anaerobic endurance
  3. Strength endurance

We discussed the body’s 3 energy systems and how using the Tabata Protocol can effectively improve both the aerobic and anaerobic systems here.  Strength endurance is defined as the ability to effectively maintain muscular functioning under work conditions of long duration.  There are two basic ways to increase the ability of your body to do more physical work.  One is the continuous adding of weights, sets, reps, and time to push the body to create an adaptation to allow it to perform more work for a longer duration.  As we discussed previously in the article on GPP, the body’s capacity is expanded.  Progress is incremental and continuous for as long as one is able to keep increasing driving forces in the body.  The next one, however, is often overlooked in our “just add more volume” culture.  More is always better, right?  If one vitamin is good for you, take 4, that’s even better (please don’t!).  But, there is another way to allow the body to continue training in addition (no pun intended) to adding more work.  By removing restrictions in your body, like unnecessary tension or extra body weight or lack of flexibility/mobility in a particular area, you then free up resources in your body that were spent holding that tension that you weren’t even aware of on a conscious level.  These restrictions, once removed, allow even greater leaps in performance than simply adding more work.  When the 2 are combined, it’s a powerful combination!

How Do We Program It?

By programming our workouts so that we effectively build in both the removal of restrictive forces, while also increasing driving forces, we can maximize our progress.  This idea is present in traditional methods of Hatha Yoga in the form of balancing strength and surrender.  Contrary to popular opinion, yogi’s do not simply work to become more flexible.  They actively work to increase both strength and flexibility as complimentary opposites in order to achieve a state of balance.  Now, I’m not asking you to become a yogi here, merely pointing out that this is not a new concept at all, but has been used by traditional arts for thousands of years.  Our program for developing ninja-like endurance will utilize both joint mobility exercises and yoga asana (poses), as well as breathing exercises, to aid in the removal of restrictive forces binding your training and slowing your progress.  Next week I will be putting out an article on breathing exercises that can be used for relaxation, stress management, removing residual tension, and also for increasing energy – keep your eyes out!

For an example of some easy yoga postures that can start helping you right now, head over to my good friend Josh Sager’s excellent blog, Fretterverse, and check out my article on Yoga for Guitarists.   A free sample joint mobility training program can be obtained simply by signing up for the Warrior Fitness Mailing List at the top right of the page.  Sign up now and begin working on removing restrictive forces today!

And, don’t forget to check out Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Artists for more exercises, options, explanations, and program design!

Stay tuned for a sampleStrength Endurance Workout coming soon!

Fitness Requirements for Bujinkan Martial Arts Training – part 2

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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 dojo (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 (or minimal) equipment required.  We can begin training right now with only our bodyweight as resistance and obtain amazing results.  Adding in portable equipment like clubs, sandbags, kettlebells and dumbbells will also add to the results!

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.  Do 10-25 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.  Do 25 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 3 times a week, depending on your schedule and your fitness needs.  If you are including conditioning work as well, for an example see the WarFit Combat Conditioning System 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
  • GPP Workout
  • Class training
Tuesday
  • Joint mobility warm-up
  • Solo Training
Wednesday
Thursday
  • Joint mobility warm-up
  • Solo Training
Friday
  • Joint mobility warm-up
  • WarFit Conditioning Workout
  • 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.

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

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As a 25 year veteran of Bujinkan martial arts training, as well as being the creator of Warrior Fitness Training Systems, 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 isolate 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?

“Optimal physical conditioning provides the platform from which the skills can be used.”  

– Fred Hatfield, aka Dr. Squat

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 my 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 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.

  • Looking to increase your level of readiness for martial arts training and fitness?

 

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 program, The Power Protocol, will show you how!

Warrior Fitness Recommended Equipment

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A question I often receive through email (which, by the way is great, please keep them coming!) is whether or not Warrior Fitness is strictly a bodyweight training system.  In short, no it’s not, but let me expand on that.  Bodyweight training is an outstanding way to exercise.  It requires absolutely no equipment, no gym membership, a small amount of space, and can be done virtually anywhere.  It works equally well for the business traveler, the stay at home parent, or the vacationer.  In my opinion bodyweight training should be the foundation of your fitness program, especially if you are just starting out.  My rationale behind this is a simple one: if you cannot master your own bodyweight first, you really have no business adding weight.  Now, obviously there are exceptions to this rule.  For example, if you are being treated by a Physical Therapist and they recommend a weighted exercise to help your condition, then you must follow their advice.  Additionally, I said it should be the foundation of your program, but that doesn’t mean equipment cannot be added for variety, to increase the combined exercises effectiveness, or to shore up a particular strength or mobility deficit. 

With that out of the way, here is a short list of the equipment I do use for myself and with my clients and highly recommend.

The Equipment List

 

1.  Sandbags – Cheap and easy to make yourself.  Great for taking strength and conditioning outside the box.  Want to make one?  Get an army duffle bag, two 50 lb bags of sand from your local Home Dept, a box of gallon freezer bags, and some duct tape.  Fill the freezer bags with sand.  Double bag them, then duct tape them to make sure they are secure.  Place the duct-taped, sand filled freezer bags inside the duffel bag (make heavier or lighter depending on your preference), zip up the bag, secure it, and you’re good to go!

2.  Kettlebells – I got my first kettlebell from Dragondoor back in 2002 when they were the only supplier outside of Russia.  Nowadays kettlebells have gone mainstream and can be found at your local Walmart (along with pretty much anything and everything else!).

3.  Dumbbells – The cheaper kettlebell alternative, just not as cool looking.

4. Clubbells – These are excellent for targeting angular and rotational strength, as well as sport or activity-specific performance enhancement.  They are currently only available through RMAX.

5.  Resistance Bands – Can be obtained from Elite Fitness Systems here. 

6.  Pull-up Bar – I made my own in the basement from a couple pieces of wood, some rope, and a metal bar, but there are also portable pull-up bars you can buy for under $40.  Here’s an example: EZ Chin Up Bar – Portable, Powerful, Personal and Effective Exercise Machine.  The other option is to train outside and use a sturdy tree branch.  This is an excellent alternative when the weather turns warmer!

7. Medicine Balls – Can be found at Sports Authority,  or most other sporting good stores, for about $30.

8.  Sledge Hammer and Tire–  Hitting a tire with a sledge hammer is not only an incredible conditioning exercise, it’s also really fun and great stress relief!  Make sure you do this outside though!  Pick up a sledge hammer from your local Home Depot or Lowes.  I got mine for about $25.  Tires are usually free.  Stop by any Tire and Auto shop and ask them for a used tire.  Since they are disposing of them anyway, they are more than happy to allow you to take one.   

As you can see, each piece of equipment is portable, able to cover a wide array of exercises and levels of ability, and, with the exception of clubbells and kettlebells, are all inexpensive to make or buy.  Which one is best?  All of them and none of them, depending on the specific goals you set for your health and fitness.  They are all tools in the Warrior’s arsenal to be used as needed.  Stay tuned for more information as to how the Warrior Fitness Training System utilizes all of the above fitness equipment!

Jack Hoban on Fitness

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The interviews conducted here at Warrior Fitness will highlight people who have significantly influenced my thinking and training on fitness, who are leaders in their particular fields of expertise, and whom I admire.  Jack Hoban happens to fit all three.  Through his unwavering commitment to martial arts and fitness, Jack has inspired me to keep going over the past 20 years down the dual path of martial arts and fitness.

 Jack Hoban is a former active duty U.S. Marine Corps Captain and long time practitioner of martial arts.  He is Shidoshi Senior Instructor in the Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu and Togakure Ryu Ninjutsu systems under Grand Master Masaaki Hatsumi in Japan and has authored three books on warriorship.  Mr. Hoban also holds an MBA and is an executive in the healthcare industry.    Jack’s full biography, and further information, can be found on his website here. 

 

1.  Can you please describe your current philosophy on physical fitness?

I have been serious about physical fitness for most of my life, first as an athlete in grammar school, high school and college, and then as a Marine, and martial artist.  That hasn’t changed, just become more refined and age-appropriate as the years have gone by.  Humans are physical beings and have been so for millions of years; I think we should acknowledge and honor that fact by maintaining a high level of physicality in our lives.  That’s my philosophy.  Until fairly recently, being physically fit, for most of us, was just a part of being human—and staying alive through hunting and gathering, farming, work, or other physical endeavors.  That has changed, and there is a greater risk of falling into a sedentary lifestyle today.  But our basic nature as physical animals has not changed.  We have to be careful not to stray too far from our nature, or certainly unhappiness and ill health may result.

2.  How has your outlook changed over the years?

It really hasn’t changed.  It has just become more refined.  I have tried some of the new fitness technologies—for example I run barefoot now using the new Vibram footwear.  I also think I use cross-training more effectively than in the past.  But I pretty much do the kinds of things I have always done.  I do have to worry more about “overdoing it,” because injuries take longer to heal.

3.  Do you have a daily fitness regimen that you follow?

Yes and no.  I have a range of things that I do, but it changes according to my schedule, the season, the weather and how I am feeling.

4.  Can you briefly tell us what it consists of?

Again, it is not a daily thing in that I don’t do the same thing every day.   But over the course of a week I typically fit in a few runs (45 minutes to an hour), I lift weights, I do a lot of core training, and I do various calisthenics.  In the winter I use the gym for the rowing machine, treadmill and elliptical.  In the summer I swim in the ocean almost every day.  I practice martial arts daily by myself, and have a class between 2 and 5 times a week.

5.  How do you think fitness and budo (martial arts) are related?

Inseparably, although martial artists might take care to explore a regimen that is complimentary to martial arts—one that increases strength and endurance, but also promotes flexibility and relaxation.

6.  How has your being in excellent physical condition enhanced your martial arts training?

Simple, it helps me to “keep going” longer and more consistently without being tired or sick.  And by the way, real fights are very physical—tiring and punishing. 

7.  How does your being in excellent physical condition help your work with the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program (MCMAP)?

When I first meet a new class of students, the unspoken question is “Is he one of us?  Can he do what we do?  If he can’t, why should we do what he does?”  That’s just the nature of young, competitive men.  Because I can pretty much keep up with them “for an old guy,” I gain a certain measure of respect.  That way, they are open to the other physical and ethical lessons I am there to share.

8.  Has the Marines Combat Conditioning program influenced your personal exercise program, and if so, how?

Yes, in at least two ways.  It has made me more aware of the value of cross training, and two, it has made me more creative in using training aides of opportunity.  By that I mean, you can design your own training regimens and make your own training apparatuses just by using your brain and common items and structures.  You don’t need fancy equipment; an old tire works just fine as an exercise apparatus.

9.  The last, but most important question, how do you keep going?

I enjoy it!  Find a method of physical exercise that you enjoy and pursue that.  Find other people who like it as well, and do it together.  That will help too.

Thanks Jack!

Warrior Fitness Book FAQs

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1. Are the Warrior Fitness workouts applicable to beginners?

Absolutely! The workouts in the Warrior Fitness program are completely scalable based on your level of fitness.  Each exercise is explained step-by-step.

2. Is nutrition covered in the book?

Nutrition is an important aspect of a complete, healthy lifestyle, but is not discussed in the Warrior Fitness book. My own personal ideas about nutrition can be summed up fairly simply though. Eat lean proteins, lots of fruit and vegetables, and some complex carbohydrates. Eliminate or reduce white sugar, white rice, and white flour from your diet. Drink plenty of clean water and green tea.

3. Does the Warrior Fitness program teach Amatsu medicine , a traditional system of Japanese Natural Medicine taught by Hatsumi Soke?

No. I have not been taught any Amatsu medicine within the context of my Bujinkan training.

4. Is this program just Junan Taiso (basic stretching exercises used as warm-ups for martial arts practice)?

No. The Warrior Fitness book provides a comprehensive program consisting of joint mobility, flexibility, strength, conditioning, breath work, and recovery. Much more than simply junan taiso exercises.

5. Do I have to workout every day?

You do not need to do a full workout, but I highly recommend doing some movement everyday! Joint mobility work, combined with breathing exercises can take as little as 15 to 20 minutes in the morning. It’s a great way to start your day!

6. How much time do the Warrior Fitness strength and conditioning workouts require?

The workouts contained in the Warrior Fitness book are designed to be fast and effective. You can achieve a quality workout in 15 minutes, if you are short on time. Longer workouts can also be programmed, depending on how much time is available.

7. Do I need a gym membership for this program to work?

Definitely not! Warrior Fitness workouts are designed to be done anywhere with little to no equipment necessary.

8. How do I fit in working out and the skill training for my martial art?

Excellent question. This is where scheduling and time management skills come in handy. Time will not simply appear out of thin air. You must make time. However, the most important advice I can give on this topic is that if you do not have time for both skill work (martial art training) and conditioning, skill work must take the priority! You are training to be a martial artist after all.

9. Is this book applicable only for those training in the martial arts?

No. This book is certainly not just for people in the martial arts. The exercises and ideas contained within are applicable to anyone of any range of fitness and ability. Pick up a copy today and see for yourself!

Please feel free to email me here with any additional thoughts or questions concerning the book.