What is the Warrior Fitness Difference and How Does It Benefit YOU?

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Jon

Why should you chose to train Warrior Fitness Training versus any other type of fitness program out there, including making no choice and doing nothing?

Training for the Total Human

Warrior Fitness is the product of decades of training in the martial arts and the art of strength. In its simplest form Warrior Fitness is a distilled and synthesized blend of the very best training methodologies for becoming a fitness renaissance man or woman. Due to its synergistic nature, the seamless integrated whole of the system is vastly superior and greater than the sum of its parts. In short, Warrior Fitness has become a one-stop-shop for building a better human – physically stronger, tougher – resistant to failures, more enduring, flexible, mobile, and extremely capable. The warrior is mentally tough. Greater than robustness or resilience, the Warrior Fitness Training System is a portal to becoming antifragile.

The system allows the practitioner to minimize training time while maximizing the training effects, i.e. – results.

Warrior Fitness can be approached from different directions…

The Path of Strength & Conditioning

building muscle,
real world whole body strength,
nonstop endurance,
power generation,
explosive movement, etc.

The Path of Health

ancestral nutrition,
fat loss,
natural hormone optimization for women,
increased testosterone and growth hormone for men,
energy work – breathing exercises,
stress conversion,
increased energy,
recovery from injury,
increased flexibility and range of motion, etc.

The Path of Martial Art

combat conditioning,
performance enhancement,
self-defense and defending others,
real world functional strength and conditioning,
dynamic balance and stability,
internal power, etc.

No matter where you enter from – All paths ultimately lead to strength; to becoming the strongest most capable version of yourself.

Why Strength?

When ranking the hierarchy of fitness qualities, the Warrior Fitness system puts an emphasis on strength as the highest ability.

Why?

Simply because all other fitness qualities flow from strength. When one is stronger everything is easier. Greater strength enables one to be more energy efficient as tasks and challenges alike require a lesser expenditure of energy the stronger one becomes. What is endurance other than the continued ability to exert strength?

Get Stronger as You Get Older – The Over 40 Warrior

As of this writing I am 43 years old. I am stronger, much better conditioned, more resilient, and healthier now than I was at 23! Why? Because as a lifelong martial artist and physical culturist I have cracked the code on living stronger as I get older – and I want to share ALL my hard won knowledge with you!

Partial PR

How do you burn fat and build muscle at the same time?
How do you optimize testosterone levels?
How do you program workout intensity along with rest and recovery training to avoid plateaus and consistently make progress?
How do you properly fuel your body for optimal performance?
How do you recover, coordinate, and refine flexibility and range of motion?
How do you wake up with energy and vigor for attacking your day?
How do you put it all together to get maximal results in minimal time?

I firmly believe that I am in my physical prime and will continue to get stronger as I grow older. Others may believe that they are in a state of decline and getting weaker as they age… not so for the warrior.

Remember – the mind navigates the body.

What you believe to be true, is true. In fact, research tells us that people do not stop moving because they get older, they get older because they stop moving. The ability to build strength and muscle does not decline – you simply have to know how to combine correct physical training, optimal nutrition, and supplementation with the correct mental training – belief, outlook, focus, concentration, visualization, etc. to become truly limitless.

Who is Warrior Fitness for?

For the Dad who wants to be in the best shape of his life in order to play with his kids and set an example of a healthy lifestyle that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives,
for the Mom who, after a long day at work wants to de-stress with a brief, but intense workout that won’t leave her exhausted,
for the businessman who finds his waistline expanding, his health lacking, muscle sagging, and wants to do something about it,
for the performer who needs to control her breathing and nervousness before getting on stage,
for the amateur athlete or weekend warrior who realizes that the daily aches and pains are getting worse as they get older and want to be stronger, healthier, and more capable as they get older,
for the regular people who have lives and families and other hobbies and don’t want to spend all day in the gym yet are ready for something more than just an ordinary workout,
for the unconventional fitness enthusiast who doesn’t desire the globo commercial gym scene, and is looking for a low-tech/high yield approach to fitness,
for the fitness nut who’s tired of the same old treadmill and is looking for something extraordinary,
And, of course for the martial artist who wants to get back into fighting fit shape while enhancing their martial art’s effectiveness by increasing how efficiently they move…

It’s For YOU…

Men, if you picked up your FREE copy of my book, Dad Strength, you know that men, in general, are getting weaker. We can counteract that. I can fix it. YOU can become the strong, Alpha-Male warrior you were always meant to be. You CAN get stronger every day.

Find out if you are a good fit for my NEW Warrior Fitness Coaching Program for Men <<===

Women, you also must be strong which is why I have also put together a Woman Warrior Transformation Program<<====

Want to talk? Sign up HERE for a free 10-minute Turbo Coaching Call to discuss your goals and how I can help you become the strongest, most capable version of yourself.

Kata (Alone) Will Never Build Internal Power

Posted on May 19, 2015 by Jon

Trying to develop Internal Power by training kata (alone) in martial art is problematic. On one hand, you may inadvertently have minor success in creating some internal connection over the course of 20-30 years of training, but you will most likely have no idea how you did it, no idea why it worked (minimally at best), and most importantly, no idea how to correctly transmit it to the next generation.

The only advice you will be able to offer your students and fellow seekers is to keep doing this (kata training) and somehow you *might* get the correct result. This is insufficient and irresponsible, at best, on the part of the teacher.

Assuming that you want to stand out from the crowd as a powerful martial artist, and Internal Power/Aiki is your goal, then the scatter approach to trying (and for the most part, failing) to build IP through kata alone is a waste of a career. I say this because there exist clearly defined, step-by-step processes that rewire the body for Internal Power specifically for martial arts.

Solo Training Precedes Kata Training

Power building models as solo training exercises have existed for hundreds (if not thousands) of years throughout the martial arts from India to China to Japan. Why anyone would try to reinvent the wheel by attempting to create their own hodgepodge of exercises or think that merely training kata would develop real Internal Power is a mystery to me. The reality is that solo training exercises burn in specific ways of moving that are not normal which create a very stable, powerful structure capable of absorbing, re-translating, and projecting incoming force.

Internal Power training is a type of General Physical Preparedness (GPP) for budo. The goal of regular GPP for fitness, athletics, or martial arts 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.

The solo training exercises for internal power training change the way outside forces act on the body. The structure becomes dynamically stable so that applied force can either be distributed throughout the chain and dissipated or, at a higher level, simply reflected right back onto the opponent. When force is reflected back this is what is known in Japanese as Yamabiko, or Mountain Echo.

Just to help further differentiate the two practices, solo training exercises for building internal power (there are other types of solo training exercises, obviously) are always made up of the following: standing, open/close, winding, spiraling, and breathing – all supported by Yin/Yang Theory (the union of opposites) and 6 directions (Heaven Earth Man).

Kata are for the purposes of patterning correct martial movement.

These solo training exercises are trained BEFORE kata to condition the body for powerful martial movement. They are not martial movement drills in and of themselves like sanshin no kata, kihon happo, and kata.

Kata – The Slow Boat to China

The reason it is so difficult to train IP via kata is that the vast majority of students get caught up in learning the movements of the kata correctly. They get caught up in the application of technique and the idea of trying to make it work correctly. What they don’t realize is that having a correctly trained body built by solo Internal Power exercises makes all the kata work much better and easier.

If you have a choice – why not learn a proven step-by-step method of developing unusual strength and Internal Power?

Join My New 21 Lessons on Internal Power Coaching Program <<==

Following a clearly defined path up the mountain is much faster and more effective than wandering around the base working on kata for 30 years and thinking you will somehow magically arrive at the summit.

Caution – While I did just say “more effective and faster” I by no means meant easier!! Internal Power takes a lot of dedicated work. Do not think it is a shortcut!

Gyokko Ryu’s Internal Power Training

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Jon

There is no doubt in my mind that Hatsumi Sensei possesses unusual power in his budo. Anyone who has trained with him can tell you that! But what is it and where does it come from? More importantly, how can YOU develop it as well?

Soke’s martial movement displays many of the characteristics associated with Internal Power training: ghostly movement, immovability (static and dynamic), shockingly powerful strikes with little windup, adhesion caused by movement, kuzushi on contact, and others. Continue reading →

We Were Once Warriors…

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Jon

We Were Once Warriors…

For centuries the warrior has been the archetypical model of physical fitness and power. This is due to the extreme nature of their training and overwhelming odds that they must have had to go through waging war in the ancient world.

The multifaceted development of skills required for the warrior’s brand of life and death combat is second to none.

Warriors needed to be able to carry heavy loads over long distances on uneven terrain, wield heavy weapons while wearing armor, wrestle and engage in other forms of hand-to-hand combat, fight for hours or perhaps even days on end in mud, sweat, and blood, all while continuing to display power, coordination, agility, and speed.

This was not a game with a medal or trophy at stake, but their lives and the lives of their comrades in arms, not to mention the entire village or tribe who were relying on them for protection. All of this placed immense demands on the warrior physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Today’s Training from Yesterday’s Triumph

The skills we know today as fitness, or strength and conditioning, depending on whether your term is all inclusive or a specific subset, all evolved over time from man’s need and ability to wage war. In fact, one of the earliest examples of sport in the western world is from ancient Greece; we now call it the Olympics. These early games were created as a way for warriors to channel their aggressive and competitive natures, while simultaneously allowing them to hone their battle skills, in times of peace.

So we can see from this quick look back in time that originally almost all athletics and sport competitions were based on the martial skills of the warrior and utilized as a way to sustain and practice those skills.

Now, working backward this time, is there a way to reverse engineer a warrior’s training regimen and use it to improve the components of martial skill, conditioning, AND athletic performance? Absolutely!!

Try This Warrior Workout on for Size

1) Heavy Sandbag Carry (Zercher carry, bear hug carry, over head carry) – 3 x 300 ft.

2A) Pike Push-ups on Fists – 4 x 10

2B) Mixed Grip Pull-ups (change grip each set) – 4 x SM

2C) Loaded Airborne Squats (load up with clubbell, Kettlebell, dumbbell, or sandbag) – 4 x 5/5

3) H2H Touch & Go Kettlebell Swings x 100

If you train in MMA…

NOW go punch, kick, knee, and elbow a heavy bag or have a partner hold focus mitts for 3 rounds x 3-5 minutes each! How is your performance?

Or, if you’re really daring and want to test your mettle, now is the time to go spar with a completely fresh opponent for 3 rounds of 3-5 minutes! How has your performance changed?

If you train in Bujinkan or other form of combatives…

Do the same as above but utilizing the basic techniques of your particular style. For Bujinkan peeps that means try out all the Kihon Happo on a fresh uke!

My brand new WarFit Combat Conditioning Program is perfect for the warrior athlete who wants to build superhuman strength, endurance, and conditioning:

Resolving the Tension Paradox for Martial Artists

Posted on January 11, 2015 by Jon

In order to truly begin our quest for Integrated Strength, we must first resolve the tension paradox between conventional strength training and internal power…

“Don’t use muscle!”

“No power!”

“Relax!”

“Move naturally!” Continue reading →

Theme for 2015 – Integrated Strength

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Jon

New Years Day, 2015

Warrior Fitness HQ

Happy New Year, Warriors!

When I first began Warrior Fitness way back in 2008 the goal was simple – utilize my knowledge, training, and experience from several different disciplines under the broad heading of Strength & Conditioning to enhance the performance of martial arts. I began by creating a unique series of functional training exercises that encompassed mobility, flexibility, strength, conditioning, balance, agility, coordination, and endurance. Continue reading →

A Glimpse Into Internal Power Training – The Push Test

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Jon

The push test is a very practical way of testing the quality of one’s solo training for internal power. As explained in Weakest Direction Theory is BS, the body, when properly trained, acts as an omni-directional structure. This allows the practitioner of internal power to neutralize any incoming force by diffusing it throughout the structure rather than having to surrender to it or resist against it. Either you can do it or you can’t. There’s no way to fake it. Continue reading →

Martial Software or Martial Hardware?

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Jon

Remember in The Matrix when Morpheus downloaded those dozens of different martial arts programs (software) into Neo’s brain and he instantly could perform all the techniques from those arts?

That is a perfect example of a software upgrade. Techniques instantly available at your fingertips – literally! Continue reading →

25 Life Lessons from Martial Arts Practice

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Jon

At 41 years old, I have now been training in the martial arts for over 30 years. It does not seem like it’s been that long! Some days I look at the huge expanse of knowledge and history that is real budo and feel dwarfed by its enormity. Other days I feel like I have a really solid grasp on it. But that’s the nature of the training. As Hatsumi Soke has said on many occasions, “If you think you have it, you don’t…” This is one of the many lessons learned through martial arts training. Continue reading →

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Old School Training for the Modern Warrior

Tag Archives: bujinkan