The Warrior Fitness Guide to Striking Power is Here!

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Jon

by Jonathan Haas, founder of Warrior Fitness Training Systems

Specific Physical Preparedness for ALL striking arts from old school Traditional Martial Arts to modern MMA!
Learn how to build a powerful structure to stabilize punches, kicks, and martial movement!
Discover how to use low-tech, high yield tools to strengthen strikes throughout a range of motion!
Sledge Hammer for force production, rotational strength, grip strength, and old school conditioning!
Medicine Ball for explosive strength and rotational strength!
Resistance Bands for force production, rotational strength, increased stabilization!
Bodyweight Exercise and Isometrics for structure and stabilization!
Discover how to use Intelligent Tension rather than general tension to power strikes!
Learn Breathing and vibration exercises for recovery and restoration!
Over 50 pages of pure, 100% actionable content – no fluff, no BS, no filler!
Sample Workouts!

Buy Now for only $15 USD!!

Warrior Fitness Guide to Striking Power is a downloadable e-book. No physical products will be shipped. After you order, you will get INSTANT ACCESS to download the e-book and all the bonus reports onto your computer. The e-book format is adobe acrobat PDF, which can be viewed on Mac or PC.

Special Offer – Warrior Fitness Book + T-Shirt!

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Jon

Special Combination Offer

(good while supplies last!)

Pick up a copy of the book,

Warrior Fitness: Conditioning for Martial Arts, and

a Warrior Fitness T-Shirt for only $29.95!!

The Top 7.5 Reasons Warrior Fitness is for You

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Jon

Since Top 10 lists have been so overused of late, especially in the internet blog area, here are 7 and a 1/2 reasons why the Warrior Fitness program is for you.

1. No gym memberships required! Still paying for a gym membership you don’t use, or not getting the results you want from your gym? Start thinking outside the gym with Warrior Fitness!

2. Low-tech fitness solutions. Don’t have the budget for expensive training equipment? Warrior Fitness offers a complete body-weight workout for strength and conditioning.

3. Quality workouts that work around your schedule. It doesn’t take hours in a gym to achieve the results you’re looking for. Our program encourages quality over quantity. Got 15 minutes? Then you have time for a workout.

4. Lose fat, gain lean muscle. Our workouts are short, but intense to encourage lean muscle growth while stimulating fat loss. No more boring hours of mindless cardio!

5. Sample workouts and programing guidance. Do some fitness training manuals you’ve purchased in the past leave you wondering how to put it all together or how to fit into your schedule? Warrior Fitness provides sample workouts you can follow or use as templates to create your own.

6. Ongoing support and new ideas. Got questions? Send me an email. Post a question in the comments section. I’m here to make sure you are successful!

7. Fully integratable with your martial arts training. Ever wonder which fitness programs make sense to use within the context of your martial arts training? Ever feel like you may be hindering your progress by the type of workouts you’re doing instead of enhancing it? Since the program is designed by a martial artist with 30 years of experience and a fitness training background, Warrior Fitness provides a clear path to integrating your fitness and martial arts.

7.5 Comprehensive! Warrior Fitness covers supremely functional strength and conditioning drills, joint mobility, flexibility, breathing exercises, workout recovery, performance enhancement for martial arts, internal strength development, and more!

Battling Demons

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Jon

To get good at any discipline, you must practice every day. To become great, you must practice all the time. The problem is, with so many pressures, responsibilities, and draws on our time in daily life, how does one manage to train every day?

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.

Ukemi Flow Conditioning Workout

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Jon

This one is for all the martial artists out there – I created the following ukemi conditioning workout for myself a few years ago to specifically target the transitions between my rolls and begin to unlock flow. Additionally, it has the effect of really getting your heart pumping and makes a great workout! Start out slowly and smoothly by practicing for the first few rounds. Groove the movement and then begin to increase the speed. Remember, you do yourself and your training a disservice if you rush through the movements simply to say you accomplished the workout. Flow is not something you do, it’s something you allow – you have to be able to get out of your own way! That being said, give this a try and let me know how it works for you.

Ukemi Flow

Begin in Shizen No Kamae (natural stance), squat down to ball of foot squat
Zenpo Kaiten (front roll) over the right shoulder
Ushiro Kaiten (back roll)
Stand up into Shizen No Kamae (natural stance), squat down to ball of foot squat
Zenpo Kaiten (front roll) over the left shoulder
Ushiro Kaiten (back roll)
Stand up into Shizen No Kamae (natural stance)
Yoko Nagare (side roll) with the leg crossing in front to the right
Yoko Nagare (side roll) with the leg crossing in front to the left
Stand up into Shizen No Kamae (natural stance)
Zempo Ukemi (forward break fall)
Stand up into Shizen No Kamae (natural stance)
Yoko Nagare (side roll) with the leg crossing behind to the right
Yoko Nagare (side roll) with the leg crossing behind to the left
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!

A Day in the Life…

Posted on June 1, 2010 by Jon

At the suggestion of my good friend, and West Coast Buyu, Dave Furukawa, I am presenting a look at one of my daily workouts. Please see Dave’s comments on my previous post here for reference.

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.

What’s Tabata You?

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Jon

If you have been keeping up with the latest trends in conditioning research then you probably already know that interval training is the most efficient way to train. Interval training alternates periods of high intensity exercise with periods of rest to produce gains in both aerobic and anaerobic systems. Forget about those long slow distance runs to improve aerobic fitness!

The Body’s 3 Energy Systems

To briefly summarize, the body has three energy systems, 2 anaerobic, or non-oxidative, and 1 aerobic, that serve to create ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is utilized by every cell in your body; it fuels muscular contractions, cognitive processes, and internal regulatory functions. Both anaerobic systems fuel maximally intensive activity, while the aerobic system fuels sustained low to moderate level activity.

The ATP-PC system provides immediately available energy for high intensity efforts from ATP stored within the muscles. This system is the most powerful, but least enduring of the three, lasting only about 10 to 30 seconds max.

The Glycolytic system, the second most powerful, is only slightly more enduring than the ATP-PC system. It derives energy from glycogen stored in the muscles and liver converting it to ATP in a process called glycolysis. Its capacity is approximately 90 to 120 seconds. Rest intervals allow the body to recuperate and restore ATP.

Lastly, the Aerobic system uses proteins, fats, and carbohydrates to produce ATP. As the intensity of the effort increases, the aerobic system relies more on glycogen for energy. If the intensity continues to increase, the anaerobic systems must kick-in to provide energy. The important idea to realize here is that all 3 energy systems are always supplying the body with the energy it needs for any activity, at any level of intensity. It’s just that one may be more dominant than the other 2 at a specific time.

If Anaerobic is ‘Without Oxygen’, Why am I Sucking Wind?

If you have been following any of the Warrior Fitness Training Programs, you are already familiar with examples of anaerobic exercises and how they affect the body. Have you noticed how after even a brief, but intense anaerobic session you are breathing heavily?

If anaerobic really means ‘without oxygen’, how come you are so out of breath?

What happens is that your aerobic system is trying like heck to help restore your anaerobic systems. All that extra oxygen is being used to metabolize the lactate that’s accumulated in the muscles during the bout of intense activity. In order to continue to supply energy for all-out, intense efforts, the anaerobic system must be replenished. Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) is the term used to identify this process of extra oxygen being taken in to restore all systems. So, basically, as the intensity of your exercise increases, so does your EPOC. And, that’s why you’re sucking wind!

Tabata Protocol

No discussion of interval training would be complete without touching on Tabata. Dr. Izumi Tabata at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan performed perhaps the most well known study on interval training. A group exercising with moderate intensity endurance training was compared to another group using high intensity intermittent training. Each group exercised 5 days a week. The moderate intensity group exercised for 60 minutes, at 70% VO2 max. The high intensity group did 8 intervals of 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of recovery. They operated at 170% VO2 max.

After 6 weeks, both groups experienced improvements in maximal oxygen uptake. The biggest difference between them was that only the high intensity group gained improvement in anaerobic capacity. The high intensity group actually realized a 28% increase in anaerobic capacity AND a 14% increase in VO2max. So, the study concluded that high intensity intermittent training can improve both the anaerobic and aerobic systems simultaneously. Very impressive results!

How Can I Use Tabata?

I knew that after reading the amazing results achieved by Dr. Tabata you’d be ready to try using his protocol, I sure was! The protocol itself is pretty simple, in theory. Choose an exercise – say sprints, for example. Perform the exercise for 20 seconds as fast as possible while still keeping good form. Rest 10 seconds. Complete 8 rounds. Sprints are an easy example, but really the Tabata Protocol can be applied to almost any exercise. Try some of these:

Bodyweight squats
Burpees
Kettlebell swings or snatches
Sledgehammer swings
Push-ups
Sprawls
Renegade Rows
Sandbag Shouldering
Mountain climbers
Jumping

These are just a few examples of exercises that can be used with Tabata. Just make sure you don’t overly complicate it because you do have to be able to perform several reps within the 20 seconds!!

Additionally, try grouping together 4 to 6 different exercises to increase the effectiveness of the workout and create a synergistic effect where the total combined effect is greater than the sum of the individual exercises. This, I think, is where the real fun begins!

To seriously amp up your conditioning, learning how to use various breathing techniques to restore yourself quicker, lower your heart rate, and increase the effectiveness of your conditioning sessions is a MUST!

Fitness Requirements for Bujinkan Martial Arts Training

Posted on March 15, 2010 by Jon

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?

Warrior Fitness

Old School Training for the Modern Warrior

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