Cliff Baker asked:


There can be more to body building than just lifting weights. For variation in your routine you might want to engage in martial arts style activities such as Aikido, Karate, Judo, Qi Gong or any of the other ancient Asian disciplines that are about building muscular strength. The great thing about learning martial arts as well is that you are also taught how to be very spry on your feet.

Martial arts training also teaches you how to focus yourself mentally. In a way you could refer to it as “applied body building” as eventually you end up fighting an opponent in these disciplines. There is a lot more to it than just “pumping iron” which is great for those who want a little bit of variance to the way they work out.

The benefits of martial art training are similar to those of straight muscle building, only the activities are a bit more aerobic as there is lots of jumping, swinging the arms in the air and kicking. In fact most martial arts professionals also weight train. Many people who try Tae Kwon Do and the other Asian disciplines experience many physical and psychological benefits. The physical benefits consist of, but aren’t confined to the following: loss of body fat, healthier year round, becoming more energetic, better physical aerobic condition, as well as stronger joints.

However martial arts is directly related to anaerobic exercise because there are many postures and weight bearing type exercises that mimic the holding of a weapon even if there is none in the persons grasp. Also many of the ancient moves are specifically about developing grace and strength. Some of the martial arts forms are more about developing a longer lithe body shape that can help you mimic the movements of certain totem animals like a panther or a crane. This is why studying the martial arts is also ideal for women as it is not as much about developing the truly shiny iron man type muscles that are not necessarily that attractive to females.

The most popular forms of martial art that are currently taught in the Western World as an adjunct program to muscle building are Aikido, Capoeira (a form of dance mixed with street fighting), Kendo, Wing Chun and Wushu. Almost all are based on ancient Asian sword fighting or hand combat techniques except for Capoeira, which is actually a form of martial arts practiced by African slaves in Brazil.

The only drawback to supplementing your weightlifting routine with a martial arts building program is that it can be hard on the joints. This is because there is less stationary exercise than there is with just a straight program of muscle building and therefore more risk of injury. This may be of some concern to you if you are an older muscle trainer or have joint pain. Almost all muscle builders suffer from joint pain or growing pains of some kind sooner or later. This can usually be treated with liniments and calcium magnesium type supplements.



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sunshine asked:


Nowadays, more and more people are exercising martial arts because the training of martial arts can give many benefits. It not only teaches you how to fight, but also it can improve your health, physically and mentally. It is beyond the doubt that martial arts training can improve the physical fitness of the player.

Martial art is a kind of sports that can work every muscle in your body, allowing the human body to function well. Punching and kicking are common acts of martial arts, which is good for you to strengthen your arms, shoulders, backs and legs.

Martial arts can be played by everyone in any training space. Through training, the physically weak individual can develop the body gradually. Through martial arts training, the practitioners also can improve their mental fitness.

When practicing, the players are in the state of peace. They put aside their desire, irritation and restlessness. The exercise of martial arts can release the stress, giving a peaceful mind. This mentality is great for your health and career. The training of martial arts can perfect the character of the player.

The exercising of martial arts can teach the player respect themselves and others. It can develop their courtesy and personal integrity and self-discipline. Martial Arts are great for improving self-confidence. Learning self-defense increases the self-confidence of practitioners by taking away their feeling of vulnerability.

Confidence allows you to remain calm during difficult situations. By remaining calm, one can assess the situation more clearly and act appropriately. When faced with a compromising situation, those capable of defending themselves should need to use physical force less often than those who cannot defend themselves. But you should know that the goal is not to teach people to fight those who argue or disagree, instead, it is to teach to defend yourselves when necessary. The ability to focus can be increased through the training of the martial arts.

The player are unable to learn martial arts well if they can not concentrate their focus. The player can improve their ability to concentrate by focusing their mind, their eyes and their body in training. With regular training, we can easily see the benefits. Martial arts strives internally to train the mind to develop a clear conscience, enabling one to face the world honestly, while externally developing strength to the point where one may overcome ferocious wild animals.



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Robert Jones asked:


Should You Add Supplementary Weight Training to your Martial Arts Training?

There are four things you should consider before you add supplementary weight training into your workout schedule:

Speed

Flexibility

Endurance

Strength

Martial arts training will naturally help you improve in all of these areas, but many people wonder if they need to add supplementary weight training to increase these areas. The answer is maybe.

The first determination of whether or not you should do separate weight training is how it will affect your martial arts training. If weight training will take the place of your martial arts training, then I don’t recommend it (especially for beginners). Advanced martial arts students can make the determination depending on their personal goals.

When you’re making the decision, consider this:

You can add weights if you have your martial arts training regime down cold you don’t want your martial arts training to suffer so that you can weight train on the side.

If you do choose to weight train, educate yourself or get a trainer so that you get the most out of your training.

Make a plan before you begin anything.

To make a plan, you need to figure out where you want to improve. You need a balanced body to be a good martial artist, so if you do decide to add supplemental training, it should be to improve this balance. Is there a part of your body that is not up to par with the rest of your body? Do you have plenty of endurance but lack speed?

Here’s an example of what I mean. I had a student at my Bellevue Academy of Kempo Martial Arts school that had perfect form. She was worried that her technique wouldn’t work in a real situation. She practiced slow and accurate movements, so the answer for her was to start training for power or speed to make her movements more real-world applicable.

In the “old days” martial artists were not purists if they did strength training along with it. The thing is, even in the Shaolin temples, the Kung Fu practitioners had exercises like moving granite balls and doing hundreds of movements with iron rings on their arms it sounds like a form of weight training to me.

If anyone tells you that weight training will harm your kung fu or martial arts training, they are only right if you stop or reduce your martial arts training to weight train. If you break your training down into sections and focus on the parts of your body or goals that you need to balance your body, then you can train accordingly without affecting your martial arts training. If you’re still not sure whether or not you’re weight training affectively, just make sure you do an hour and a half of martial arts training for every hour of weight training you do.



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