Evil Dave

Forgot to add, listen to your body!!! If the body says it needs rest, take a rest.

I don't know where the squat 1.5 times your body weight comes from, as I will get lifting clients doing plyometrics almost right away. Usually it's in the training phase right after lifting technique is almost mastered. I feel it's something that comes before the lifts get heavy and I also use plyometrics on clients that don't do heavy lifting. Can't say enough about FORM, FORM, FORM! As to taking a break after plyometrics, that depends upon a number of factors ~ as in all things with rest and fitness. If your doing a full plyo workout I don't even see much walking the next day... I like to see about one or two plyo exercises in a workout routine, as not to wear out my clients or myself, as plyo's done correctly should drain you. About once every two weeks I like to put in a 'speed' day workout and this entails exercises like: hill sprints for a warm-up sandbag work on the hill light oly lifts {just the bar} for the in-gym warm-up heavy lifts with lifting bands {usually just one of the lifts} heavy lifts with chains {usually just one of the lifts} This is usually a Friday workout with the weekend for a rest period.

First there are two types of stretching, dynamic and static. A short dynamic stretch routine with a few static stretches thrown in wouldn't hurt. I do one daily with my lower legs and feet due to history and poor joints. A good static stretch routine should only be done after your body is really warmed up, 15+ minutes of light cardio, dynamic stretching, etc. Other then that, stretch whenever you feel the need. It's also a good idea to change up your stretch routine on a regular basis, so your body doesn't get into a habit of stretching the same joints in the same manner. Also, if your looking for a daily or irregular stretch/massage routine check into foam rollers.

Everybody forgets speed work or puts it off to the side as already mentioned in this thread. Plyometrics! We as combative athletes can not get enough of them. For example, when we kick, punch, through, block, etc we need power, not strength to perform these operations. Power is the combination of strength x speed! Even competitive weight lifters {not typical gym rats} utilize plyometrics as a training tool, as they need to lift the weight as fast as possible in order to lift as much as possible with as little time as possible on the bar. One other benefit of plyometrics that get over looked is the total body coordination. As with kata/forms the complete body must be under control and utilized properly to get the most out of the exercise. Other forms of speed training that can also benefit us are agility tools {ladders, hurdles, etc}, hill sprints, etc.

It all depends upon the age group of the kids, if their too young they don't need to be doing full kata. I like the different games, listed here and many others. One that I like is balloon kicking, where you toss a balloon and the kid tries to kick it while in the air. Another is the turkish getup with a plastic cup with water in the cup ~ don't spill as you get up and down.

Your talking about the oxidative energy system, and yes you can train it using weights. You want to stick to 8-12 reps as too much more with any weight on it most people can not handle and still see muscle development. What you need to do is do more than one exercise! Use a circuit of a number of exercises moving from one to another with minimal rest between exercises.

It's better to do both, but not at the same time or training session/period. Heavy weight/low rep {4-6} is for strength, where low weight/high rep {8-12} is for muscular endurance. Also, as martial artists we need power and that is a combination of strength times speed. With heavy lift training this can be accomplished with your repetition speed. Slow down and push/explode up, this is done with lighter weights, you may have seen this with pushups. 5 count down and 1 count up.

It might be interesting, I'll drop them a note and see if I can get in as it might be right up my ally.

For the first tournament, enjoy the moment and try not to sweat the details. Then learn from there, and spend time with both your sensei and his sensei as you will end up a better martial artists.

I took a quick look around jetfit.com and it looks like a bodybuilding site. Very common with most of these sites as it appeals to the masses, and is easy to set up. As already mentioned, we all need to move away from the body building isolation exercises. Both as athletes and in general fitness for life. We need to start moving towards compound movements and power generation, start with the heavy lifts, plyometrics, oly lifts, medicine ball work and core training. Please note I said core training, not abdominal work. I have not been able to find any websites / apps that support this type of training well. There are too many variables, starting with the athletes sport {martial arts in our case}, individuals fitness level and exercise technical level to name a few. The other thing that most website programs miss is that the only routine in going to the gym! Periodization is another important factor in planning your program.

Sorry I can't agree with this comment or let it pass, it is a pet peeve of mine. A protein shake or other supplement is not the best source of nutrition, they are near the bottom of the list! I recommend you have a conversation with any nutritionist about protein shakes, supplements and real food! We need to be getting our food from a variety of natural sources in order to get a wide variety of nutrients, both micro and macro nutrients along with fiber along with supporting the absorption of different micro and macro nutrients. For example, in order to better absorb iron you should also be increasing {through food} your vitamin C intake. Another comment, is the fact that the supplement industry does not have very many effective controls over it. Here is an interesting article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health-navigator/use-common-sense-to-avoid-risky-supplements-researchers-say/article11509270/

It's one study, with only 8 subjects. We know that the average body is shorter in the evening then in the morning, this helps to explain why there is more spinal shrinkage in morning workouts ~ by the evening your spin has already shrunk during the day. Also, the study does not go into long term effects of spinal shrinkage and I have not been able to find one. I would not worry about lifting and serious issues with spinal shrinkage. It happens if you lift or do not lift, though there maybe more shrinkage while lifting and your spine returns to normal with rest.

I call that 'listening to the body'. I to have long since stopped lifting maximal weights and doing other 'young body' stuff.

The one thing I see with squats is BAD FORM. Along with having a nice black colored belt in Karate, I am a lifting coach and bad form gets my neck hairs up. Properly executed squats, and all it's various forms, are a very good exercise and with added weight are one of the few exercises that work our 'core' in a real world manner. That being said, everything has it's limits. As we age, joint or bone issues, injuries, etc can all effect ones ability to perform an exercise like squats. Mind you a good trainer has a few tricks up their sleeve to help with these issues. That being said, I have see a number of MA clubs where the sensei teaching passes on bad form ~ notice I said passes on! When taught bad form, instructors can only pass on what they have been taught. A couple of times I have approached sensei's about this. The good ones have listened and some had me teach an on the spot lifting session to senior students. Some have just let it go over their head. I have always approached respectfully and as an expert in the exercise, not someone trying to change their martial art.

Sweet, I started questioning at the pm for permission to respond point.

I thing you are mixing up body building with bulking up, they seem like the same goal, but are not. In body building you are trying to build the biggest and most symmetrical body you can ~ through training, diet, pills, needles, etc. If they tried to introduce body building today as a sport nobody would allow/insure it because of the nasty effects on the body. Bulking up is also the new term for 'toneing up'. Here you are putting on weight and muscle mass, but instead of through a specific body building program you do it through your sport and supporting/functional exercises. I have a similar discussion with a number of women {sorry ladies} about this very topic in my line of work {Personal Trainer, Lifting Coach}.

Functional training and functional exercises. Before we go to far into a discussion about them we should define what is 'functional training'! What is functional training? What I see it as training our body through the basic movements: lifting ~ squat, deadlift pushing ~ pushup, shoulder press, bench press pulling ~ pullups, rows rotating ~ any turning/twisting movements of the core Next, what is a functional exercise? That depends upon the activities you are preparing for. Above I have added a couple of examples for each of the bodies basic movements, there are plenty more. One thing about functional training/exercise is not to fall into the trap of only doing a couple of exercises that you like. You need vary your training so your body and mind do not become stale. Also, the hardest part, train your weaknesses and the exercises you do not like doing! This will give you your most bang for the training buck.

Bulk and Speed! Yes you can be big and bulky and still be quick. It all depends upon your conditioning. If you only train the heavy lifts and isolation exercises you will be slow, no matter how big or small you are. If you add explosive exercises to your heavy lift training you can remain fast, even while bulking up. Now that does not mean Mr. Olympia bulk {add special diet, pills and needles...}! If you take a close look at the lift training for Olympic lifters and Power lifters you will notice they not only lift big, but they also add speed movements including various plyometric exercises and speed lifting. The good Power lifters also time their lifts and during training practice slow and fast lifts, remember: the quicker the lift the sooner it over with. What does this mean for fighters? We can bulk up, and most competitive fighters need to... and not lose any speed if we include speed and power exercises in our conditioning program. Remember that power ~ and this is what we are looking for as fighters ~ is speed x strength. This means that we need to add strength exercises to our conditioning program, not isolation exercise.

Welcome to KarateForums. If your just starting out, stick with your Karate programming. You don't want to add too much too soon. Basically, practice your kicks and balance. Once your ready you will need to start some conditioning work in the gym. Look into the heavy lifts {squats, deadlifts, etc}, oly lifts {clean & jerk, snatch}, kettlebell work, plyometrics, etc. Please notice that I am moving you away from isolation exercises.

If any joint is sore with no direct injury or reason for it, then take a look at the joints above and below for issues. The location of pain is not always displayed at it's source. For your knees, take a look at your hips and their alignment, not only during MA training, but also daily life. Also your ankles, what are they like? You may need someone to look at you as we can not check ourselves. Another thing, if the knee is sore then work on strengthening the muscles around the joint. This would be through isolation and compound exercises utilizing the legs. This does not include dynamic/impact exercises experienced in a typical MA class.

When it feels right. This could be for either the student or instructor. Also, there are different reasons to move on, from training options, personal, ethical, moral, professional {outside the dojo}, professional {within the dojo} or any of number of reasons.

The best way to 'carbo load' is through increasing his daily caloric intake verse overloading the day before an event. If you need to carbo load for a specific event, then start about a week before the event as your tapering down the training and the day or two before the event you actually drop back to a regular diet. You've got the right idea for event day, not overloading and simple foods that don't get his system worked up.

You have to find a way to get through to him! Every kid is different, try science articles, have him experiment, Google some of his sport idles and you will be able to show him what they need to do, etc. Also, lead from example, sometimes a hard one, but a good one.

Fitness / Performance starts in the kitchen! I'm going through this with my daughter and swimming... It's hard to get it through their heads. It's not just the week leading up to competitions that you need to worry about, you need to up the diet for training as well. In order to get my daughters calories up we are using one of the smart phone apps {it doesn't really matter which one, just get one that takes into account the workouts expenditure of calories} and since they are programmed for weight loss and not athletic performance, we set it up to increase her weight by 5lbs per month {she did not like that...}. Also, it has to be good food going in, the old saying is: garbage in, garbage out! It really makes a difference. My daughters last two swim meets before we did this she tanked. We changed her diet two weeks before this last meet and she was feeling much better, had better practice sessions, and her coach noticed. During the meet she had personal bests in 4 out of 5 events.

It's supposed to be one of the hardest times in your life! Now that your done ~ congratulations!!! Welcome to the club.