AnonymousOne

http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/strengthvsconditioning.html About the Author - Ross Enamait is an innovative athlete and trainer, whose training style is among the most intense that you will find. Ross is committed to excellence and advancements in high performance conditioning and functional strength development. He has a sincere interest in helping today's athlete in their quest for greatness."

Sometimes you just flat run out of energy, strength and endurance. To me when I am weak I know I am on track. As Funakoshi said "You must become weak, not strong" I remember when I was living in Japan in the early 80's I got so frustrated with myself I had tears in my eyes after training. One Sensei noticed it and said "You extra sweat today" I laugh about it now, but didnt then LOL

I dont do weights like bar bell jockeys. I dont need slow lifting power I need explosive functional strength. Its far better for a fighter to do 100 pushups than bench press 200 lbs slowly. Most people who lift heavy weights cannot do 100 pushups because it takes endurance. I have challenged many people who can bench press 250-300 lbs to do 100 pushups (proper ones) and they cant do it. Bar bell jockeys? Guess that includes Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Bruce Lee, Lennox Lewis, Matt Hughes, and Georges St Pierre. I hear they've dabbled in the iron game a bit themselves. FYI, strength training with heavy load free weights is recognized as one of the best ways (along with plometrics) to train fast twitch muscle fibers, which are of upmost importance to martial artists interested in speed of movement. I would rather bench 300 than waste my time doing lots of pushups. I know, because I've done both. Perhaps we should call the National Football League and warn them that their athletes are getting slower because they are wasting their time doing 500 lb bench presses and 700 lb squats. Certainly they should be doing pushups and burpees instead... With respect, Sohan Perhaps I didnt explain what I meant properly. We use the term bar bell jockeys for body builders who are only interested in developing mass and not functional power. Big loads and very low reps. I have used weights for years. Properly designed for fighters.

"First of all, most amateur boxers are kids who often live at home and just go to school. " Not what I mean. I am talking about amateur boxers who are adults that train 6 days per week and enter competitions. As for fitting in training, its a matter of priorities and goals. I have fitted in that kind of schedule and maintained it for over 20 years. Its a matter of time planning and organisation. When I do my road work in the morning often my wife will come with me and ride a cycle along side me. Not far from us is a lagoon with a running track around it that is 2 miles long. Every 200 metres there is exercise equipment to do chin ups, situp ups, stretches and agility ladders (if was made by the authorities for local football teams). In summer we will park under a tree and have a picknick. The family rests, enjoys the sun while I work out. In my dojo at home in one corner we have a desk with a computer and when I train my wife often gets on the net and of course a couple of times each week my wife works out with me. If we are creative we can find ways to involve our families. I am blessed with a very understanding and easy going wife who whole heartedly supports my goals and is happy to think of ways to involve her. Often she will suggest an outing that involves a means for me do train if I am due at that time. When my son was just a kid I would take him to a football field and run around with him chasing a ball. While he ran to get the ball after I kicked it, I would do burpees and pushups. Instead of driving to the store to get milk and bread I would run or do some intervals of sprints and walk (active rest). When we go shopping for groceries instead of putting everything in the cart I would carry the heavy stuff (like bags of coal etc). If we constantly look for ways to do training we will find it. Right now I am at my computer standing in a deep kiba dachi Apart from this, we can always fit in a hardcore 20 minute plyometric sequence somewhere

If people need exercise they could just go for a walk or run, join a gym or go hiking. I cant understand anyone taking up martial arts and not being interested in fighting. Thats the whole point of it all. Its a warriors art not a knitting club

By comparison, the average amatuer boxer will spend one hour doing road work in the morning often at 6am and 2 hours every evening in a varirty of training with a customised training schedule for that individual. They do this 6 days per week. Thats 18 hours per week. Over a 3 year period it takes most to get to Shodan level, the amatuer boxer would have completed 1872 hours of training compared to the Karate-ka doing 624 hours Thats a huge difference.

Please understand the context of what I meant. Compared to the side snap kick, the side thrust kick is slower. Speed is determined by the commitment and training of the student, that is a different issue altogther

The first thing you should do is get some medical advice, X-Rays etc. Maybe its muscular, maybe its skeletal. Training without knowing what it is could be quite dangerous

I absolutely disagree that any technique cannot be used in a self defense situation. It all goes back to the competency of the individual. If you have spent years in arduous training and have developed sufficient power and speed, there isn't anything you cannot use. You have to develop all of the techniques, each and everyone of them to be a dangerous weapon. Think of your arms and legs as swords Azato said and he is 100% right. If you think you can't use something its because you haven't trained enough on that technique. Plain and simple.

Have a read of these: http://www.tokitsu.com/en/presentation/articles.html Scroll down to the articles on Karate Kata Some interesting observations

Personally I am not a fan of the two methods of yoko geri kekomi and keage as taught by our school and many other schools. One lacks speed and the other lacks power. In about 1975 I was reading a book written by Bruce Lee where he talked of his method of combining the two kicks into one for speed and power. So I started practising it. It took me some time to get the hang of it but I have practised it outside the dojo ever since. (Except when I am sparring in the dojo). Basically you launch the kick in the same manner as a snap kick but at the very end of the kick you suddenly drive your hips into the kick for power. That way you achieve the speed of a snap kick and power of a thrust kick. I really dont know why traditional Karate schools dont incorporate this technique because it is, without doubt, a far more effective way of performing the kick. An excellent way to develop kicingk speed and power is to do a lot of bag work. I would recommend this workout on a bag for kicks. 3 minutes of non stop kicks - right leg Rest one minute 3 minutes of non stop kicks - left leg Rest one minute Thats one set. Do as many sets as you can until complete exhaustion. Rise again the next day with the same strict regiment. Build this into your planned training schedule and it will work wonders. In addition to this you need to develop explosive leg power. Use these exercises to do so: Running up hill sprints Squat jumps Lunges Burpees Wall squats Body weight squats Duck walks Knee ups

Have you tried Bas Rutten's MMA DVD series?

See this http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/hardcore.html "The Hardcore video was filmed at the conclusion of an experimental mass-building program. During this time, I set out to gain mass, without sacrificing other athletic attributes such as speed, agility, mobility, endurance, and power. This video clip demonstrates the results of the experiment, shows some of the movements that I used, and offers readers ideas to spice up their own routines...."

Firstly, what are your training objectives? Body building or proficiency in the martial arts? I ask this because both of those need a different type of training regiment.

Any type of fighting technique needs to be performed in a way that simulates actual conditions of use. In all sports for example; they train to meet the conditions of actual competition and many spend a lot of time developing over speed capability. A movement must have correct form and then be applied with as much speed, power and focus as you can humanly muster. You need to train your muscles and mind to replicate actual battle conditions. So you have to imagine to yourself what conditions a real battle would require and train to meet those conditions.

It’s been 42 years since I stood in my first Karate class at age 7. I was fortunate. When I first started training in 1964 there were very few Karate schools in my city and country. Fortunately I was blessed with the fact that I joined a hardcore traditional Japanese school head quartered in Tokyo. Over the years and starting in the 1970’s with what I call the Kung Fu boom, from Bruce Lees popularisation of martial arts, many schools have popped up all over the place. Hollywood also has taken advantage of these arts to make multi-million dollar movies. What I have seen, not only here, but all over the world is compromise. Compromise of good standards and technical levels. In the interests of gaining or maintaining student levels, which leads to the almighty dollar, schools are no longer teaching proper martial arts (many never had them in the first place) and preparing students for the hard realities of actual combat fighting. What we have today is schools that teach martial arts that are not only useless in real situations, but methods that bring dishonour to traditional Karate. In the religious world these schools would be called heretics and I think its an appropriate word. My son recently bought a friend home and this friend was introduced to me as a first dan black belt of “Combined Martial Arts”. My son had not told this young man of my training. I asked this young man why combined martial arts. His retort was “Because traditional Karate is ineffective in real fights”. Well naturally this annoyed me a little bit so I invited the young man to come and train with me to prove his point. My son clandestinely winked at me as to say “Go Pop”. So the following Tuesday this young man aged about 22 arrived wearing his gi and black belt. I invited him outside and walked into my dojo. I asked him to wait. I went and got changed into my gi and proceeded to my dojo. He looked at me in shock. “You train?” he said. “Oh I do a little bit now and again” I said. He then said “Well, this isn’t really fair I am a lot younger than you so I will take it easy on you”. I was laughing to myself on the inside. I suggested to him that we go for a warm up run first. He agreed. Around where we live its very hilly and I proceeded to take this young man on a four mile run up and down some very steep hills. By the time we got back he was exhausted. He had to stop many times and I proceeded home and waited for him. I must admit, my ego got the better of me and I did this to prove to this young man that age is irrelevant. So … to cut a long story short after he recovered, I asked him to demonstrate to me why traditional Karate is ineffective. His technique was weak, lacked speed, power and focus and could only be described and flimsy. He was not very fit for a “black belt” and had learnt some very weird ideas. Then my son joined us wearing his gi. Then my son and I went on to demonstrate basics, kata and kumite to him. We also spent quite a bit of time discussing conditioning drills, weight training, equipment usage and plyometrics. I was deeply concerned about this so-called martial arts school he attended. His technique level wouldn’t make 3rd kyu in our school yet he was given shodan grade. But this is a typical phenomenon around the world. If you just pay your fees and hang around long enough you can become Shodan. Never mind standards, never mind conditioning, never mind actual workable skills, just pay the fees and you will pass the grade. I am sorry to say that I lament at this status of Karate around the world. It not only deceives people but it brings disrepute to those schools that have trained long and hard to forge good technique. Since the 1970’s with the influx of many schools; our school has suffered quite a bit with a decline in student numbers. People want an easy way. They come to our school and experience tough training and then see some other school that gives away black belts and they leave for the con act. In many boxing circles, ones that train very hard, consider Karate to be a joke and I don’t blame them because what they experience is schools that are money or status orientated rather than technique orientated. I realise it’s a free world and a market economy and there is nothing we can do about this however I think maybe there needs to be more public awareness of the falsities … somehow. I often wonder how the likes of Funakoshi, Miyagi, Mabuni, Motobu and the likes would feel if they knew that what they worked their lives for has turned into dance classes with the odd punch thrown in. When you come home from training and your muscles are not shaking, not aching and you are not totally exhausted and don’t feel stunned, then you are probably in a McDojo who have taken your McMoney to their McBank and one day you will receive a McBlack Belt and will have an amateur boxer run rings around you!! Face reality. Real Karate is tough. Its boot camp mentality. Its strict! Its hard but the benefits are great. Don’t be an excuseologist. Don’t compromise for an easy way out. We are not training to compete in a dancing show on TV, we are Warriors!!

Sochin is one of the Kata's in our school for above dan grade level. You performed the movements correctly. However I would humbly suggest that you focus your technique more and develop power in your punches and kicks. Our school typically would hold lower stances than that and we use the side thrust kick rather than the snap. When you block, block as though you are trying to break the arm or leg of your oponent. So... power, speed, focus In out school these are the kata: Taikyoku Shodan - Sandan - white to orange belt Heian Shodan to Sandan - green belt Heian Yondan - Godan - Blue Belt Tekki Shodan - Purple Belt Hangetsu - Brown Belt Bassai Dai - Black Belt The rest are Dan grade Kata

To be brutally honest with you I thought the standard of technique wasnt the best. Sorry if this offends

I dont do weights like bar bell jockeys. I dont need slow lifting power I need explosive functional strength. Its far better for a fighter to do 100 pushups than bench press 200 lbs slowly. Most people who lift heavy weights cannot do 100 pushups because it takes endurance. I have challenged many people who can bench press 250-300 lbs to do 100 pushups (proper ones) and they cant do it.

I agree thats a very bad idea. That will put un-necessary strain on your knee and ankle joints. Another exercise that will develop you well is up hill sprinting. Find a steep hill and do several sets of 50 to 100 metre sprints. That will develop explosive leg strength, speed, endurance and will power.

I use plyometrics as an integral part of my training and have done so for the last 20 years. They are excellent for developing explosive power for kicks, punches, blocks, lunging attacks etc. My question is why do you want to jump? How will jumping help you in a real life fight? Or are you more interested in acrobatics?

Because of the standards

Are they really Shodans performing that????

Plyometric exercises are the way to go. http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/plymo.htm

One word: Anaerobic Aerobic capability wont get you through sparring, only anaerobic conditioning. Read this: How They Train: Conditioning Methods of World Champion Boxer Evander Holyfield http://sportsci.org/news/news9709/hatfield.html