Ramping up

[zuluking]

I'll be testing for 1st Dan in October and would appreciate some opinions on "ramping up" for the test. My idea (not set in stone) is this:

 

I'll continue to train normally 6 nights a week until the week after July 4th. I'm on vacation that week and I'm thinking I'll start to slowly ramp up after that. It'll give me 90 days or so.

 

I'll begin some serious weight training 4 days a week. Not lifting for bulk, but for strength. Running....ugh....I'll admit I HATE it, but I've GOT to do it to build the stamina. What would you suggest? 1 mile a day, building to 3 miles? Run every other day? I'm clueless here but I HAVE to build up more stamina, this test is 6-8 hours long!

 

Diet: Another "ugh". Less fat, more protien, anything else? Between NOW and October (I don't want to wait until July for this part) I NEED to drop 25 pounds. I'm currently 6' 1", 245. Perhaps more running now would help? A mile a day? A mile every other day?

 

I'm sure there's more, but this is enough for now as I tend to ramble...

[Shorin Ryuu]

Perhaps this should be in the health section?

 

*pokes the powers-that-be*

 

Anyway, as far as diet goes, don't do anything faddish. I could give you my diet, which is little meat, non-processed foods, no junk food and adequate levels of protein and fat. The best advice for this is to just study up on nutrition. I always plug The Okinawa Program, which is a book with very nice nutritional info. I don't follow the program per se, but I use some of the guidelines to eat healthy. I use less meat for my protein source, using soy and fish instead. I mentioned I didn't eat junk food, which is easier to do than most people think.

 

http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=15913&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

 

If you are going to work your body hard, it is important you get all the vitamins and nutrition that it will need to recover.

 

As far as running goes, make sure you start ramping up on that gradually. A mile is a good distance to start. Depending on how ambitious you are, you can slowly ramp up to 4-5 miles or so. Anything more and you'll just be training for running itself. If your body isn't used to it, the continual action of jumping up and down (which is what running really is) could be bad for your joints if you start heavy right away. As for me, I run every other day and lift weights with my legs afterwards. The other days are my upper body days. I pretty much do karate and kobudo every day. Saturday is usually my day off, where I do light kata work or something. It is important to let your body rest, especially if you are pushing it pretty hard.

 

Another way to build up the cardio is to swim, which is demanding but safer for your joints.

 

If you ask me, the best bet is to start everything now at a mimimal level. That will allow you to get better in the long run rather than do an intense ramp-up as the test approaches. Not so that you'll be super ready for the test, but because you just want to be in shape in general. I disagree with the whole notion of a "test", let alone some huge milestone of extreme physical exertion. While it does seem to have motivated you, it also has framed your referece to "I have to get ready for this test" rather than "I want to get better". Don't get me wrong, you're probably already motivated and in decent shape, and you want to get better for the sake of getting better too. I just think it adds some artificiality to everything.

 

Back on topic, as far as lifting goes, there are numerous topics dedicated to that in the health section, I believe. I leave all that to others, as I do only somewhat marginal lifting. On the days I run, I also use leg-machines at the gym. On the days I don't, I use Okinawan hojo undo (kind of archaic training devices like jars and stone locks) that focuses on various martial arts muscles.

 

Best of luck to you whatever you decide.

 

Edit: Oh yeah, and drink plenty of water. Whatever you do, don't factor water weight into your weight loss calculations...

[isshinryu5toforever]

lifting heavy weights is less important than being able to life your body weight up and down many many times. Do pushups, many of them. Start by doing a preset number at ik-kyu in our dojo 100 would be a good place to start. I don't know about yours. I don't even know what your test involves. The puhsup portion of the test was where our sensei tested to see how badly we wanted it, this came at the beginning of the test so it made sense. Pushups with a clap at the top, you know what I'm talking about, help build explosiveness. As far as running, 2.5-3 miles a day 5 days a week is good. You don't really need to build up to 5 miles or more. I really wouldn't be concerned with lifting. Especially if you put yourself on a running program, because then you are getting better leg strength and better endurance. You have so much time to prepare. Take it. Don't try to look for results in the first month, or so, just go at a steady pace. You said yourself you have until October, that is at least a full 8 months. You may as well start now instead of July. Let's put it to you this way, the day after Steven Lopez won the Olympic gold medal at welter/middleweight, he was out training for the next one.

[P.A.L]

i just wanna talk about running, don't count by mile go by time ,run slow and at least 45min, after 30 min your body will start to burn fat, but again watch your heart rate, too fast will switch to burning suager and is less effective if you wanna lose weight. watch your calories, stay with 2500-3k any day you work out, other days 1500.

[Hudson]

This is the whole thing about Walking vs. Running for burning fat

 

The deal is that you need to burn calories period, it's true that if you run you'll burn more carbs (Carbs burn more easily then fat, so when your body needs the energy most it burns the carbs), but you can easily double the amount of total calories burnt. If you compared running 30 minutes to walking or jogging 30 minutes, the running would win by sheer calorie loss. Think about it - to lose weight, you need to burn more calories then you take in daily. So if I take in 2300 calories, burn 2000 from daytime activites, and I walk for half an hour (Burning maybe 150 calories), I'm not really getting anywhere. Sure, I burnt fat, but I still have the leftover calories which get stored as fat. But if I run and burn 350 calories, now I'm -50 for the day, which means I'm losing weight.