Athletic backgrounds?

[CapitalKarate]

crossfit.com its a fitness routine that incorporates almost every area of fitness into one general routine. If you go onto the site it may appear to not give you much info at all, it took me a while to understand what it was about. To help you out there's a site menu on the side, click crossfit journal, on the page that comes up there a trial version of the crossfit journa that talks about what true fitness is. Great read! Hope you like!

Josh

[Aodhan]

One of the things that I did for my kinesiology work was a very small study on body kinesthetics and proprioception (Learning how to tell where your body or a part of it is in space without looking at it).

I found that people who had more sports in their background had higher scores on the exams. (Duh.)

I often see some people who just "get it", and others who struggle, and since MA is very much about being able to control your body, get feedback from it and use that information to improve, I always wanted to redo that study using martial artists and their backgrounds and see how they scored.

For me personally, doing swimming was probably the biggest advantage I had in sports for the rest of my life. I learned how to control my body in the water (Where I didn't have to worry about gravity), and how different movements of my body created different actions and reactions in the water.

If I could, I'd arrange with a local school or gym to rent their pool and go do forms work and other workouts in the pool and see if that would improve peoples perceptions and motions.

Aodhan

[Kaminari]

I played drums for about 7 or 8 years (that's hard work, using all four limbs constantly!)

Nice!

I also have been playing drums for a while, and drumming for extended periods of time can be tiring. I played hockey when I was younger, helping with coordination and balance. That's really the only sport that I did before starting my MA training.

[CapitalKarate]

If you play drums for an hour with only stopping for a few seconds between songs, (depending on what music) it can be as good as an aerobic workout!

[Sam]

I did basketball and that was pretty much it, but the footwork in that helped with sparring footwork (balls of feet) in tkd.

[karatekid1975]

If you play drums for an hour with only stopping for a few seconds between songs, (depending on what music) it can be as good as an aerobic workout!

I totally agree! Specially the music I played.

[osuperu]

i played everything mainy football track basketball...but you name it.

i think they all helped me to gain an a good amount of physique and competitive attitude, but man...they had no bearing on helping me be 'one step ahead' in starting shotokan...sometimes i even feel dyslexic!!...haha

and ive always been a team sport player untill well...6 weeks ago

and ya i know this is what i should have been doing a long time ago! my training now is soo much more than just a practise or dare i say; a sport.

i just wish i had more time to train, and less time learning the pentose phosphate pathway:P ...

[Bleeding Lion]

very good topic indeed.

I played lots of sports through high school. soccer, volleyball, handball, basketball, track and field, badminton, gymnastics...

i was pretty good in gymnastics, that helped a lot with balance. basketball and soccer helped with footwork and leg power (im 5'8 and i can dunk).

but when i started goju ryu a few months ago (im 20), i was tired of everything really, i wanted to try something new, and i wasnt in that good of a shape.

out of everything i think gymnastics probably helped me the most, i perfectly know my body, i know what i can or cant do.

[markusan]

Lots of competitive running, football, tennis, squashhelped me with strength and general fitness, co-ordination and attitude to training. Just knowing how to set short, medium and long term goals, knowing some sports science so you know how to train efficiently and having lots of sports to fall back on so you can work them into your leisure and use them as a break from MA training.

As an instructor I've found good athletes especially gymnasts a dream to teach. They listen and put the instructions directly into their technique without adding superfluous stuff. And they don't mind a bit of effort and pain. Godd flexibility is also a huge advantage in a ma like TKD.

[JusticeZero]

My senior student plays basketball. On the bright side, this means he's id decent shape and has good cardio. On the "meh" side, it doesn't help him have the muscles we need. On the down side, it also fudged up his flexibility - I make him do a LOT of shoulder stretches trying to regain the range of motion posessed by a couch potato, and it blocks him from doing a large number of techniques.