Muscle Gain or Fat Loss for a Martial Artist

[jsteczko]

Hello

We all here are martial artist at some point.

I was wondering what is more important for a martial artist? What does a martial artist want most? Is it to gain muscle and be strong? Or is it just about being slim and lose fat?

When I think how I feel about this subject, I think it is muscle gain. Because strength is needed. Of course you must be fast and have right timing in MA but without proper strength you may not be an effective martial artist. Technique itself cannot do all the job.

Fat loss is perhaps more for obese people. I can rarely see anyone obese on martial arts classes.

At some point muscle gain and fat loss are the same thing (when you train in the gym you build muscle and burn fat right?) but when you go deeper in it, these two are different things. I know this from bodybuilding ebooks.

I asked some women how it works for them. They wanted to be slim or "flatten their stomach". They didn't care much about muscle gain.

My question is, what do you think about this? What is more important for a martial artist, is it strength and muscle gain or fat/weight loss? Does it depend on sex?

[Sibylla]

Who tends to be the most technical fighters, and have best stamina? It's usually the lightweights. I'd rather sacrifice some power for that than haul excessive weight around.

[DWx]

Who tends to be the most technical fighters, and have best stamina? It's usually the lightweights. I'd rather sacrifice some power for that than haul excessive weight around.

Lightweights may be generally more technical and have better stamina but the heavy weights can take more shots and deal out heavier ones too. Pros and cons to both really.

As a martial artist, I'd rather gain the muscle and strength. As a female I can't say I wouldn't want to lose the weight, I'd just rather be strong for my MA and have the muscle (don't want to be ripped though).

[KarateGeorge]

DWx makes a great point. The lightweights tend to be quicker, have more stamina and have better technical skill, but those heavyweights can really take and dish out the hits. They may not be as fast, but if they land something on you, you're really feel like you just got hit by a freight train.

I've personally gone the fat loss route and trimmed up, going from just shy of 200 pounds to about 145 pounds over the past year, and have built up some good endurance from long duration cardio exercises. I wouldn't mind gaining about 10-15 pounds of muscle, but really no more than that, as I personally don't want to sacrifice the speed and agility advantages of being a lighter weight.

[GeoGiant]

I'm tall and thin so I'm always looking to gain muscle. I started taking a MMA class (my dojo offers it for free to karate students) twice a week which has really made me want to increase the strength in my chest and back.

The one thing i don't want to do is gain too much muscle in my legs. I started doing some leg presses at the gym and it seemed like it took me twice as long to stretch myself out.

[mr_obvious]

Fat loss is perhaps more for obese people. I can rarely see anyone obese on martial arts classes.

I have, on fairly regular occasion. If you tinker around with YouTube, not hard to dig up some vidz of tubbies demoing their unique skillz. Heck, some people get into MA, to aid in weight loss where other exercise programs have failed.

I think, to most people, it would be obvious that both fat loss and muscle gain are beneficial to MA ability.

Attack!!!

[bushido_man96]

I am more of the gaining muscle and strength school of thought here. There comes a point, though, that it may be important to lose some of the fat so that the MAist can move his/her body more easily.

But, I am a firm believer in weight training/strength training to improve the Martial Artist's abilities. I think that there are still a lot of MAists out there that are under the misguided belief that big muscles slow you down and render a Martial Artist inflexible. These fallacies have never been proven.

The one thing i don't want to do is gain too much muscle in my legs. I started doing some leg presses at the gym and it seemed like it took me twice as long to stretch myself out.

I was noticing this when I started running. But, I've kept at it, and now, its just like it was before I was running. After doing leg exercises, you might want to stretch differently, because weight training the legs may not get them as warm as other activities would. Maybe after weights, get a little jog in, and get them more warmed up, then stretch. Either way, I believe after a time of sticking with your routine, it won't be so hard anymore.

[sensei8]

I'd want both because I believe that they could/would benefit each other. The strength, especially in the muscles that are primarily used in Tuite and the like. To be slim, especially at my age/high blood pressure, my doctor says I don't need any "excess body fat".

[JiuJitsuNation]

I think Jeff Monson said it best "This (flexing) takes care of a lot of technique." Let's face it people, at some point size makes all the difference. You can teach a 12 year old everything he could possibly learn in any style and give them a black belt and they still won't whoop an adult. So if you are at the bottom of the weight scale you are forever at a disadvantage against larger opponents.

[mr_obvious]

Disadvantage? Sure. This is probably more profound in the application of grappling disciplines, or in competitive events. In most real-life striking applications; the same 12-year-old could still be very effective, simply by directing attacks between the legs of any superior opponent. Followed by retreat or striking other sensitive areas (ears, eyes, throat) as they hopefully become more vulnerable, and as necessary, following initial attack.

I wouldn't imagine too many big-bad guys (or older teenagers, as the more likely scenario) remember to don a cup, before heading out to pick on 12-year-olds.