How much conditioning in a class?

[bushido_man96]

How much physical conditioning do you think should take place in a Martial Arts class?

I'm talking about general fitness type stuff, like push-ups, pull-ups, abs, jump rope, running, etc. I know there are some schools out there that are big on push-ups and the like, and some don't mess with it at all. My school just goes right into basics, and then into forms, one-steps, etc. All of our physical training comes from TKD moves, essentially.

So, my question is, do you think an MA class should be focusing on some of these things to a certain extent, or would you rather your time at class went strictly to technique/strategy, etc?

[isshinryu5toforever]

I would say it depends on the focus of the school. If you're competing a lot, and using a rule system with rounds then general fitness should be part of your classes. You need conditioning like that to be in shape for 2-3 minute rounds. That means you should also have assigned road work to do on your own. It will help you cut down on injuries as well.

If you're at a school that sometimes competes, but doesn't most of the time, then I think the approach your school takes is just fine. They should probably throw in general conditioning once a week or so though, for the aforementioned injury thing.

[moriniuk]

I think that the durationof the session has a bearing on this too.

In a 1 hour session there sometimes isn't time for much conditioning.

A ring based combat sport type martial art definately requires more conditioning than a traditional self defence type martial art.

[bushido_man96]

I would say it depends on the focus of the school. If you're competing a lot, and using a rule system with rounds then general fitness should be part of your classes. You need conditioning like that to be in shape for 2-3 minute rounds. That means you should also have assigned road work to do on your own. It will help you cut down on injuries as well.

If you're at a school that sometimes competes, but doesn't most of the time, then I think the approach your school takes is just fine. They should probably throw in general conditioning once a week or so though, for the aforementioned injury thing.

I agree as far as competition goes. Even just sparring in a setting using rounds and rest periods would be better for me. I know that when I have gone to tournaments and sparred in the past, I've died trying to get through one fight. But for my school, its more of an option than a requirement. But that conditioning will translate to self-defense, as well.

How much road work do you do, or have you done, in the past?

[Jay]

I actually don't think there should be much conditioning. You can get conditioning from just doing more technique training. Plus the best way to train for competitions is just to do lots of what you are going to be doing.

Plus with short classes conditioning takes away from the actual martial arts training which I don't like.

One thing that I think some classes do wrong is if you going to do conditioning and stretching it should be done at the end. If you do it at the beginning it is at the detriment of your coordination.

[GeoGiant]

I agree with Jay's sentiments however I think flexibly and endurance are key. I spend a great deal of time working on these things outside of class, most don't.

[DWx]

I think it should be a part of your training; whether you have enough time to do it in class is a different matter. An hour's class doesn't really give you time to do it plus teach techniques/strategy and get some free sparring/forms in. If its a longer class its feasible to dedicate some time to it. Even if you don't have much class time I still think you should do it in class once in a while (same with more advanced stretching) even if its just to show students what they need to be working on at home.

Obviously if you're competing you do need your physical fitness but even if you're not into competing I don't really think just drilling forms and sparring is enough if you're serious about developing your body. You're not going to develop the muscular strength and explosiveness by running through your forms a couple of times 2-3 nights a week. You need to load up the muscles and force them to work harder and faster and then go do your forms on top of that.

My instructor is a firm believer in physical conditioning, especially the core, so we do a fair number of situps, push ups, planks etc. as well as running round the field, hill sprints, skipping... as part of our training. In fact conditioning is regarded as one of the 5 facets of our training (part of the TKD training circle). Admittedly we do do a lot of competitions but our training isn't solely geared towards them.

I don't agree with just doing what you're doing for comps either. If that were the case then olympic cyclists would only ever go for bike rides, swimmers would only go swimming - no one would ever hit the gym or cross train.

[Jay]

I think it should be a part of your training; whether you have enough time to do it in class is a different matter. An hour's class doesn't really give you time to do it plus teach techniques/strategy and get some free sparring/forms in. If its a longer class its feasible to dedicate some time to it. Even if you don't have much class time I still think you should do it in class once in a while (same with more advanced stretching) even if its just to show students what they need to be working on at home.

Obviously if you're competing you do need your physical fitness but even if you're not into competing I don't really think just drilling forms and sparring is enough if you're serious about developing your body. You're not going to develop the muscular strength and explosiveness by running through your forms a couple of times 2-3 nights a week. You need to load up the muscles and force them to work harder and faster and then go do your forms on top of that.

My instructor is a firm believer in physical conditioning, especially the core, so we do a fair number of situps, push ups, planks etc. as well as running round the field, hill sprints, skipping... as part of our training. In fact conditioning is regarded as one of the 5 facets of our training (part of the TKD training circle). Admittedly we do do a lot of competitions but our training isn't solely geared towards them.

I don't agree with just doing what you're doing for comps either. If that were the case then olympic cyclists would only ever go for bike rides, swimmers would only go swimming - no one would ever hit the gym or cross train.

Thats true if you are a world class athlete. Most people have plenty to improve on during application hence to get better they need to do lots of that. It also depends on what facet of training you are concentrating on. For endurance well the best thing you can do is probably your sport as you body adapts best to something it is exposed to alot. You want lots of stamina sparring, then you need to spar because your body will adapt to that particular interchange of aerobic and anerobic rhythm. Obviously strength training has advantages you can't get from sparring, but I think for the most part for point sparring its not that useful, grappling probably more so.

[ninjanurse]

We include conditioning in every class-some days more that others. Students know they are expected to begin some kind of conditioning program at home as there is Fitness requirement for promotion to advanced levels. I test their conditioning on Free Sparring Days with multiple continuous rounds so I know, and they know, where they are with it.

[DWx]

I think it should be a part of your training; whether you have enough time to do it in class is a different matter. An hour's class doesn't really give you time to do it plus teach techniques/strategy and get some free sparring/forms in. If its a longer class its feasible to dedicate some time to it. Even if you don't have much class time I still think you should do it in class once in a while (same with more advanced stretching) even if its just to show students what they need to be working on at home.

Obviously if you're competing you do need your physical fitness but even if you're not into competing I don't really think just drilling forms and sparring is enough if you're serious about developing your body. You're not going to develop the muscular strength and explosiveness by running through your forms a couple of times 2-3 nights a week. You need to load up the muscles and force them to work harder and faster and then go do your forms on top of that.

My instructor is a firm believer in physical conditioning, especially the core, so we do a fair number of situps, push ups, planks etc. as well as running round the field, hill sprints, skipping... as part of our training. In fact conditioning is regarded as one of the 5 facets of our training (part of the TKD training circle). Admittedly we do do a lot of competitions but our training isn't solely geared towards them.

I don't agree with just doing what you're doing for comps either. If that were the case then olympic cyclists would only ever go for bike rides, swimmers would only go swimming - no one would ever hit the gym or cross train.

Thats true if you are a world class athlete. Most people have plenty to improve on during application hence to get better they need to do lots of that. It also depends on what facet of training you are concentrating on. For endurance well the best thing you can do is probably your sport as you body adapts best to something it is exposed to alot. You want lots of stamina sparring, then you need to spar because your body will adapt to that particular interchange of aerobic and anerobic rhythm. Obviously strength training has advantages you can't get from sparring, but I think for the most part for point sparring its not that useful, grappling probably more so.

I don't think its just true for world class athletes. Surely, if anything, martial arts are about turning your body into a weapon (i.e. making you a fighter) and being the best you can be, as cheesy as that sounds. To get your punches faster you need to build up your triceps & biceps as well as core and build up your explosive strength through plyometrics - so that means fast push ups, clapping push ups amongst other things. You wont develop that from just doing normal class stuff: forms and sparring. You can try all you want to get your arm moving faster but you'll see minimal effects compared to if you were supplementing your training with calisthenics and plyometric training. Same with the legs.

For point sparring you definitely need plyometric/explosive strength because its all about speed; who gets the point the fastest.