Tips for keeping joints healthy for lifetime Karate practice

[JusticeZero]

I have heard stories about some schools and the sheer number of kicks one does in a class, I think it is crazy. I suppose if you are doing Tae Kwon Do you need to do a lot of kicking. However, I believe some instructors just think more is better, which it is not. There is a law of diminishing returns to any exercise technique.

That depends on why you are doing the large numbers. I had my students recently do a couple hundred mea lua de compasso without stopping; I wanted to exhaust them on the specific motions of the kick so that the exhaustion would correct their form. There are a lot of corrections and adjustments and driving movements and the like that people do that are all wrong.

The technique, when done by numbly falling and limply flopping the leg through the movement on gravity and inertia alone, balancing carefully just to avoid collapsing on strengthless shaking arms when barely able to stand up, is mechanically and structurally correct. This is the way the whole technique should work for maximum power, balance, and effectiveness.

My current issue is with nightshades like tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes. Too many and I get joint inflammation, like many people. But it's just so hard to imagine cooking without using tomatoes..

[Ueshirokarate]

I have heard stories about some schools and the sheer number of kicks one does in a class, I think it is crazy. I suppose if you are doing Tae Kwon Do you need to do a lot of kicking. However, I believe some instructors just think more is better, which it is not. There is a law of diminishing returns to any exercise technique.

That depends on why you are doing the large numbers. I had my students recently do a couple hundred mea lua de compasso without stopping; I wanted to exhaust them on the specific motions of the kick so that the exhaustion would correct their form. There are a lot of corrections and adjustments and driving movements and the like that people do that are all wrong.

The technique, when done by numbly falling and limply flopping the leg through the movement on gravity and inertia alone, balancing carefully just to avoid collapsing on strengthless shaking arms when barely able to stand up, is mechanically and structurally correct. This is the way the whole technique should work for maximum power, balance, and effectiveness.

My current issue is with nightshades like tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes. Too many and I get joint inflammation, like many people. But it's just so hard to imagine cooking without using tomatoes..

There are exceptions to everything. However, I would never make students do high volume stuff, say over 100 of anything: The risk of injury is too high. There is just no training benefit from my point of view. You reach a point where you cross the line and your training is more appropriate for a marathon runner rather than a fighter and we all know what marathon runners look like. Point is, if you need to strike or kick someone 100+ times, YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG.

[JusticeZero]

There was a definite training benefit to the high volume in this case - they learned how to do the technique correctly, instead of using their muscles for a technique that contraindicates them. This will keep them from getting tired in later training and unlocked a much improved technique that bled through into other movements. No "marathon running" was involved - if they were marathon runner types it would have been even harder to teach the technique correctly.

[bushido_man96]

Squats have helped my knees to feel better than they use to. There's a lot of misconception out there about squats and the knees.

Can't agree more!!!!!!! Traditional squats are just excellent for you. Machines like the leg-press, hack squat machine, leg-curls, etc all put more stress on the knee joint than a good old fashioned barbell squat.

By the way, I have heard stories about some schools and the sheer number of kicks one does in a class, I think it is crazy. I suppose if you are doing Tae Kwon Do you need to do a lot of kicking. However, I believe some instructors just think more is better, which it is not. There is a law of diminishing returns to any exercise technique.

We do kick a lot, but the focus isn't terribly high. The only time we really do more than enough kicking is on heavy bag kicking days, where we do stations, and the kick count gets up past 500 easily. Those days get tiring, but they are few and far between.

[DWx]

Squats have helped my knees to feel better than they use to. There's a lot of misconception out there about squats and the knees.

Can't agree more!!!!!!! Traditional squats are just excellent for you. Machines like the leg-press, hack squat machine, leg-curls, etc all put more stress on the knee joint than a good old fashioned barbell squat.

By the way, I have heard stories about some schools and the sheer number of kicks one does in a class, I think it is crazy. I suppose if you are doing Tae Kwon Do you need to do a lot of kicking. However, I believe some instructors just think more is better, which it is not. There is a law of diminishing returns to any exercise technique.

We do kick a lot, but the focus isn't terribly high. The only time we really do more than enough kicking is on heavy bag kicking days, where we do stations, and the kick count gets up past 500 easily. Those days get tiring, but they are few and far between.

Well in contrast to this, we do a lot of reps. Especially doing pyramid drills of kicks (10 left leg, 10 right leg, 9 left, 9 right and so on). Or just doing kicks in line work over and over again. I guess for a similar reasoning to JusticeZero's - stripping back the kick so that you take away power and speed and everything else and just work on form. Also for endurance.

Totally agree about the squats too. But only if you're doing them correctly. Bad squats are more of a hindrance than help