Pushups, Crunches and Squats.

[Harkon72]

These three things are the foundation of my Sensei's fitness warm ups in our class.

He has evil variations of all three, tonight I had to do finger tip pushups in an A shape with straight legs; V shape situps with shoulders and feet off the ground; and front kicking squats on either side for a minute, I did 28, not bad.

I'm sure Sensei will think of more for next week, fair play no two sessions are ever the same.

[Wastelander]

Sounds like a good warm-up to me, and it covers just about all the muscles you need to get warmed up. I know several variations of all of them, and some are certainly more "evil" than others . I have to say, I haven't done A-frame fingertip pushups, though. I may have to try those!

[yamesu]

We do almost exactly the same variations in my current dojo.

Great conditioning I think.

OSU!

[andym]

Beware the squat/front kick - as a periodic test of fitness, great. As a regular exercise - No ! This is an exercise that can lead to knee damage in the long term.

[Wastelander]

Beware the squat/front kick - as a periodic test of fitness, great. As a regular exercise - No ! This is an exercise that can lead to knee damage in the long term.

I would be interested to see studies on this. Squats, both bodyweight and barbell, tend to get a bad rap as being harmful to the knees and back that is undeserved. I can see issues if you are relaxing your knees on the squat and/or hyper-extending your legs on the kicks, but if you do the squats and kicks properly I wouldn't expect to have any issues. I've certainly never had issues with them, myself, and neither have any of the people I've trained with.

[sensei8]

Sometimes age can cause one to walk away from squats, crunches, and pushups, and in that, other exercises are then selected instead so as to not wear the aging practitioner as fast.

[andym]

My warning is based on personal experience of that exercise. I think it's the number and intensity that cause the issue. Looking back ( this dates back to the 1980's) plyometrics were unknown. Viewing them in this light would mean low numbers of reps would be recommended, rather than the high numbers I and it would seem, Harkon72, are using.

[Evil Dave]

The one thing I see with squats is BAD FORM. Along with having a nice black colored belt in Karate, I am a lifting coach and bad form gets my neck hairs up. Properly executed squats, and all it's various forms, are a very good exercise and with added weight are one of the few exercises that work our 'core' in a real world manner. That being said, everything has it's limits. As we age, joint or bone issues, injuries, etc can all effect ones ability to perform an exercise like squats. Mind you a good trainer has a few tricks up their sleeve to help with these issues.

That being said, I have see a number of MA clubs where the sensei teaching passes on bad form ~ notice I said passes on! When taught bad form, instructors can only pass on what they have been taught. A couple of times I have approached sensei's about this. The good ones have listened and some had me teach an on the spot lifting session to senior students. Some have just let it go over their head. I have always approached respectfully and as an expert in the exercise, not someone trying to change their martial art.

[Harkon72]

I can say that our Sensei is not just a martial artist, he's a strength athlete. He was challenged to lift a stone of strength to his shoulder. This is a traditional strength test that goes back to Celtic times here in Britain. He didn't hesitate in refusing the challenge. He said that on a good day the feat was possible; but one bad slip could end your career. I trust Sensei Williams to know at a glance what is good or bad for me.

[Evil Dave]

I call that 'listening to the body'. I to have long since stopped lifting maximal weights and doing other 'young body' stuff.