Karate is The Workout

[GojuRyu Bahrain]

Having done Karate for a long time, I have wondered for a while how much of a workout it actually is. It always felt intense, but who knows? Everybody around me does running to get fit.. Few days ago I finally bought a heart rate monitor and used it for a session.. Warmup, Kata, Bunkai, Drills, and Kumite.

1h 15min with average pulse 148, peaks at above 180, half the time in the peak zone, the other half in the cardio zone. Rapid full intensity bursts with quick cooldown, then go again!

That's high intensity interval training (HIIT) from hell!

I know, different sessions will be different, but we Karateka's should be fit like machines!

[GojuRyu Bahrain]

Forgot to mention the thing indicated approx. 1000 calories burned.

[lowereastside]

GojuRyu Bahrain wrote - I know, different sessions will be different, but we Karateka's should be fit like machines!

I teach 5 days a week between my regular classes and privates. I am very hands on - meaning I get a good sweat. I also do cardio at home for 45 min. 4 days a week. When I was in my 30's I could drop 20 lbs. in a month. At 62 years old I now have to watch what I put in my mouth ( LOL ). And I've lost 47 lbs.

[Safroot]

Wow, that's what I expected from the karate session.

When I first started Karate I lost 8kg in the first 2 months with no gym (attending only 1 class a week) but when I stopped karate and started gym workouts I lost maybe 3-4 kg in 18 months (Diet was nearly the same in both periods).

It's amazing how karate training is good & effective

[pknox]

Makes sense, as kata and drills definitely have the intense start-stop flavor of interval training (not even to mention kumite which can be even more intense). If you're doing basic conditioning, to me that combination fulfills the definition of a complete workout, and one that can be done virtually anywhere to boot.

[Dani_001]

It's true what you are saying there, brother. Karate really does work up a good sweat and it also increases mobility big time.

I was practicing the footwork alone for the first three movements of saifa in the week on my own and I was very sweaty.

45° zenkutsu, into musubi, into shiko dachi. I was panting and was really into it.

[GojuRyu Bahrain]

..

I was practicing the footwork alone for the first three movements of saifa in the week on my own and I was very sweaty.

45° zenkutsu, into musubi, into shiko dachi. I was panting and was really into it.

Ha, doing low stances & transitions for a while will wear your legs & cardiovascular fitness levels go up!

By the way, I don't use this heart rate tracker anymore for Karate because the first one broke after one Kumite session...got it replaced...but these things are not really built for martial arts...

[Dani_001]

Only one thing built for the arts brother, that is, the practitioner

[Spartacus Maximus]

Karate training and practise is supposed to be physically demanding. If one feels not strain at all afterwards, then either effort is lacking or one is doing it the wrong way.

Kata, for example, is one of the most exhausting thing to do if it is done with intent and without pause at just a third of full power into each and every technique. Much more so than a few rounds of full speed/full contact kumite.

[sensei8]

While it's true that one can receive quite a workout in Karate, I don't view my training as a workout, but only as a means to increase ones betterment across the board as a MAist.

By that I mean, I view my daily workout at the gym as just that, a workout. Something that allows me to improve my quality of life. Whereas, I still view my Karate training as a necessity of improving my MA betterment.

To me, these are two separate and distinct things.

The first one helps me to improve my overall health, and when I do that, I stave off many things that have, and are, risking my quality of life.

The second one helps me to defend whomever I might decide to in more effective ways, than if I hadn't trained in the MA.

In short, I need both, but only when they're appropriate to me across the board.

Your workout, as you've explained it, has yielding benefits across the board, and to gain 1,000 cardio calorie burn consistently is pretty good. I loathe at times my gym workouts, however, I yearn for my MA training even more so.

I sweat gallons while doing either, but that's just the sidebar of any quality workout. And just because one sweats a lot doing a workout, that surely doesn't mean that that workout was quality based. Ones heart rate must be raised in acceptable ways for ones own safety.

My gym workout can feel like a drag; the bane of my existence, whereas my MA workout is far more enjoyed. Nowadays, I'm yearning both on an equal plane; both are saving my life, and I appreciate them both...equally!!