This is the second post in our weight training for martial arts series. In the first post we looked at why martial artists should weight train and debunked some of the myths associated with mixing weight training and martial arts.
Now its time for some exercises.
Weight lifting and strength training for martial arts
When martial artists want to weight train they need to be very careful and sure about what their goals are. For example, lifting weights to get truly massive is not really the best motivation for a martial artist.
With that in mind I have determined that martial artists will lift weights with these things in mind:
1. Strength
The whole idea is to increase our strength for wrestling, punching, etc. You need long range strength for pulling and pushing as well as short range strength for close-up grappling, etc.
2. Power
Power is a physics term. Mechanical power is force multiplied by velocity and time so we can see that to improve our punching power we need speed and some weight. Weight lifting can help with this.
3. Health and fitness
It is important to take care of your muscles, tendons, etc. and weight training is a good way to do this. Muscles can also help protect you against certain strikes and make you more able to respond after an attack.
The one thing we DO NOT want to affect with our weight training is our speed. Speed is the heart and sole of martial arts and if your weight training is affecting your speed then you are training incorrectly.
The best weight lifting exercises for martial arts power and strength
Now that we have established our goals we have to find the best exercises and learn how to do them correctly. Here are some of my favorites.
1. The chin up
Without any shred of a doubt the chin up is one of the kings when it comes to developing real strength and power. Not many people can do them. I see big guys at the gym using the assisted chin up machine because they don’t have the guts to work on the real ones. This exercise is a must do.
If you want to get the most out of the chin up start strapping weight to yourself from the very beginning. You should also be doing each decline super slow and the incline pullup part as fast as you can. This works on both explosive and static types of strength and allows you to get a pretty complete workout.
Make sure you use different hand grips and widths so that you target all of the muscles in the area.
The main muscles targeted with the chin up are the rhomboids and lats which are vital for “sinking” that punch into your opponent. It also works the shoulders and biceps.
2. The military press
This exercise has been done for thousands of years. Spartan warriors and the Romans used to lift heavy objects over their heads to develop their strength and challenge the other men. We should too.
The military press is great because it uses almost your entire upper body. Your shoulders do most of the work but other muscles (abs, back, forearms) come in to help stablize the whole situation. You can make this effect even stronger by using dumbbells instead of a barbell.
3. The jumping squat
If you want to build leg strength and power for massive kicks then the jumping squat needs to become your new best friend. The jumping squat works your whole lower body and is a workout you will never forget.
Make sure you do this exercise explosively. You need to really power yourself as high as you can into the air and make sure you spring off again as soon as you hit the ground. The idea is to make your muscles contract and expand as quickly as possible under a lot of pressure. This is a key to weight training for martial arts.
4. The clap pushup
Again, we need to make our muscles expand and then contract as quickly as possible. A lot of scientific research into professional sports has shown that this is a way to develop strength without compromising the body’s speed. We should pay attention to this.
If you have never done one of these before all you need to do is do a regular pushup but at the top of the movement you need to make a hand clap under your chest before you fall flat on your face. Repeat this over and over again. This is an exercise only the truly strong and fit can perform.
These are only a few of the exercises you can do. Working with these four alone, however, can give you a really strong basis for your martial arts strength training.
Conclusion
When you are a martial artist you need to supplement your training with weights, not replace it. Make sure you are putting the most attention where it really matters - your technique, form, etc. Make sure you stretch after your weights session and eat good amounts of protein so your muscles recover quickly.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
I’m disappointed that you’ve cut your RSS feed articles short and forced us to come to the blog to read the rest of it. Very annoying, and I’m tempted to get rid of the blog on my fitness feed.
October 16th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Hey Stephen - I sent you an email about this but I have fixed the problem. It wasn’t that I disabled Full Feeds its the “more” tag on the homepage that was causing the probs.
Problem now fixed with a new plugin.
RT
October 16th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Great. Thanks so much RT!!!
October 17th, 2007 at 1:05 am
Hello RT,
great article again. Do you write another chapter with sets/reps etc?
And how many days a week you should weighttrain to have a good combination with martial arts training?
Because I think thats a great problem to. To often I think people end up training more with weights then they train martial arts.
And what do you think about running (how often a week) because I have read that lotts off martial artist say that there is no need for running.
Take care mate
October 17th, 2007 at 1:47 am
Hey Wim.
In all the years I have known you you seem to have a problem with the number of sets and reps. How come this problem hasn’t been resolved yet?
RT
October 17th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Hello Rams,
yes, its true what you say about the sets and reps, its because I have done so many years martial arts (more then 30 years) and I never have paid to much attention to strengthtraining.
So I think I am a little brainwashed with martial arts.
But then there is you
You can help me, can you?
October 17th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Wim you have to sort out your goals. That is the main point. Do you want to get big or do you want to get strong? Do you want to get powerful or do you want to have nice sexy abs? While some people are able to kill two birds with one stone you often have to dedicate a lot of time and effort to making one result occur.
This is the only way you will sort out your sets and reps and how many days you should workout. If you want to be big you will need to weight train more. If you want to be a good martial artist you will need to practice martial arts more.
RT
October 18th, 2007 at 12:03 am
Weight training is absolutely one of the best things you can do for your body as every type of athlete and person should and does use it. The strength and power you get from weight training is incredible and I wish every person would focus more on using weights.
October 18th, 2007 at 1:03 am
Off course I want to train for martial arts.
I think then 3-4 sets off 10-12 reps is good?
And only for strength (if I want to get bigger) 3-5 sets off reps is better?
I have read a lott off training with kettlebells. What do yout hink off this.
Seems that they build a lott off power, conditioning etc.
October 18th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Wim -
I think 10 -12 is too high. Start increasing the weight and usuing less reps. You want to really push your body.
As for kettlebells I cannot comment as I have never used them. However, I am a big fan of exercises where muscles contract and then expand quickly and it looks like this is based on that.
RT
October 19th, 2007 at 12:45 am
Hello Rams,
thanks for reacting. Do you plan to do another item (part 3) off this item?
October 19th, 2007 at 5:45 am
Hi, Great post. I would also recommend deadlifts as part of the martial artists weight training routine and a variation to military press’s coould be handstand pressups. A good article about these is, http://markschat.blogspot.com/2007/09/martial-artists-handstand-press-ups.html
October 20th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Very cool. Not many speak to this necessary aspect of martial arts training. And I like mention of squats and other leg muscle exercises. There is so much power derived from the legs.
Darryl
February 27th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
you need to weight train to become a champion figter i know because i am one and it took alot of work . the part that efects your speed is when you do traditional weight training and worry about how much weight you can do but not your reps. if you do high weight and low reps you will lose speed but if you do moderate weight and high reps(for most excerises 8-12 is good but for squats 12-20) you will have much power and speed also train train train on that heavy bag and for improved speed power and technique shadow box with ankle weights and dumbbells. finally you should do yourself a favor and go out and purchase a circuit trainer to go along with your freeweight i prefer a traditional weight plat and pulley ssystem but if you are love and space a bowflex will be good enough take my advice this stuff works