A Warrior's Thougts on the Martial Arts

Introduction Endurance is a broad term. Different types of endurance (short -, medium - and long term) are fueled by different energy systems. The first one or two maximum muscle contractions are powered by the phosphates in the muscle cell. After that, short bursts of up to 12 seconds draw their energy from the creatine- phosphate reserves. These two modes of energy production are known as anaerobic (lacking oxygen) alactic (without significant production of lactic acid). Longer efforts, up to roughly 3 minutes, primarily make use of the anaerobic lactic system, also called anaerobic glykolysis, i.e., the utilization of sugar in the absence of sufficient oxygen. Finally, even longer work is primarily fueled by the aerobic system. Here, oxygen is available in sufficient amounts such that sugars and fats can be oxidized in the Krebs cycle. It is this system that will be in the scope of this article. The aerobic system is, amongst other things, relevant for recovery after training se...

My second last day here in Linz is just coming to an end... I arrived here monday morning. Nothing worth mentioning happened, except for the fact maybe that I actually got my training schedule to work. Just did a crisp session during lunch break. On tuesday, I felt those deadlifts, hard... You see, on tuesday, they started by putting us through a battery of tests like standing broad jump, 20m sprints, skipping, etc, etc... all very much leg dominant. Then, for a good finish, we did a [Conconi] test at around 6pm, Needless to say, I was pretty wasted. Now the point is that I'm somewhat in a hurry to complete my [current training program] . On June 29th I'll go to China and obviously, I'll get a bit weaker over the trip. If I can make it to the gym while I'm there, fine. I won't sacrifice any Kung Fu in favor of general S&C, though... Hence, I need to make sure to get as strong as I can before my departure. Therefore, I decided to do another heavy lifting s...

Ever wondered how it is that the martial arts are organized in weight divisions, just as weightlifting and powerlifting, but then tennis, soccer or volleyball are not? Well, I do, from time to time... Preamble Today I was ultra-busy sorting out some stuff that's remotely linked to my dojo, so I simply haven't had a chance to make it to the gym. I was like "don't fret" decided to go for a run instead. Now I usually don't run a lot because my knees give me issues, so the decision might not have been particularly wise. Funny how rope skipping never causes problems, regardless of speed and duration... Then again my knees are actually getting better - I guess all those squats and deadlifts are paying off. In fact, I actually enjoyed the run. Still, running probably won't become a major staple in my training anywhere soon. I know boxers, kickboxers and thaiboxers swear by it. Rocky did it all the time, so there must be something to it, right? (Caution: sar...

Just returned from the pool. I feel great. In fact, I feel much better than I did tuesday afternoon. When I'd have to decide for or against swimming after working out in the gym, I'd rather choose to do it. Of course there's downsides to it, but for me the positive aspects far outweight the negative ones. You see, when I walked out of the gym I wasn't motivated to do just about anything else today. I was completely devastated. Obviously, this affected my performance at the pool. But then, on the other hand, it took me exactly 25 minutes net training time to complete the swimming workout (8 minutes warmup, 10 minutes intervals, 7 minutes cooldown), so I guess my speed hasn't suffered all that much. Also, most people will agree that endurance is as much a mental thing as a physical. Doing my cardio in an exhausted state might actually help my fortitude. It's not the total result that counts with endurance (as opposed to strength and/or speed training, where only m...

I just started my day with swimming. It's been both a pain and a pleasure. The routine: I tend to keep my cardio workouts short and intense. Although what I do can't exactly be called an "HIIT" workout, I do employ a form of interval training. As a matter of fact, it's all pretty simple (I said simple, not easy). I got up at 6 and started my workput at 9AM, so that's three hours for my joints to lubricate properly. Some tennis-ball work for my feet and calves loosened up the legs, which are pretty sore from yesterdays workout. To go to the bath it takes me about 12 minutes, which I've used for joint mobilization in the shoulders, elbows and neck. Once at the pool, I warmed up with 10 lanes (25meters/lane) of breaststroke at a low to moderate intensity. After that, I did seven intervals of two lanes each. The first lane I'd go all-out, crawling, while the second lane was done by backstroke, at an easy pace. With seven intervals, that's another 14 la...