Monday Martial Art Clips 1/30/12: Fai-Gur, Ninjutsu, BJJ & More!

Time to get your martial arts clip fix to get this week off to a good start. Enjoy!

Warrior Wisdom: 1/30/12

"If it's natural to kill, how come men have to go into training to learn how?" -Joan Baez

Training Tips: Resistance Band To Increase Speed, Agility & Strength

The key to martial arts is repetitious movements so that moves like strikes, parries, and blocks become engraved into muscle memory. The key to exercise is to not allow the body to get used to the exercise being performed. The two goals seem as if they are at odds, but they actually complement each other.

The repetition done in martial arts training will build strength, speed, and agility, but only to a certain degree before it plateaus. The reason for the plateau is because over time the muscle becomes used to the exercises and the person doing them will notice that the exercise becomes easier to do. A good example is basic push ups. To a newcomer they seem hard to do, but after doing them for a while they become easier to do. That's because the muscle became used to the exercise and has adapted. At that point the increase in strength plateaus.

So something martial artists may want to implement in their everyday training is the inclusion of resistance bands. Resistance bands are a type of elastic tubing designed to be stretched without being destroyed for a smooth resistance enhancing training experience. Think of resistance bands in the same way you would using weights at the gym on a cable system. Both allow you to perform the desired exercise, but the key benefit is getting 'the negative.' Resistance bands allow you to get 'the negative' in the form of resistance or constant tension in the opposite direction from which you're moving.

There are already several MMA artists, boxers, and TKD practitioners who have implemented them into their training, but it should be of no surprise that traditional martial artists can use the bands in their training as well to improve their striking, kicking, stance work, blocks, jumps, etc. Using the bands adds a layer of difficulty to a traditional martial artist's exercises without compromising their traditional exercises. Check out the videos below for some methods of using resistance bands to achieve greater strength, speed and agility.

Speed & Agility Drills With Resistance Bands -- powered by ehow

Back Row Workouts With Resistance Bands -- powered by ehow

Jab Cross With Resistance Bands -- powered by ehow

Have a favorite training exercise? Let me know and I'll share it on this blog.

picture source: makeoverfitness.com

Monday Martial Arts Clips 1/16/12: Hua Quan Dao, Tai Chi Chin Na, & more!Budo Ryu,

Warrior's Wisdom: 1/16/12

"Without Knowledge, Skill cannot be focused. Without Skill, Strength cannot be brought to bear and without Strength, Knowledge may not be applied." - Alexander the Great's Chief Physician

Warrior's Wisdom: 1/2/12

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." -Dwight D. Eisenhower

Monday Martial Arts Clips: 52 Blocks, Ninjutsu, TKD, and more!