How to improve and train your body for martial arts

When it comes to training martial arts, nothing will ever beat technique. We all know the stories of a scrawny, smaller guy beating a bigger, stronger guy in a fight due to technique. Still, a little strength and conditioning never hurt anyone. Further, when combined with a baseline of skill, it can make for the perfect combination.

In other words, if you’re a serious martial artist then perfecting your body in the physical form is a great way to become a better fighter. Remember, technique will always trump all, but there’s a lot to be said for stamina, strength, and general athleticism. For any prospective MMA fighters, competitors, or even hobbyists, this is a guide on how to improve your body in relation to martial arts.

Plyometric exercises

Plyometric exercises are perhaps the best way to train and condition your body when it comes to martial arts. Many traditional martial arts will include plyometric methods of training, such as Karate and Wrestling. Sadly though, it isn’t as commonly used in certain other disciplines. Although it has an unusual name, plyometric exercises basically mean to exercise without weights, where you use your body and the local environment to gain strength and agility.

Examples of this can include burpees, high jumps, planks, and various other methods of training. The good thing about these methods is that they’re completely free and can be done anywhere. Usually, they will work your cardio as well as your conditioning at the same time. Anyone that has done burpees will attest to the cardio gains, as well as becoming physically stronger as a result.

The point of plyometric exercises is that you aren’t just in a gym deadlifting. Whilst this will increase your strength, it won’t really help your agility or explosiveness in the same ways that plyometric exercises will. Put another way, these exercises are similar to a lot of the movements used in martial arts, so they’re very appropriate to learn compared to regular weight lifting.

Sprints

Another key part of being a true martial artist is having good cardio. Even if you have the best technique in the world, if you run out of gas after a few seconds then it counts for nothing. So, improving your cardio is ideal. One problem with cardio is that even if you’re good at jogging, this may not suffice when applying running to martial arts.

For example, in martial arts like Judo, Wrestling, and Muay Thai, there are times when you need to explode and burst into life. This applies to both offensive and defensive positions. In fact, practically all martial arts have times when you’ll need to explode and make big moments with your body. In other words, fighting and training martial arts is more similar to sprint training, rather than long-distance running.

Because of this, it’s sensible to do sprint drills, as opposed to jogging. Whilst jogging will improve your cardio baseline, it won’t be as effective as sprints. In other words, it’s good to put your body in positions where your cardio is tested and to push through. This is why sprint training is so important to any martial artist.

Healthy diet

Perhaps the most important part of improving your body outside of the gym is done through the correct diet. Imagine doing all of the above, but eating junk food 5 days per week. With this in mind, your food acts as fuel for your body and is important for two main reasons. The first reason is during training. This time, imagine trying to throw punches after eating a pizza and fizzy drink. Naturally, your body would perform poorly under these conditions. Timing, fatigue, reflexes, and power would all suffer from these foods in your system.

Now, imagine doing the same punches after eating a healthy, nutritious meal. Obviously, these would be more effective, you’d be able to last longer during sparring and would generally feel better. This isn’t rocket science either and is common sense. Arguably, the only thing stopping people from eating more healthily is due to lack of willpower, rather than economics or time.

The second issue with eating unhealthy foods is that they harm your recovery. Imagine doing a hard session and your muscles ache after. Here, your muscle fibers may be worn out and need to rest. This is the beauty of a good meal, as it will help you recover quickly. By eating a combination of protein, healthy carbohydrates, and other foods, your muscles will naturally heal quicker. This will aid your recovery and allow you to train more and avoid injury.

Conditioning/hardening your body

Lastly, conditioning your body is yet another big part of martial arts. A famous example of this working is in Boxing, where strong neck muscles will literally defend your body against knockouts. Here, if your head snaps back too far, too quickly you’re more likely to get knocked out. However, if you have a strong, solid neck then this is less likely. So, how do you condition your body?

Looking at Karate, one of the most common ways is hit things which eventually leads to harder bones. Combined with a good plyometric routine, your muscles will also get harder too. Sometimes, you will see Karateka hit bags, wood, and even metal to strengthen and harden their body. Famously, UFC fighter Tony Ferguson actually injured his leg by kicking a steel pole too hard. Of course, you have to be careful when trying to develop an iron fist or generally hardening your body. Some of these ideas may not necessarily be backed by modern science, but try arguing that with a veteran martial artist!

One thing about this method is that it can take years to build and perfect your body. Like martial arts in general, there are no shortcuts and things take time. As mentioned earlier, just be careful to take things slow when hardening your body as you can get injured if you hit too hard, too fast.

Conclusion

Let’s be clear – when entering a gym you should be there to train and focus on technique. Ideally, everything just mentioned can take place outside of the gym environment on your own time. For hobbyists, these measures may be tough to implement if you have a 9-5 job alongside training. However, if you can find time to do the above methods, then you will reap the benefits in the training room.

Other ways to improve your body outside of training also include sleeping enough hours and improving your flexibility. If these are all done then you will perform better than without – and grow as a martial artist as a result. As martial arts are generally about self-improvement and pushing your body to its physical and mental limits, then this means that the above methods are a good road to go down when trying to become a better athlete.