Complementary Excersises for Aikido
 

So I bit the bullet and took up a martial art, partially for the weapons training and partly to get slighltly fitter (whichwould not be hard). Currently I am attending 2 main classes a week (lots of aerobic and throwing bits) and 1 weapons class (mainly movement and strikes) @ 1.5 and 1hrs each respectively. In addition I am doing weights at home.

Can any excersise gurus suggest complementary excersises to this that would help me improve my fitness (which imo is currently -ve if 0 is out of shape).

Thanks

Any cardio would be good, for most things in general and especially to assist with endurance. I would think the aerobic you are doing isn't sustained for a very long time. At least 30 minutes at a shot would be good and work up to an hour as you progress. But I am assuming you aren't doing as much continuous in the training you mentioned above. If you're already doing 3 classes a week 1-2 more of these would probably be good.

Try HIIT cardio (High-intensity interval training).

In short, you would run/bike/swim/whatever as hard as you can for 60 to 90 seconds and slow to a normal pace for twice that time.

For example, you walk/jog at 5 MPH for 120 seconds and you sprint like a mother at 9 MPH for 60 seconds.

Pretty hard stuff. Some people do something like 5 minute running/10 minute walk.

Experiement and see what works for you.

stretch. but only stretch warmed up muscles (never stretch cold muscles!) and don't bounce! flexibility is important to the martial arts, so definatly work on that.

Woot third lesson, slightly less tiring than the first two.

We are active for probably 2/3rds+ of the session in (at least for me) pretty active conditions, need to work on rolls and landings though (is there a technique for bigger guys doing this?).

The HIT sounds good and stretches, how long does it take to get slightly more flexible as rolls etc are not quite right at the moment but being more flexible would likely help i think.

That's true but a distinction should be made between stretching and loosening up. You DO want to loosen up before a work out, even before warming up, which would be very similar to stretches, only more gently and for not as long and with a few loosening moves thrown in (that I don't know how to explain.)

Cross training wise...anything that works out core (torso) muscles would help a lot. Swimming is good, if you do any endurance work outs (biking, swimming, jogging, etc) just make sure not to over do it (probably wouldn't have to worry about till you get past the 4-5 mile mark for jogging, and whatever the equivelent is for swimming) by throwing in sprinting type periods in between. ie jog for 5 minutes, sprint for 30 seconds, walk for 60 seconds, jog for 5 minutes, etc. I think its called interval training. Reason being is because if you go over endurance heavy workouts I've heard you can slow down a bit which is really bad in MA.

You can easily get your muscles warmed up with five minutes of Yoga poses from the very beginning of a sequence (breath in and out through you nose with those to keep the heat inside your body), jumping jacks, a stationary bike or treadmill. Enough to make those easy stretches in the beginning work well.

knuckle pushups of coarse,

stand up, then widen your legs 2-3 shoulder widths. fall forwars to the floor and make a triangle with your thumbs and index fingers, now try to put your nose in that triangle and push yourself back up.

do tons of stretch's obviously. one leg in front of you, one leg behind you, curl your toes back, and bend forward head to knee, or as far as you can go...also both legs in front. or sit like your going to do butterflys, grab the inside of your foot, and reach for the sky, do this standing as well. Sit with your legs apart as far as you can get them, bend to your left knee, the center, then your right knee. Stand with your back against a wall, and try to pull your straightened leg up towards yourself. After sometime you can touch the wall behind you with your foot.

put a chair in front of you, with the back of the chair facing you..practice your round kicks.

run in the sand is possible, its good for stamina...cardio...we have tons of thick "sugar" sand here in central florida, so i do that often.

get a test bunny..err friend and practice all of your wrist locks, takedowns, throws, hip-tosses...ect.

forms, free spar, and 1-step spar at home with a buddy...dont get cought up in the free spar and try to kill each-other though.

Get a friend to stand on a chair and hold a kicking paddle, run and try to jump front-snap kick it...increase the hight every so often. its fun and helps you more than you think. (after its so high you might want to get a matt, you'll see why)


just some suggestions...
i took martial arts (tae kwon do) for fucken ever,started when i was 3. quit when i was a 4th dan (3rd degree black belt), i kind of wish i wouldnt have.

I considered aikido, but had back problems at the time. I consulted with my physician and chiropractor, and they told me that aikido can be hard on the lower back, which was where my problems were.

If this is true, I'm thinking it would only be an issue if you became a serious and long-term practitioner. If that were to happen, however, I'd look both at stretching and at weight-bearing exercises that strengthen the lower back muscles and protect the spine. Deadlifts, _done in good form,_ are are a great way of doing that.

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I'd heard that this wasn't actually much better exercise than ordinary jogging and that it puts undue pressure on the ankles, calves and knees due to the instability of the surface. I haven't done it since I was a teenager anyway, though.