MA or conditioning..

[TheForbiddenOne]

Do you train in martial arts more than you work out? Training in martial arts is working out, but vote for training if thats more of what you do.

(First poll, may be mistakes)

[Stuart H]

Your poll is WAAAYY too vague. And what exactly are you hoping to achieve by finding out people's workouts?

[TheForbiddenOne]

Your poll is WAAAYY too vague. And what exactly are you hoping to achieve by finding out people's workouts?

Answer the question.

[noober]

martial arts IS a form of exercise.. but i love running and wouldn't give it up... physical fitness is just as important as martial art skill IMO

[montana]

voted martial arts, yes MA is a form of excercise but people often lift weights or whatever for a multitude of reasons (size, strenght, explosiveness) some or all of which may be to complement the MA but also may not, they are often carried out on different days too.

I belive the poster is trying to find out where the greater personal focus is - working out to assist the chosen MA or using the MA to assist their personal goals or both

[Yohan]

I was doing more fitness for a while, just to get my fitness up to snuff. Now I'm cashing in half of my fitness training for more skill work.

[Su lin]

It's pretty much 50/50 at the moment, as I am working out to get conditioned so I can train more mma :D

[Dragon Brush]

Well, I think it really depends what takes more time. You can get a good anaerobic conditioning workout in like 5 minutes if you go at max intensity, maybe less time. But your skills work will always be at least somewhat lengthy to ensure proper acquisition and retention.

But then if you're someone who likes their 45 minute runs for pleasure, then it might balance out.

I would probably say I spend more time practicing MA than I do on purely fitness pursuits (those that don't directly involve skill practice).

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[Semper Fi]

My workouts are about 50/50 as I count my time in the boxing gym after martial arts class as part of my martial arts training. =)

[Pacificshore]

I seem to have transitioned over to working out more than doing MA. My MA has been limited these days, but I keep in it enough to never lose interest :)

[WalkingThePath]

I'm doing more weights and fitness lately (especially after doing the Marathon, wanna keep my fitness levels!!) but I count teaching TKD as 'training' because it keeps me switched on and I have to stay aware of the technical stuff. As soon as I stop teaching, I would switch to more MA training.

[MrTambourineMan]

I guess for me it would have to be MA, considering that aside from my mountain biking, my Krav training is the majority of my exercise. As a full-time student, I don't have the money or time for both martial arts training and gym membership, so I definitely prefer MA.

[Van Zandt]

If you push yourself hard enough during your MA training, you should get a good enough workout. I keep my fitness up by drilling my MA techniques hard all the time.

[Su lin]

I wouldn't agree (although I suppose it's all personal as to your training) I need strength training in the gym to develop my mma plus cardio sessions help. That doesn't mean I don't train hard in my ma sessions each week though. I also do extra pad work in the gym to drill techniques.
Depends what ma you do- some are more physical than others. There used to be a couple of wing chun guys came to my lau gar class late so they missed the warm up :D

[Dragon Brush]

If you push yourself hard enough during your MA training, you should get a good enough workout. I keep my fitness up by drilling my MA techniques hard all the time.

I wouldn't say that's always the case.

For one, you don't usually get adequate strength training during an MA class. Devoting time to it would really just take away from in class technique work.

And it's not always a good idea to rely on MA for a completely exhausting cardio workout, because you may end up drilling your technique sloppily once you become fatigued, and do more bad than good.

[Su lin]

I agree Yukuji. Take tonight for example, I trained for 2 1/2 hours- 1hr mma and 1 1/2 hours kung fu. In that time I did warm ups, some cardio style work, drilling techniques,forms (in kung fu) , rolling for a while then 30 mins sparring at kung fu, It was a good all round session but I don't feel it gave me enough in terms of strength training. Tomorrow night I will combine an hours cardio class with weights after then some sparring after that. It's good to do training that supplements the ma training too I think to improve what I do in class.
Even if I trained and drilled ma 6 days a week I'm not entirely sure I would get the ideal workout.

[Yohan]

If you push yourself hard enough during your MA training, you should get a good enough workout. I keep my fitness up by drilling my MA techniques hard all the time.

I think that's the case. I've been getting excellent workouts by doing loads of bag work and a little running in addition to class. I've been using all of my physical resources to complete my bagwork and perform in class, and it's honestly very very taxing. I'm getting in way better shape for moving and punching and doing Martial Arts, but I'm not gaining any appreciable strength, my conditioning as far as anaerobic and lactic threshold is staying where it is rather than increasing. At the end of the day it's all about your goals.

Using all your resources to get better at martial arts will get you better at Martial Arts faster. Using all your resources to get stronger and fitter will get you stronger and fitter, faster.

[Yohan]

I agree Yukuji. Take tonight for example, I trained for 2 1/2 hours- 1hr mma and 1 1/2 hours kung fu. In that time I did warm ups, some cardio style work, drilling techniques,forms (in kung fu) , rolling for a while then 30 mins sparring at kung fu, It was a good all round session but I don't feel it gave me enough in terms of strength training. Tomorrow night I will combine an hours cardio class with weights after then some sparring after that. It's good to do training that supplements the ma training too I think to improve what I do in class.
Even if I trained and drilled ma 6 days a week I'm not entirely sure I would get the ideal workout.

CORRECT!

[lonewarror]

Martial arts is a life style;Working out is a life style then are they not the same.Be it the body or the mind in training a better you (self) what is desired?

[never_surrender]

I actually invited a friend of mine to a freestyle kickboxing session (free of charge the lucky sod:( ) and he actually said that you don't need a gym when you have done this! Although i do do both he is right in a way because the vast majority of folk who train at the gym go to tone up whereby you can actually achieve that by doing martial arts alone. As Lou says though, we need to keep our stamina going throughout the cardio sessions and therefore need to work out on a regular basis at the gym and to also keep the strength climbing.

[Hiroji]

For me it depends, if i had a comp/fight coming up id up the fitness and the skill work/sparring.

At the moment im not training martial arts often till september, so now im doing more weight training to get stonger....so on and so forth. Keeps it intertesting for me.