I am starting Tae Kwon Do this week and have been watching and researching on the internet to try to get a better idea of what to expect. Obviously the examples i have found are done by higher level students but I am slightly worried about the fitness level. Are there any specific exercises i could do myself that would help me? Thanks!
Yes. I recommend HIIT(high intensity interval training), or more specificly: Interval sprinting. Best ...exersise ...ever.
It increases your anaerobic endurance. And also has a trickle down effect into aerobic endurance via "post exersice oxygen consumption" This is good because as a MA'st you want to be able to sustain maximal effort muscle contractions as long as possible. This effectivly is training your body to move faster, hit harder, jump higher, ...for longer.
Don't scare the girl, Prophet! You will not start off at a blackbelt level and you will find that your endurance and fitness will build as you get used to working out on a regular basis. Your instructor will only push you as far as your limits- though you will learn that those limits aren't where you think they are. How fit are you now and what are your current routines?
I want to Increase my body muscle (mainly upper) by a respectable amount..nothing too big just to build and tone. At the minute i do Dumbbell reps, situps, pushups and on the spot sprints. Im guessing it wouldnt hurt to increase my fitness levels aswell for MA's, but is there any excercises that are easily done from the home with weights/treadmill?
haha I seem to have that problem a lot. Ok, so maybe full on sprinting isn't in your immediate future. But you can do interval jogging and slowly up the entensity with each session as you see fit. But you must remember to push yourself pretty hard to reap the benifits of HIIT (hence, ..high intensity). But yeah, not everyone is suited to just jump right into a HIIT routine. So, to echo Wry, how fit would you say you are? You could allways just go for a jog, and right before you get home, sprint the last 100m or so, and see how it effects your body.
Yes. How much weight do you have access to. Do you have a barbell as well, or just dumbells. Also, If the treadmill is your thing, thats fine, but I recommend being outdoors because you can run faster and push yourself harder which leads to better results.
On the other hand, and just to play devil's advocate, I like the treadmill or eliptical better because I find that doing intervals on that can really be challenging and less distructive to the knees. If you like the treadmill, play with the elevation as well as the speed. Do short sprints and then back down to a jog for several rounds.
Good call on the knees. I've been a sprinter all my life and have never seen a treadmill thats half as fast as my legs tho haha. OH, and I must recommend burpees. Burpees are an awesome choice for the MA'st. HERE is a link that shows how to perform them.
Yeah i have a pretty good set of dumbbells and barbells...enuf for my strength at the minute anyway lol. I jog solely to burn fat as my main aim is to build and tone muscle. But i do Jujitsu twice a week which is usually HIIT in short bursts, and its through that, which ive noticed my fitness levels increase.
Hate to burst the bubble here, but you can't burn fat while building muscle. ...well you can, but its outrageously hard and not realistic for the most part. Muscle "grows" when there is a surplus of calories in your diet. And fat is burnt when you are in a calorie deficit.
I know exactly what you mean, but it is possible to lower body fat with training whilst still building muscle. The jogging merely helps fitness and tone. It just requires a specific diet and training routine.
yeah, when youre new to a movement, some muscle will be built, regardless of diet (to a point) But... those new muscular devolpments will be short lived, and will only continue for a short while. If you want to further progress beyond the initial adaptive responce from your body, your going to need a caloric surplus.
The trick, I have slowly learned, is to do enough aerobic type movements while challenging the muscles enough that you do not loose muscle mass. I have just started working lately on a new set of routines which have quite a bit more reactive exercises while still incorporating enough weight to not loose the muscles I have. So things like walking lunges with sprints might be the way to go for you.
If i still ate a healthy diet without gaining weight, would Protein supplements be sufficient to allow me to build that bit of extra muscle? Im not exactly a lightweight at the minute so i have plenty to work with lol.
They'll help maintain what you have allready, but if your not in a colorie surplus, not much muscle at all, if any will be built.
If you are already strong, work to maintain your mass and worry about loosing weight. Otherwise, you can loose and then gain muscle.
hmm yeh, i dont want to dwindle away becus of weight loss training. If i focused on losing that first and then began training to gain muscle would that help?
Yeah, that could help. It might so happen, that by paying attention to your diet and training, and apon being successful with fat loss, it might be easier for you (because of your knowledge of your bodies calorie requirements) to gain muscle while gaining minimum fat.
