Cross-training Resources

[Neil Gendzwill]

Your approach is OK for general/casual fitness. If people are more serious about their sports, they need to train with specificity and they need to have a program, and that involves measurement of progress.

[CalebPaul]

I wouldn't necessarily call it casual fitness (although in my case it is). I'd say plenty of the crossfit crowd (many of whom are martial artists and/or military personnel) are anything but casually fit. They might not be top of the game in any one particular field, but judged across several fields, they'd be fitter on average than most specialists. Put into unfamiliar athletic situations, they'd probably be much quicker to adapt and be able to perform better also. Indeed, one of the philosophies of crossfit is to not only do the crossfit training, but to seek out and learn new skills/sports/forms of fitness so as to constantly challenge oneself.

What I'm saying is that unless you're an absolute uber athlete at the top levels (which probably isn't many people here -- and those here who are at such levels are probably getting their training advice/instruction from personal specialists), I don't think there's a compelling argument to be made for highly specialised fitness. Also, I think it's massive overkill for the average person to get into some highly detailed micro-analysis of sports science.

Looking at the small picture, someone who wants to run a marathon probably doesn't need to work on his upper body, yet that's not to say that in the big picture it wouldn't be good for him to work on his upper body, if only so he can lift the couch up with one hand while he's vacuuming the living room. Likewise, I know this may be sacrilege, but kendo isn't life. It's one small part of it. I would rather have less specific kendo fitness and more general fitness.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Uber athlete at the top levels? You think only Olympians train this way? Go check out the weight room at your local high school, you'll find a ton of everyday kids training with very specific goals in mind.

[CalebPaul]

That's not what I said. I know that there are. What I said is that I don't think there's a compelling argument to be made for specialised fitness.

[flounder-san]

Thanks, guys.

Mark, that's heavy, man. I have never built a quadrant type thing! What, you make a list of your physical capabilities and cross reference that against what's needed for kendo and then try to work on what you need to work on most?

For me it's all about prioritizing what I can do around my busy family life. Both running and lifting fit in well with that in that I can just go out to the garage and lift or throw on the shoes and go at a moment's notice, and then only be gone for a half hour. Sometimes I can work out with the kids present, too, i.e. stretching and pushups or hand weights during snack time.

Here's a thought...do you still have that big field behind your place?

When I was in Rugby, we used to do what the coaches called "satan squares"...it was a square pattern 60m on a side. You'd run (not quite flat out) from one corner to the next...stopping at each to do a calisthenic exercise.

Pushups ---------------------Situps----------------------mountain climbers-------------star grabbers

Now, you can substitute any number of calisthenic exercises (lunges, various modified pushups, leg lifting exercises, various abdominal crunches, body builders, bear crawls, crab walks, body bridges, to name a few) depending on an area of focus or personal health (injuries might make some of these painful, so don't do those!). You can also shorten the running distances; after all, you're not training for 80 minutes of constantly running the length of a football field!

That's great if you have a good, smooth field and favorable weather. If not, you can still do those exercises indoors. The trick is, as mentioned above, keeping your heartrate up. That means doing enough of each exercise to max out your H/R, then taking a short rest before starting the next one.

I've had some GREAT workouts with a thing called "FitDeck" which has all kinds of exercises on poker-card sized flash cards...and I only needed a little floor space to do it! The bear-crawl, in particular, is a real SOB...try bear crawling for 30seconds after having done several sets of pushups! *whew!* We're talking tears in eyes kinda grit!

[Unicorn Horn]

Uber athlete at the top levels? You think only Olympians train this way? Go check out the weight room at your local high school, you'll find a ton of everyday kids training with very specific goals in mind.

Yeah and I was one of them 10 months ago.

[Unicorn Horn]

I wouldn't necessarily call it casual fitness (although in my case it is). I'd say plenty of the crossfit crowd (many of whom are martial artists and/or military personnel) are anything but casually fit. They might not be top of the game in any one particular field, but judged across several fields, they'd be fitter on average than most specialists. Put into unfamiliar athletic situations, they'd probably be much quicker to adapt and be able to perform better also. Indeed, one of the philosophies of crossfit is to not only do the crossfit training, but to seek out and learn new skills/sports/forms of fitness so as to constantly challenge oneself.

What I'm saying is that unless you're an absolute uber athlete at the top levels (which probably isn't many people here -- and those here who are at such levels are probably getting their training advice/instruction from personal specialists), I don't think there's a compelling argument to be made for highly specialised fitness. Also, I think it's massive overkill for the average person to get into some highly detailed micro-analysis of sports science.

Looking at the small picture, someone who wants to run a marathon probably doesn't need to work on his upper body, yet that's not to say that in the big picture it wouldn't be good for him to work on his upper body, if only so he can lift the couch up with one hand while he's vacuuming the living room. Likewise, I know this may be sacrilege, but kendo isn't life. It's one small part of it. I would rather have less specific kendo fitness and more general fitness.

Runners who run marathons should work out there upper body just as much as there lower. And yes as you say should work them anyways. As i was saying Runners can swing there arms thousands of times during a marathon and they are a main source of helping you breath(more of a breathing rythm should I say) and run so if they get tired so does your entire body. So it should be highly considered just as important as working your lower body. And I do agree with you on the Military Personal. They are more likely to adapt to any exercises regeim regardless of where they are because of their training in the Military. Thats why I prefer to mostly train as they do and teach others the same as what I personaly do. I'm the "Do as I do and Do as I sasy" It all comes from personal expeirance for me. I spend 2 1/2 to 3 hours working out each workout To make sure I get all the little things that needs to be stregnthed such as legmints and tendons and such along with the major body parts. Like I said When i responded to Neil's quote I was one of those kids in high school even though i wasn't in athletics. And I still am today.

[SOLDIER]

Well at work I run almost everyday and I think it helps only the cardio aspect of fitness . Lately I have been training in Parkour and it honestly give me a whole body workout. From my fingers(climbing) to my toes(gripping) . There is nothing that does not get used , no waisted movement. I love it just as much as Ilove kendo . It uses balance and core strength rules to manipulate fitness and cardio levels. I have honestly seen way more improvement in my strength to time ratio and my recovery time. Because of the constant muscle variety you use so many different groups. This is so beneficial to kendo once you start using your whole body into the strike. It will become very beautiful. As Iam a career soldier we train alot, running, obstacle courses, Air Assault training and MMA training . None have the whole impact on my body as 1 hour of Parkour....JMHO

[hl1978]

yoga and not the relaxing kind. Figure out how to do it without muscling the postures and you are training the same skills rooted in all martial arts.

[braxtonhicks]

For me, from the "Body For Life" book as far as intervals go, for any cardio exercise be it running, bike, whatever, as long as you can see a watch or clock, or swimming if you have a watch with a loud Countdown/Repeat function:

2 minutes warmup at a "5 out of 10" intensity level

Then 4x's of
1 minutes at 6 out of 10
1 at 7
1 at 8
1 at 9

Then 1 minute at 10 out of 10, all out, hear pounding, try not to say "uncle".

Then 1 minute easy.

Kicks my butt every time, and you're done in 20 minutes.

[Geordie Bruiser]

I've been out of the loop for a while with regards to weight training, just started back to Kendo after a while off.
Can anyone give me a comprehensive list of exercises that would be most beneficial to Kendo???

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Charlie]

May need to start a new thread, Geordie. Not sure how often the gym rats are checking this one.

Off the top of my head, I think most folks are definitely squatting, high weight or low/high reps. I also feel like I get benefit out of:

Overhead/military press
Upright rows
Tricep curls or dips

I think most people would agree that core-training is perhaps of best benefit to kendo due to the emphasis in kendo on using the lower body. Get a second opinion here, I'm really not very experienced with weights.

[SamuelRiv]

one word: dance

I've never had anything help me more with every sport I've ever done than modern dance or ballet. The plie is something that I teach any beginner I work with to show them proper back form in kendo and fencing. Gymnastics helps immensely for quick strength buildup, too - just make sure you do the tumbling strength training (which works the legs and balance a lot more) as well as an upper-body apparatus.

One of our yudansha got a consultation from a sports fitness major on the muscle groups to train - he told me to focus on number of repetitions over strength exercise, doing 15-20 reps of each group at one or two sets, and to work the big muscle groups first and the small ones later. The order he goes in is

chest
lats (upper back)
shoulders
biceps
triceps
lower back
squats
quads
glutes
calves

[Charlie]

Got a link to tumbling strength training description?

[chainz]

that's a total bodu workout , i train the same but i do superset instead regular set. more focusing in squat and abs
i guess he means the bosu ball , for stability and strenght