The Ins and Outs of Ups (Push-ups, that is)

Post By: Sensei Kris

Push-ups are one of those exercises that we all know we should do, but don't always want to do them. But they're important, and for many reasons besides being a requirement for each of the belt ranks! In the last few years I've learned and discovered a lot about doing these things over and over and over. As recently as three years ago, I still couldn't really do full-length push-ups due to a shoulder injury sustained when I got T-boned by an SUV while riding my bicycle home from the office. But those days are behind me.

Up front, though, let's acknowledge that many of us have learned how to cheat at push-ups, by sticking our rear ends way up in the air or just barely bending our arms at all. And while that might let you keep up with the pace of the class, it's only really cheating one person - you. So the first step in this 12-step program is to admit you have a problem with push-ups and to commit to doing them correctly. Because cheating yourself just means that you will never develop the muscles and coordination to do the technique correctly.

From a physics perspective, there are really two things to look at in the motion of performing a push-up: force and work. So I did a little physics to calculate the way the force you are applying changes at different points during the push-up, and guess what? Just like the cheaters have always known and avoided, the hardest part - the maximum force you have to apply - happens at the start when you're closest to the ground. If you do a full-length push-up, with your back and legs perfectly aligned, and you start as close to the ground as possible, you are lifting about 62.5% of your body weight at the start of the push-up. So if you weigh 120 pounds, you're basically doing a 75 pound bench press. But this force drops off as you extend your arms and change the angle your body makes with the ground. At maximum arm extension, this force is approximately 58% of your body weight, so that 120 pound person is only doing a 70 pound bench press. Not a lot of difference, but over the course of many push-ups, it adds up. I also looked at how the distance between your legs changes the forces. And it turns out that the force does decrease as you spread your legs, but even at a 60-degree angle, you still have about 94% of the maximum force possible.

In terms of work, which is a measure of the amount of energy you use to lift your body against the force of earth's gravity, the results are a little more interesting. Doing a half-push-up uses less than 40% of the energy required to do a full push-up. So if you are only bending your arms half-way, you are really losing out on training. Doing 10 all-the-way-to-the-ground pushups burns as much energy as doing 26 half-pushups! That's a big difference. And spreading your legs actually lets you burn a few more calories, so long as you don't spread them too far (don't put your feet farther apart than your arm span.)

And speaking of calories, if you go to FatBurn.com and use their free tool for calculating calories burned during exercise, you find that a minute of moderately paced push-ups burns about 11 calories for a person my size (basically 0.61 calories per 10 pounds of body weight.) So it's not just about the mechanics, but how fast you do them.

Finally, there are some easy modifications to make to help you work toward your next push-up mile mark. We all know about the modified position, doing push-ups from your knees. But you can do full length in a variety of ways. To make them easier without sacrificing form, change the level of your head slightly by positioning your hands on chairs or a low wall or windowsill. When that gets easy, try doing them from much lower - like the edge of the aiki mat. Then go to where you head and hands are even. On the other hand, if you are finding full length pushups easy, but don't want to just do another 100 of them, try raising your feet higher than your hands. These techniques are easy if you do them outside on the hill - all you need is to reposition your body to make it easier or harder.

Don't forget to always keep your back straight and your rear end down. Work toward being able to do 10 perfect form pushups. Then go for 20. Or pick up the pace. Lately, my routine for pushups is to do a set of 50, rest and stretch my arms for a minute or less, do a set of 40, rest, set of 30, rest, set of 20, rest, and a set of 10 (that's 150 total). When that gets easy, I'll shift to sets of 55, 45, 35, 25, 15, and 5. And then work up. And when I'm close to the next mark, I'll use my hand and foot positions to help me transition to the new goal.

The bottom line is simple. It's up to you to keep yourself honest and to get the most out of every training session. If you are going to train, get the most out of the time you're putting in. We're all too busy to waste time by training at less than 100%.

Photo By: Ken Smith

Warming-Up Before Practice Starts

Post by: S Lee

You bow in, enter the dojo, bow to the shrine, and see that you have a good ten minutes before practice starts. Now what? Lately we have been going over some good ways to warm-up on your own when you get to the dojo a little bit early.

Range of motion exercises are a good way to start, but they shouldn't be done for more than a couple minutes. Muscles are like taffy, when they are warm they are stretchy and flexible. However, when they are cold they are susceptible to injury. Therefore, it is best to start warming up those muscles before you start stretching or doing strenuous activity like punching and kicking the bags. Here are some ideas:

-Knees to chest
-Jumping jacks
-Light jog, incorporating upper body movement
-Light shadow boxing
-Jump rope
-Kata
-Tai Sabaki

After a few minutes of warming up with one of these activities, your muscles should start feeling warm and loose. Depending on how warmed up you are, you may feel like stretching at this point. Another option is to start practicing techniques. Bag work, push-ups, sit-ups, weapons kata, rolls, and other techniques can be practiced for the last few minutes before class starts.

There are some things you should NOT be doing:

-Talking about non-martial arts stuff
-Sitting down to stretch
-Staring into oblivion

It is important to get the most out of every class you attend. This is true for everyone, but even more so for people looking to test. One of the things black belts look for in potential testers is their readiness and enthusiasm. This is also your chance to work that new part of your kata or to go over your offensive sparring combinations without a Sensei scrutinizing your techniques.

Keep these things in mind when arriving to practice early. Have any other ideas for warm-ups? Add them in the comments!

Photo By: Ken Smith

Working Hard and Being Tough

Post By: Lee Phelan

Recently we all received a letter from Sensei Harp explaining a concept of "old school" training. I have also noticed during my time as a sensei that upper belts often have questions concerning the requirements for black belt, especially once everything in the back of their book is checked off. Often the response to these inquiries is vague and abstract, since it is difficult to put these higher level requirements into words.

However, I believe things can be made much simpler, especially in light of Sensei Harp's letter. Students in the martial arts need to work hard and be tough. I don't necessarily mean cranking out a hundred handstand push-ups or walking on broken glass. There are many other things students and teachers can do to meet these two concepts.

As soon as you enter the floor, get to work. Do not talk about that jerk at work, how much homework you have, or your annoying relatives. I realize this can be difficult, especially when friendships develop within the dojo. But remember, the only talk should be about martial arts. So unless you have a specific question about a technique or kata, start working.

Come to class with the intention of doing your best. If you have an injury or condition you think will hamper you, either stay home or readjust what you are doing the best you can. Complaining to a Sensei or other students will only give you an excuse to take it easy, which negates both concepts.

Think about your uniform. If you only have a lightweight gi, consider switching to a heavy weight. The heavy weight gis will help with your training. It makes performing strong techniques irresistible, since hearing that nice SNAP becomes addicting. It also helps get you in the right mindset, just like wearing formal dress for an important event.

Keep the smiling and giggling down to a minimum. Some humor and being friendly is fine, but be careful not to take it too far. If you are laughing or talking with your partner more than you are working, you may have a problem.

Face your fears. If sparring is scary for you, do it anyway, but without showing your fear. Acting afraid of your opponent will only give them power. I think it is important to continually challenge your fears. For me facing my fears through sparring is a huge affirmation to my martial arts training. Yes, you read that right. There are people I spar with who scare me.  

Everyone struggles with these concepts, and no one is perfect. It takes effort and a strong sense of character to start practicing while others are talking, or to put on the heavy weight gi when it is eighty degrees outside. However, your training both physically and mentally will greatly improve, and your goals will become even closer to your grasp. 

Photo by: Teerapun

Seigans and Commitment

Post by: Kris Green 

On this, the 950th day of my Seigan, I find myself wondering what has helped me

continue with my commitment? I’m not doing it for a record; it’s a personal 
challenge. 
 
Some of what’s kept me going is definitely an obsessive personality trait. 
That’s the part that has me log each class. (That’s how I know that I’m 
averaging just over 63 minutes per day.) Mostly though, it’s the desire to 
improve myself physically, mentally and emotionally that’s kept me going. 
 
I started simple, challenging myself to keep an official seigan going. Then I 
tried to bump it and do an hour each day. It doesn’t always work: sometimes I’m 
sick or injured or too busy or make other excuses and only get in 30 or 45 
minutes. But I always feel a little bad about it the next day – there’s the 
obsessive part of me. A half hour sometimes feels like I haven’t quite gotten 
what I want out of my workout, especially since I’ve started trying to bring 
more balance to them. 
 
A big key for me is variety. For a while I achieved this by making each day’s 
workout different. I’d do my kata as slowly as possible one day (I made the 
motion-sensing lights in a racquetball court turn off and stay off while doing 
kata once!) The next day, I might try to get power out of the kata, or focus on 
my stances or balance. Or really envision all the attackers and different ways 
to apply the movements. Some days I’d do a thousand kicks, or a thousand 
punches, or both to work on stamina. 
 
Recently, though, instead of doing the same thing for the entire workout, I’ve 
started to bring variety into each day. I’ll break the hour up into segments, 
like three 20-minute segments or four 15-minute segments. Then each segment gets 
a different focus. I may do one segment for conditioning, one to go over the 
most recent moves from kenjitsu, one to run through some self-defense moves, and 
one to work on my kata for third degree. It’s amazing how quickly the time 
passes. 
 
Another trick is to add in a little outside element to your training. For 
example, if you like to watch cartoons, have them playing while you work out and 
make them part of the workout. Scenes change quickly in cartoons, and every time 
the scene changes, you could swap to a new sparring combination, or add in an 
extra punch or kick to the head of your imaginary opponent. 
 
Anything we do in class is a potential source for a workout, and everything can 
be modified for different situations. Try doing all you upper body basics 
sitting in a chair, or doing the lower basics from seiza. 
 
Start small, build up, and pretty soon you’ll realize that you’ve made it 100 
days or more! Keep a record of your workouts so that you can vary them and to 
encourage you to remember to do it. 
 

Photo by: Salvatore Vuono 

Balancing Exercise and Inner Training

Like many people, I use martial arts as a way to get a good workout. I've always joked that without karate, I would probably weigh about 500 pounds. Going through katas full power, snapping the bo around, and blasting through the punching bag all provide an excellent workout. So does sparring at a fast and intense pace. At one point I believed if I didn't leave the dojo with a sweat-soaked uniform, that I didn't work hard enough and had wasted the class.

After receiving my black belt, I realized that there was a lot more to training than pushing these physical limits. It is one thing to fly through katas, but it is another to actually feel the moves and to understand them. This higher level training is only possible to achieve by going through things slowly and methodically. The same goes for sparring. The only way you can improve and eliminate bad habits is to slow down and cut out all the unnecessary movements. To ask yourself "Why did I just throw that front kick?"

That being said, there is also a place for physical exercise in martial arts training. Without endurance and muscular development you will not last very long performing katas, while sparring, or in self defense. Push-ups, sit-ups, squat-thrusts, and bag training help turn our bodies into efficient tools capable of delivering devastating power when necessary. Having the ability to sprint or run away from an altercation is just as important.

I believe that you need both components in order to be a well-rounded martial artist. The difficulty is managing to balance them out. Sadly, most of us do not have the luxury of being able to train at a gym for a couple of hours, and then to train in the dojo. So how do we work in both sides of our training?

Training on your own is very important. Getting to class early or staying late and slowly going through katas is always a good idea. Even 15 minutes will make a difference.

Vary your goals during sparring. Pick a few rounds to slow down and to work with your partner, regardless of their rank.

Take advantage of the endurance training during class. Perform all these exercises to the best of your ability and without any excuses.

Think about martial arts during the day. One thing I love doing is looking at people walking by or standing in line at Wegmans, and imagining how I would best unbalance them.

I'm sure there are other ways to fit in both sides of martial arts training. Feel free to share your own ideas and methods!  

Photo by Federico Stevanin