Begin your Martial Arts workout with a short session of mental preparation. Sit in a relaxed position (many styles of Martial Arts have a prescribed meditation position or pose) and clear your mind of the day’s problems. Focus on what you are about to do, what you want to get out of it, and how you are going to perform your workout with total focus and clarity.

Warm-up and General Stretching.

As all athletes and fitness experts will tell you, you need to shape your workout so you ease into it, build to a pinnacle of effort, and slow down towards the end of the workout in order to reduce the likelihood of injury to yourself. With Martial Arts, an initial warm-up should consist of a short session of aerobic exercise to increase blood flow and raise body temperature, followed by some 5 to 10 minutes spent doing slow stretching of all muscle groups, aiming to loosen tense muscles and ease those that aren’t used much in daily tasks, into readiness for action to come.

Slow Techniques

You might then follow with a session of slow kata (or form), concentrating on good technique with full extension. This is the time you can increase your muscle memory by doing your kata in “Full Tension” – keep your muscles tense through each slow technique.

Leg Stretching

Before getting into the more intense part of your Martial Arts workout, you need to do some more preparation. Having raised your body temperature through general stretching and warm-up routines, it is time to thoroughly prepare your muscles, particularly those in your legs, for more powerful techniques like blocks, strikes, and kicks.

Always include basic techniques in your workout. Start slowly – work through your basic techniques while gradually increasing the tempo and power of your movements. Concentrate on getting the technique right first, then increase its power. A powerful strike is dangerous to you and of little use, if it is not performed correctly.

Workout Climax

Combinations are recommended as the next part of your workout. These are groups of techniques performed in a logical, ‘fighting’ order; that is, in the order you would typically use them while sparring or in a tournament or fight. An example is Block/Strike/Kick – Block an assailant’s attack and quickly follow through with a strike to surprise or stun them, then finish them of with a powerful kick. Practice a few different combinations many times so that they flow and you can perform them without too much forethought.

Work through your kata or form with full power and intensity. This is where your art comes together. Practice as many different kata or forms as you know, working up from a novice kata to the kata related to your current abilities or ranking. Be sure that your kata is regularly inspected by an instructor so that incorrect techniques don’t sneak in and become ingrained into your Art.

Cool Down

Having reached the peak of your Martial Arts workout, you need to gradually ease back down on the physical intensity and bring your body back to a more normal state. A good cool down session will aid in removal of metabolic waste materials such as Lactic Acid which, in turn, will reduce soreness and stiffness later. This can best be achieve by some light shadow sparring which will also tend to re-stretch all muscles. Follow up by some on the spot jogging, then ease into a short session of relaxed stretching making sure you work all muscle groups with low intensity.

Finally you should do some relaxation exercises concentrating on breathing and meditation. Now is the time to focus keenly on the spiritual aspect of your chosen Martial Art and ask yourself questions about how you approached your workout from a spiritual standpoint. Did you do your best? Was your Focus all it should be?

The final part of your workout should be to re-hydrate and re-energise.  Drink enough water to replace the fluid lost during your workout and have a protein snack to rebuild your energy levels so that you don’t feel low as you leave. The better you feel as you walk away from your workout, the more inclined you will be to workout next time.

Conclusion

You will get out of your Martial Arts workout what you put into it. A half hearted workout will give you little satisfaction, and mediocre fitness results. Working on your mentality at the beginning and the end of your workout will improve your ability to ‘put in’ and the value you ‘get out’ of your Martial Art.

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