If you want to get your body ready for martial arts, the best warm-up is one in which you move how you’re going to move during class.
This might seem like common sense, but sadly you will sometimes find in life that common sense is NOT so common. (Maybe they need a different name for it then. That is food for thought, but it is beyond the scope of this article.)
Let’s take a look at what this statement means, what many classes do, and why they are wrong to do it that way.
The “Functional Fitness” Myth Strikes Again
I do not believe in “functional fitness.” In fact, I wrote about this myth in a previous piece. New visitors to the site will most likely have missed that, so I will share the link to it here:
Functional Fitness is a MYTH (Part 6 of 6)
If you want to develop skill doing a certain technique, then you need to do that technique.
- No more box jumps to develop “explosive footwork.”
- No more “punching with weights so your punches will be faster.”
- No more push-ups with clapping hands for…whatever reason someone would do that.
If you want to get better at these things, move how you’re going to move during class.
What Most Schools Do for Warm-Ups
Having observed different classes from various styles, I can report what the majority of them do. I can also say with confidence that I bet this is what at least 95% of most schools do. Basically, they grab moves from calisthenics.
- Push-ups
- Sit-ups (or crunches)
- Squats
- Burpees
- Leg raises
- Planks
- Squat jumps
While some of these moves are good for strength training (push-ups, crunches, and squats), they will not help your art.
Don’t mistake what I am saying here: I am not trying to convince you that these moves are 100% garbage. I’m just trying to say that we should take them for what they are: things that get your body moving, not things that will increase your martial art skill.
However, even if I were saying these were bogus, the uselessness of all these exercises combined would still pale in comparison to the biggest time-waster of all.
Stretching: How to Never Move How You’re Going to Move in Class…Again
Stretching is the greatest fraud ever bestowed upon the martial arts, not to mention every sports team ever. Back in the day, coaches didn’t know any better, so they can be forgiven. However, despite numerous scientific studies showing that this practice is actually bad for you, people continue to do it, and that’s just not cool.
Instead of preparing the muscles for exercise, stretching actually weakens them. A study at the University of Nevada showed that athletes who did static stretching lost up to 30% of their muscle strength. In a New York Times article called Stretching: The Truth, Malachy McHugh (the director of research at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City) was quoted as saying, “There is a neuromuscular inhibitory response to static stretching.” Basically, what the good doctor and his team found was that muscles stay weakened for up to 30 minutes after a stretch.
A Better Alternative for the Martial Artist
As I said earlier, you can still incorporate some non-martial art-like moves into your warm-up. For example, you could start out with jogging in place, then move on to jumping jacks. Anything that gets your joints warmed up (like circling your arms in both directions to get the shoulders activated) is definitely worth including.
Since martial arts involve punching and kicking, you will want to throw light punches and kicks. Don’t throw at top speed, and don’t kick as high as you can when fully warmed up. Right now, you are still trying to get the blood flowing.
One school that I attended would include shadow boxing in their warm-up. We would do it in three different phases. In the first, we threw techniques in a loose, relaxed manner. For round two, we sought to deliver them with maximum power. Finally, round three was about throwing them at top speed. If we attempted top speed as the first variation, odds are someone would have hurt themselves.
Conclusion
I know I will not convert anyone who doesn’t want to be converted. If a person who already believes in functional fitness stumbles upon this article, they will still believe in it when they leave this site.
That’s okay. I didn’t write this with the intention of changing how the world thinks. My only intention with this piece was to spread the information to those who are open to a new perspective.
Hopefully that is you, dear reader.
~~~Steve Grogan
His YouTube channel (Geek Wing Chun) gives free training tips and ideas for people who want to get better at Wing Chun but can't make it to class as often as they'd like. Check it out by simply typing "Geek Wing Chun" into the YouTube search field!
- Move How You’re Going to Move During Class - October 19, 2022
- Martial Arts Do NOT Boost Self-Esteem - September 28, 2022
- TRAINING TIP – Ignore the Latest Shiny Object - August 4, 2022
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