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Particularily among strength athletes, cardiovascular training (cardio) has fallen a bit out of favor as of late and unjustifiably so. This is especially true for athletes who's main focus is to build muscle tissue. However, from a healthy lifestyle perspective, cardio keeps the heart efficient, improves your lung capacity, and increases your endurance. These are benefits which not only keep us living longer, but improves your performance as a martial artist. What cardiovascular training will not do is build muscle and make you stronger. Therefore, balance between strength and cardiovascular training should be included in your fitness program.
We have also included, in this section, a page on plyometric training. The use of plyometrics does involve cardiovascular work, however, it is intended to link your speed and strength to give you that edge in your performance.
The great thing about cardiovascular training is that you do not need any equipment. Just a good pair of shoes suitable for the task and some comfortable clothing is all you need...and if you are a swimmer...even less.
Cardiovascular Training Frequency
The amount of time you devote to cardiovascular training should be tailored to your
sport-specific needs, however, at least three, thirty minute,
cardio sessions per week should be done to keep your
cardiovascular system healthy. Of course, your eating habits have a lot to do with your
cardiovascular health so pay even closer attention of what goes in your mouth. It is also
worth noting to always be aware of symptoms for overtraining. If you find yourself
constantly weak, sore, getting sick, and unmotivated, you could be overtraining. So find a
good balance to all the components that make up your training program and include rest
days in that mix.
Cardio and Fat Loss
Many athletes and non-athletes do some cardio training to shed some unwanted pounds.
The target for these loss of pounds should be fat. As we had discussed in our section on
metabolism, muscle tissue provides our bodies with a very
natural fat burning tool...not to mention its obvious strength benefits. Our section on
calories also discussed the importance of maintaining a slight
caloric deficit when attempting to shed some fat. Also, there are several publications which
outline the benefits of performing moderate (around 60 percent of your
maximum heart rate) cardiovascular exercise since a moderate
pace burns a higher percentage of fat than does intense (70 percent of maximum HR or
higher) cardiovascular training. The
higher the intensity, the higher percentage of carbohydrates are used for fuel.
The key word to focus on here is "percentage". Even though moderate cardio work
does indeed burn a higher percentage of fat, intense cardiovascular exercise
burns more total calories including fat.
Cardio Exercises
No need to get too technical here. It is very likely that your martial arts training alone
gives you a tremendous amount of cardiovascular training. In fact, an intense
one hour martial arts class burns twice as many calories as a step aerobics class.
Of course, jogging is one of the more popular forms of cardiovascular training, however,
over time can be tough on the knees and ankles. If you love to jog, try running on grass
or if you are near a beach, on sand. Running in sand also helps to build power in the legs.
Exercises which prove to be easier on the joints are cycling, swimming, and skating /
rollerblading. Machines such as steppers are useful, however, try to always do cardio
work which involves free or natural movement such as jogging or swimming. Your body will definately
adapt better to the mix of movement required in martial arts training.
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Target Heart Rate
Plyometrics