Thoughts on fitness

[Aaron Pynenberg]

Hello there all,

At the risk of sounding haughty, I recently competed in a triathalon/team event in which I was to run a 5K-( a little over three miles with hills/rough terrain).

I did this and used my RMA training regimines as a testbed for the level of physical fitness I have attained. I did not practice running at all- but continued my practice sessions-tuning it up a couple notches.

Needless to say I ran about 7 min miles, and came in third place. I was not exhausted at all and recovered very quickly. I plan on doing a few more now, only competing in all three events ( swim, bike, run ) to further examine the limits of the training. If this works I would like to begin work on a "fitness" section for the ARMARIA with others imput, but first I need to check with a few other more senior members, hopefully in person-

so I had emailed a few that I was going to send out my workout to them, but I think I am going to wait-as it will really mean nothing until I can put togther some video and show you- explain it etc... Aaron Pynenberg

[Jaron Bernstein]

congratulations! <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Gene Tausk]

Congrats, Aaron.

I was meaning to email you about this as well, but I guess I can just discuss it with you at the event in August.

Looking forward to seeing you.


-------------------&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;gene tausk
SFS
Study Group Leader - Houston ARMA Southside

[Jake_Norwood]

A "fitness" article for the Armaria is one of those things that we hear about, but never gets done (*cough, cough, tim sheetz, cough cough*). I would love to see it.

Jake

[Gene Tausk]

I agree with Jake's coughing bout. It would be great if a certain unknown individual wrote an article re: fitness for the ARMARIA.

<img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />


----------------&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;gene tausk
SFS
Study Group Leader - ARMA Houston Southside

[David_Knight]

Yes, I along with many others have brought this up before. I would very much like to see a full fitness regimen (RMA-oriented stretching as well as exercises) become standard ARMA curriculum. I personally do not believe that any martial arts organization should keep raw physical training separate from its technique the way we do because you can't become proficient in the latter without the former. While ARMA has always relied on the assumption that the problem will take care of itself (i.e. out of shape members will get into shape in order to train), I have found that it usually does not, simply because many study groups don't drill often enough or hard enough for ARMA training to really take a toll on their out-of-shape members, and furthermore, many out-of-shape members do not know how to exercise properly.

Ideally, I'd like to see an standardized, disciplined 15-minute warm-up at the beginning of every study session (to complement any solo routines you develop). We in ARMA SoFL have been conducting a basic, Army-style warm-up for most of our sessions (but with an ARMA twist: we count each repetition in German or Latin, alternating with each exercise) and it seems to present a very favorable impression to newcomers, except for the occasional couch-potato who sits it out.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go armor-up for a flurry of "If you militarize ARMA, I'll quit!" posts and JC's signature anti-stretching speech* <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Jaron Bernstein]

Hey guys, I am a big fan of physical fitness. I think an ARMA fitness program would be really cool. That said, I have reservations about using class time for PT. Our study group meets once per week. That means I have around 2 hours a week in which to actually play with other people. I have all week to hack at invisible people in my backyard, swim or hit a bag. I prefer to maximize my time in class on sparring and techniques.

I do recognize that not all ARMAteers are in the best of shape, but IMO it is everyone's responsibility to work out when not in class, so they can be prepared for it. If they aren't in sufficient shape, then....sparring will go badly as an incentive to work out more at home. <img src="/forum/images/icons/laugh.gif" alt="" />

[David_Knight]

I forgot about the "time constraints" argument. <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

My counter is that jumping straight into, for example, a heavy ringen study session would be very foolish without a quick warm-up IMO. I would rather sacrifice 10-15 minutes of study time than lose 2 weeks recovering from a muscle strain.

Most groups do some sort of warm-up already; I would just like to see it standardized and orderly, so that we're obviously part of something larger, not "guys playing with weapons in the park". Appearances are everything.

[JeffGentry]

Hey guy's

Are people wanting a general fitness work out or a more fight specific type of workout?

It seem's to me that it is like any thing else those who are very serious and want to improve will do the work on there own, other's who are not real atheletic or in any kind of decent shape will need coaching, so something along the line's of an outline, or on going serie's of article's to help get them started and keep it from getting stale, sound's like a good idea to me.

Jeff

[Mike Chidester]

Well, go on bodybuilding.com and you can find a ton of articles on good excercise routines for martial arts. (The name of the site is misleading, since it caters to all things fitness-related.)

Likewise, Martin "Farmer" Burns' routines have a following among ARMA members, and are highly effective for fighters (he was a world-class wrestler for many years and a world-class wrestling coach for decades).

But there's an even easier answer. What's the best excercise to make you better at sword-fighting? Swordfighting. Strap some 5-pount wights on your arms and go through a full drilling session, and I guarantee you'll feel it. Or heck, just hold your sword by the tip (speed is the key here).

[TimSheetz]

Tough crowd. OK! dad-gum-it!

I owe that and some other stuff, too.

I will get on it!

Tim


"What are you gonna do about it?"
"In fact, all I can do is make a number of knife sized holes in you body."

[Aaron Pynenberg]

Well, that had unintended consequences,....sorry Tim had no idea about your project. I think I may have gone of-track though. The workout I speak of consists largely of the skills we use in RMA and is seperate from some other kind of workout program. It basically accomplishes two goals, that of fitness and skill building.

It has several phases built in to allow for use of sparring equipment...you start off wearing your gear then slowly has you removing stuff as you progress and fatigue. example- for me it starts with Bascinet, full gambeson, 5lb weights on each hand, armored bracers.....as I progress through the drills I lose the weights, then the helm, then the bracers, and the gambeson, until it's blossfechten.

It allows you to track each weeks performances and at a glance see what techs you have covered for the week and where you might be light....It uses, the guards in linear movement and 360 degrees, incorporates all the stepping needed and strentgh building x's, then progresses through cutting drills, tactical drills, ARMA Drills, and twitching, leg building and strengthening, rotater cuff conditioning, etc... in essence it turns all of our drills into the workout which enables you to get rep after rep of the exercises in, while "working out". I have really been impressed by what it has accomplished for me, and think that we can all benefit from it- so it's not really just a workout but a system for measuring your performance while working out and assimilating tactical skills... I'll put out more on it soon- Aaron

[TimSheetz]

Hi Aaron,

There are many ways to skin the "fitness" cat, except for one: It takes work and commitment.

Tim

[Jake_Norwood]

So write it up already! I can't wait.

Jake

[Stacy Clifford]

I agree, I'd really like to see this (Tim's ideas and Aaron's both). I'm trying to put more exercise in the Houston group's routine these days too, mostly in the form of vigorous cutting exercises right now. New ideas are certainly welcome.