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Running is the King of physical conditioning. Provided that there are no
medical reasons to prevent running, it is the single most important exercise in
one's conditioning arsenal. The benefits of a regular schedule of running are
enormous:
Running: a) Improves endurance, b) Increases metabolism, c)
Strengthens leg muscles, and d) It is the fastest and the most effective
way for reducing body fat.
In addition to being an excellent conditioning tool, running is the most
effective method of preventing training injuries. This is because running warms
the body internally (as opposed to externally which is only superficial).
Muscles must be gradually "warmed" (achieve proper temperature) prior
strenuous training for primarily two reasons: a) to prevent injury,
and b) to achieve maximum performance and training benefit. There can be
no training without a proper "warm up".
Running is an indispensable part of GoJu-Te training.
If running is the king of exercises than swimming must be the Prince. Swimming
achieves almost as much as running without the physical impact on the body's
lower joints. Swimming involves almost all of the major muscle groups
simultaneously, giving the participant a complete body work out while at the
same time building physical endurance. The draw back to swimming is access and
time. One must have access to a swimming pool (or an appropriate beach) and one
needs to have the luxury of time. What one will achieve with 15 minutes of
running will take one hour and fifteen minutes with swimming or with other
cardio-vascular activities such as bicycle riding.
Between running and swimming (if one can engage in both or in one) the maximum
achievement in endurance training can be reached rather easily. The most
difficult aspect is developing the appropriate training program that will apply
these activities in such a way as to extract maximum benefits.
An underused but effective exercise for endurance is the traditional military
Jumping Jack. GoJu-Te incorporates this exercise as part of its pre-class
regular warm up program. GoJu-Te incorporates this exercise into its in-class
program by interweaving it between non-metabolically high rate exercises. By so
doing the jacks help keep the participant "warm" and less susceptible
to injury. The jack is an appropriate substitute whenever running cannot be
applied as the central "warm" up exercise prior to the specific
combat training.
A close cousin to the jumping jack is rope skipping. This exercise is employed
traditionally by western boxers. Traditional karate training has not adopted
this exercise primarily because it is not readily applicable in a class
setting. However, we in GoJu-Te do not view this as a hindrance and readily
adopt rope skipping whenever appropriate. Its awkward appearance in a class
setting is clearly outweighed by its cardio-vascular benefit that result. It is
exceptional way of warming up the body. It is especially useful in areas where
extreme weather conditions do not allow the use of the outdoors.
A distant relative to the jumping jack is the "military push
up/dip-back" exercise. This is an exercise that has a hybrid applicational
purpose in the sense that it can be used to build endurance/stamina and can
also be used as a warm up exercise.
The Science
Endurance is increased when basically two elements come together: (1) the
capacity of muscle to store and burn "fuel" is increased, and (2) the
delivery of oxygen to muscle is increased. (Muscle requires oxygen to burn fuel
efficiently. The primary muscle fuel is carbohydrate that is stored in muscles
in the form of glycogen. A secondary source is fat. Fat is stored under the
skin and around internal organs. Endurance is increased when the body can
efficiently deliver fuel to muscles at sustained levels and decreased when the
opposite occurs. (I.e. depletion usually takes place when there is loss of
glycogen, fat reserves are depleted, hypoglycemia occurs, hypoxia occurs,
increased accumulation of lactic acid [the by-product of anaerobic activity] or
heat builds up in muscles.)
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