So you practice the martial arts huh? One of the main reasons people begin the martial arts is to promote a healthier lifestyle through exercise. Regardless of the art, you have to be in some sort of shape to execute the techniques involved, and of course to spar. Good thing about the martial arts, is that practicing the techniques by themselves provide some level of exercise to most practitioners. But when you’re not in class, alone with no training partner, or you practice martial arts at home or online, what do you do? Do you just wait for the next class or online lesson? That’s a bad idea, which is why we came up with these 3 tips to enhance your martial arts training at home.
1. Buy some resistance bands.
Resistance bands are a great, and cheaper, alternative to weights. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and resistance levels. Typically, the ranges of resistance begin at light, and end at heavy. Depending on your fitness goals, you can structure an entire endurance, strength, or stretching plan using them. Pricing for bands vary depending on length and resistance level. Some even come in a pack with various ranges. If you are just starting to use them, try going light at first, then work your way up to heavier bands.
2. My Fitness Pal
Monitoring what you eat is just as important to fitness as exercise is. My Fitness Pal helps you track the calories in everything you eat. They have a huge database of food options (no exaggeration) to include home-cooked meals, and your favorite restaurants. My Fitness Pal helps you set a goal, and achieve that goal by knowing exactly what you consume. For example, you set a weight loss goal of 20 pounds, and you know that you typically eat around 2,000 calories per day. You also know that you need to eat less calories per day than normal to begin loosing weight, so you set a calorie intake goal of 1500 calories per day. To help you track your calories, you download the MyFitnessPal app and begin logging your meals. It’s that simple!
3. Practice techniques your own.
When instructors teach techniques, they know you will not get it right then and there. They expect you to take what you’ve learned, and apply it to other solo training sessions. Think about it. You have 2-3 lessons per week. Each lesson is about an hour long. That’s only three hours per week! In order to get better you must train alone. It’s crucial to your development to set at least an additional 3 hours aside for training on your own.
