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An Essay on Fitness for the Sport of Karate
by Pat Hickey, 8th Dan
You must be prepared to defend yourself at any time. Building up strength, endurance, and technical ability improves capacity for defense. Intense preparation from karate exercise helps maintain a degree of readiness to defend yourself or your family by preparing the delivery system and building up the strength of your arsenal.
Karate training helps the body create a strong delivery system by maintaining fitness. Fitness can be divided into two parts. First is muscular fitness. The body becomes strong through the rigor of karate training to withstand harsh physical punishment without becoming weary. The second part is energy fitness. Energy fitness is the ability of the body to supply the muscles with the right fuel at the right time to perform efficiently at a high level.
Karate training meets almost all the principles required by sports physiologists.
Training Principles
Karate training meets all the principles required by sports physiologists. First the training systems in karate are specifically designed to prepare the body for harsh punishment. Well defined karate programs systematically and progressively prepare the body for the high performance necessary to defend oneself. Karate training requires a long term commitment to excel. The variety of training methods prevents boredom and moderation develops a strong mental attitude. Frequent testing allows the feedback necessary to assess progression, provide motivation, and to make necessary adjustments to training.
Elements of Muscular Fitness
Karate training develops tremendous muscular fitness. The elements of muscular fitness are
These elements are interrelated
Power is made up of strength and speed. Increases in either strength or speed will increase power. Since it is possible to reach your maximum genetic speed and strength, further power gains will come about through the correct and efficient use of the muscles in karate technique. Strength is the maximum force that can be exerted in a single effort. Training for strength allows the muscles to become larger, thereby contracting more forcibly . Strength training will also strengthen the ligaments and tendons helping to prevent injury. Speed is made up of reaction time and movement time. Movement time is essentially inherited. Reaction time can be improved through training. Speed is also improved by improving neuromuscular skill -- efficient muscular movement.
Muscular endurance is the ability to repeatedly perform an action. Endurance prevents fatigue, slows deterioration of skills, loss of balance and accuracy.. Flexibility increases the range of options available controlling the range of motion of the body. Increased flexibility reduces energy required for performance and increases the range of options and tactics available. Stretching will strengthen the connections of the muscles to the joints reducing the possibility of injury. Balance is both static, standing still, and dynamic, moving balance. Balance is improved through proper repetitions of the karate actions and allows a more effectively delivery of karate techniques. Agility is the ability to change speed and direction rapidly without losing balance. Karate will improve agility and allow use of techniques in a variety of ways.
Energy Fitness
Karate training improves the supply and support systems that bring fuel to the body. In training the energy fitness system, tendons, ligaments and bones toughen and the hormones and nervous system become more efficient. By controlling the intensity of the strength training load, and the duration of exercise, karate trains the different energy systems.
The body uses two main energy supply systems to fuel the different muscles. First is the anaerobic system that does not use oxygen to break down carbohydrates for energy. The second is the aerobic system that burns oxygen to get energy from carbohydrates and fat. Endurance trained muscles are better able to use oxygen energy production allowing the muscle to burn fat, reduce fatigue and remove lactic acid .
The supply of energy to the muscles is dependent on the body's ability to produce the energy required for the muscle system being used. Because of physiological limitations, the body must be trained to efficiently supply the energy required and to recoup its supplies as quickly as possible so the available energy supply is not depleted. Through a proper karate training program, this is accomplished.
Heart Rate and Training Levels
During karate training sessions the heart rate (HR) is a good method to monitor the exercise intensity. As the HR increases, the body generally shifts from fat to carbohydrates as the energy source and activity from aerobic to anaerobic. In general, you determine your maximum HR by subtracting your age from 220. For highly trained endurance athletes ± 12 beats per minute may be used. For young endurance athletes, 210 minus their age may be more appropriate. An alternative to the HR for determining exercise intensity is the perceived exertion level. Through experience you can determine exercise intensity by listening to your natural signs and train accordingly without the need to continuously monitor the heart rate.
There are generally; four training levels recognized based on the HR. Each corresponds to an energy source and pathway in the body and the muscles used. Karate appropriately exercises and trains these energy sources. The four training levels are in the below chart and are determined by the percentage of maximum based on training intensity. By raising and keeping your heart rate to the proper percentage of the maximum HR, karate can train the different energy delivery systems of the various muscles groups.
Energy Training and Nutrition
Food and water are required to operate the energy systems in the body. Each plays an important part. Without adequate and proper stores of both food and water, the body will be unable to perform as required. The two main sources of fuel in for the body are fat and carbohydrates. Fat provides over twice as much energy as carbohydrates, but carbohydrates are easier to burn. If your body does not learn to efficiently burn fat, you can use up needed carbohydrates.
Water
Water plays two definable roles. First, it helps keep the body cool. The blood is 97% water and removes the heat from the chemical reactions in the muscles through sweating. Lack of water inhibits this cooling system, and, if enough water is lost, heat cramps, heat exhaustion and even death can result. The second role of water is to help metabolize the chemical reactions in the muscles that produces energy. Loss of water by as much as 3% of body weight will reduce endurance and a 4-6% water loss strongly affects strength and power. You cannot rely on your thirst mechanism to alert you when water is needed. Water is needed long before the thirst mechanism kicks in. Drink at least 8 ounces of fluid every 15-20 minutes of vigorous exercise. Use a drink that is easily absorbed and be aware that some sport drinks cannot be easily absorbed and may be counterproductive. After a hard session it may take 24 hours to replace water supplies.
Food
You need to consume the right food for peak performance. Training meals should consist of at least 60% carbohydrates, preferably complex carbohydrates such as bread, corn, potatoes, rice, and whole grains, but not simple sugars. . Protein should not be more then about 15%. Protein is not stored in the body for use and may be converted to fat. Fat should be not more then about 25% and is an essential part of the diet. Karate trained people learn to burn fat saving muscle glycogen for anaerobic energy bursts. Anaerobic trained muscles hold an increased store of muscle glycogen for energy consumption. Eat at least 100 grams of carbohydrates within 15 minutes of a heavy workout to start to replace energy used. After a hard workout, it could take a few days to completely replace all energy supplies.
Diet, Training, and Weight
The measure for whether you are at the proper weight is your percentage of body fat. You lose body fat by consuming more energy then you take in. If you eat more calories then you consume you will not lose body fat. Only a net loss of calories through exercise causes weight to fall. It is possible to reduce the percentage of body fat and still gain weight. This is because muscle weighs more then fat. In getting rid of unwanted body fat, muscle mass may increase through exercise and this may actually increase your weight. When figuring your caloric intake, remember the caloric cost of activity is affected by physical skill and degree of fitness. The better your skill and fitness, the more efficiently you burn energy and the fewer calories needed for the same amount of exercise. Being "overweight " will hurt your performance as will artificially reducing your weight. It is important to be at your proper weight naturally through proper training and diet. Karate training can provide the means to control your body fat
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