Weight lifting and martial arts are two ways to get in shape, but they’re certainly not the same. Technically, martial arts is known as a form of self defense, whereas weight lifting is about muscle development. While they’re different, they can be a dynamic duo for your health when combined.

The point of weight lifting isn’t to burn calories or trim your body to be slim and slender. It’s not a cardio work out, meaning that you are generally not trying to get your heart rate to a certain level that you have to reach to burn said calories. Most weight lifters, as a matter of fact, will try to pack on the calories to give your body something to shape when using protein. That, of course, also means that weight lifters generally try maximize their protein intake to get their end result.

By choice, I refer to two, actually. Of those two is the option to build muscular strength, or muscle mass. This means working harder by adding more weight every time you move up but constantly doing the same number of repetitions. To put that into an example, let’s say someone was doing a chest exercise, such as the bench press. To build muscular strength, they would lift 150lbs for 10 repetitions for their first run, and for their second run they would lift 180lbs 20 times. It doesn’t have to be that exactly, but that’s just an example.

The second effect is muscular endurance. This means toning the muscle that’s already there and building it to last longer under stress. It’s done by doing just the opposite of strength building. That is, instead of doing fewer repetitions with a higher weight, one would do more repetitions at a lower weight. In the above example, the person would do 10 repetitions of 150lbs, then they would try to do 20 repetitions of 125lbs, and so on.

Martial arts isn’t about building anything physically, although they do promote a great deal of stretching. Some people take martial arts as a stress reliever because it tones the mind more than anything. You learn techniques that will protect you in times of self-defense, you also learn to control the “negative energies” within you. You learn not how to fight better, but how not to be a victim.

It can be a good workout, however, as it involves a great deal of repetition as well. It may not be designed to tone or build muscle as weight lifting is, but it is an activity that requires a great deal of movement. As with any activity, it’s certainly more effective than not doing anything.

Martial arts encompasses a lot of different techniques, but it obviously involves a lot of hand and foot work. If you’re looking to build muscle for martial arts, it is recommended to build muscular endurance. As for an exercise, build biceps, triceps and back for better punches with pull ups or chin ups. For better kicks and foot work, try doing squats and calf raises (if you’re unsure of what these are, they are more than likely on the internet).

To each their own, but weight lifting and martial arts is a great way to stay in shape. Conveniently, the act of staying in shape goes beyond what’s on the outside, and that’s a more in depth improvement. A different combination would probably be more physically satisfying, without a doubt, but this sort of improvement is something that you won’t lose with age, even if you get lazy.

This article was written by Dustin Fennell, owner of Martial Arts Equipment Direct where you can get quality martial arts equipment such as adidas taekwondo shoes at a great price.


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