Martial arts is a very respectable form of sport that shelters many combat sports under its name; to excel at any form the martial arts one has to be extremely determined and motivated because the training is extremely excruciating not only for the body but also for the mind. Those who have become professionals in this field have spent many years practicing and training to have gained the success they have.
In the field of martial arts, you train your mind to remain focused and your body to stay strong. You’re not only learning how to fight or attack an opponent but also how to avoid contact and create a safe distance from external attacks. For such skills, you need to learn to control your body and coordinate your physical movements with the reflexes of the mind. One such important training that you need is to be able to lift and carry weight but whether that means that bodybuilding is necessary for the martial arts, can be debatable.
1. The difference between bodybuilding and strength building
We have already established that you need to have the strength to carry and lift weight in the martial arts because in many incidents the martial arts require you to push and tug your opponents and you can’t do that if you don’t have any strength training. But strength training does not mean you have to train like bodybuilder bodybuilding is only just one type of weight lifting training.
2. The different kinds of weight lifting styles:
- Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a very popular form of weight lifting and when you think of this term then you can envision a person with big built and well-defined muscles all over the body. Yes the training behind bodybuilding is extremely crucial and the diet is also quite challenging, but unfortunately, there isn’t anything more to this sport.
Bodybuilding focuses solely on the aesthetics of building a strong and muscular body that allows the person in question to come across as someone who is extremely brawny and intimidating. The reality is that bodybuilding does very little for athletic purposes and the training does not require the bodybuilder to be quick on their feet or teach them any kind of combating skills.
- Powerlifting
Powerlifting is yet again a form of weight lifting that focuses solely on a person’s ability to lift heavy objects, but it does not teach them to be quick on their feet or make rapid movements while lifting those objects. Powerlifting is all about your ability and strength to quickly but carefully elevate heavy objects.
This form of weight lifting actually slows down a person and decreases their endurance and also lowers their athletic skills.
- Fitness lifting
Fitness lifting is all about working and increasing an individual’s core strength, solely to stay healthy and fit. Strengthening your core has many advantages such as a better posture, improved digestive system, improved balance, reduced back pains e.t.c. Hence many people devote their time to improving their core strength by doing fitness lifting.
However, this form of weight lifting does not increase a person’s ability to lift extremely heavy objects, does not make them look muscular, and also does not increase their athletic ability; at least not in the ways that are required for the martial arts.
- Olympic lifting
The activities in Olympic lifting are amazingly practical for athletic preparation; they will help develop force and fortitude, through dangerous activities and figuring out how to execute power and strength rapidly. Olympic training helps to grow a solid base for fortitude and crucial athletic developments. Most activities in Olympic lifts require the full scope of movement and the maximum utilization of the joints in a small or limited space, which helps to develop fortitude and molding as well as muscle control and great method.
- High-intensity interval training
High-intensity interval training is designed for those who have little time to exercise, hence HIIT trains you to act fast and be quick on your feet. HIIT also trains you to create energy without having to use oxygen, so you automatically build endurance against pain and resistance. Doing excessive training in small periods will help you to build:
- Cardio
- Stamina
- Endurance
- Speed
- Lose weight
3. Why can’t you do bodybuilding and martial arts together
As we have established that bodybuilding contributes very little to your ability in doing a combat sport in the martial arts, it is even further discouraged to do both simultaneously, and the reasons are that:
- It can prove to be extremely time-consuming, to the extent that you will not be able to dedicate your mind and body to two extremely demanding forms of sport and weight lifting.
- Your body and mind will become extremely exhausted after training for both
- Bodybuilding requires muscle recovery for you to excel professionally, and training for the martial arts simultaneously will discourage and interfere with that.
- Since both these sports are demanding there is no way that you will be able to excel at them both; at most you might become moderately good at them but nothing more.
- You need to have plenty of time to train for both and be a full-time athlete.
4. Bodybuilding for martial arts requires specific training
Yes, martial art does indeed require you to work on your muscle building, but not the kind that only focuses on aesthetics.
5. What kind of weight lifting is most effective for doing martial arts?
Olympic and High-intensity interval training are the two kinds of weight lifting that are encouraged for the martial arts and the reason being that Olympic lifting allows you to lift heavy objects while also working on your athletic skills; it teaches an individual to be competitive and also act quickly that means you will get to work on your speed as well.
High-Intensity Interval Training will help you to create that endurance and teach you to push through physical pain to achieve an end goal. Both these abilities combined will assist you immensely in the sport of martial arts. As a student of martial arts, you need to act quickly and think of ways to sharpen your reflexes no matter how intimidated you feel; the exercises in HIIT training will guide you on how to tackle such a situation efficiently. HIIT training also includes exercises such as shadow boxing that will help you greatly in forms of martial arts such as kickboxing and boxing in general. So if you’re a student of kickboxing then get ready with your boxing gear and search for the nearest HIIT classes available, because you will be able to get the training you need to excel and perform at your optimum level through this type of weight lifting program.