Strength and Weight Training for Martial Artists

Some martial artists neglect strength training as part of their workout. Reasons are the fear of negatively effecting important martial art attributes such as speed, flexibility and overall agility. However the fact is strength training actually improves these attributes and helps them perform better. World class athletes do a lot of strength training because greater strength allows the muscles to exert a greater amount of force. The same could apply to martial artists. A martial artists who does strength training would benefit from the same idea. And that is not all, strength training also shows that it improves muscle endurance and speed.

Weight training is a part of strength training, and there are many different training methods. Weight training do not necessarily mean body-building. Although a certain amount of body-building is beneficial for martial artists, gaining too much body mass is probably not the most effective way to maximize performance. Athletes vary their training on different body parts, runners emphasizing on their lower body while some climbers for example, focus on their upper body muscles, as large leg muscles that could be seen as a hindrance. The same goes for martial artist, where the speed, flexibility and strength is the priority. Strength is very important, and so do muscle mass, however too much of the latter and you may be slowing yourself down.