While weighing in at a whopping 108kg at my highest weight, I actually was considered a lightweight hooker/ prop forward in my rugby team, where I often would still be the lightest front rower in the lineup. Now, since this documentary series started I often weigh in at cruiser weight as I slimmed down to 88kg. The weight is not the only change, as I train differently now to when I used to play rugby. One thing didn’t change as much, as I still did the old gym routine I grew accustomed to. And it did not help me. The more I worked out in the gym, the more sluggish and slow I felt performing martial arts. So I started asking around: Why do we train like bodybuilders, if we want to perform like athletes?

As one of my coaches once said, “you should train like you play” and he wasn’t talking about intensity alone. The sports we participate in demand functional strength, balance and explosive power. And that is not required by lifting weights alone. Today, we delve into the art of adapting strength training for martial artists, emphasizing functionality over bulk, speed over size, and power over aesthetics.

Understanding the Sport-Specific Needs

Martial arts, by nature, require a harmonious blend of strength, speed, agility, and endurance. Unlike bodybuilding, where the goal is to sculpt the physique for aesthetic purposes, martial artists seek a balanced and functional approach to enhance their performance in the ring. Let’s break down the key components that should shape your strength training program.

Functional Movements

Personally, I now quite enjoy it to wake up early. You feel like you have a head start on the world that’s still asleep, and you can calmly organize your thoughts for a good start to the day. Little sidenote: Make your bed right away, then you’ve already completed the first task of the day. And if the day doesn’t go as planned, you’ll have a nicely made bed waiting for you in the evening, inviting you to try again the next day. Also, start with a large glass of water. This has numerous benefits, from promoting the removal of toxins to boosting your metabolism.

Explosive Power

Martial artists need explosive power to execute swift and precise movements. Incorporate plyometrics and Olympic lifts into your routine to enhance fast-twitch muscle fiber activation. Box jumps, medicine ball throws, and power cleans can significantly contribute to explosive power development.

Core Stability

A strong core is the epicenter of martial arts and athletic performance. Engage in exercises that target the core muscles, including planks, Russian twists, and anti-rotational movements. A stable core not only improves balance but also facilitates powerful strikes and seamless transitions.

Sport-Specific Conditioning

Mimic the intensity and duration of your sport through interval training and sport-specific conditioning drills. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can help replicate the bursts of energy required during martial arts bouts, enhancing both aerobic and anaerobic capacity.

Mobility and Flexibility

Unlike the static nature of bodybuilding, martial arts demand a high degree of flexibility and mobility. Include dynamic stretching, yoga, and mobility exercises in your routine to improve joint range of motion and prevent injuries.

The Pitfalls of Bodybuilding Routines

While bodybuilding routines undoubtedly build muscle mass, they often neglect crucial elements necessary for optimal athletic performance. The emphasis on isolation exercises and hypertrophy can lead to imbalances, reduced flexibility, and a lack of functional strength – aspects that are detrimental to martial artists aiming for peak performance.

Conclusion

Dear martial artists and athletes, the key to unlocking your full potential lies in the art of tailored strength training. Embrace functional movements, cultivate explosive power, fortify your core, prioritize sport-specific conditioning, and enhance your mobility. Remember, it’s not about sculpting a physique for the stage but about crafting power for the arena.

Try out our free Warrior Program, all maxed out to aid you in your athletic development for optimum performance! As you embark on this journey, consult with knowledgeable coaches who understand the unique demands of your sport. Book your spot now, for online 1on1 consulting with our Strength & Conditioning Experts.

Together, let’s go for greatness, one day at the time. Where strength is not just measured in muscle mass, but in the dynamic prowess that sets you apart as a true warrior in and outside of the ring. Train smart, train purposefully, and may your strength be a force to be reckoned with!

Have a great day!

Het bericht The Warrior Program: Free Training Program for Combat Sports and Martial Arts verscheen eerst op We Were Warriors.

Ah, the snooze button, is it your best friend or your worst enemy? Before I established my own morning ritual, I have hit that snooze button countless of times. How could it be any different, I thought back then. After all, I worked out a lot, had a demanding job, and a busy family life. I wanted to make the most of my sleep, and snoozing helped, right? Turned out, the opposite was true. By hitting snooze, I was already getting out of bed too late, which left me with no time for a proper breakfast, got dressed and then rushed to the door, only to take off to work. If I was lucky, I could give my kids (and wife) a quick kiss on the way out. So, I was already behind by 1, 2, 3, 4-0.

Due to this weak start, I was less capable of handling other challenges later in the day. But of course, I didn’t realize this at the time. I wasn’t (yet) aware of my routine. You see, just because you, as the reader, haven’t consciously established a morning routine doesn’t mean you haven’t formed one, even if it is unconsciously.

Good (and bad) habits

You inevitably form habits and patterns in life. The more you repeat something, the more it embeds itself in your neurological pathways. In the brain, there are certain neurons that communicate with each other and send neurotransmitters. Dopamine and serotonin are just a few of the active hormones that come to play with this process. The more certain behaviour is associated with certain rewards, the sooner (unconsciously) behaviour forms to collect those rewards. So, you might plop down on the couch with a bag of chips after a long day, which can be quite enjoyable. However, if you do this too often, you might start craving chips just by looking at the couch. This is caused by the association made between the reward (bag of chips) and the trigger (lounging on the couch). Let’s take a look at the things you can do to start a good (morning) habit. Remember, it may take a while for new habits to settle in, so have some patience and don’t forget to enjoy the process.

Get up early

Personally, I now quite enjoy it to wake up early. You feel like you have a head start on the world that’s still asleep, and you can calmly organize your thoughts for a good start to the day. Little sidenote: Make your bed right away, then you’ve already completed the first task of the day. And if the day doesn’t go as planned, you’ll have a nicely made bed waiting for you in the evening, inviting you to try again the next day. Also, start with a large glass of water. This has numerous benefits, from promoting the removal of toxins to boosting your metabolism.

Shh, be quiet

It’s not only nice for your fellow residents if you quietly slip down the stairs, but it’s also the foundation of a good start for yourself. Take a moment without your phone, and start the morning in a complete zen state. Meditating, thinking about things you can be grateful for (write down a few) and visualizing the goals you want to achieve (that day) contribute significantly to a productive and happy day. These are also habits you can build up. Just by thinking about what makes you happy, you train yourself to experience those happy feelings more often.

Move

Walk, run, climb, swim, jump, plank, have sex, do some exercises, whatever: basically anything that gets your heart rate up is good. For me, it works to go for a run with friends once a week (at 05:15 am!). Yes, if you think you’re the only one crazy enough to wake up so early, you’re mistaken. Ask some friends, and you’ll be surprised at the enthusiasts who are willing to break a sweat with you early in the morning. It gives a tremendous sense of accomplishment and it helps to connect with likeminded people. On the other days, I do some stretching exercises or a circuit with some basic push-ups, sit-ups, and/or burpees.

Take a cold shower

There’s nothing better (and more refreshing) than stepping under a cold shower after a good workout. If you still have trouble waking up, you’re definitely wide awake now. A cold shower has numerous benefits, it can help combat depression, and it is said it can even help you lose weight. So, if you want to extend your workout, step under the cold water.

Read a book

Open a book, even if it’s just to read a few pages. Reading is something you can do entirely for yourself. It offers a quiet moment, but also new insights and stimulates your imagination. Here’s a book tip for you, take a look at https://www.miraclemorning.com/, where author Hal Elrod takes you further in creating your ideal morning routine.

Write

You won’t be the first to be inspired to write after reading (see previous step). But even if you don’t want to entrust your life story to ink, it’s good to take a moment to write something. This can be difficult at first because, what should I write then? Well, start by writing down what you can be grateful for. Or which tasks you’re definitely going to accomplish that day (and then don’t forget to actually do them). Write down your affirmations, which you want to start the day with or that are important to you. It provides stability and a helpful thought that you can use throughout the day, even when things get tough. This way, you have all the tools to make every day the best day.

Breathe

Yeah, duhh, this is one of the points that I normally intend to keep doing. Great advice… Haha, no really, breathe. Take a minute to be aware of your breathing cycle. Many people only use a small portion of their lungs and don’t utilize the capacity that a good and full breathing rhythm offers. This promotes stress and poor circulation. Relax and focus on your breath, breathe in deeply through your nose and out through your mouth. Don’t force anything and feel completely here, in the now. It might sound a bit airy-fairy, but in a world where thinking has taken precedence, it’s good to daily consider what you feel. There’s plenty to find on this topic, just google the Wim Hof Method, which covers many benefits of conscious breathing.

Conclusion

Make some time to wake up earlier (and go to bed earlier 😉) and see how such a routine fits into your day. After this, you’ll have time and attention for all the things that demand your attention, but a good start is winning half the battle, and when you start to feel at home with it, you’ll see what you can accomplish in one day. The most important thing about a good morning routine is, of course, that it must work for you. So play around with it and see how you can create the most SUCCESFUL mourning routine for you.

Start small and see how it feels. You can easily start with the above points, do each of them for a minute or five and see what works. Personally, it has helped me immensely. Where I used to navigate myself through all the Lego blocks and Barbie dolls, quickly said goodbye to my family, and hurried to work, I now sit fresh and lively with a cup of coffee waiting for the kids to wake up. I run upstairs to cuddle or play with them before we start the day. This way, I’m not easily thrown off balance during the day and I’m fully prepared for all the challenges that come my way.

Have a great day!

Het bericht A SUCCESFUL morning routine, the recipe for a successful day. verscheen eerst op We Were Warriors.

As I normally stand somewhere at the back of our group when performing the haka, I now find myself at the front of the spear headed formation of our Rotorua based NZSA academy rugby team in New Zealand.

As much as I might look like a local due to my dark skin and black hair, I am just a dutchman trying to keep my composure in the midst of this cultural and for me now sacred ritual, before going out on the pitch, honouring our ancestors and calling out to them to strengthen us in the upcoming battle. It is the first time we get to play in the International Stadium, where many All Blacks, whom are the famous heroes of this sport and players of the national team, have overcome their challengers on this very pitch. Heck, there might be some up and coming All Blacks in the other team, as many of them play in New Zealand to be selected for the national side. Just being here and for me to measure myself against them is something I could only dream off, growing up at my home based club in a little town Hoek van Holland, in The Netherlands.

When I remember this moment I still feel how excited I was before the game, but also scared. Scared to find out I don’t belong playing on this level, scared to make a fool out of myself by forgetting the lyrics of the haka (which happened on this very occasion by the way), but also scared to come back home a failure, if I would not succeed in my quest to find answers about if I have what it takes, playing rugby on a high level.

Now, more than a decade later with more questions than answers, I am on the brink of starting a new quest, or should I say, to continue the journey I went on as an young aspiring rugby player, What does it mean to be a father, What do I stand for, but I mean really stand for.. How can I balance professional life with family responsibilities and is the warrior, if there was one to begin with, still in me?

Looking around me I see a lot of people struggling with the same questions. But it strikes me as odd that we are living in one of the wealthiest countries, have everything we could wish for, but still struggle to be happy with who we are and what we do.

That is why I often think back about my rugby career overseas, as it seemed all so clear what I needed to do and to be to in order to not only find my purpose, but feel it in every thought, act and result in my daily life. It makes me wonder if there any other warrior traditions over the world and I decided to go find them and highlight their ancient values, lessons and traditions in our documentary series as I meet the modern day warriors keeping them alive.

Embarking on this mission I also get taught one of the ultimate laws of the universe. As I mustered up the guts to share my ideas and act on it, it placed the right people in my life whom supported this mission and helped it grow into reality! For all the time I walked around with this idea but did not speak my mind, nothing changed, but the moment I opened up about it and started acting out what I wanted to do, so much has happened and I met so many beautiful people who joined me in this collective quest.

For me personally, having to say that this adventure is forcing me to step out of my comfort zone and into the ring, is an understatement. As it is not the combat sports I am afraid off, being a rugby player I am, or was anyway, kind off used to impact. However to step in front of a camera, and having to hear myself back on video still makes me cringe. Maybe that is why we shot 4 episodes before even editing the first one. What if we did edit the first one right after we started. We might have never continued. But we didn’t edit the first one right after, we shot 4 episodes and you will get to see every single one. Or at least we will post them, for you to see it is your choice off course.

Here is to doing new things, and making sure they scare you a little. Because that is where you grow and heal and become a better person.

Cheers, Duncan.

Het bericht Tuturu whakamaua kia tina! verscheen eerst op We Were Warriors.