Martial Arts Workouts

Jiu Jitsu sparing sessions can be an intense physical and mental workout BUT, you REALLY have to be able to trust your sparring partner. In the time it would take you to tap from an arm bar for example, you can already have inflicted damage that can take months to heal. Been there, done that.

It's one of the reasons I had no interest in competing. Too many overzealous and/or over-adrenalized people that care more about getting some stupid medal or trophy than they do about anyone else's well being.

BJJ and some kickboxing for cardio and some weight training keeps me from gaining any more weight and active. Nothing better than the mental and physical exertion from a Jiu Jitsu sparing session.

It is incredible how strenuous grappling can be. We had a series of 3 drills (or katas) that basically put together all of the moves up to BJJ blue belt, and you were usually sweating after the 1st drill and had 2 more to go. There is no way to do that safely now with Covid. Even just going through the moves usually has you huffing and puffing in close physical contact with each other.

Grappling is definitely one of those things that can drive that old saying, "When you can't breath, nothing else matters" ;-) I have tapped and have tapped out others, not because I/they were in pain, but simply because I/they couldn't breath. It is definitely an interesting application of focused weight and force, among other things.

I have seen people do non-contact kick boxing workouts, which may classify as a non-contact MMA workout perhaps, and you can certainly do things against a bag, which would not be person to person contact. Again though, the safety of that with the current state of things would be pretty risky. Especially if you're doing kiai's (quick expulsion of air from your lungs) during the workout.

Non-contact mixed martial arts... having a hard time conceptualizing that one.

Anyway, yeah I currently go to a BJJ gym. I wish I didn't have to work so I could go more than I do (3x a week about), but I have to balance my running and weightlifting with jits, and it just isn't feasible.

Grappling endurance is a different level of fitness though.

Wife and I took a year of KRAV MAGA several years ago before we started a family. It was always a great workout plus it was cool to learn how to defend yourself against multiple attackers.

We plan on taking it again next year when COVID hopefully dies down as your get more out of it in contact training.

Mdsr5758

Wife and I as boxing and cross-training coaches always enjoyed teaching people the art of boxing. Now we mixed it in with cross-training (NOT CROSSFIT). When we training our fighters and myself, we added in swimming and some sort of racket ball, hand ball or tennis. Many don't take tennis as an explosive total body workout. Ground fighting was never my thing, but very useful also. Many of our clients ranged from 16 to 70's and for many it was not contact training, meaning person to person unless it was me letting those feel what it really feels like to move and hit someone on the move and pressure being applies. ack in my day at age 41-42, I ate whatever I wanted, over ate, tons of carbs and protein, training 7 days a week any where from 2 to 3 times a day. Running was max best 1.5 miles and that was doing interval sprints, after training was done for the day we shoot over to bar next door and have a few beers and take that 1.5 mile run and call it a day. I was on the avg losing 1.5 pounds a week, so I bumped up my food intake. Staying active and constantly moving is always the key and it worked for me and many others even while injured. All these contact sports are great even for self defense, keeps you loose and balance will improve as we age. I'm going on 55 and still train today.

@Mayhem , Or they can come visit us and do it for free!

@mdsr - People pay money to see stuff like that ;-)

I began kickboxing and boxing for the exercise, it's fantastic! Next I tried wrestling I loved it!
I'm 125lbs, 5' 7". I get such an incredible work out from boxing and wrestling. The added bonus is , I find myself getting very aroused during class. Who would've thought boxing and wrestling would be such a turn on!!!
I'd love to box and wrestle with another woman with an added erotic twist !

We do 60 mins. of cardio boxing and kickboxing 3 to 5 days a week.
However my favorite class is the MMA. I feel it is the closest to a full body workout there is and it's a lot of fun. These classes have made a big difference in my life and has resulted in me losing a little over 50 pounds; along with eating better.

I think it's a good way to injure yourself. Traditional workouts are safer, build strength, cardio fitness and upper body strength. But, that is my personal view.

There definitely is something about the combination of stretching and movements that help me with my back issues. Jujitsu can have most of the Judo throws incorporated in it. It flies in the face of common sense to be throwing people around with back issues because you're bending and twisting with some amount of weight on your back. Whatever the case, it works really well for me.

I started down this path over 25 years ago after I was out of work for 8 weeks due to an issue in the cervical section of my spine. A year or 2 later I blew out the disk between S1 and L5, not related to martial arts. I asked the doc if my body could repair the damage and he laughed saying, "No way. It's just a matter of time before you're on the table". That was well over 20 years ago and I STILL feel fine.

I no longer teach but continue to do my warm-up workout (sit-ups/push-ups/stretches) and some bag work. If I found someone local that was interested I wouldn't mind doing some of my 2 person drills, but I learned a long time ago that I either maintain my core or risk winding up in long term debilitating back pain, so workout it is.

FWIW - I have a few custom BJJ katas that don't look like they're that strenuous when you watch them, but they will have even the fittest person sweating in no time.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu 3 to 5 times a week for 1.5 hours each time!!

How do you kickboxing-or I should say I run and my husband pays for a kickboxing class I never go to.

That will change as the weather gets colder in DC and I don’t feel like running outside. So There will be more spin and kickboxing and less running.

I do non contact mixed martial arts. It's my favorite program. Does anyone else prefer martial arts workouts?