five

WARMING UP

You cannot begin any serious physical exercise without a proper warm-up. Karate training places great demands on the young student, and the body must be prepared for the increased physical activity A normal karate training session begins with a warm-up period and ends with a cooling down period. Let's look at the warm-up first.

Warming Up

After the students and instructor bow in, they begin practice with a warm-up. These movements are done slowly at first and then increase in speed as the warm-up progresses. One of the important parts of this warm-up is an increase in your heart rate. In most people, this may take from ten to twenty minutes.

Start off with some easy warm-up movements. Begin by slowly wobbling your entire body loosely and then just your arms, legs, hands, and feet. This is known as the inside to outside method. After doing that for a minute or so, begin to jump loosely, followed by about a minute or two of jumping jacks. At this point you will begin to feel your heart rate start to increase.

Neck rotation and movement is next. Turn your head to the right and then to the left and repeat the movement a few times. Then bend your neck forward and backward and finally move your head in a circle several times.

Next, bring your hands out in front of your body with your arms parallel to the floor. Pull both fists back to the sides in the ready position for the punch. Do this movement about a half-dozen times.

Then extend your arms out to the side and swing them to the sides at the same time. As you do this they should be kept parallel to the floor. Next, bring both of your fists to your chest and twist your body first to the left and then to the right, exercising the muscles of your body (see Stretch 1).

Training Tip

You know you are warmed up when you begin to sweat.

Rotate your shoulder joints by swinging your arms in a circle, first forward and then back.

Place your left hand behind your back and your right overhead and bend to your left side. Switch your arm positions and bend to your right side (see Stretch 2). Repeat this about a dozen times. With your hands overhead, rotate your body leaning forward to the left, and backward and to the right. Turn in both directions several times. Now it is time to loosen the lower part of your body.

Do the front stance, but in a lower position than normal for training. Place both of your hands against your lower back and push your hips forward as you lower your body. Do this on both sides. Then lower your body on one side by putting one leg out and bending your other knee sharply (see Stretch 3). Try to keep your heel flat on the floor and attempt to press the back of your extended leg's knee to the ground. Do this on both sides.

Next spread your legs as far apart as possible and try to do a side split (see Stretch 4).

Switch from this into a front split and then repeat the move on the other side (see Stretch 5).

Sit on the floor with both of your legs spread as widely as possible. Touch your chest to your knees on both sides and then to your center (see Stretch 6). Bring your legs together and touch your forehead to your knees (see Stretch 7). Then, while still in a seated position, bring both of your feet in close to your body Move your bent legs up and down and then push down on your knees (see Stretch 8).

Training Tip

Everybody stretches. Watch your cat or dog after they get up from a nap. They will stretch their muscles out before moving around. You should, too, particularly if you are going to do some serious training.

Stand up once again with your feet together. Move your knees in a circle, both to the right and to the left.

Having moved and mildly stretched most parts of your body you may now begin to do some loose karate movements. Without using any speed and power, go through the basic straight punch and all six basic blocking motions in a standing position. Then practice the front kick, changing back and forth from right to left (well go over all these moves later in the book). Do these twenty times each.

At this point, you have been warming up for five to ten minutes, depending how many times you do each exercise. You are now ready to begin the next part of training. This involves actual karate technique, but for the first ten minutes or so of this part, you should not try to do the moves too hard or too fast. You should work on form, rather than speed or power. After about ten minutes of this type of light training, you may then switch to harder exercises.

* * *

The above is a basic plan for a warm-up period. Age, experience, and your general health will determine how long you need to warm up before your body is ready. If you find that the warm-up run by the instructor at the beginning of practice is not enough, then get to the dojo a little earlier and warm up at your own pace. Remember, the class may be very mixed and the instructor may have to run a warm-up that most students can do, but it may not be enough for everyone. One of the ways to tell if you are warmed up enough to train is if you are beginning to sweat.

Cooling Down

After training for close to an hour, your heart rate will be up and will need to be brought down to normal before you finish. The last part of training is the cool down and will be a lighter set of exercises. That should slow your heart rate. During this last part, try to relax and move easily. Cool downs usually take about ten minutes on average. If you find that the class cool down is not enough for you, then move a bit more after class until your heart rate feels normal.