If you have been in martial arts or any other physical activity you know the importance of conditioning. Aerobic for stamina and resistance training for strength. Most people use weights for strength training. If your like me and don't like to lift weights, there are other ways to build strength.
For martial arts we want to build strength for punching and kicking power, not to get big and bulky. Isometric exercise or flexing ones muscles doe exactly that. I've been doing it for about a month now and I can tell you it works. You target specific muscles just like weight lifting, but the difference is you use your body or an unmovable object like a wall to provide the resistance. The idea is push and flex your muscles for a short period of time, most of the time it is a ten count. so you flex and count to 10 or you do ten repetitions of an exercise and hold it at the end . Every muscle in your body can be exercised this way. Some examples of isometric exercise are, pull ups and push ups. The routine I do is 50 different exercises, sounds like a lot but they can be done in under an hour. I do them every other day and do punching and kicking drills on the in between days for cardio.
Here is one exercise to try: Bicep Builder
Standing up put your right arm down by your side, now bring your hand slightly in front of your body. Put your left fist in the palm of your right hand, now do a curl and apply even pressure down against your right hand as you do a curl up towards your chest just like doing a curl with a weight, concentrate on flexing your bicep but do not strain it, just slow even pressure. Do 10 repetitions and the hold it on a ten count at the beginning position and at the ending position.
Do both sides, you will definitely feel your muscle tighten up.
Here is a link to some books on the subject.
Enjoy and have fun, Jerry
Build Strength with No Weights
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