It is a very common misconception that an athlete should be at Peak Fitness all the time. In fact it is impossible to be at peak fitness all the time as this would without any doubt lead to over training and injury.

Your level of condition should gradually rise over a period of weeks, stabalise for a period and then decline for a brief period. This sequence is then repeated over a number of cycles, at the end of each cycle you should be reaching a peak fitness, higher than the previous cycle.

You should aim to be at peak fitness for a tournament or competition, if your art does not involve competition then aim to be at peak fitness for a grading or another event that is important to your organisation.

If you are trying to maintain a constant level of conditioning over extended periods of time, then this means that you cannot be at peak fitness. Just think about it for a second, peak fitness is exactly what it says. You reach a point or a crest for a short time and then come down again.

Picture a graph, with a line that goes up at an angle, reaches a point and then comes down a little. The line starts to go up at an angle again and then comes down a little, this cycle continues.

Reaching Peak Fitness is a planned cycle, it doesn’t just happen.

The length of time to reach peak fitness can vary over any period you want to set but it will still go through a preparatory period of improving weak areas and high volume conditioning. Then it’s the competitive period where workload is decreased but training much more specific to your Art are carried out, such as grappling, sparring, match techniques, tactics and strategies.

The time to reach peak fitness will obviously be much shorter for someone who is in good shape and possesses high skill levels in the art.

As always - Train Smart, Fightwize!

The Neck throw is basically a variation on a hip throw. There are so many variations that it is important to master the hip throw in the first place and then the variations come so much easier.

There are some additional elements that you can add to the neck throw for additional effect. For example a sweeping neck throw is an exceptional technique, very effective.  You can add a sacrifice where you whole body weight is landing on the opponent and puts you in a great position for a submission.

The neck throw is very quick to learn, it is very easy to carry out and easy to work from for you hold downs or submissions.

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There has always been some big questions overhanging Martial arts for Kids.

What should we teach them? what age should they begin? what techniques should we avoid? which techniques we should teach? how much is too much? the list goes on and on.

Martial arts for Kids can be great. We can teach them some very important life skills through fun teaching and at the same time encourage discipline and respect for others. Safety awareness is also an element that should be added for the younger children. Many parents think that they have this covered and when put to the test we have shown them that unless some of the areas are positively reinforced regularly, they tend to be easily forgotten.

Safety awareness is an area that the parents can certainly help with but access to some sound information is important. This is to ensure that the right information is being passed on to children.

Martial arts for kids has to go far beyond teaching a few techniques, let’s not forget these children are our future so doing all we can to help them grow up safely as better people is always going to be a good thing. To have this sort of influence in children’s lives is an honour and a pleasure.

It is so satisfying to know that we can make such a positive impact in then lives of our children as they grow and develop.

It does not matter on the style being taught to them so much as the attitude and energy applied into teaching, but Martial arts for Kids can certainly be a huge benefit.

With the right approach, Martial arts for Kids will become a lifelong passion for all involved.

To never stop learning has always been a familiar concept for the Japanese, and learning over a long period of time became an integral part of lifestyle. Continuous Education is a concept that has become very popular throughout the Western world in more recent times.

The code of the Samurai required that warriors also became highly trained, not only in fighting but skilled in Literature, including Poetry and other Fine Arts. The Samurai continued honing their physical and mental combat skills as their lives depended on it. The theory to never stop learning was of utmost importance.

There are stories of some very famous Samurai who had become undefeatable in battle through years of training and then continued this effort to never stop learning throughout their entire lives in order to fulfill their lifelong goals.

Self Improvement is highly popular and it is now very common for people throughout the World to continue the trait to never stop learning and to continue developing throughout life.

To help progress in your own training, try setting yourself a mini challenge.

Challenge yourself by setting a physical goal to acheive each week. For example, it may be to do 100 push-ups, or 100 dips, 60 chin-ups, 1000 body squats, whatever you see as a challenge for yourself.

It’s relative to you, no one else. Set your goal a little beyond what you are capable of peforming, so it really is a bit of a challenge. If you cannot do the number of repetitions in one go, that’s fine, do as many as you can and then do the remaining reps at the end.

Your challenge can really be anything, it doesn’t even have to be a number of repetitions, it could be a weight, a technically correct technique or even a new technique.

If your are always setting out to challenge yourself a little, and your are putting in the necessary work in order to make it possible, then you are always going to make progress.

Train Smart - Fightwize