Top 10 Functional Exercises For Your Martial Arts Training

Martial arts serve various benefits for your body. The foremost and most important benefit you can get from martial arts is self-defense. This is the primary purpose for many people when they first start martial arts training. Martial arts is good, but only martial arts may not be good. This means that you should complement your martial arts training with some additional exercises to make you even better at everything you do and want to do. These exercises are known as functional exercises. These help you to perform your daily life activities even better, giving you both mental and physical benefits. This article will discuss the top five functional exercises you should add to your martial arts training routine to make your life even better.

Functional exercises help you perform your daily life activities in two ways:

• Functional exercises simulate our daily physical activities.

• They focus on those organs that are primarily involved in daily activities and strengthen them.

The image given below illustrates some of the best functional exercises and the body organs they have a good impact on:

If you are a martial artist, add the following functional exercises to your training routine:

The first functional exercise you need to do is push-ups. It is the most common exercise, and you have often seen people doing it. Push-ups are a great way to build the strength of your upper body, and it is the easiest and effective way to do this. They target your upper arms and shoulders. Biceps, triceps, and also your chest muscles.

• There are a variety of push-up styles that you can add to your daily martial arts training routine, such as doing with one arm or doing with both arms. They also vary with the positioning of your arms on the ground near your chest.

• You can keep them near your head, chest, or in the middle of your body. It just depends on you. Moreover, push-ups also vary with the positioning of your legs, whether they are on the ground or not. If not on the ground, and how far they are from the ground.

• So all these are variations of push-ups. They all have the same purpose: to build your upper body strength. But the target of strength varies with each push-up style. Some might focus on your triceps while others focus more on your chest or biceps. So it varies a little bit.

• You can do push-ups by being in a plank position. In a plank position, you are above the ground with the support of both your arms and feet. Stay in that position. You can place the arms in the position you want, depending on the push-up variation you are doing.

• The next thing you need to do is lower your upper body by applying pressure on your arms. Get your chest closer to the ground and then move upwards. This is one set of push-ups. Continue doing this to complete one rep. One rep typically contains 12 push-ups.

• Start with one rep a day and then continue doing this, increasing the number of reps as you think you can do more.

Burpees are another functional exercise you should add to your martial arts training. The significant impact of burpees is on your heart. It strengthens your heart and makes it able to perform its functions better, such as pumping blood throughout your body. It focuses on building the strength of your whole body. It does not target any specific muscle group of your body.

• You can perform burpees by first standing erect. Then move your upper body downward and touch your arms to the ground. You should be in a position where your upper and lower body, i.e., hands and feet, must be touching the ground while your middle body must be upwards in the air.

• After getting into this position, the next thing you should do is to jump your legs up in the air and then push them backwards so that you will essentially end up in a plank position.

• Then jump your legs again and move them closer to your arms, and move your arms up from the ground. You are now in a standing, erect position again. This is one complete set of burpees. Do some sets daily to improve your functional body strength.

Hanging leg raises are functional exercises that mainly target your legs. They are also targeting other muscles, such as your back, arms, and abdominal muscles, but the main focus is on your legs.

• You can perform hanging leg raises by pulling yourself from a bar. Find an iron bar and then grab it with both your arms. Keep your arms and shoulders wide apart. The height of the iron bar must be enough to keep your feet away from the ground when you hang yourself by grabbing it.

• The next step you need to take is to move your legs away from the ground and towards your upper body. Keep moving your legs until they become parallel to the ground. When they are parallel, you can push them back to be near the ground, i.e., perpendicular to the ground. You can move even upwards, but once they are parallel, your job is done.

• Your legs are perpendicular at first, then parallel, and then again perpendicular to the ground. This is one complete set of hanging leg raises. You can do some sets daily to improve your legs' functional strength.

Side plank is the fourth exercise you should add to your martial arts training. The significant impact this exercise has on your body is on your stability and muscle endurance.

• For performing the side plank, the first thing you need to do is get on your side. You should be straight, and your body must be in line from your head to your toes.

• The next step is to move your upper body away from the ground in an upward direction.

• Keep your upper body on your right hand or right forearm if you are on your right side.

• This position is known as the side plank position, and you have to stay in this position for some time. After some time, do some rest and then again stay in the side plank position for some time.

Dips help improve the strength of your biceps, triceps, and shoulders. It also focuses on strengthening the abdominal and back muscles, but the main target is the upper arms and shoulder muscles.

• Dips can be performed both at home and at the gym. If you are at home, you just need to find two chairs or anything else that you can grab and put your weight on.

• Anything that you use for putting your weight on must not be too high that you have to jump to grab, or also it must not be too short that when you move upwards, your leg keeps touching the ground. You can also choose a bench for dips.

• Whether you choose a bench or chairs, they must be on both sides. Now grab them with their edges, and now do an upward and downward motion.

• Move upwards and then downwards, and this will complete your one cycle. Your arms must be at a 90-degree angle, i.e., your forearm must be perpendicular to your upper arm while moving downward.

Sit-ups increase the strength of your back and abdominal muscles. Their main area of strength is the abdominal muscles.

• To perform the sit-ups, you need to lie on the ground. You can choose a mat to lie on the ground.

• Your legs should not be straight, but should be in a bent position. Don’t bend in such a way that your shin is touching your thighs. There should be a small distance between them. Moreover, your feet should be flat on the ground while you are bending your legs.

• Keep your hands at the back of your head and your shoulder in front of your face. Keep your head a little bit upwards, and then move your upper body towards your legs. Keep moving until your shoulders touch your legs. This is when you stop and start moving backwards towards the mat or ground. This is one complete cycle of sit-ups.

Russian twists focus on improving the strength of your hips and abdomen. You can also see a little bit of improvement in your arm and back muscles. It improves stability in your legs.

• Russian twists are a little bit similar to sit-ups. Similar to situps, get yourself on the mat or ground.

• Next, move your legs upwards in the air. You have to keep them in the air as long as you are performing twists.

• Move both of your hands closer to each other and clasp them together. Also, keep them above your abdomen, just in front of your chest, in the air.

• Now is the time for you to do Russian Twists. Stay in the position and move your clasped hands first on the right side and then on the left side. This completes one twist.

Thrusters have two variations. You can do it with or without lifting some weight. If done with weight lifting, you can improve your shoulder and arm strength. If done without weights, your legs become strong with these thrusters.

• The only difference between the two is the lifting weights. All other steps are the same.

• For performing dumbbell thrusters, take one dumbbell in each hand and then keep yourself in an erect position.

• Then, keep your hands in line with your shoulder while holding the dumbbells.

• Move downward until your legs make an angle of 90 degrees, or simply when you are in a sitting position on a chair.

• Then move upwards again and, after standing in an erect position, keep moving your hands upwards until they are straight.

• Repeat the process. This completes your one cycle of dumbbell thrusters. For doing without dumbbells, repeat the same process but without lifting any weights. You can also add some other weight instead of dumbbells.

Pull-ups are the best way to increase the strength of your shoulders and arms. Besides your arms, they also improve the flexibility and strength of your back and abdominal muscles. Pull-ups have a lot of variations, but the most common and the one with the most benefits for your body is the full-body pull-up. The steps are given below.

• Pull-ups are very similar to hanging leg raises. For pull-ups, find an iron bar that is higher than you.

• Grab the iron bar with both your hands. Keep both of your hands wide apart from each other. Keep them at the maximum distance. This will create more strength in your shoulders and arms.

• Hang yourself in such a way that your legs do not touch the ground.

• Now move your body upwards, grabbing the bar with your hands. You should continue moving until your face is higher than the bar.

• Then, move downwards until your arms become straight. This is one complete cycle of pull-ups.

Lunges improve strength in your legs. These are the best functional exercises for legs because they are very easy and simple to do, and one can do them at home.

• For performing lunges, stand in an erect position.

• Keep your feet wide apart from each other. The distance must be equal to the distance between your shoulders.

• Move your right foot forward and keep a considerable distance between both toes.

• Now, lower your body until your front leg makes an angle of 90 degrees and your back leg is very near the ground.

• Now, reverse the process. Move your left foot forward and then follow all the same steps.

Functional exercises are important for you to perform your daily life activities optimally and easily. When you enter your thirties, it becomes necessary for you to do these exercises daily because your metabolism slows down at this age, along with all other major declines in your body functions. To make up such functions, you need to do some daily activities. The top 10 best exercises are listed in the article. You should start with these exercises, and then you can add more exercises.