Alone, they are far from the same. After all, martial arts is a sport that's designed for self-defense, and weight lifting is more an activity or workout designed to develop muscle. That's not to say that weight lifting and martial arts together wouldn't yield a positive result, because they will definitely do that.
When it comes to exercise, weight lifting isn't so much about burning calories. In fact, it's about packing on the calories with protein to help develop muscle. Calories do get burned, but because weight lifting isn't typically a cardio workout, the heart rate of the individual isn't in a "target zone", meaning it's not high enough to burn calories. Alternatively though, the muscles are using protein to build and develop the current muscle into whatever desired effect the weight lifter is going for.
By choice, I refer to two, actually. Of those two is the option to build muscular strength, or muscle mass. This means working harder by adding more weight every time you move up but constantly doing the same number of repetitions. To put that into an example, let's say someone was doing a chest exercise, such as the bench press. To build muscular strength, they would lift 150lbs for 10 repetitions for their first run, and for their second run they would lift 180lbs 20 times. It doesn't have to be that exactly, but that's just an example.
If what you want is to take the muscle you have and make it work harder and last longer, then you're looking to do the second choice: muscular endurance. You won't get bigger, but you won't get smaller either. Your muscles will work harder without adding more to them. To do this, you would do the complete opposite of strength building and you would do the same (or less) weight only more times. So if you're doing the bench press, you'd do the same weight 20 times instead of 10.
As mentioned before, martial arts isn't used as a work out because it's not designed to be. You'll be moving around, and probably a lot at that, so you'll be burning calories based on that, but that's not the emphasis. In fact, the point is self-defense training and mental development. You'll take the "negative energies" away from yourself to not be a victim as well as become mentally stronger.
It can be a good workout, however, as it involves a great deal of repetition as well. It may not be designed to tone or build muscle as weight lifting is, but it is an activity that requires a great deal of movement. As with any activity, it's certainly more effective than not doing anything.
As for what kind of work out to do in weight lifting to improve your martial arts performance, there's a few. The main focus should be hands and feet (that is, arms and legs) and should be developed via endurance rather than strength, as it's more important to work your muscles longer than harder. The workout of choice for arms (and thus improve punches and blocks) is pull-ups, which also works the back. For legs (and thus kicks/maneuvering), the choice work outs are squats and calf-raises. To learn more about these, the internet would be the way to go.
While using what you learn in martial arts (the stretching and the meditating) and what you do in weight lifting (building muscular strength or endurance), you are toning your body inside and out. Combining weight lifting and martial arts isn't helping you to get ready for summer, per say, but many would say it helps you to become a better person on your standards. - 31525
When it comes to exercise, weight lifting isn't so much about burning calories. In fact, it's about packing on the calories with protein to help develop muscle. Calories do get burned, but because weight lifting isn't typically a cardio workout, the heart rate of the individual isn't in a "target zone", meaning it's not high enough to burn calories. Alternatively though, the muscles are using protein to build and develop the current muscle into whatever desired effect the weight lifter is going for.
By choice, I refer to two, actually. Of those two is the option to build muscular strength, or muscle mass. This means working harder by adding more weight every time you move up but constantly doing the same number of repetitions. To put that into an example, let's say someone was doing a chest exercise, such as the bench press. To build muscular strength, they would lift 150lbs for 10 repetitions for their first run, and for their second run they would lift 180lbs 20 times. It doesn't have to be that exactly, but that's just an example.
If what you want is to take the muscle you have and make it work harder and last longer, then you're looking to do the second choice: muscular endurance. You won't get bigger, but you won't get smaller either. Your muscles will work harder without adding more to them. To do this, you would do the complete opposite of strength building and you would do the same (or less) weight only more times. So if you're doing the bench press, you'd do the same weight 20 times instead of 10.
As mentioned before, martial arts isn't used as a work out because it's not designed to be. You'll be moving around, and probably a lot at that, so you'll be burning calories based on that, but that's not the emphasis. In fact, the point is self-defense training and mental development. You'll take the "negative energies" away from yourself to not be a victim as well as become mentally stronger.
It can be a good workout, however, as it involves a great deal of repetition as well. It may not be designed to tone or build muscle as weight lifting is, but it is an activity that requires a great deal of movement. As with any activity, it's certainly more effective than not doing anything.
As for what kind of work out to do in weight lifting to improve your martial arts performance, there's a few. The main focus should be hands and feet (that is, arms and legs) and should be developed via endurance rather than strength, as it's more important to work your muscles longer than harder. The workout of choice for arms (and thus improve punches and blocks) is pull-ups, which also works the back. For legs (and thus kicks/maneuvering), the choice work outs are squats and calf-raises. To learn more about these, the internet would be the way to go.
While using what you learn in martial arts (the stretching and the meditating) and what you do in weight lifting (building muscular strength or endurance), you are toning your body inside and out. Combining weight lifting and martial arts isn't helping you to get ready for summer, per say, but many would say it helps you to become a better person on your standards. - 31525
About the Author:
This article was written by Dustin Fennell, owner of Martial Arts Equipment Direct where you can get quality martial arts equipment such as GTMA taekwondo shoes at a great price.
