Bare Bones - The Art Of Body Conditioning

I thought I understood karate pretty well before I started training in an Okinawan style known as Matsubashi Karate Kenpo. The techniques and philosophies were completely different from what I was used to and it was, as so many other things in this martial arts journey, humbling.

Allow me to help you understand with the “Cliff Notes” version.

Modern Japanese karate’s main emphasis is on speed, force generation and explosive power. Its combat philosophy is rooted deep in sword culture; one cut, one kill. Simply put, you have one chance to take out an enemy, so you train the mind, body and spirit to do so in one lightning-fast move. It sounds simple enough but it takes many years to reach that level of skill.

On the other hand, Okinawan karate is predicated on the idea of making one’s entire body a weapon. Karate originally started in Okinawa, one of many outcomes of trade with China. There are several styles of Chinese Kung Fu (Gung Fu) that practice “body hardening” so it makes sense that Okinawan practioners would use these techniques. The idea here is that street fights and other confrontations frequently result in very close-quarter combat, hence a serious student is prepared mentally and physically for the worst. But there is a lot more involved than just punching boards and breaking bricks.

As a health care professional, I can attest to the fact that the body will respond to whatever stress (or lack thereof) we place on it. For example, I’m sure you’ve seen an older person with a little bit of a hump in their upper back that results in a stooped position. You may attribute this to old age, but it is often a result of a general lack of activity for many years, typically after retirement. If there is no reasonable stress on the body, it responds and falls apart. The take home lesson? Stay out of an easy chair, friends.

In karate training, we hit punching bags, a fixed board known as makiwara, air shields, punching mitts and most importantly, each other. Because every part of the body can be a weapon from your forehead to your toes, you must consistently strike hard things including bones to have your body respond in kind. Just as importantly, you must also get hit...a lot.

Let’s talk physiology…Reasonable impact on bones like those in the hands, forearms and legs over time will cause cells to produce more collagen which affects long bones with increased density. Not brittle, as some would believe, but resilient and hard. Muscles, tendons and ligaments also become more toned and less susceptible to tear and injury. This happens because of repeated “micro trauma” that causes minimal bouts of inflammation resulting in increased blood flow and tissue integrity.

Pain receptors in the in the skin and joint surfaces become conditioned to repeated trauma and the body (neuromuscularly speaking) becomes accustomed to pain. The more abuse your body takes from structured, supervised training, the more it can take and the less you worry about being hit.

Have I lost you? Sorry, I think the body is fascinating.

Don’t get me wrong, there are certain areas that should remain off limits. You cannot condition the face. And repeated trauma to the head is never a good thing. I’ve seen some styles of karate and kung fu that advocate for repeated kicks to the groin. And then there are the folks who will lay on a bed of nails while someone breaks a cement slab over their chest with sledge hammer. That would be where I draw the line. Just because you can take a hit or deal with pain doesn’t mean you can fight. There should always be a reasonable, functional methodology behind this type of training.

It may seem a bit extreme to some people, but the bottom line is that real fighting is dirty, messy business. And it never happens exactly the way you train for it, whether that’s in a dojo, a cage or a boxing ring. Appendages inevitably flail, but what happens if your highly conditioned, dense forearm comes into contact with an assailant’s face? Hopefully, the fight ends quickly and you go home. That is the goal and best possible scenario.

However, there’s more to it than just fighting. Learning how to deal with pain emotionally and physically makes life a little easier. You don’t have to go to war to be a warrior. But training your mind, body and spirit for a battle you hope never happens has benefits far beyond the obvious.

If you train martial arts, I hope you are exposed in some way to this type of training. And if you’re not a martial artist, I hope you find other ways to push your mental and physical limits. It’s important because sooner or later, life challenges all of us.

Dave Magliano

Tatsu Dojo

Jissenkan Budo

Dojo Cho