Top 5 Taekwondo Workout Training Exercises

VIDEO: Learn a routine or 2 about how to stay in shape for Taekwondo!

Sports play an important role in strengthening the body and a sport which demands physical workout such as taekwondo is the best option in this regard. A person starting taekwondo training in childhood easily achieves a competitive level in the adulthood.

Injuries should be avoided as they may alter the regular exercise routine. There are some taekwondo instructors who focus mainly on the taekwondo training, neglecting the importance of physical strength and exercise. This sort of training doesn’t do much good for the strength. Taekwondo demands huge amount of workout at elite level and proper strength is needed for this purpose. The only way to achieve strength is to start performing strength exercises in the childhood. In this way the body becomes strong and in the adulthood that properly trained child can become a good taekwondo fighter.

Almost every person living on the planet knows that exercise is necessary to keep a body healthy and active. Taekwondo is one of the most dynamic and highly physical forms of martial arts training. Taekwondo has a number of training levels and it becomes more physical and demanding as a person advances to the higher levels. A young adult can go through all the levels because of his flexible body but men over 40 years can’t cross a certain level of training because of their age. Age is the main determining factor of the extent of physical training. It isn’t likely to say that a person having an age of more than 40 can’t train himself with heavy exercise, surely he can but it will put his body under an immense danger of getting damage due to heavy exercise.

In younger adults there is flexibility in large leg and arm muscles that diminishes as we age. Starting Taekwondo at fifty or above should be done carefully even though a person may have maintained an active and vigorous lifestyle. A person that is athletic at fifty may go into a new class and very quickly learn to do punches and kicks. And they may be able to perform with strength and power. But a painful lesson that I learned in the first TKD class that I took at fifty three after nearly two and a half decades out of the sport, was that I could kick with the same power as when I trained in my twenties. But the muscle did not respond the same. The result fifteen minutes into my first class was a hamstring torn in two places. A loud, sickening “pop” emerged from my leg as the muscle stretched beyond its flexibility limit and tore. I managed to finish the first class painfully performing every movement with the still warm muscle.

Benefits of Taekwondo training for the elderly are innumerable. Age related studies recorded in The Gerontological Society of America revealed the efficacy of Taekwondo in the elderly. Because of declining abilities to walk and effectively balance, the elderly naturally reduce the dynamic components of walking to keep from falling just moving short distances. Since Taekwondo exercises are designed to train those very components of balance, done carefully, it is a naturally relevant activity to the elderly.

The benefits of exercise to health in the elderly are numerous and well documented. Improvements in aerobic endurance, balance, and walking have helped to lower the risk of fall and reduce the severity of injury in the event of a fall. An elderly person with increased strength and ability to respond quickly can better insure that in the event of a mishap they are able to maneuver more effectively to avoid severe injury. The psychological benefits of Taekwondo include improved mental ability and self-esteem. These improvements have proven to contribute to a greater quality of life in the elderly.

When a person is performing light exercise, his aerobic system is active and oxygen is consumed for the production of energy. In case of performance of heavy exercises, energy demand of body is increased and body depends mainly on the anaerobic system to get energy. This is the main reason why breathing rate increases with the increase in the intensity of the exercise. Body tries to produce all the energy from aerobic means but when a certain limit is crossed, anaerobic metabolism becomes the main source of energy and lactic acid is produced in the blood, hence increasing blood acidity.

Generally, physical activity is safe for most people. In some cases it is important to get an from your Doctor before you exercise. If you have health issues or are over 45 years of age and want to take martial arts classes, see your Doctor before signing up.

Taekwondo training offers an excellent aerobic workout. This martial art emphasizes kicking techniques as well as punching techniques. Kicking is 70% and punching is 30% of the typical Taekwondo workout. During my 28 years in the martial arts and my association with Olympic class Taekwondo athletes, aerobic exercise is paramount to a solid training regimen. Virtually every athletic sport requires stamina. Aerobic exercise helps develop strength and endurance. If you are over 45 years of age and you begin martial arts training, build your stamina at a moderate pace and work up to your maximum slowly.

Here are some of the benefits of regular intervals of aerobic exercise:

o    The heart enlarges.
o    The heart increases its blood stroke volume.
o    Resting heart rate slows, less than 60 beats per minute indicates good physical fitness
o    Oxygen is used more efficiently resulting in increased fat burning during exercise
o    Increased endurance
o    Lower blood pressure
o    Reduced risks in developing diabetes and other diseases
o    Increase in good cholesterol, decrease in bad cholesterol
o    Faster recovery after exercise
o    More efficient cardiovascular system
o    A positive body composition change, more muscle and less fat