Why strength training is important for martial artists

*Strength training makes you faster and more powerful*

Being stronger will allow you to generate faster, more powerful movements. Add this to superior technique and skill, and you have a martial artist that can be very hard to beat.

While an increase in speed and power are obvious benefits of strength training there is another, more important, reason for regular strength training.

*Strength training will help reduce injuries*

There are many scientific studies that show the injury-protective benefits of regular resistance training.

Lifting heavy weights (ones that make 5-6 reps difficult) helps to build strong tendons. Tendons are the structures that connect muscles to bones and can often be injured with the repetitive nature of martial arts training.

So the ‘take home’ message for this post is that every martial artist should be doing some form of heavy resistance training, not only for increased performance (increase power and speed) but to reduce the incidence of injuries.

To find out more about what kind of strength training you should be doing, check out these posts;

-Why martial artists shouldn’t be lifting like bodybuilders

-Why martial artists shouldn’t be lifting like power lifters