I ran across some articles by Thomas Kurz that have been published in Tae Kwon Do times. He's got 56 of them published that I know of. The first one is http://stadion.com/column_stretch1.html. The 56th is http://stadion.com/column_stretch56.html. Change the number to jump to a specific article. I ran across it because I was doing some research on strength training and martial arts. I hit on article 18, http://stadion.com/column_stretch18.html, titled Conditioning for Sports and Martial Arts. One thing that struck me is that the author asserted that it's not uncommon for quality martial arts schools to be doing hundreds of reps of situps, pushups, squats, etc. I can easily see scottaculous' school doing that. The author's main point with that is that physical conditioning is necessary in order to put in the training necessary to really master the art. You can't do 100+ kicks on a heavy bag if your leg and core muscles can't handle the load; you'll hurt your back. That makes sense... I do have to agree. On the other hand, in setups like mine with 45 minute classes and a family atmosphere, the emphasis is more on building self confidence and making the art accessable to everyone. You don't have to be a hard-core athlete in your 20's and in top physical condition in order to do what is asked in our classes. I've learned that in commercial tkd schools at least, you can't *really* expect to use tkd to get in shape if all you do is go to 2-3 classes per week. Your skills will improve with time and practice, but you won't get in great shape. You need to get that outside of class. If I were suddenly thrown in to a school that expected its students to be doing hard core conditioning exercises like is suggested by the author, I'd be in a lot of trouble. Because I've not trained like that. My aerobic conditioning has come exclusively from running. And my strength training... well... we do some occasionally in class. So once a month or so I'm doing 30-40 situps and pushups. I can't do 30-40 full length pushups in a row and with good form. I haven't trained for it. In other words, I am not able to meet physical conditioning needs solely by going to tkd classes.

I believe physical conditioning should be a student's responsibility away from class. Conditioning requires more time than a class session. Class time is meant for drilling techniques and perfecting the details. The instructor can certainly show the students how to combine conditioning into training but it should not be the focus of the class. Afterall, the students paid for martial arts lessons not exercise classes. Of course in combat, every little advantage helps. Having said that, although conditioning helps, the end result for a martial artist is to use just enough power to get the job done. In kobudo, proper technique requires little muscle because it uses body mass and mechanics to give the technique force. One of my instructors is a 100 lb woman who can easily throw someone twice his weight. Inexperienced students use muscle to make up for the lack of technique. Muscling it through if you will. The order of learning a technique, in my school, is movement, distance, speed, power. Often just doing enough repetitions with perfect movement and distance will lead to speed and power. The proof is in watching the masters effortless glide through the techniques. Some conditioning exercises I've done are push ups with fists, back of hand, and fingers; Leaps in all directions and surfaces, rolls in all directions and surfaces, vertical jumps with feet tucked underneath and landing quietly, katas with a very low center of gravity (this burns your thighs!), and hip, wrist and elbow stretches. Our highest kick is up to a guys stomach so leg stretches are uncommon. More hardcore conditioning focuses on toughing the fist, fingers, and foot by hitting trees and grasping sand. Then there is endurance and stamina training. This is why I run. Finally, all of this training results the important important conditiioning: mental conditioning. Distance runners will understand this part.