“Karate is another reason for being fit. I can prove to you I can still perform karate at my age.” – Nakahodo Tsutomu 10th dan Uechi Ryu, born 1933.
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What is conditioning?
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Conditioning training is a ‘keyword’ that is often interchanged with the word ‘fitness.’ You’ll often hear martial artists talk about what they do for conditioning.
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Their conditioning may involve road running, hill sprints, moving large tires, circuit training and every endurance activity in-between.
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This type of training is really fitness training. General fitness training in the martial arts is good idea. Resistance training, aerobic exercise, like running or cycling, keeps the body healthy and fit.
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Establishing a baseline of fitness is important for being good at close interpersonal self-protection of any kind. Technique only goes so far if your body can’t back up what you try to do with it.
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If you go around telling everyone that you’re a fighter or a martial artist, you better be able to back up your words with some form of athleticism. You may do well in the dojo with your ‘enhanced belly’ techniques, but as soon as you are required to do any sort of athletic challenge, you may find you are quickly winded. It doesn’t matter how many techniques you know if you don’t have the stamina, or strength and conditioning to pull off those techniques effectively.
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There’s a world of difference between someone who has spent thousands of hours training and conditioning their body, and avoiding getting hit, than some McDojo instructor who has let his conditioning lag, and is obesely overweight. He may have just enough training to convince people that he is a martial artist, but in reality, is barely able to move and likes his pizza and beer a bit too much.
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From an Okinawan karate perspective, conditioning is an important part of training. Here conditioning refers to the body’s adaptation to getting hit and not getting injured. It does not solely refer to physical or cardio-vascular conditioning.
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“Karate training must include preparing yourself for the pain you will feel during an attack.” – Masaaki Ikemiyagi 9th dan Meibukan Goju Ryu
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If you get hit and aren’t used to it, this will drastically affect your ability to survive a real confrontation….. Remember, a real fight is about who gets to go home that night. Conditioning and fitness IS combat effectiveness. 
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