What kind of exercise is martial arts?

bathsheba_c

In the fitness section, there's a lot of talk about the difference between cardio vs. strength training vs. resistance vs. endurance. How would you classify martial arts (and maybe specify what kind you do in case it varies by type)?

jfinnivan

That's a tough call because for any one class, you could be doing very different kinds of activities. My style is Uechi-ryu karate, and we'll have classes that concentrate on sparring, which is wildly aerobic. Other classes may concentrate on doing kata, or forms. Doing these correctly is very taxing, gets the heart rate up, and strains all of your muscles, but it's not as aerobic as sparring. There is a karate selection in the exercise database, but using a heart rate monitor will give you a better idea of the burn you get. My rule of thumb, after using the HRM, is to use 10 calories per minute as a general purpose number. It may not be accurate for any one particular class, but over time it seems to work as a good average for me.

atsteele

That's a tough call because for any one class, you could be doing very different kinds of activities. My style is Uechi-ryu karate, and we'll have classes that concentrate on sparring, which is wildly aerobic. Other classes may concentrate on doing kata, or forms. Doing these correctly is very taxing, gets the heart rate up, and strains all of your muscles, but it's not as aerobic as sparring. There is a karate selection in the exercise database, but using a heart rate monitor will give you a better idea of the burn you get. My rule of thumb, after using the HRM, is to use 10 calories per minute as a general purpose number. It may not be accurate for any one particular class, but over time it seems to work as a good average for me.

For a woman, I guesstimate a 8 cal per minute burn. (Sadly, us women burn less doing the same activity.)