But I Like Cardio More

Terytha wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Would you like martial arts? With weapons (saber, spear, staff)? Those are a little strength-y. Rowing, kayaking, canoeing? Biking, especially hilly biking? Rock climbing? Seriously diggy gardening? Etc.

I'm a samurai actually. Or, I was, until my anxiety and some social politics drove me into an indefinite hiatus from training. Off for two-ish years now.

Still got my katana and all my knowledge, but it weighs like 3-ish pounds and body mechanics means my core does 90% of the work, so it's not very arm-strengthy.

Also I do this boxing game that makes my arms hurt. Does that mean its cardio and strength? Can it be strength with no weight?

Fitness is confusing to me.

Staff/spear (and some more obscure weapons) are more flexible IMO in this regard (i.e. easier to simply increase weight of the practice weapon vs. bladed things). Since you evidently already know how to move a weapon from your center (which tends to be the hard/subtle part), you might consider either adapting some of your katana moves to a heavier item, or using MA YouTube videos (of staff/stick stuff from other MA) to make up a drill routine you enjoy, if that sounds fun.

Looked at from the perspective of the source MA, that's kinda appropriative/wannabe-ish, maybe even lame, but from the perspective of "fun activity that builds upper body strength/integration", it's fine. (Much Western practice of Eastern MA is appropriative/wannabe-ish, anyway, little as we practitioners want to think that. ).

In Winter, I used to do some long-staff practice with a short, heavy "body bar" (heavier than long staff, maybe 1/4 the length). It wasn't perfect, but I could make some progress indoors at home without smashing lamps.

While sore muscles are not the measure of a workout, I'd say that any workout that causes them is doing something for you muscularly**, be it better recruitment/more efficient utilization (neuromuscular adaptation), muscular endurance, or strength. The problem is not so much "is this giving me a little improvement now" as "how do I make this progressive (still challenging) as I improve at it" (without unacceptably increasing injury risk). For example, theoretically I suppose you could do boxing moves with hand weights, but at some point that becomes risky.

And yes, things can improve strength with no (external) weight. To your shoulders and back, your arms are a weight. Resistance (friction, isometric resistance, etc.) is a weight. And so forth.

With respect to fitness being confusing: It doesn't help that there's as much quasi-religious nonsense around fitness as around diet. Some things are more efficient than others, some things are more risky than others, there are individualized issues that matter . . . but IMO there's no "one true way" that's the exclusive route to anything. (For sure, some strategies are more efficient and can take us further than others . . . but if they make our limited time on Earth much less enjoyable, why bother? It's important to think about future (old age) quality of life as well as current, of course, and balance those. Reflex is to prioritize current life quality over future, but that's literally short-sighted.)

IMO, bottom line for fitness: Challenge yourself; persistently push current capabilities a manageable bit along any dimension (strength, endurance, flexibility, distance, intensity, CV performance, whatever); and you'll make progress along that dimension.

Only you are in a position to say whether doing a particular thing to achieve a particular goal is worthwhile to you, or not. (I hate to swim - uck to the icky! - but took swim lessons & lap-swim classes, and practiced, because rowers need to swim, for example.)

** To be clear, just because you aren't getting sore muscles, doesn't mean you aren't getting stronger. Progressivity of challenge is key. Consistently do a specific thing for a specific duration at a specific intensity, and your body adapts to it. That's progress. To keep making progress, you have to increase the challenge eventually.

Best wishes!