Why Strength Train?

Listed below are some the best reasons to include Strength and Conditioning training as part of any martial arts or combat sports training. They are in an approximate order of importance.

1. Injury Prevention - Strength and conditioning is the most important and effective component of injury prevention in any sports program. A properly designed program has a very low incidence of injury itself and will do a tremendous amount to decrease the likelihood of injury. Additionally, in the event of injury, the well conditioned body will heal more effectively.
2. Health and Fitness - Physical training is good for your body and health. It will benefit the practitioner in too many ways to list, such as decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Therefore if training for swordplay is the reason for getting more physical activity then it is an entirely worthwhile reason.
3. Be able to Train More - Strength and Conditioning will increase the ability to practice and train technical components of the art. The idea is sometimes known as, “training to train”. Simply put, exercise will increase the number of reps of a technique that can be done in a row, decrease the necessary break times in a training session and increase the possible length of a training session. Or it can be thought of being able to fight more fights in row before becoming tired.
4. Achieving your personal Best - A Strength and Conditioning program is necessary to reach your personal peak. Without a doubt, technical training is the larger component of success in a martial art. But the last steps to the highest level are done with strength and conditioning training as part of the program. But as explained in point 2, physical training will increase the ability to train and therefore speed and ease the path to expertise, so strength and conditioning should be implemented Day 1 to maximize the utility, safety and effectiveness of training.
5. Improve Form - Some deficits in form are caused by deficits in strength. A particular muscle may be too weak or it may be inhibited and so may prevent a person from correctly performing a specific action. A well developed, comprehensive strengthening program should correct this problem.