Saber Forum

Plans, plans, plans! So once my saber decides to bring its mysterious arse to my doorstep, I had planned to create something which I am officially dubbing "SaberFit". *Disclaimer* SaberFit is vnevn'e;vnq;eor;ngvqeo;v nq;oeirgn'avneq;bg trademarked by ZequarX, Inc. LOL. Any way...  >:(

I figured I could create my own unique workout that would involve 3 primary components: Kettlebells, Parkour, and Saber training. The KB's would be used for strength and endurance; Parkour would be used for flexibility and power; and Saber training would be used for coordination. Mix all these variables up and you have a recipe for one wicked workout. I figured the workouts would be around an hour in a half long to 2 full hours.

An example of one of these workouts would look something like this:
15 min warmup
30 min of KB's
20 min of parkour related movements
45-50 minutes of saber training
Conclude with a stretch

What do you guys think?? I can get more detailed with specifics later on if you guys want.

I like the idea, but that might be because I'm working on something similar... We should compare notes at some point... I was just going to do a strictly saber related workout... meaning every exercise you do will have a saber involved reason.

Heck yea man! I've been messin around with parkour for about 3 yrs off an on now, and I bought 2x 35 lbs kettlebells about a year in a half ago. And lemme tell you, those things are beastly! These are two things I already enjoy doing so I thought it would be fun to put it all together and you have... SABERFIT! Coming to a galaxy near you! Lol. Hit me up any time man and we can compare notes  ;D

When it comes to keeping fit and taking care of yourself, why not do something that you love? Only makes perfect sense :)

Both of your plans sound awesome, keep us posted on your progress so we can use these workouts someday.

Sounds like a cool, idea... but you guys should consider a "compact" version of the workout as well. Not everyone will have an hour and a half to two hours to work out.

A fair point.  It doesn't seem like a lot, but to many people it really is hard to commit that kind of time to anything.  I barely find time to pull off my daily hour of P90X anymore!

Very good point, Gents!

Well it wouldnt be too hard to compact them because you could split the days up throughout the week. Just as an example:

Monday- 10-15 minute warm-up (VERY IMPORTANT! Get those muscles nice and warm)
20 minute's of KB workouts including swings, cleans, jerks, and snatches
20 minutes of Saber training (It is called SaberFit for a reason ;) )

Tuesday- 10-15 minute warm-up (This would include a small series of interchangable bodyweight workouts in a nice little circuit. Like 3 rounds of 10 pushups, 10 sit ups, and 10 air squats or 10 pullups.)
20 minutes of parkour (ex. 5 ft precisions, 5ft borad jumps, 25ft of quadrapedal movement, etc...) I can help with this for anyone wanting to know specific parkour related movements/workouts
20 minutes of Saber training (flipping, spinning, foot work, etc..)

ETC, ETC, ETC..

Now all of this is achievable flying Han Solo, but would be easier with a partner, especially for the Saber training. Nothing makes good reflexes like sparring with a buddy!

If you guys have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask :)

BAM!
ZequarX

Alright so I figured I'd give some more examples for s&g.

Today's workout. (Compliments of Zombiefit.org):

Warm Up: run 1/4 mile or bike 1 miles or row 250m followed by:
3 rounds of: 25m quadrupedal movement, 10 sit ups, 10 push ups, 10 jumping pull ups
WOD 619
3 rounds for time of:

Beginner:
400m run
25 lunges (alternating legs, so 25 total)

Advanced
400m run
25 lunges each leg

Freerunner
400m run
25 pistols or single leg squats (alternating legs, so 25 total)

This could be completed, depending on what lvl workout you tried, in about 10-20 minutes. That's a little under half of you entire workout if you are on a time crunch. Best thing about these types of anerobic workouts, is you dont need any special equipment to do it. Just you, the Force, and later on your Saber. Intrigued, anyone??

Since your body needs ample time to recover, an idea for off days is to spend 30 min strengthening your off-hand.

This can be done in various ways, just get creative :)

Is there something without the running bit? You see, I have really bad feet. No arches. Spent my entire youth in corrective shoes that didn't correct anything, doing foot exercises that didn't build anything, and have pretty much lived with foot pain my entire life. Running is pretty much straight out, which is one of the reasons I took up martial arts in the 1st place, no flight-gotta fight. I considered swimming, but that's not really an available option where I'm at.

Yessir, I understand that. And i'm sorry to hear that. Running is one of my least favorite things to do unless i'm practicing parkour lol. But with the kettlebells, you can create circuits that could replace having to run for cardio. Using the KB's is like having the best of both worlds, because you feel out of breath with the minimal rest times, and you get the physical results from lifting. If you do not own KB's, which most people do not, creating body weight circuits will also get the job done. Using a row machine or biking or shadow boxing are all good replacements for running :)

Hope that helps Cestual!

FYI with rest times, you want to generally keep them at 20-40 seconds and then jump right back into the next set if you are doing this type of workout. Shadow boxing is fun, just imagine your in the fight of your life, Rocky v Apollo Creed! Set you're timer for 3 minutes and go non stop, balls to the wall! Then rest for 3 minutes. Try 3 rounds of this :)

Bicycle

The other day, I was searching around on a SW website called Wookipedia. I found a pic of Luke somewhere father down the line in his career as a Jedi and he was wearing a sleevless shirt... Suprisingly he was pretty ripped. This goes to show you that Jedi's were masters of fitness, cuz muscles don't grow on trees lol.

Luke probably used similar training methods to my SaberFit back when he was runnin things :)

Look at the training regimen Yoda put Luke on during his time on Dagobah... Jedi are supposed to be fit. What I never understoodtb is why Jedi aren't better hand to hand fighters. They should be, if you can duel with a lightsaber or any bladed weapon. Empty handed techniques become a lot easier.

Agreed, good sir. Even using your off hand to strike with when the opportunity presented itself. But I guess with the Force, you can afford to be a tad lazy on the hand-to-hand lol.

I've been thinking for a while now about getting a weight vest around 50lbs. This would be a great way to become faster and stronger. Kinda like knocking 2 birds out with 1 stone. Cuz after a while, if you got fast in the weight vest, you would be really fast without it. Just some food for thought :)

Weight vests are excellent!  We used them at my fencing club for conditioning, really gets your movement speed and agility to the next level.

On a similar topic - wrist weights.  Throw a couple of those on, pop in a heavy grade blade, and practice some cuts... you'll feel it!  MAV and I do this for training, against his heavy bag (except we use a rather heavy suburi bokken instead of a saber).

I like your style Nero! I will look into these as well :)

I used to use ankle weights in basketball and they had a similar effect as wrist weights.

Unofficial form VIII- Sokan:

Sokan was developed by combining tactics to allow evasion, mobility and kinetic movements like in Ataru. Sokan involves the use of swift strokes aimed at the body zones of the opponent. In addition to this they would add in tumbles, rolls, and jumps to help evade the attacks of the opponent. Sokan users would make extensive use of terrain in order to gain the advantage.

Being an unofficial Form, Sokan can be combines with an existing Form to create a stronger variant of combat.

Combine this with form III.... Whoooooo weeee!

*Mental note*
This describes all the components that go into SaberFit.