It is smart to stick with something you know works, like a regular workout schedule. Your body will adapt to the routine if you do the same thing every day. If you’re one of the millions of people stuck in this cycle, Karate may be the ideal workout. But the question remain can karate build muscle?
Karate is great for building strength, flexibility, and coordination. It’s easy on the joints and combines cardiovascular training with muscular exercises. When practicing Karate, the body makes rapid, explosive movements to help maintain proper form and balance.
Can Karate build muscle? If you’re looking for a way to build muscle while also learning self-defense skills and having fun, Karate is excellent. Karate is a full-body workout that will improve your confidence and discipline while building muscle. We’ll explore how Karate in your weight-training program can help you get the body you desire.
Does Karate Build Muscle?
People who do Muay Thai training can build a lot of muscle. Karate doesn’t build as much muscle as Muay Thai, but you’ll hit a wall soon if you don’t balance the two disciplines. Let’s look at the four main muscles engaged in Muay Thai.
1. Arm and Shoulder Muscles
Karate is a martial art that teaches you how to punch and strike. It’s no wonder that the arms and shoulders are some of the most developed muscles in a Karate student. But what is it about practicing Karate that builds so much muscle in the upper body?
The answer is simple: physics. To deliver a knockout punch, start by curling your toes. Then, gradually build up your body’s momentum until your fist hits your opponent’s body. In Karate, you’ll master the art of explosive punches by practicing strikes that begin in the core. Then, after transferring that energy, apply the speed and velocity of your deltoids as your fist reaches its target.
Your deltoids are one of three major muscles in your shoulder area. The others are supraspinatus and infraspinatus. They act like pistons for every strike you make. This contributes greatly to its overall power by helping to accelerate it and give it a powerful end-burst of velocity at impact.
Of course, this kind of workout demands more than just strong deltoids. Working those shoulder muscles heavily also means working a lot on their second-line support systems. It includes the triceps (for straightening your elbow) and biceps (for bending them). This dynamic trio makes up most of what we think as “defined” arms. Muay Thai fighters have very cut shoulders as a result. It’s no wonder people think karate can help you bulk up.
2. Hip and Leg Muscles
The hip flexors and extensors surround the gluteal muscles and the quadriceps. Each muscle serves a different purpose in executing kicks, sweeps, and blocking techniques.
When learning Muay Thai, repetition is extremely useful. This fact is also true for many other martial arts classes. Every time you slam your shin into a bag or kick shield, it breaks down muscle fibers. When these fibers repair themselves, they become more resilient to future damage. You have to give them time to heal between workouts (recovery) for this to happen.
So yes—Muay Thai can build strength and muscle mass. It won’t turn you into Arnold Schwarzenegger though, unless you want it to happen through intense dieting and weight training on top of your Muay Thai training.
3. Core Muscles
The idea is that when you punch or kick, each action starts from the ground up and moves through the entire body in one fluid motion. The most important part of this equation is not your arms (where the actual punching/kicking takes place), but your core muscles.
This helps you transfer power from your legs to your arms while maintaining good posture. Strong core muscles prevent you from losing your balance or power if you swing around with your limbs like a flailing monkey.
Core muscles include the abdominal muscles, back and hip flexor (iliopsoas), and obliques. These large muscles support your spine (i.e., your backbones). Core musculature plays a vital role in keeping us upright against gravity. It also enables us to perform complex movements like jumping, landing, running, walking, and maintaining our balance.
Without strong core musculature, we would not be able to sit up straight or even walk without falling over. Core strength training also prevents injury by stabilizing joints such as your knee and shoulder when performing exercise or sport-specific tasks.
What does this mean for all the Karate students? It means that we need strong cores if we want our attacks to be effective against an opponent who won’t just stand there waiting for their turn.
4. Back Muscles
To do karate kicks and blocks, you rely on back muscles for extending, flexing, and bending at the waist. You also use back muscles to stabilize your body and rotate your arms. There are three important back muscles.
The latissimus dorsi muscles help you build a strong back because they attach to the spine and can handle heavyweight. To build muscle in the back, you need to work out your entire back from its sides to its top.
The rhomboids run in a diamond shape from the upper spine to the shoulders. You can make these stronger with exercises such as reverse-grip bent-over rows.
If you don’t train your trapezius muscles, you’ll be vulnerable to neck injuries. Try lifting weights overhead with a straight neck, like a baker lifts bread.
To work your lats and front abs muscles, you can do exercises that involve bending at the waist and extending your arms.
Is Strength Training Necessary Along with Karate Training?
Most of us don’t realize that Karate training by itself is not enough for a complete workout.
Karate is a cardiovascular workout. Strength training will help increase your upper body strength, speed, power, and muscular endurance. If you’re a white belt and want to be an expert black belt in no time, try adding a few sessions of strength training to your Karate routine.
Karate movements are not moving in all directions as strength training does. Karate moves in three planes of motion: sagittal (moving forward and backward), frontal (from side to side), and transverse (rotational movements). The muscle groups involved in these three planes of motion include the chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, back, and abdominals. Many people who practice Karate don’t realize they’re missing out on training their quads, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and hip flexors.
You can break up the muscle groups into upper body, lower body, and core exercises. If using weights for upper body workouts, try adding more weight or doing more reps. Try squats with added weight for the lower body to get those leg muscles working hard.
Forget Arnold Schwarzenegger, and think Bruce Lee. Strength training will help you develop your muscles to kick some serious butt in the dojo!
Can Karate Help You Lose Weight?
Why are Muay Thai fighters so skinny? Although Muay Thai may be a more effective workout than some other sports on this list, there is one caveat. It will not help you lose weight unless you do frequent, vigorous physical activity.
If you look at MMA fighters who rely on Karate to win their fights, they tend to dehydrate themselves heavily and then bounce back to a higher weight when it’s time to fight. Sound crazy? It’s not!
With Karate, you can dehydrate your body enough to lose several pounds overnight (if you’re lucky) simply by sweating it out in the gym. You don’t even have to follow any strict diets. Just think about it. Thousands of personal trainers have been using this method for years, so why not try it?
Muay Thai can be your ticket if you’re looking for an overall health boost with some weight loss as an added benefit. You’ll get an intense workout, build lean muscle, and develop skills that improve your fitness over time.
Conclusion
Studies have shown that martial arts can help you build muscle. The endorphin rush after a good workout can leave you feeling better than you have in a long time. Karate is a great way to get your heart rate up and burn calories. It can also help with stress management, making you feel more comfortable in your skin.
As with any fitness regimen, the results won’t happen overnight. However, if you put your mind to it and commit to doing Karate classes every couple of days for a month or two, you’ll start seeing results that make all the effort worthwhile.