David Owen started Karate some twenty years ago, training with the late Sensei Frank Nowak and grading to brown belt with Kanazawa Hirokazu Sensei. These days, he and his son Michael are both active members of JKA Victoria.

David has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Human Movement and a Post Graduate Diploma in Rehabilitation Studies. He is a Master of Health Science (Rehabilitation Counselling) with a Certificate of Applied Ergonomics and he has been a professional Occupational Rehabilitation Consultant for over 10 years. He currently practices at The Epworth Hospital in Melbourne.

Introduction
I’d like to share some very basic exercise physiology and sports science concepts that I believe will be useful to Karateka. A better understanding of some of these concepts may assist with training. It should be noted that as with every rule, exceptions could occur in a range of special circumstances. This information should be viewed critically and is intended as a guide, not a definitive answer to all questions.

Adaptation through overload
One of the first concepts to be introduced is the idea of increasing strength and endurance through a process of overloading the body's system (i.e. the musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and respiratory systems). The body has an ability to adapt when it is gradually overloaded; the muscles become stronger, the respiratory system becomes more efficient, and neural pathways become more established. In general terms there are three methods used to produce this overload;

These three methods can be altered individually or in combinations to overload the body. The body responds to being gradually overloaded by adaptation. However it should be noted that it is very likely that injury will result if the body is significantly overloaded or if the increases occur too quickly - more is not necessarily better. The body needs time to repair, rebuild and adapt in between sessions. Massively overloading the body will not result in massive adaptations, more likely it will result in severe injury.

How much do we overload the body for it to adapt and improve with training? This will vary significantly between individuals. Some of the factors that influence how quickly the body adapts, include; age (we take longer to recover as we get older), genetics (chose your parents wisely, your genetics is a big factor) the type of training, and how fit you are to begin with.

The law of diminishing returns
An individual’s base level of fitness has a major impact on the amount that the body adapts to being overloaded. A sedentary individual is likely to be able to achieve significant improvements with a short training program, whereas a fitter or well trained individual is likely to have fewer benefits from a short training program. The fitter individual will have to work much harder to make very small gains. A simple example of this would be that a sedentary individual can make significant improvements if they were to start a running program. On the other hand, an elite level runner may only shave fractions of a second off a personal best time with a high intensity well structured program.

Unfortunately for all of us the benefits our bodies derive by adapting to training will not occur at an endlessly linear rate. The benefits start to diminish even though we work harder and harder. That said, the limit to the human body’s potential to adapt has not be found, as we can see from the absolute measures used in sports such running, swimming, high jump etc.

More about overloading the body
Given that there are three basic methods used to overload the body – which of these is the best? There are benefits to each of the methods of overload that would be appropriate for different circumstances. These methods of overloading the body can also be effectively used in combination. It would be questionable to try to increase all of these factors at once, as this would greatly increase the chances of injury. Caution would also be needed when training for prolonged periods (duration) whilst increasing the intensity of the training. Again, this could result in injury (or at the very least muscle stiffness and pain). Probably the most effective way to overload the body so that positive adaptation results, is by increasing the frequency (number of sessions per week) in conjunction with the intensity of that training. It should be restated that the body does need some time to adapt, rebuild and repair itself.

Exercise specificity
Another simple rule in exercise physiology is that of exercise specificity. In simple terms it would not assist a marathon runner to win races if he spent most of his time sprinting or swimming. While the body will achieve some gains with cross training, if you want to improve at a certain task you need to train specifically for that task. As Karate is predominately an anaerobic activity (short high intensity bursts of activity) or a very high intensity aerobic activity, there would be little benefit from running long distances (unless this is to improve general fitness). Generally it is recommended that if the individual wants to make benefits in a sport or a specific activity (eg Karate) then the fitness training should mimic the training as closely as possible. There is no point in performing slow aerobic activities as part of a training regime for something that requires high intensity anaerobic activity. It may be wiser to reconsider the weights session and book yourself in for another (Karate) training session.

The forgotten component of training – Rest
Again we focus in on the misnomer that “more is better”. As has been stated previously the body needs time to adapt, repair and rebuild. If it is not given a chance to do so, there is an increased chance of injury, and the level of the individual’s performance starts to deteriorate. Constant intensive training without let-up will lead to physical and psychological exhaustion. A serious athlete will find significant benefits by incorporating rest days into their training schedule. A rest day does not necessarily mean that they don’t go off to training and simply fill this day in with some other form of exercise, it means complete rest. Constantly pushing the body’s physical and mental boundaries is more likely to lead to “burnout” rather than improved performance.

It is also worth noting that Karateka are different to a lot of athletes who will tailor their training to a competition calendar. Most elite level athletes will have very specific training schedules that will build up their intensity, honing their fitness and skill for a specific event with a taper off period before the event, followed by some down time after the event. While there are a number of Karateka who could be classified as elite level athletes the majority of them do not train solely with competition in mind. Elite level athletes can not sustain the intensity of their training in the run-up to competition indefinitely. This simply is not sustainable physically, emotionally and psychologically (or even socially, from a relationship perspective unless they want to be very single).

Basic tips for after you have overdone it
There are a number of theories about the cause of muscle soreness after a particularly hard training session, or performing an activity the body is not used to. These include that some of this soreness is due to individual muscle fibres suffering microscopic damage from being overloaded and are repairing and adapting themselves so that the muscle fibres become thicker and therefore more able to cope with hard training. Another theory is that this soreness may be due to metabolic by-products from the exercise causing some inflammation and pain. Another possibility of muscle soreness is due to muscle fibres being overstretched. As most individuals are aware, intense stretching sessions can result in muscle soreness. It is also interesting to note that muscle soreness can occur due to eccentric loading of muscles. When a muscle is loaded in an activity such as a dumb bell curl, it is shortened in the concentric phase (the curling of the arm) and lengthened under load in the eccentric phase (slowly straightening the arm).

What can be done about this muscle soreness? Very low level exercise such walking, gentle stretching and swimming have been found to be effective in reducing muscle stiffness and soreness. Some common sense should obviously be applied with this - if any activity tends to be painful then rest for a period. The idea of gentle exercise (30 - 40% of maximum) is to help the body metabolise some of the by-products that are produced both from intense exercise and possibly from microscop