Worried you are vunerable? Anwser: workout regiment

Martial arts and MMA schools seem to be growing in plazas and street corners over night. Maybe the news is to blame for this sudden panic and need to "arm ourselves". True some just appreciate the sport or hobby. Still, there is a good amount of people in these classes who want to know how to defend themselves. There is a good audience of people who want to be able to fight, if they felt they had to. This article is for those people. No, I am not going to tell you "5 tips to beat someone down" or anything of the sort. Yet, if you do this, you will be less likely to be attacked. Even better, you'll feel safe. Most of the time the threat is in our heads, so feeling secure is a great victory in itself.

Readers may remember me writing about my trainers rant on the need for phyiscal fitness in any martial art or style. I will cover it again for those who do not, becasue it is so true. If you are out-of-shape and get winded from basic things, knowledge of the best fighting style in the world can only do minimal for you. Minimal. If your body is not able to perform, there's little use. Some moves and techniques reuire peak levels of fitness. This is agianst the convential wisdom becasue noone wants to step on any toes. Yet, if you want to feel secure and lower the chance of someone messing with you, tighten your body up. The advantages will be big for those who really go for it.

Assuming you understand what was said above, which basically could be summed up as: to fight or defend, you have to be in fighting shape. An article I referenced on bodybuilding.com states, "Muscle endurance is key to self-defense, and using weights to increase that muscle endurance is a great thing to do. " Everything can stem from there. I now want to list some exercies reccomended to get you into that shape.  Core is a big part. If you have a strong core: you will protect organs, and everythnig else will work better together in general. Always protect the Core is one of the first things Iwas taught by my trainer, and part of that is teaching the core to protect it self.

Here are some great exercises for building your core (among other things, like confidence and sense of security):

• squats
• deadlifts
• oblique crunches
• normal crunches
• Bicyles 
• Plank