How much training/hours/classes per week is optimal?

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Who has time to train 5 hours/day? Going out on a limb here, but I would guess that you would be lucky to find (in the US at least), one martial artist in 10,000 that actually trains on any kind of regular basis 5 hours or more/day.

I was going based on my old vs. Current schedule. I used to train mondays and Thursdays from 7 til either 11 or 12. (On top of 2 hours fencing and the 15 minutes a day that I always do).

Nowadays I train roughly 3 days a week, depending on when I'm free, and only stay for an hour each class.

I feel like I improved a lot more during that first schedule, but I also ended up burning out at a point which I think was combining it with fencing two hours a day, and a bunch of other life shtuff going on.

 

[CB Jones]

Minus nights when he has basketball or baseball games, My son's schedule:

Monday & Wed: 3 hrs/night...5:30-8:30 --2 classes/night (Beginners & Int/Adv) at the University Dojo
Tuesday & Thur: 3 hrs/night...5:30-830 --3 classes/night (Beg, Int, Advanced) at Dojo
Friday: 2 hours....5:30- 7:30----Black belt only at Dojo
Sundays: 1 hour ---sparring at the house

Mostly for the past 5 years, if the dojo doors are unlocked and he can thats where he is.

So depending on school sports....roughly 7-11 classes per wk 9-15 hours a week

 

[Headhunter]

I go tuesday and thursday and i go from 7 to 745 pm

Really only 45 minute classes? Wow must be difficult to learn a lot of material in that time

 

[mrt2]

Minus nights when he has basketball or baseball games, My son's schedule:

Monday & Wed: 3 hrs/night...5:30-8:30 --2 classes/night (Beginners & Int/Adv) at the University Dojo
Tuesday & Thur: 3 hrs/night...5:30-830 --3 classes/night (Beg, Int, Advanced) at Dojo
Friday: 2 hours....5:30- 7:30----Black belt only at Dojo
Sundays: 1 hour ---sparring at the house

Mostly for the past 5 years, if the dojo doors are unlocked and he can thats where he is.

So depending on school sports....roughly 7-11 classes per wk 9-15 hours a week

That is optimal?

 

[CB Jones]

That is optimal?

That's just what he wants to do.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

The second is that it depends on how advanced you are. There is a learning curve, so it is much easier for a black belts skills to atrophy than a white belts. If someone just starts and only goes 2 days a week, you'll still see significant progress three months out. If someone training for 5 years starts doing the same, you might not notice any difference.

I'd actually argue most engrained skills don't atrophy at a day of training a week (assuming fitness and such are maintained), unless they were developed with a more intense schedule (meaning they were developed to a very high level - like being in competition form). Someone who slowly developed over time at 2-3 days a week and has received the full curriculum can maintain their skills at 1 day a week.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Who has time to train 5 hours/day? Going out on a limb here, but I would guess that you would be lucky to find (in the US at least), one martial artist in 10,000 that actually trains on any kind of regular basis 5 hours or more/day.

There was a time when I did. I'd often be at the dojo from 4:30 until 9:30. I was also in my 20's at the time. For part of that time, I was also single and for the other part I was living with someone who also trained there. The life compromises seemed easier back then.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

It was boredom with my gym routine that got me to try martial arts again. But, as we get into spring, I am looking forward to putting in some miles on my road bike as there really is nothing as nice as a bike ride on a warm summer day.

I keep wanting to get back into riding - haven't done any in decades. Then I look at the roads around here and think, "Maybe I'll just go for a run. Running that hill looks easier."

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Haha beast! Respect

It's a great question, but really I don't think there's a formula that's best for everyone. I don't think that twice a week is just for maintenance at all. Pretty much all my general martial arts training has always been twice a week, and I progressed just fine. Never really did more than that apart from preparing for a grading/tournament.

I even think once a week you can progress and improve, just at a slower rate. But some great points have been made, and it really does depend on what training you're doing, the quality of it, quantity of it, and not to mention the individual modes of how people learn and different learning styles/rates.

I would say twice a week is a good minimum to shoot for, but if not possible once a week is better than none .

Even if I'm injured or something and can't train that week I'll chuck on some MA vids (like tutorials, tournaments, seminars, clips) that I've download and I still consider that just as valuable training too in the interim.

I'll reinforce that it is possible to learn and progress at once a week. For the first year of my program, I only taught once a week. It's toughest on new folks - it's very easy to forget brand new material in a week, and everything is brand new to them. After a while, there's enough related material to hang your hat on (so to speak), and less is forgotten from week to week.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

You just train when you can. There is one "but", though - when you get a day that your schedule allows you to train......but you just don't feel like it, or you're tired, maybe. Be careful of those days. Those days are dangerous.

I was blessed. I don't really like to use that word, but as my buddies continuously say to me, it's the only way I can describe the opportunities that were laid at my feet. It was luck of the draw. I got to train, got paid for it, actually made a living, all day and all night, all week every week, all year every year, for almost thirty years full time with great instructors and dojos/gyms. I didn't deserve it. But you can be damn sure I took it. I mean, wouldn't you?

Yes. Even today, I'd take that.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I was going based on my old vs. Current schedule. I used to train mondays and Thursdays from 7 til either 11 or 12. (On top of 2 hours fencing and the 15 minutes a day that I always do).

Nowadays I train roughly 3 days a week, depending on when I'm free, and only stay for an hour each class.

I feel like I improved a lot more during that first schedule, but I also ended up burning out at a point which I think was combining it with fencing two hours a day, and a bunch of other life shtuff going on.

I've never been able to build the habit of doing 10-15 minutes every day. I'm not prone to repetition, and my schedule (and location) varies enough that I keep missing days long before the repetition creates a habit.

Still something I'm working on. Maybe always will be.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Really only 45 minute classes? Wow must be difficult to learn a lot of material in that time

A lot of schools have gone to 45- or 60-minute classes. I can't do it. I actually tried 60 minutes, and always felt like not enough could happen, so I went back to 90 minutes (which is how I trained most of my career).

 

[Gerry Seymour]

That's just what he wants to do.

Then I'd say the answer is "yes".

 

[Headhunter]

A lot of schools have gone to 45- or 60-minute classes. I can't do it. I actually tried 60 minutes, and always felt like not enough could happen, so I went back to 90 minutes (which is how I trained most of my career).

An hours okay so 15 minute warm up 45 minute technical stuff but with 45 minutes by the time your warm ups done you've only got half an hour and that's not including water breaks etc

 

[Gerry Seymour]

An hours okay so 15 minute warm up 45 minute technical stuff but with 45 minutes by the time your warm ups done you've only got half an hour and that's not including water breaks etc

Maybe if the instructor is less talky than me. 60 minutes just wasn't enough for me. Students were pretty happy with the change to 90 minutes - it seems to fit my teaching style better.

 

[JR 137]

An hours okay so 15 minute warm up 45 minute technical stuff but with 45 minutes by the time your warm ups done you've only got half an hour and that's not including water breaks etc

Water breaks? What are those?

 

[DougKenline]

i do push ups, kicks, squats, treadmill, and weights 3 times per week....1 hour 45 minutes each...

yea probably just a fact of life that you have to decide for yourself what is right for you...

great conversation guys! keep up the good work! thanks to all! yea buddy!!

 

[gucia6]

I hear you. This might sound silly but, I want to advance to the point where I am not always the lowest ranking adult in class. In the old days, that would be easy, since martial arts was fairly popular for adults. Second, I want to get a lot more fit, and I realize that means exercising as much discipline at the dinner table as it does training, but nonetheless.training hard is part of it.

Maybe now you are the lowest ranking among adults, but it wont stay like this forever. And if you have some basics you can probably advance quite fast.
I had no basics and first classes I was absolutely lost (thou I did my best to follow), than the moves I was confident with I repeated at home.

As for being fit, it goes for all sport disciplines. The frequency and intensity should be adjusted individually. Otherwise it can lead to fatigue, frustration or even injury.

I have training twice a week, 2 hours each. The routine includes light warm-up, strength toning (push-ups, squats, planks, sit-ups), some stretching, than quite a bit of break falls, basic kata, then exercises with partner (probably in the future it could be called sparring, now it is just adjusting body movement, finding own balance, learning what the move should do), from middle of warm-up sweating buckets. And at the end light cool-down.

After my first training (Monday) I felt fantastic, thou a bit sore. After second class (Wednesday) I was absolutely miserable and sick. After that I went to classes only on Mondays for couple of weeks until I felt my body adjusted enough. And finally last couple of weeks I manage both classes a week. And just to say, before I was quite fit anyway, but it seems that was not enough.

Water breaks? What are those?

We are allowed those in summer (40+ deg C), but it is just a sip of water and than back on the mat

 

[_Simon_]

A lot of schools have gone to 45- or 60-minute classes. I can't do it. I actually tried 60 minutes, and always felt like not enough could happen, so I went back to 90 minutes (which is how I trained most of my career).

Yeah, have always done 75-90 minutes classes and they just make sense, anything less than an hour seems like not enough time huh!

Water breaks? What are those?

Hahahaha... XD. It's when you're sweating so darn profusely that we have to have a break in class to towel it all up from the floor!

 

[Headhunter]

Maybe if the instructor is less talky than me. 60 minutes just wasn't enough for me. Students were pretty happy with the change to 90 minutes - it seems to fit my teaching style better.

Well you need to talk in martial arts to explain it even if you really don't talk a lot it still cuts down training time.