Acting as judge or referee at tournaments is a function some consider a chore while others welcome the opportunity to be involved in competition while not as a competitor.

Personally, I would rather be competing than judging. But for a variety of reasons, I have not competed for over 10 years and have ended up as a center ref at almost every tournament I have attended in recent years.

While it can be argued that successful competitors are more likely to become good referees - just as skilled Karate students are more likely to become good instructors - this is not always the case. One does need a good eye and sound judgement to be a good judge. And these skills are greatly enhanced by a solid foundation of years of training. But even the most experienced, talented Karateka is not very valuable as a judge if he/she is not familiar with the rules, hand-signals or protocol of the tournament. Although I prefer competing to judging, I do welcome the opportunity to use my experience and approach this "duty" with enthusiasm. And, as with teaching, showing a passion for what you are doing tends to result in others also showing enthusiasm.

Roles of Officials:

Chief Arbitrator = Judge
Chief Judge = Sheriff / Chief of Police
Judges = Police / Deputies
Scorekeepers/Timekeepers = Administrative staff at the Police Station
Remember that the moto of many police forces is "to serve and protect." That is also the purpose of the tournament officials.

Tips

• Corner Judges should always have an opinion. There is no shame in admitting you could not see or you do not think anything qualified for a score or warning. When the center ref stops the action, your flags should be showing your opinion, not just sitting on your lap/legs.
• Safety First. Stop violence or bad control at first sign. Give warnings, or even disqualification, if someone is risking serious injury, even if no contact has been made.
• Center ref should speak loudly and clearly. Don't know the Japanese? Using correct and clear terminology in English is better than using Japanese incorrectly or unclearly. Make sure scoring table can see, hear and understand the signals and verbal calls.

Kumite-specific tips:

• Long sleeves may hide poor technique.
• Quick/large withdrawal of punching hand does not contribute to value of punch.
• Flashy kicks are worth little more than their entertainment value if the hip is not properly engaged. This is the same as for punches and strikes.
• Base scoring on technical abilities/performance, not raw strength or athletic ability.
• Center ref should move where he can see and where corner judges can see.
• Center ref should make sure all corner judges have whistle in mouth, back straight, eyes center and are alert, before match (re)starts.

Kata-specific tips:

• Long belt hanging down near the floor gives the illusion of a low stance.
• Shorter people appear to have lower stances.
• Know the scoring range. If you are in charge of the ring, make sure all corner judges know the range and that they should use this entire range instead of clustering all the scores within just a few tenths of a point.
• Kata should be scored on technique, etc. Higher scores should not be given for a poor rendition of Unsu than a fantastic Heian Shodan.

The value of good scorekeepers & timekeepers

These people are in charge of scoring, etc. Judges have much to think about. Competent people at the table can make a huge difference. Do not underestimate nor underappreciate the efforts and worth of these people.

Organizing a tournament

It is a lot of work. If you are organizing a large tournament or camp, delegating duties is important, often absolutely necessary. Find competent people to help and remind them how much you appreciate their assistance.
For more on tournaments, please see:
http://www.jkasv.com/articles/articlesmain_files/archive-43.html
http://www.jkasv.com/articles/articlesmain_files/archive-57.html

First of all, please note that I am not a medical professional of any sort.  I have studied nutrition only as a side interest.  What I know about nutrition is that I should know more!  This article is meant more of a reminder of common sense, rather than an in-depth study of nutrition.  This may not be much of a "Karate article".  But I think this is the type of subject that everyone should be interested in and can definitely help your karate and the rest of your life as well, if you put at least a little thought into it.

The Basics
"We are what we eat."  Or so the saying goes.  Eat well if you want to be well.  If you eat bad food, you may not be a bad person.  But it is probably detrimental to some areas of your life if your diet is not good; you may get sick more often and it may have a negative impact on your mental health as well.  Treat your body well.  There is no real option for a trade-in on your body.  You might as well make it the best it can be.  Remember that the health and activity of your mind is usually aided by the health and activity of your body.  There are chemical connections and psychological ones as well.

Calories
I overheard someone at my office the other day say that he thought all the fad diets really were simply about calorie-counting.  We ended up in a heated debate, finally agreeing that most of the people who follow a diet specifically  as a fad are probably simply counting calories or what in effect is equivalent to calorie-counting.  For anyone athletically active, calorie intake may be important but not necessarily that we should be worried about every single calorie consumed.  There are far more important considerations.

Sugars
There is a fairly new fad diet out there referred to as "The Chocolate Diet".  This basically involves the idea of consuming lots of sugar throughout the day, such as is found in chocolate (the darker the better, in case you care).  The idea is to keep one active due to the perpetual sugar-high, such that we burn off whatever we are consuming.  Sugar may not be so bad for active people.  But if you are not active, some of that sugar can turn to fat.  There are many different types of sugars.  It is quite amazing to me how many companies producing packaged food/candy seem to think that their consumers are too stupid to realize that "fructose", "high-fructose corn syrup", "corn syrup" and "glucose" are all sugar.  Different types of sugars are broken down by the body different ways and at different speeds.  My suggestion is to limit artificial sugar intake as much as possible.  Instead, eat lots of fruit and other foods containing natural sugars.  And don't fall for the "juices" that contain very little real fruit and lots of artificial sugars.  Water is probably much better for you.  Of course sugar intake is something to monitor very carefully if you are diabetic.

Protein
There are many ways to get protein into your diet.  I am not a vegetarian.  But meat is not the only source of protein.  For athletes, protein is very important.  If you are actively working out, you should think about how to get enough protein to sustain your activities.  I usually try to consume some form of protein soon after a workout.

Fat
Fat naturally occurs in some foods.  It is not necessarily bad.  But, as with sugars, if we are not active, fat can build up and stay in your body longer than you want.  Personally, I try to minimize fat intake.

Salt & Sodium
Salt, in moderation, is good for the body.  We lose a significant amount of salt when we sweat..  But so many processed foods contain large amounts of sodium.  In large amounts, it can be quite harmful.  Read the labels.  Both fat and salt are often considered "the cook's friends" because relying on them is an easy way to add flavor to food.  We should be careful to control ourselves and not just reach for what tastes good.

Caffeine
Today in my office, someone had written a quote on the white-board, taken from a movie about salespeople (I am in a sales position): "COFFE IS ONLY FOR CLOSERS" (meaning, you don't deserve to be drinking anything but water if you aren't closing deals and making sales).  I erased the "C" in "CLOSERS" to be funny.  Caffeine is unnecessary.  It has some short-term benefits, as does sugar.  But the long-term effects far outweigh the short-term benefits.  I am forecasting that in 10-15 years, the coffee and/or soda business will face the same type of class-action lawsuits as the tobacco industry has been facing recently.  Caffeine is addictive.  It is generally not healthy.  Phase it out, or at least minimize it.

Alcohol and other Recreational Drugs
I am no teetotaller.  But I do not drink much.  There have been many studies showing that a little wine may actually improve one's health.  But drinking to excess is not only bad for your image (or is it?) but is also bad for your body.  Drinking in moderation may not be such a bad thing.  But don't let it become a habit and try not to let yourself lose control.  Living in northern California, I know many people who have experimented with recreational drugs.  I don't see the need.  Get high on exercise.

Fluids
Drink lots of fluid.  But try to limit to water and good quality juices.  Sports drinks are not so terrible.  But I recommend staying away from the mass-market brands such as Gatorade.  There are much better ones out there.  Please also see article on Dehydration.

Tobacco
Smoking is bad for the people doing it, as well as the people around them.  And it smells bad.  As with caffeine, phase it out.

Vitamins & Other Supplements
Do you need to take supplemental vitamins?  It depends on your diet.  If you are concerned that you may not be getting all the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients in your daily diet, you may want to consider supplements.  I take some vitamins almost every day, in addition to Flax Seed Oil, Glucosomine, Shark Cartilage and prescription medication for my arthritis. Please consult your doctor and/or a nutritionist for more detail.

Summary
Take care of your body; it's the only one you have.

Please see the following link for some related information:
http://www.eatright.org/Public/NutritionInformation/92.cfm

Copyright © 2004, Jon Keeling

Several readers have requested that I write an article about dealing with injuries common in karate training.  Rather than try to write an all-encompassing article about dojo safety and first-aid, I will review here some of my thoughts based on my own personal experience.  I have certification in Basic First-Aid and also CPR/Defibrillation.  I would hope that others would also share an interest in being prepared to deal with at least the most common injuries and conditions that may arise as a result of karate training.  Students should inform their instructor(s), as well as classmates (as needed) about any injuries, illnesses or other conditions that may require special attention.  Remember that proper warm-up and stretching, as well as strengthening exercises should be an integral part of the total experience of karate practice.

Cuts & Bruises
No matter how hard instructors try to keep their classes injury-free, some minor cuts and bruises should be expected.  Any cuts should be immediately washed and bandaged.  Large cuts should of course not be treated lightly.  Instructors should have a first-aid kit on hand and bandages should be plentiful. 

Sprains & Breaks
Sprains and strains should be treated seriously.  Obviously, broken bones as well.  Stop training and put some ice on any sprain or black eye ASAP.  Seek medical attention as soon as possible if the injury appears serious.

R.I.C.E. is very important, and easy, to remember:
    R: Rest
    I: Ice
    C: Compression
    E: Elevation

The closer to the time the injury occurred, the more important the treatment.  Immediately reacting to an injury with the proper treatment can make a huge difference in recovery time.   That professional athletes often get immediate professional medical attention following an injury is the primary reason that they can often get back into competition fairly quickly, sometimes the same day.  RICE right away.

Dehydration
Lack of fluids can be a serious health concern.  Immediate impact may be minimal.  But many problems can result if proper hydration levels are not maintained.  See also article on this subject from Sep, 1998.  Have fluids on hand during training and remember that, in general, it is better to have too much than too little water.

Foot problems
Dry, cracking skin – A layer of tough skin on the sole of the feet is usually considered a good thing for people doing karate.  But if you build up too much, the skin may start to crack.  This may happen more often if you live in an arid climate.  If this happens, I would suggest you file down the skin with a large file designed for such a purpose. 

Plantar warts – These are small warts on the soles of the feet that often do not really cause much damage.  They often go away on their own after a while.  There are various remedies, ranging from applying Salicylic acid to having them surgically removed (burning them off).  Believe it or not, the best way to fight these that I know of (and this has been documented by professionals in the field of podiatry) is to keep them covered with duct tape until they disappear.

Joint Problems
Most joint problems developing as a result of karate training are preventable, or at least their impact can be minimized.  There are of course pre-existing and genetic conditions.  But most joint problems related to karate (a large portion of these concerning the knees) are results of hyper-extension, hyper-flexion or, much more commonly, misalignment.  For more on the subject of alignment, please see article from March, 1998.

Arthritis
Jarring actions can greatly impact the pain and long-term effects of arthritis.  For those with this condition, running, jumping and impact training should be done only with caution.  Various vitamins and supplements can help, such as flax seed oil, glucosomine and shark cartilage, as well as various prescription medications.

Dislocations
There are different types of dislocations.  Some are quite easily remedied and some are not.  One important fact to consider if trying to deal with a dislocated joint is that relaxing helps immensely.  Regardless of whether the joint can be immediately returned to its natural position or not, professional medical attention should be sought.

There are many other possible injuries, illnesses and conditions that may develop/occur resulting from karate training.  Remember the old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.  Be prepared and think about your training, as well as any changes in your medical condition (and, if you are an instructor, that of your students) and it should pay off.


Copyright © 2004, Jon Keeling

Resolution: noun. The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.  A resolve to do something. (American Heritage Dictionary)

January is the time of year when many people set (or reset) some long-term goals.  Very common New Year’s resolutions include such things as “getting in shape”; something that many people new to karate training often have in mind when they begin their training.  But how many of us are in as good shape as we would like to be?  Some of us talk a good story.  However, to actually put forth the required energy is sometimes too much for some of us to do on a regular basis.  Making a firm commitment to reach a goal is usually more conducive to it actually happening than leaving it simply to luck.

There are plenty of other good New Year’s resolutions.  I have been making resolutions for a long time, sometimes around New Year’s.  The big difference from many other people’s, however, is that mine often include no deadline.  Most people set a deadline, such as “by the summer” or “by the end of the year”, for the objectives they set at the beginning of each year.  My idea of goal setting bugs my wife quite a bit.  She is one of the most organized people I know, with very strict deadlines on all her projects.  So she tends to lose confidence in me getting something done if I have been talking about it for 5 years.  It may still be on my to-do list, but it is simply not the highest priority.

Well, this year I am going to try to set some deadlines.  Here are some of my karate goals for this year, a few of which had already been planned for a while, along with corresponding timelines:
• Move dojo location to a  larger and better space:  February (already scheduled)
• Increase dojo class time to 9 hours/week from present 8 hours/week: June
• Double existing dojo membership: Fall
• Increase teaching responsibilities of other dojo instructors and increase my own training time: beginning in February
• Update my website (www.jkasv.com), getting rid of bad links, etc: April
• Update website (www.tokaidojapan.com) with more pictures, more automation, more products and just plain “more”: ongoing, with various embedded mini-goals
• Get more than 6 hours of sleep at night: whenever I can

Most importantly, I have set goals for myself regarding getting together with fellow karateka, particularly those who have trained in Japan, and finishing the book project that has been on hold for over 5 years.  For updates on the Hoitsugan Seminars, please see the following link:
http://www.jkasv.com/hoitsuganseminars.html

This will be the greatest gathering of western Shotokan instructors thus far in history.  Over a dozen instructors teaching a total of as many as 20 seminars.  Some of these instructors are among the very best in the world.  Some are coming from overseas.  Organizing this event is already proving to be a major endeavor.  But it is going to be worth it.  In addition to the seminars, those who trained at the Hoitsugan Dojo in Tokyo in the past will be meeting several times to talk about old times, catch up with each other on more recent events and discuss the book project, which I hope to have completed by the end of the year.

Maybe another resolution should be to stop writing these articles.  What do you think?  Maybe my time would be better-spent doing other things?  I get an average of about 400 hits/day on my website and a large majority of these are likely the articles.  Do I already have enough up there?  Is there really a need for one each month, or would reducing to quarterly articles be sufficient?  Please feel free to write to me and let me know what you think.

Copyright © 2004, Jon Keeling

Some of us could use a little extra motivation sometimes.  Tournament involvement, for example, can be a good sourse of motivation, whether you are participating as a competitor, spectator, judge or organizer. There are other activities outside of regular training that can also help renew interest or bring one to a higher level in training.  There is also enough to training in a good dojo that perhaps nothing more is ever needed.  Regardless, keeping track of your activities can help with motivation or at least encourage one to keep trying and feel good about how much has been accomplished.

If you haven’t been training very long, just keeping track of how many classes you have been to might be a good place to start.  How many hours have you trained?  On top of this, we can add a list of techniques learned, maybe also along with the approximate skill level attained thus far in each.

And how about kata?  Or exercises in general?  I have created Excel spreadsheets to help keep track of both of these.  They are in the Files section of the JKASVwebsite YahooGroup.  You may surprise yourself with how much you are actually doing; sometimes more, sometimes less, than what you had thought.  Some of us may find ourselves doing more, simply because we are keeping track.  This is of course one of the main reasons for doing this…

Here is an interesting exercise I ask all my prospective students to go through, particularly those coming in from other dojo.  Total up all the HOURS you have trained.  Think about it in as much detail as possible.  Some people surprise themselves when they come up with the final number.

I know some people who keep a record of almost everything they did in any class, in the form of a training log.  I did this for a short while when training in Japan.  In hindsight, I should have done that much more.  Now, I try to keep track of some of my better ideas for teaching classes as well as some of the things to avoid, that I have learned through trial and error.

Just as reading and talking about training, as well as watching videos and classes, is not a substitute for training, neither is keeping track intended to be a replacement for actual training.  On the contrary, it is intended to help you train more, as well as better.  I hope you can help motivate yourself to train more and train harder through keeping track of your training progress.  As always, please feel free to pass on this article to others and feel free to contact me with questions and/or comments.


Copyright © 2003, Jon Keeling

This is just a quick review of some examples of what you might find useful as supplements to your training.  This list is not meant to be anything close to comprehensive and I am intentionally leaving out some of the more common examples that I expect most Shotokan enthusiasts to already know about.  I am including here only reviews for what I consider quality material, but that is not to say that there are no other quality resources outside of what is on this list.  As usual, I am trying to limit my article length in an attempt to be sure that the majority of readers actually read all (or at least most) of what I write.

Books

Best Karate (M. Nakayama)  If you count this series as a single book, I would say this should be the one your karate library must not be without.  Some books deal with fundamental techniques and principles.  Others in the set deal with specific kumite strategy and/or techniques.  Others include fine examples of kata performance by some of the best in the JKA.

Advanced Karate-do (E. Schmeisser)  I would say that this is the finest karate technical manual ever printed in any language.  If you can follow the verbage (it gets a bit technical for some and there are no photo examples) it is very valuable for the advanced practitioner.  This is not for beginners.

Karate: Dynamics & Kinematics (L. Ingber)  This was the best technical manual before "Advanced Karate-do" came along.  Still very interesting and valuable for the advanced karateka.  Out of print.  If you can find one used, buy it.

Martial Arts Teachers on Teaching (C Wiley)  The best book on how to teach the martial arts.  Not a step-by-step guide for those first starting out.  But some great insight for those who would like to bring their teaching to a higher level.

Karate the Japanese Way (M. Groenewold)  This is an interesting new book that describes Shotokan training from the viewpoint of someone who has done all his training in Japan over the past 10+ years.

Some other interesting non-technical books I would recommend include Moving Zen (C.W. Nicol), Karate-Do, My Way of Life (G. Funakoshi), Kodo: Ancient Ways (K Furuya), Weaponless Warriors (R. Kim) and Perfecting Ourselves (A Hoopes).  


Videos

Champ has come out with assorted instructional tapes and tournaments, much of it JKA.  Most are in japanese, however.  So if you do not know the language, the value you gain from these may be limited to watching the examples on the screen.

LegendTV has put together some fabulous tournament footage, along with some documentary material.  Some non-stop action that will put good use to your remote control buttons as you rewind, pause and slow things down to get a better look.

Tsunami Video has come out with a variety of instructional tapes worth watching.

For reviews on specific titles, please see ShotoMag.


Copyright © 2003, Jon Keeling

During intensive training, we often become thirsty. But there is more to dehydration than simply becoming thirsty. I have experienced cramping leg muscles, an upset stomach and severe headaches as a result of dehydration. Proper intake of fluids should be an integral part of your training process. We won't get into the related subject of vitamins here.  But that may be a subject worth further research by those interested.

For this article, I have compiled and edited messages on the subject from postings to the Cyberdojo, since they have explained the subject so well already and most of them have professional backgrounds that should provide more validity to their words.

[Dehydration of a karate practitioner] happened in our dojo last week as well. I have a Ph.D. in physiology so I'll try to put together something coherent but I'm going to write it for karate-ka. So all you lurking doctors take it easy on the corrections.

Dehydration during exercise is a compound event. A major issue can be thought of volume depletion. This means that the serum (part of blood that isn't cells) volume is slightly reduced in most people simply because just walking around we can get away with that. Another part of this is that during regular activity, the blood flow to muscles is relatively small. However, when you exercise, blood flow increases dramatically to the muscles (read pumped up). In cardiovascular physiology, the major mode of thinking is to address the issue of "where is the blood?" And this question is usually applied from the point of view of the heart. In this case, volume flow to muscles takes away from the rest of the body. The body compensates by reducing flow to the organs least necessary during exercise (e.g. the stomach). This is normally enough to compensate for exercise but we go hard. Now, blood flow through the heart is modified but ultimately depends on the return of blood from the body to supply what is needed for the next beat. Now we add the final part of the problem - sweat. This reduces further blood volume and this time it specifically lowers the serum volume resulting in more viscous blood. The increased viscosity of the blood reduces the efficiency of the heart. So now we have "stolen" the blood from every source and continue to make the heart work harder. Then Sensei asks for more and your mind can ignore 5% more pain. Blood flow everywhere begins to be reduced ever so slightly but at nearly the instant that you make another strong exertion, you increase your abdominal pressure, let out a good kiai, focus and then relax. Result? You change the volume of blood returning to the heart and the ensuing beat(s) contains a relatively small amount of blood. You don't give the brain as much blood as normal and the next thing you know, you are looking at the ceiling wondering if those people in white are angels and trying to figure out why clouds are so hard.

David Jackson
Vitamin D Laboratory
BUMC/A&D Assay, Inc.
Boston, MA


Dehydration occurs when you lose more water than you take in. When related to karate this is mostly through sweat and open mouth breathing. Usually [less than] two-hour workouts aren't that bad, but longer periods of training such as weekend events can result in dehydration.

How do you know when you are dehydrated? Unfortunately, thirst itself may not be enough. When you sweat a lot you always want to make sure you drink a lot, even if you are not thirsty. Also, strong color and smell of urine is a good indication of dehydration (the kidneys retain more water and urine is more concentrated). Stronger symptoms are headache, mind fogginess and weakness. Eventually, you [can] lose consciousness. I would assume that less oxygen reaches the brain (and other body parts) at that stage due to blood thickening, but I won't sign my name to it…

Avoiding dehydration is simple enough: drink frequently. Large amount of water at one time isn't good enough: most of the water will "flow through" without being absorbed. Drink much after a workout, but keep drinking every hour or so for a while, until you've restored all your liquid (urine is clear).

Hope it helps,
Talila Golan
Dept. of Botany
Madison, WI


Several posters recently have commented on the effects of dehydration, noting quite rightly that it thickens your blood, and can result in weakness, decreased performance, and passing out. One person also alluded to the fact that one state police academy changed its "brutal" exercise regimen after having several people with ill effects from dehydration.

What I would like to add concerns the effects on the kidney. Indeed, as I recall (and I could have the state wrong) it was either the Massachusetts or Pennsylvania state troopers that were involved, and the reason they changed their policy of exercising people until they dropped is because someone finally died from renal failure.

When you exercise vigorously, it is normal to have "some" muscle destruction taking place. The muscle cells are lysed (broken up) and their contents (electrolytes, myoglobin, enzymes) circulate in the bloodstream. The more dehydrated you are, the higher in concentration these entities become. It is "normal" if you examine someone who's been exercising urine under a microscope to see a few red cells (blood). It is decidedly NOT normal to see either blood macroscopically or "smoke" colored urine. Smoke-colored urine results from either the breakdown of blood (hemoglobin) or muscle (myoglobin). The enzymes which are released with the breakdown of the muscle cells is the most destructive part, and can cause damage to the kidney, even to the point of causing kidney failure. This is more likely to occur when the person is dehydrated. The kidney failure is usually temporary (1-7 days), but it is a serious process, and as mentioned above, some people die from this.

The "take home message" is just to use some common sense, and practice what all the sports magazines tell runners, bikers, and other athletes to do. Drink plenty of water before you exercise, and continue to drink during exercise (3-5 cups of water/hour for an average sized person). Electrolyte mixes (gatorade, powerade, and the like) have only a marginal advantage over the best drink on the planet: water.

Joseph F. Kras, M.D., D.D.S.
Department of Anesthesiology
Washington University School of Medicine


When I worked at the hospital based fitness center here in Huntsville, here's what the clients were told about dehydration. Water weighs roughly 8 pounds per gallon. There are 8 pints of water in a gallon. You should weigh yourself before working out and periodically while you're working out. For every pound you lose, you should drink a pint of water.

This works great if you have access to a scale. (Sensei, may I be excused to go weigh myself?)

Drink lots,
Chris Button


[in reply to someone who suggested that dehydration was a form of shock] I'm sorry but I must completely disagree with you here. First I have to say that (Without trying to blow my own horn), I'm a physician who specializes in Critical Care Medicine. I'm well versed in the question of circulatory shock. I've done clinical research on shock, participated in some of the sentinel studies on shock, and teach the subject to residents and medical students. With all due respect, I've probably seen more cases of medically significant dehydration and shock than most of the sensei here have seen white belts.

Dehydration is not shock. Shock is the global failure of cellular oxidative metabolism. One form of shock is hypovolemic shock in which the circulating blood volume is low. Dehydration may cause shock but is hardly synonymous with shock. Other forms of shock may have normal blood volume but the volume is maldistributed, e.g. anaphylactic shock. In some cases of shock the blood volume may in fact be increased but the heart may be unable to circulate the blood and oxygen to the tissues, e.g. cardiogenic shock. They just aren't the same thing at all.

Dehydration is the loss of total body water. Hypovolemia is a low circulating blood volume. Total body water amounts to about 0.6 liters per Kg body weight. For the prototypical 70kg person that means a total body water of 42 l. About 2/3 of this is in the cells (intracellular water) or about 28 l. About 1/3 is outside of the cells (extracellular water - 14l). About 2/3 of the extracellular water (9-1/3 l.) is in the space between the cells (interstitial fluid). About 1/3 (4-2/3 l.) is in the vascular space (intravascular water). Most of the time when we lose fluid we lose fluid from the intravascular space. Sweat glands for example take fluid from the blood and put it on the skin. The kidneys take fluid from the blood and produce urine. If we vomit or have diarrhea we lose fluid that the stomach, pancreas, small bowel etc. has put into the gut lumen from the blood stream. Thus, most of our fluid losses are from the intravascular space.

If our fluid loss is slow then our body can move fluid, first from the interstitial space and then more slowly from the intercellular space, into the intravascular space to maintain the intravascular volume. If we lose the fluid suddenly then there is no time to accomplish this. A good rule of thumb is that we can mobilize about 1-2 l. per day maximum from the interstitial and intercellular spaces into the intravascular space. If I cause you to get dehydrated slowly (i.e., I put you in a warm environment and don't give you free access to water but yet you have some water) You will not have symptoms till you have lost about 5-10% of your total body water (2.1 l. - 4.2 l.). At that time if you stand up suddenly your hart rate will go up but your blood pressure will remain normal. If you lose 10%-15% (4.2 l. - 6.3 l.) then when you stand up your blood pressure will go down and you may become lightheaded. If you lose 15-20% (6.3 l. - 8.4 l.) then your blood pressure will be down even lying down. At that time you would probably meet diagnostic criteria for hypovolemic shock.

Of course, if I suddenly take fluid out of your intravascular space and give you no time to mobilize fluid from the other compartments into the intravascular space you will have symptoms at lower levels of fluid loss. That is why some people get lightheaded when they stand up after donating 0.5 l of blood. All that fluid (about 0.25 L. fluid and 0.25 l. of blood cells) came straight out of the vascular space in a period of a few minutes.

Most of the fluid we lose each day is in the form of urine. Healthy people with normal hearts, livers and kidneys make at least 0.5 ml of urine per Kg body weight per hour (0.012 L./Kg/day). We also lose some fluid each day in stool, in sweat and in our breath. This amounts to about 0.5 l per day. In hot conditions, when we have a fever, or when we exercise, this goes up. This is the principle way we become dehydrated in the dojo. We need to replace this fluid loss. We also need to replace the sodium and potassium and other minerals which we lose in sweat (we lose little in the way of minerals in our breath). When we become hypovolemic several things happen. First our heart speeds up. It pumps less volume per beat (stroke volume) but beats more often to compensate for this and maintain cardiac output (the number of liters of blood pumped per minute). Second the blood levels of catecholamines (epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine) go up. This causes blood vessels in the critical organs such as heart, brain, liver and kidneys to dilate and the vessels in the less critical areas (gut, muscles) to constrict. Changes in the output from our sympathetic nervous system reinforce this. The net effect is reduced blood flow to the muscles and gut and more to the brain etc. Thirdly, receptors that measure our blood pressure, our sodium level, etc. tell the brain to increase our volume, this kicks in our thirst mechanism. Fourthly, the atria of our heart, since they are smaller in diameter reduce their production of ANP, a peptide hormone that stimulates the kidneys to make urine. Thus the kidneys reduce their secretion of sodium and urine.

Training without replacing our fluid and electrolyte losses doesn't condition us. It doesn't make us tougher. It doesn't improve our endurance. When we get tachycardic and thirsty our body is telling us something. We need to listen to it.

Robert S. Joseph, RPh, MD, FCCP
Board Certified Internal Medicine and Critical Care Medicine
Clinical Asst. Professor Medicine
Indiana University School of Medicine
Medical Director, Intensive Care Units
Community Hospitals East and North
Community Hospitals of Indianapolis and Anderson


Copyright © 1998

Warm-up

Warming up involves the physical heating of the muscles, lubrication of the joints and increasing oxygen and blood flow throughout the body.  Running, jumping and skipping rope are all forms of warm-ups. Stretching the muscles is much easier once they are properly heated and the blood is pumping. Some think of "jumping jacks" (also known as "star jumps") as funny looking, but they are a very good warm-up, moving both the arms and the legs at once. The muscles should be kept warm during the entire workout period, and any long periods of discussion/lecture in class should be followed by warming-up exercises when possible. There are different theories on the use of a "warm-down." Let it suffice to say that it is usually advisable to do more, rather than less, warming and stretching of the muscles both before and after a workout.  But the pre- and post-training routines should be different, as they perform different functions.

Stretching

After the muscles are sufficiently warmed-up, they can be stretched further and with more ease. There are many theories concerning the proper way to stretch (for example, bouncing, slow-and-hold, PNF), but I will not get into them in detail here. I would not advise rushing stretches, nor bouncing past the maximum comfortable range. Lightly "bouncing" in some stretches is not usually harmful if done within your normal range of flexibility. But I would advise against forcing muscles to the point of discomfort and possible injury.

Some will find that they do not require as much stretching time as others. Many will never be as flexible as they would like to be. Some find that their muscles get cold quickly. Others find they can remain flexible for hours but suffer from occasional cramping of the muscles. No two people are exactly alike and we must understand our differences and limitations.

Do not force your muscles to the point that you are doing irreparable damage. Do not take it too easy either; flexibility helps us in many ways and stretching should be considered a necessary part of training. Those who feel they need more might want to try stretching lightly first thing in the morning and very lightly just before going to bed at night. Also, going to the dojo early can really pay off if you spend that time warming up and stretching, instead of just talking to your friends.

Remember that in stretching, just like any other Karate activity, pain in your joints is usually a sign of poor technique; be careful not to manipulate your joints in such a way as to cause pain.

You should notice that you may feel better stretched after some kinds of stretching than others and it is recommended that you try to develop your ideal routine. This may not be ideal for everyone else in the class, and you should do your best to please everyone if you are leading the group taiso. There can be a noticeable difference in the performance of the students following a good warm-up and stretching set. Study why some are more successful than others in getting the class stretched out properly. One thing to consider is the progression of stretching from one area of the body to another (for example, moving from the upper body to the lower body, or starting from the center of the body [the hips & torso] and working out to the limbs methodically).

One problem many people have is that they do not know how many stretches to include. My recommendation is to consider that some muscles take longer than others to stretch (the larger leg muscles, for instance), so either include more of those stretches or spend longer on the few that you do. There have been studies conducted which claim that each stretch should ideally be held for 30 seconds. Although that seems a bit extreme, fast, bouncing stretches at the other end of the spectrum can often do more harm than good. Even if you do not spend a full 30 seconds on every stretch, there are more than enough different stretching exercises to fill up the better part of an hour. But most people can be sufficiently stretched after as little as 5 minutes, if done properly and follow a good warm-up routine (ideally several minutes in duration as well). It is just like everything else in Karate; study and practice!

Some instructors frown upon students wishing to stretch and/or keep their muscles warm between sets of movements. Although I do not advocate chaos, the opportunity to keep in top form throughout the class certainly has its advantages. I often remind students that they should do their best to keep warmed up and stretched out to gain as much as they can from each set of movements as well as to prevent unnecessary cramping or straining of the muscles. In contrast, I expect my students to not figit while going through the techniques.

I like to make sure I include 3 types of activities in my "warm-up" routines (not including the occasional strengthening exercise):

• Warming up - to raise the temperature of the body as well as the heart rate.

• Joint lubrication - twisting and turning of major joints.

• Stretching - including both dynamic (more towards the beginning of the routine) and static (a little at the end of the pre-workout portion and more after the workout).


Copyright © 1998, Jon Keeling