Bunny Hops

My recent foray into the world of the Spartan Race got me to thinking about my training. One of the early training exercises to strengthen the legs for martial arts was the “bunny hop.” I have begun to use them once again to augment my current martial arts training and practice. I must say, it has been a while and my legs wobble when I am done then I move right into basics and kata. 

It must be noted and you must be warned that doing them correctly is critical, critical to your ankles and knees in particular. Make sure you start using them under the guidance of a qualified sport exercise instructor. I say this because not many martial arts instructors are best qualified to teach proper calisthenics. Note that I am not qualified so when I provide advice on doing this exercise take that advice to the professional to validate it “BEFORE” you begin using the bunny hops. 

Feet are about shoulder width apart. The feet should position themselves at a 45 degree angle, see snapshot (shallow-shiko-dachi.png  

).

Make sure you are comfortable. The reason I use the shiko dachi stance is because, for me, that puts my hips and knees in alignment when I do the exercise reducing the strain to an acceptable one for an exercise. Wearing comfortable baggy sweat pants and a t-shirt are conducive to free movement and the karate-gi is also adequate if your doing it in the dojo.

Special Note for the Dojo: In the dojo you are likely to do the bunny hop barefoot. It is imperative that when you return to the floor the balls of your feet should touch first allowing you to roll down comfortably so as to reduce any chances of injuries to your feet and ankles. If you prefer you can do this one with proper athletic type shoes that most of us wear daily anyway. The lack of extra support with shoes means you strengthen the ankles a bit more so “be very careful and start out low and slow!” Low and slow means don’t hop up very high and do them slowly until you build strength and your repetitive practice gets your feet, ankles, shins, knees, thighs and hips conditioned enough.

When lowering your body down into a squat position you should have your hands on your hips or out to the sides for balance. Do not use the hands on the legs to help you do this exercise. If you have to use them then stop because the idea here is to build strength and endurance in our legs along with other benefits especially for martial artists. 

When you lower down to the squat position your buttocks should be slightly lower on a horizontal plane as your knees (at the same level as in the jump-squat or bunnyhops.jpg snapshot). Your upper body will naturally lean slightly forward to balance the entire body properly. For weight lifters doing the squat the movement is the same (see weight-lift-squat.gif snapshot

) 

except, of course, you have some weights held across your shoulders while holding the bar with your hands, etc.

You will notice on the snapshots as well as other graphics you will find on the Internet that there are a variety of ways to hold and use the arms as well as the stance you take. The key to this one is to find the one that will work best for you, your body type and the structure of your body or skeletal, muscular, etc. system. (see additional snapshots or graphics below)

In the dojo where I began this exercise was a regular and we bunny hopped across the dojo floor, back and forth until our legs were shaky, wobbly and ready to fall off. Please note that I tell you this for example and also know that in the dojo, 1979 Okinawa, we all were active duty Marines so we were in pretty good shape to begin with anyway. 

I like to separate kata practice with a couple of sets of bunny hops to really take the legs to a wobbly state so that when I do kata I can focus on making the legs overcome their fatigued state and perform adequately as if I were stressed and affected by the adrenaline rush so my body learns to compensate as much as possible. 

The following video shows an excellent way to do the bunny hops. The hips and buttocks don’t go down as far as I like to create stronger hips, etc. but the overall method is really nice.