It is important to maintain a certain degree of physical fitness. While one does not need to be an accomplished athlete to successfully deter an unarmed, unskilled, and unmotivated attacker, you cannot expect to be able to hold your own in a physical altercation if you are unable to complete a set of 10 pushups and get winded after sprinting a single block. If you are a weakling, you cannot reasonably expect to win a fight unless you have a quality handgun and know how to use it. If you can do 30 pushups and are capable of running a mile, your chances are much better.

If you are too frail to exert yourself without injury, reading a stack of martial arts publications will only minimally increase your chance of surviving a serious assault. If you fall short of the nation’s pitiful "average" level of physical fitness, any teenaged hoodlum motivated to do so could easily beat you into a whimpering bloody pulp in short order . . . do not delude yourself about your untested fighting abilities!

EXERCISE:

Some "experts" advocate that an intensive cross-training regimen be adhered to in order to maintain a high level of fitness, but it is unrealistic to expect anyone other than a dedicated athlete to be able to maintain such a pace for more than a couple weeks before slacking off or dropping out due to injury or lack of interest. My advice is to either purchase quality exercise equipment suitable for your specific needs, or to regularly engage in a strenuous recreational activity which you enjoy. Obtaining a membership at a gym full of insolent sheep, or resolving to follow a daily exercise routine that you hate (such as jogging), will probably soon result in frustration, resentment, and eventual disinterest.

As long as one is able to fit several 20 minute workouts into each week, an adequate level of strength and muscle tone can be maintained over an extended duration. If weights are unavailable, pushups, crunches, and freestyle kata work almost as well. Stretching exercises (for the joints as well as the muscles) are important to maintain flexibility and avoid simple injuries. At a bare minimum, 30 pushups each morning can help to maintain one’s muscle tone (see the section entitled "Pushups" for information on working various muscle groups through modifications of this simple exercise).

If you are weak due to having led a sedentary existence, your atrophied muscles will be easily injured, so you’ll need to take things slowly. Start by strengthening your muscles through pushups and isometrics for at least a week before attempting any sort of weight resistance. When you start with weights, use only minimal resistance and attempt no more than "3 sets of 10" for each day of the first week. If you start right out with the heaviest weights you can lift, or attempt to "burn out" with multiple "supersets," you will only succeed in injuring yourself, which will result in lost exercise time while you recuperate. Once you have begun to acquire more satisfactory muscle tone and strength, you can start adding more weight and repetitions, but if you attempt too much too soon, you’ll be guaranteed to regret it.

If your job, or extracurricular activities, involve regular physical exertion, additional exercise may be unnecessary. Regular physical exertion, combined with good nutrition (see the section entitled "Nutrition" for more information), will greatly increase one’s strength and vigor.

If you fail to meet certain minimum fitness requirements, you will probably find yourself injuring muscles while performing everyday tasks (like climbing stairs or carrying grocery bags), and tiring rapidly — a quick "low-impact" workout each morning before showering can eliminate this.