Mutou's Basic Training (KSKM)

Mutou's Karate training was built on a combination of basic technique and kata practice, as well as a high volume of sparring. I'm fairly certain, with the musculature that he possesses, that he also performed regular strength training. The main idea behind Mutou is that he has burned Karate into his soul and that means endless practicing of the basics, kata, and kumite. His bulging muscles came with time, gradually adding to his training, but the main bulk of his training should have been his Karate.

1. 25 Pull-ups
2. 50 Knuckle Push-ups
3. 100 Sit-ups
4. 150 Squats
5. Kihon- 10 Techniques at 100 Reps each side (Using makiwara, heavy bag, or in the air)
6. Kata- 100 Times 
7. Kumite- 10 x 2 Minute Rounds
8. Run 10k (6.2 miles)
9. Pick One Technique: 1000 Reps each side

Notes:

• If you need help with the exercises, you can do negative, jumping, or assisted pull-ups; you may do knee push-ups or not use your knuckles for all of them; you can start with crunches; and you can do half squats to start. You can break them into as many sets and reps as you need to in order to complete the reps or you can just cut the reps entirely. Make it work for you. 
• Pull-ups can be any grip. When you are able to do all 25 in a row, you can add weight or try to do pull-ups to your sternum instead of just under your chin. 
• For the sit-ups, you can use a decline bench or weight to make them more difficult. 
• For the squats, you can add weight to make them more difficult once you reach the 150 rep mark.
• Kihon is "basic training." You just pick individual techniques and hammer them out. 
• If you don't know any kata, you can find any number of kata online. Kyokushin, Shotokan, Goju-ryu, Uechi-ryu, or whatever style of Karate you like. Find a kata or two and practice the hell out of them.
• If you don't have a sparring partner, you may do bag work or shadowboxing. If you are sparring, try to use gloves, a mouthpiece, and headgear if you are striking to the face. Otherwise, you can go bare knuckle if you feel like you can handle it. 
• After the rest of the training, running the 10k is probably going to be more an exercise in endurance instead of how fast you can actually run it. 
• After all is said and done, maybe even a few hours later, you can pick a single technique and do 1,000 reps of it on each side. If you've never done 1,000 reps of a technique, let me tell you, it becomes very meditative and you begin to understand how you can throw the move more efficiently as you begin to tire. 
• You can always scale back any of these workouts as far as the number of reps or weights or anything.  Make things easier, so that you can do them and then you can eventually do the full version. 

That's all for today. Until next time, good luck and train hard!