After some thought and reflection I have put together a basic plan for improving my fitness. Without further ado: Along one side of our property the lengh is long enough that if I run it six times it is alittle over a mile. Jumping rope will complete the cardio then squats to finish up the lower body section. Crunches, pushups, and bench press's. Various dumbell exercises along with extra focus on strengthing the joints: wrist's and shoulders specifically.

I've never heard of anyone with strong joints...You can only wear them down, but you can strengthen the nerves surrounding them. If you punched correctly, you wouldn't need to have any stronger wrist joints than an ordinary person.

It's more for my sword work and since I don't do alot of punching any more I want to improve things like my shoulder strengh. Perhaps should be rephrased into making sure my shoulder muscles are strong and maintaining joint flexibility. My plan is a little light but I feel it is better to have something I can do now and build up gradually then over do it right at the start.

Good idea; too many people shy away from exercising because they start off too heavy and become overwhelmed. This happens a lot when people start to exercise with friends who have been doing so for a much longer time than them. Goodluck!

Choose either bench press or push ups, dont do both. Ensure that you comliment your choice with a pulling movement- some form of row or chin up. Sword work is very anterior dominant, and you need to balance that.

Thanks THEGENERAL. Pushups then since that is what is done in class.

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Sword work is very anterior dominant, and you need to balance that

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Could you give an example of something to balance it out or is that the row or chin up exersises you mentioned?

Pull ups or dumbell rows are the example. Basicaly, for every exercise that you 'push' away from your torso, you should do an exercise that 'pulls' in toward you.

Thanks Cord, I'll work those in.

Well, I tried running yesterday and I realized I really don't like to run. I don't think I do it right so I am going to work instead at being able to jog the distance at a steady pace and find alt methods of cardio. Is there any good running advice out there or resources people could point me towards to improve?

Jogging is just running at a sustainable pace, I fail to see what the problem is?