| Since the days of Bruce Lee, martial arts have | | | | requiring the martial artist to focus on his or her |
| been a growing cult within the United States. | | | | breathing. We all can easily recognize a load, |
| Thousands of kids every year embark on their | | | | "Hiyaa" yell, but have you ever wondered why |
| journey for blackbelts and tournaments testing | | | | that is done? The idea behind the yelling is to one, |
| their skills and knowledge. Just like any other sport | | | | scare your opponent, but also to help maintain |
| out there, as technology has advanced, so have | | | | ones breathing and tighten the abdomen area. |
| sports. Today there are many different devices | | | | During the training process, martial artists use |
| out there using for training, which serve various | | | | pulse oximeters to measure their oxygen |
| purposes. These measurements help athletes | | | | saturation levels to help determine if they are |
| better target their goals and better identify their | | | | breathing correctly during training. Oximeters also |
| areas of improvement. | | | | give their pulse rate readings, which is key for |
| Recently, martial artists have adopted pulse | | | | achieving the optimum cardio levels for an athlete. |
| oximeters to their bag of tools. One of the most | | | | Pulse oximeters have proven to not only be |
| important aspects of training and maintaining | | | | accurate in their readings, but also very portable. |
| speed and strength in martial arts is in relation to | | | | Martial artists can easily travel to various venues |
| breathing. Breathing correctly, and at the right | | | | for tournaments with their pulse oximeter in hand. |
| pace has shown strength levels to increase. This | | | | A simple survey of 25 martial artists revealed |
| is one major reason why many martial arts today | | | | that the most popular pulse oximeter is the |
| practice katas, or forms in their training regiments. | | | | Landon Medical LM-800, which sells for under $40. |
| Katas focus on specific movements, while | | | | |