Leg Training

[alpha03]

Does any one have any great training drills for kicking and stance training(horse stance training, one leg kicking).....any traditional drills(preferably)and some other drills to help keep my legs strong, list any outlined training exercises, your help will be appreciated.

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-A fighter with no foundation is an inefficient fighter

[Paul Skrypichayko]

Hi Alpha,

Some things you might want to try are duck walk and squat jumping.

Plum blossom poles are always great to train on.

Are you looking to make the muscles strong, or the bones tougher?

Please give me some more details, and let me know if you need clarification on anything.

[alpha03]

Both of that information is useful. Tell everything you can....I love new training material. How do you practice your stance training? 30 seconds per stance? Every day? From horse to cat to reverse bow to forward bow to cross...what do you all do? Reply reply...reply!! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Paul Skrypichayko]

Squat jumping is an exercise where you hop around in a very low horse stance. At the beginning, it may be difficult for you, but after practice, it will become easy, and very rewarding. A good goal you can set for yourself would be 1 minute without stopping, (for the first week), after a month of daily practice set a goal for 4 or 5 minutes without stopping.

Duck walk is performed in a very low posture. Your knees are together, and almost touching the ground, however, you are still on your feet. Try to walk straight forward, without "waddling". Set a similar goal as for squat jumping.

Stance training is by far the best. It not only strengthens you physically, but mentally, and internally as well. If you are a beginner, try to hold a low, solid, horse stance for 2 or 3 minutes, when you get tired or shaky, shift into another stance and hold it. Dont get up, just keep shifting from stance to stance. This will give you a great foundation for martial arts, and give you radiant health as well. At the end of the month, try to aim for 5 minutes in every stance. At the end of the year, try 25 minutes in every stance.

As with all things, training should be done as often as possible, not just when you are in the gym. Train everyday, and train whenever you can. If you want to get good, this is the only way.

Simple training tips include playing video games in your stances, or do pushups and situps while watching tv. There are so many opportunities for people to train, but most of the time they do not realize it.

[RFM]

Squats. Best leg builders. Of course, stance training. Gain through repetition. Horse stance alone, without any other movement, isn't enough. In my system there is a form set that is simply designed for stance training.

The best training in my opinion is the type that provides resistence with motion (such as forms).

I am not an advocate of the duck walk, too much stress on the joints at an angle that is not ideal.

Remember to always stretch before, during, and after. After I pulled my hamstring and was unable to raise my leg above knee level - I cannot stress stretching enough.

Peace,

Bob

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From One Thing, Know Ten Thousand.

[Jimbo]

I also like the stance training a lot. I hold the square horse at least 4 days a week, anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. When I have time, I will hold ding-ji ma (front stance), diu ma (hanging, or cat stance), nao ma (twist horse), sei ma (like a reverse front stance, crane stance, etc. I don't hold these other stances as long as the square horse, because the square horse is even-weighted. Also note that overdoing stance training may develop knee problems in certain people.

After stance training, stretch...flexibility also aids in strength. Some people who are extremely flexible practice "negative splits." This is when you suspend your body by putting each foot on a separate chare or other object, while in the splits position. This is not for beginners, and in some cases, again, can overstress the knees. But some can do it with no problems.

An odd self-training drill is standing on one leg and lifting/replacing pencils/pens from a cup at table height with your toes.

Also stand one one leg and hold out a slow kick at full extension for up to one minute. Try it with front, roundhouse, side, back, and cross kicks. You can also hold the kick over an obstacle, such as a chair, dresser, or bar top. If you have balance problems, brace yourself against a wall or back or chair until you don't need it anymore.
Jim

[WongFeHung]

yeah, Lion Dancing. No Joke. My students always ask,"Sifu, what is the best suplementry exercise I can do to improve my Kung-Fu? I say Lion Dance, and they roll their eyes and look at the ceiling, thinking, "Yeah, right. Like I'm gonna jump around with a paper mache' lion head, and that's supposed to improve my fighting!" Then they try it, first the footwork, then getting under the head and tail. Trust me, when they come out from under that lion, they're exhausted. Lion dancing builds your stance, your waist and hips, your shoulders, your rooting, and your faht geng. To make the lion come alive, you need to get down low,so that it doesn't look like a guy holding a lion head, but a lion head with little legs comming out from underneath-meaning that the dancer's body shouldn't show, just his legs from the knees down-which means **** low stances, and moving with them too. Snapping from one stance to another,being light then rooted. Then to make the head movement, you bend, twist and snap your waist, Then you can add jumping, kicking and always back into your low stances. In time you will develop explosive movements. Every movement in lion dancing has an application. Oh, and did I mention STAMINA?? Ask anyone who has done an 'Ironman Lion Dance"-which means, half the team couldn't make it to the show and it's just you and the tail the entire time!(I'm just waiting for the time when I have to dance with the cymbals tied to my knees!)Playing the tail is very demanding, because you are doing the same footwork as the head, but you are bent over which restricts your breathing, and flapping the tail is the equivilent of lateral shoulder flyes.
one other thing, the other reason why those of you who compete, or perform or lion dance end up being better than most of the other guys is that you are going the extra mile, putting in the effort that the rank and file students who just come in and train and go home don't, and it pays off.

[Shaolin Master]

Yes Lion Dancing is fantastic to complement training!!

[PingChoy]

looking forward to it~~hope I don't have to do "the lion leaps over the wall~" first time out.

~june si~

younger kf brother

[lungyuil]

squats, duck walks etc. are great.
do you have stance forms in your system.
in Yau Kung Mun, we train in horse stance for 30-45mins. we also have stance drills 1-10.

the stance form can be practiced at fast speed or slow because it works all different parts of the legs. when i practice it slow, each stance is done for 2-3mins.

you don't need to look outside your system, because all good schools have stance work and all condition & toughen the legs.

hope it helps. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[premier]

yeah. I can imagine lion dance is a great exercise. And it's cool too =) Too bad there's no one here to teach it.

[Kung Lek]

RIGHT ON THE MONEY TEN TIGERS!!!!

Lion Dance is an excellent way to improve ones Kung fu skills, no doubt about it. it is just as rigorous and demanding as some of the most difficult sets to do in any system bar none.

No Southern School is complete without Lion Dance and it certainly couldn't hurt the Northern Schools to do it (if they are not).

As for cross training, Shaolin Kung fu contains many supplimentary exercises within it's systems.

Nei Kung, chi Kung, Chin Na, ba Duan Jin, Iron Palm, Iron Shirt, Iron Body and a variety of other Kung exercises.
Not to mention all the fundament training and what is involved in it.
IMHO-it's all there in many systems of Kung Fu.

Now if you were a kickboxer you would probably need to supplement that with some running or maybe swimming (I think that swimming is a great piece of cross training no matter what you do simply because it utilizes every muscle in the body and demand cv stamina).

gotta go
peace

Kung Lek

[md1]

in mu dong we have a set of 20 leg exercises along with a power form with 120 moves takes 2o to 30 min to do, it's a killer on the legs.

[fiercest tiger]

do your forms for about 20 min non stop like aerobic. lion dancing and dragon are good as well.

peace

bakmeimonk@hotmail.com