Pushing

[scotty1]

Hello

I seem to remember reading something someone said about Indian Wrestlers' strength training consisting partly of pushing against walls.

Anyone done this as a regular part of their training? Anyone got an opinion on whether it would work or not?

As you know I have a chest injury, possibly to the cartilage, so I'm looking for alternative forms of exercise to do alongside my taiji and qigong until it's better. Dynamic tension seems to maintain muscle but its not very functional , pushing against a wall might be better.

What do you think?

Scott

[Former castleva]

Provided you can actually move the wall,then it makes sense to me. :)

[TzuChan]

I think pushing against a wall is a one way ticket to "back-injury hell" =]

[yenhoi]

Sounds like a simple isometric exercise, like standing in a doorway and pushing with your hands on the top and with your feet on the floor, as hard as you can.

:eek:

[scotty1]

That's exactly what it is!

What I wondered was if any of you had done this kind of exercise regularly and what you'd got from it.

[Ford Prefect]

Isometrics, which is what that is, can build strength. I'll let everybody here debate what is optimal. The old Charles Atlas "Don't let a bully kick sand in your face" routine was based primarily off movements like you described.

[Shaolin-Do]

Actually, thats part of my regular workout :)
its to develop power.
Just breath deep, and on the exhale try to push the wall over
(when you exhale put the tounge against the back of the front upper teeth, never take your hand off the wall)
works pretty good actually, Ive noticed a significant difference on my punches between doing that and the wrist push ups.

[IronFist]

Charles Atlas' isometric program is also pretty worthless, from what I hear. Supposedly he was sued by some weight company because although his strength was coming from weights, he claimed it was not. It went something like this:

Weight company: You use our weights to get strong.
Atlas: No! I only use weights to test the strength I get from my isometric program
WC: How often do you test your strength?
Atlas: 3-4 times a week (in other words, a full weight lifting program).

Or something like that.

IronFist

[Shaolin-Do]

lol

Yeah, isometrics are good workouts, but they should be coupled with weights if its personally feasible.

[Shaolin-Do]

lofl
WOOHOO!
400 POSTS!
:)

[scotty1]

Thanks everyone. I know that workouts for strength are better with weights also but the idea is to find a strength building exercise that doesn't affect my chest injury negatively.

Pull ups, weights etc. all make my chest feel tight and painful.

The motions of my taiji and the posture gained really help, and doing these pushing exercises doesn't have any negative effects on it.

Like SD said, I breathe deep, start with less pressure, and build it over the course of a minute. When I feel like I'm nearly at failure I stop, and take a 30 second rest. I do 3 sets like this. So far, no negative impact on my chest or my taiji.

I'm not expecting huge gains quickly, I'm thinking this'll be more of a slow burner, which is precisely what I need.

[Guile]

Maybe you should read the book "Dynamic Strength" by Harry Wong. Its has a lot of what you might want.

[[Censored]]

"Dynamic Strength"? It that the book that advises you to work all your muscles _against_ each other? That should make for great kung-fu...on Opposite Day. :rolleyes:

[Guile]

The excersices are like stoneman excersices (I think). Some of them are pretty good. Like palm pushing, have left and rightr arm palm push against each other.

[scotty1]

""Dynamic Strength"? It that the book that advises you to work all your muscles _against_ each other? That should make for great kung-fu...on Opposite Day. "

Surely when you weight train your muscles are working against something? When you hit a bag you're working aginst something - I think your thinking is a bit off on this one.

[Former castleva]

I think I´m with Censored.

[scotty1]

Seriously, could one of you guys that thinks getting the resistance from your own muscles is a bad idea explain why?

Not that I do, I get the resistance in my isometrics from a solid object, but was just interested :)

Even if it's not an effective exercise I can't see why it would make your KF worse.

[PLCrane]

The wall is your friend.

Pushing against the wall is a great way to practice the proper body alignment to deliver strikes. You can take postures out of your forms and deliver the force to the wall. If you move away from the wall when you push on it, you aren't aligned correctly. Apply the force slowly, and don't try to beat the wall; you'll lose.

This is probably more neurologic or proprioceptive exercise than it is for building muscle. Even a little bit of activity will help to prevent your muscles from losing strength. Any way you can get them to be active without aggravating your problem is worth doing.

[Golden Arms]

Yeah..what could be more stupid than for a martial artist to train OPPOSING groups of muscles to be as strong as each other??!! What were those guys thinking when they added dynamic tension to sets and forms? That would make you able to punch and kick faster, while making you stronger..what martial artist wants that?? :rolleyes:



Seriously though, dont knock it till you try it..from my experience, it does not build the muscles as big, as fast..but it does build strength and muscle density, and over time it does build you up really well...Dynamic tension is awesome.

[Cheese Dog]

Dynamic tension is very useful. You can do it anywhere, it costs nothing, and you can directly exercise your muscles, tendons, and nerves in EXACTLY the way you use them in your art. I do 1 or 2 dynamic tension sets almost every day.

Not that I'm down on weight training or bodyweight exercises. :)