speed training

[Zhiu]

does anyone do speed training? and if so what do you do? Just curious about it. thanks!

[count]

Originally posted by Zhiu
does anyone do speed training? and if so what do you do? Just curious about it. thanks!
Great Topic Zhiu!

Yes, get faster. :cool:














Wanna be a little more specific?

[Zhiu]

Well I'm talking about how to improve your speed of things like punches and kicks. Besides just punch is there anything else. I have gotten a lot faster already but I want very fast speeds as in for me the skyk's the limit. Already tai chi loosens the muscles ligaments and tendons and gives you better control over them which helps greatly but for things like punches and kicks would I have to do training with weights and stuff like that?

[Syd]

I train with very slow partners and usually ask them to respond in slo-mo... then I go all out at max speed et voila! ;)

Just kidding ofcourse. I think the best way to train speed is really among other things to train for conditioning. The better conditioning you have the better you will be able to maintain speed for longer while the opponent get's tired and slow. There are tricks you can use I suppose such as working with a speed ball. I have one and train with one but it's more timing and cardio than speed and accuracy training for me.

Best, Syd

[bamboo_ leaf]

Take all angles off your movements, really learn what a circle means.

[count]

Speed can be found as reflexive or reactive or it can be seen in efficient and direct movment. It can be improved through conditioning your reflexes or through refining your movement.

For the kind of reflexive speed you are asking about, the simplest and most common method is one of those speed balls that are tied at the top and bottom. Or partner training with pads. But the real increase in speed comes from not fighting against your own muscles.

[travelsbyknight]

First of all, there is the drug and that will give you tons of speed/energy. YOu pop a few of those...and you'll have more "internal" energy than god...until you pass out and wake up feeling like a ***** and then you need your stomach pumped and now I'm going to end my run on sentence.


Anyway, I realized a long time ago that speed from positioning is more important than how fast one can move. There's aways going to be someone faster than you out there so if you train to get faster you're setting yourself up for a downfall. But if you get into a good position on he other person's body that allows you to strike because your hands/legs are closer to his/her body, you will be faster.


I am officially the King of Run-on-sentences.

[Zhiu]

oh I absolutely agree with the whole positioning thing it's about timing and that but just for general purposes it's always a good goal to get faster.

Thanks fo rthe speed ball tip!

[Ray Pina]

"very fast speeds as in for me the skyk's the limit"

Actually, we are all limited in ability: how fast or strong we can get.

I'm 100% with Willow Leaf and TravelbyKnight. Position is faster than speed and stronger than strenght (borrowed that from somebody here).

Again, what willow leaf said: curves. Inside curves. Why does the inside man on the track have the advantage? Why does the outside of a record sound better than the inside?

This is actually the answer to your question. I know you want a way to make your legs faster, but they're simply telling you not to run around the block, to cut through the backyard instead. Is this not faster?

[foolinthedeck]

when you can do it slow you can do it fast, the reverse is not true.
be here at this moment. when you are here, there is no question of speed, you are simply here, you respond to any stimuli, you appear fast to others but really you are just here.
to be fast without being here right now is akin to driving at 100mph with your eyes closed and hands off the wheel, you are an accident waiting to happen - see how many people are fast but not aware of it when they have hit you or even thrown a punch. remember that any movemnet is a process, a punch has a start middle and end. when your perception is in harmony with your opponent - when you are here, punchs are stopped before they are seen to be punchs. true speed seems motionless to others.

[Zhiu]

I see what you guys all mean good points some I knew of some I didn't. In response to the cutting back the block - nothing in life ever comes easy. If you think practicing for a few months and you're battle ready it's not right to think that. You need time to build up your internal fitness right? Well I just wanted to build up my leg strength for the sake of it. You know to improve myself in everyway possible.

Thanks for all the responses.

[Ironwind]

Slow weighted movements.
I almost practically live with the wrist bandweights on.
If you practice Tai Chi that helps
When throwing the punch dont worry much about power the force from the speed will handle your target
Relax your shoulders as much as posible
And weight training
Pretty much any thing that makes my arm sore
I do it
Between my shoulders and my abs, they look like murder victims ( from the cuts ) :D

And while were talking about speed, I have a problem with feeling small pains when throwing fast punches, is their such thing as too fast for the body?

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Suppose you are driving on unfamiliar winding roads.. you go slower, you are (hopefully) more cautious.. when the time comes that we need to move fast it will be to our advantage to have traveled that road before.. there is no substitute for experience..

Most of the Taiji players i am familiar with find that in the early stages of quick forms practice they tend to move in short segments of the form, the mind/body connection at faster speeds breaks down due to the conditioning of slow practice.. Additionally, the faster speeds adds the element of momentum, a surprise factor the first time it is experienced at faster speeds.. i have learned to adjust my stances to account for momentum and inertia at combat speed.. better to experience that effect in practice than in a situation where it could compromise one's timing..

Balance.. Yin/Yang.. slow/fast..

Be well..

[Ironwind]

Thanks Bob,

I've been doing that on purpose, trying to find new ways to attack.
Might not be any.
If I practice these roads slowly and use resistance on them will I get used to them and the movement.
Help me save some time before I posibly waste it.
Thnx.

[No_Know]

I train speed by moving slowly...

[Ford Prefect]

Some good answers here about moving slowly. During complex movements, slow movement will force you to focus on all the details of the action and refine the pathways needed to access that movement. The more it is practiced the more this refinement takes place in areas like muscle recruitment (no antogonist muscles will be used where as at first with any unfamiliar motion they will be), synapses along the pathway will grow to allow stronger and ffaster transmission along the central nervous system. All these things will greatly increase speed.

One thing left out though is for speed in general areas, you will first need to lift heavy weights (1-3 reps). For the first few years of a trainee's lifting the force-output curve will rise concurrently along with strength; meaning that the increase in strength will coincide with fiber recruitment and the speed at which the fiber's contract (speed). Once an intermediate level of strength is reached, one can begin directly training the speed of muscular contraction by still lifting 1-3 reps but lifting it explosively with only around 50% your 1 rep max (1RM).

The Soviets did rather extensive research in both areas mentioned above and it is available in books like Supertraining by Mel Siff & Vershohanky or to a lesser degree "The Science and Practice of Strength Training" by Vladmir Zatsiorsky.