Does each style have an optimal amount of training time for it?

[phantom]

Many martial artists believe that each individual style has a minimum amount of daily and hourly amount of training time required to get better at it. I once read that for a typical kung fu student, an hour or two of practice twice a week is average. However, a short workout every day is needed to make substantial progress.However, another source claimed that a kung fu practitioner will have to practice at least two hours a day three time a week. Six hours a day is the sign of a truly dedicated practitioner, although that is rare these days. Some sifus like Wing Lam and Adam Hsu know over a handful of kung fu styles. If they were to follow that theory, they would practically never have time to eat or sleep. Some people feel that to reach your full potential in judo, you have to come to class three times a week. In the case of aikido, you have to pactice at least two hours a day, twice a week. Yet another source claimed that with all styles in general, you have to practice at least three times a week, because once or twice will only maintain your ability, not improve upon it.However, there is not a 100% general consensus concerning this. I have read about the training regimens of various tae kwon do masters, and they vary quite a bit. So are there really different optimal amounts of practice time for each individual style? Thanks in advance.

[dwid]

3.3 hours per day is ideal.

At high altitudes, more may be required.

[Water Dragon]

As long as you read Kung Fu magazines, you don't really have to practice.

[dwid]

Once you perfect the skill of cramming a whole pack of hostess cup cakes in your mouth at once, all will be understood.

[Chang Style Novice]

The correct answer is always "train as much as possible to get as good as possible." The only way you can overtrain is if you train past exhaustion and so allow your practice to become sloppy. You cannot get worse by practicing more.

What kind of question is that anyway? Is there any skill that improves from NOT excercizing it?

[phantom]

No. I cannot think of any skill improving by not exercising it. I just wondered how people who do multiple styles find an optimal overall training time if each style has a certain requirement for it.

[Chang Style Novice]

My mistake - that's an excellent question.

And one I can't answer at all, since I don't even place enough priority on the one style I do know (a little) to train it properly.:(

[Fu-Pow]

6-10 hours per week of focused training is a minimum to really see major improvement. If you train more than one style then you might think about trading off training one style more one week and the other style more the other week.

Some people recover more quickly after a hard workout also. I'm kind of a slow healer so if I push it too hard then my body quickly tells me. After training for many years you kind of come to know your body and what it's limits are (provided you have trained to know what they are.)

My current workout schedule is something like this:

I've been doing 20 min of standing (zhan zhang) or sitting meditation (za zen) once in the morning and once in the evening.

I attend my Choy Lay Fut class 3x a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) for around 2 hours a session. Unfortunately, these days I don't get as good a work out as I'd like to because I'm often running the class....doh!

I've been trying to incorporate 2 30 min elliptical rider workouts and 2 30 min resistance training workouts in per week. Some of those I do on my lunch hour. Sometimes I substitute hiking or rollerblading in for the elliptical machine.

Tuesday nights I've been attending Chen Taiji forms practice for an hour and then on Sat I go for 2 hours and practice form and push hands. (I practice a little basic Taiji stuff after my standing practice also and here and there when I feel like it).

So I didn't actually add it all up but I'm guessing my total time invested is probably around 15- 20 hours a week but that includes a kind of whole mind-body program including meditation and non-MA excercise. I think the non-MA stuff can be very helpful to your overall program. For example, since I've been meditating a lot my taste for alchohol has dropped off almost totally. This has freed up a lot of time for me when I would have been slacking in my training do to hangovers, etc....haha.:p

Kung fu truly is a "lifestyle." Once you've been doing it for a while, you realize that in order to progress you have to make some sacrifices.

My advice to people is that if they want to keep progressing and keep a healthy outlook, that they don't get too rigid in their training schedule and look for ways to vary things to keep it interesting.

Peace.:p

[IronFist]

Everyone is different. Some people could practice for 2 hours a day and still suck. Other people could practice the same stuff for 30 minutes a day and get a lot better.

You can't put training time into black and white categories like that.

That being said, for the most part the more you train the better you will be. I'm talking about reasonable amounts of training. 1 hour a day is probably better than 30 minutes a day. 10 hours a day is probably not better than 1 hour a day, tho, because of things like overtraining, having to eat, etc.

[Brad]

Like IronFist says, it's pretty subjective. One person's idea of what constitutes real improvement may be different than anothers. Some people train smarter than others too. Your diet, athletic ability, health, focus, are all examples of important factors that vary from individual to individual.

[SevenStar]

That will vary from person to person. I train three arts currently. I spend about 4-5 hours a week in judo and the same in muay thai. I spend about 9 hours a week in bjj. In addition, I train judo at home nightly. I'm also in the gym every day. On occasion I will forego weight training and instead shadow box drill throw or matwork, etc.

Standup is where I feel more comfortable, and I can get away with spending less time there.My ground game is weak (getting stronger though) so I spend more time there. I'm proficient in them all, and disagree with fu - pow's 6-10 hours weekly statistic. My judo and thai are much better than my bjj, and I spend less time training them than I do bjj. As said, it will vary amongst individuals.

[MasterKiller]

7*,
What does Mrs. 7* say about you being away from home so much. That's a hefty training schedule. Is she cool with it?

[red5angel]

the more you can practice the more you will improve. Being consistant is also a factor as well as natural talent. Some arts may require a little more work from you to master them so to speak but for the most part if your working most days a few hours a day, you should be constantly improving. I spend a minimum of one hour a day praciticing, about 6 days a week.

[Shaolinlueb]

ideal is to do like the wushu schools. 8 hours a day, 6 days a week. :D

[Ford Prefect]

Studies have shown that 3 1-2 hour sessions/week are the minimal requirement for continued (ie after beginner stages) improvement in any physical skill set. 2 sessions for maintenance.

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by MasterKiller
7*,
What does Mrs. 7* say about you being away from home so much. That's a hefty training schedule. Is she cool with it?

she's fine with it. Occasionally she has her days where she just wants time, and will ask me to stay home. When she does, I do. Also, she works retail and closes several nights a week, so alot of nights, we get home around the same time.

[SevenStar]

Admittedly though, getting to that point was a process... when we were dating, she absolutely hated it.