Is it bad to do the form weighted?

[william]

Thinking about doing a longfist form with dumbells in my hands, to increase strengh and muscle tone?

Good idea? or it the weight force in the wrong direction, i.e. down rather than forward?

Please help???!

William.

[IronFist]

Really all it will work is your shoulders. With your arms extended, your shoulders will be holding the weight up against gravity. Your biceps and triceps really won't be doing much.

If you don't believe me, grab a heavy book or dumbell and stand with your arms extended and see how it's working your shoulders.

Doing the form slowly with dynamic tension and focused breathing may work better, and will probably work more muscles.

If you do decide to try this, start with very light dumbells, and do the form slowly. No snappy punches or anything with weights in your hand.

[william]

But if the form features various movements ith the arms, not just outstreched,surely that will tone biceps and triceps inthe process of extention?

Also If I go really low into the stances, with weights in my handsthat surely is working my legs a lot harder as well?

and all of the movement would involve groups of muscles, ok mostly shoulders perhaps, but groups have to be contracted to keep the arm in place?

??

W

[rubthebuddha]

not really for your legs. legs are big and beefy and require a lot more weight than most people can hold out from their body in their hands for any length of time. try to simply hold a ten pounder out for a minute, moving it around. either your shoulder or your forearm muscles (the ones squeezing the grip) will be mad at you quickly.

now think of how much even 20 lbs (a ten pounder in each hand) would affect your stances. barely.

think of it this way: an acceptable squat for 10 reps is at least your body weight (shut up, seven and ford :p). methinks anyone with good leg strength would have to drop the weights due to shoulder/arm fatigue well before the legs said, "hm, this feels a little heavier than usual. did i eat a big lunch today?"

i'm not saying don't do it. this is similar to an empty hand form vs. a form for a large weapon, and shoulder strength is always a good thing. just don't go into it expecting to get all that much out of it for your legs.

a suggested way to make your legs feel this more: pick a weight that will be difficult, but not impossible, to hold the whole form. do the form. then, when your form is complete, instead of putting the weight down due to fatigued arms, drop into a good stance and bring the weights to your chest, elbows pointed down, palms up, with the weights resting on your palms (just like a military press). hold this until next tuesday.

[azeotropic]

I often do weighted forms with Iron Rings or Shotput balls. Rarely ever exceed 7kg tho.

[Hau Tien]

I do my forms weighted every day. I don't know why someone said your biceps don't get worked... mine get an awesome workout.

I don't use dumbbells, though. I use ankle weights (my arms are fairly large) on my forearms. They are 5lbs each, and I've been considering getting 10lb ones, but that would be the highest I'd consider going, and only after I'm completely used to the 5lb ones. They work in a similar fashion to iron rings, except they don't condition the forearms as much.

I generally do the form weighted twice, then without weights twice. The first two times (weighted) I concentrate on power and technique, ensuring I control my movement as much as possible, keeping it as tight and close to the form as possible. The last two times (not weighted) I concentrate on speed and fluidity.

This doesn't encompass all of my daily form work, but it's a fairly large portion of it.

Anyway, I don't think there should be any problems doing your forms weighted, provided you don't go too heavy too fast.