Tensing exercises

[_William_]

On some vintage bodybuilding websites I saw a few old courses that used tensing as a primary form of training, mixed in with some calisthenics. For example, one course advocated tensing a muscle as hard as you can and holding the contraction for a full minute.

One fault I can see with this kind of training see is that you can't really measure how hard you are tensing, whether you are generating more tension than previous sessions, etc.

I like to flex my muscles at the end of a hard workout though. Its a great way to relax.

Has anyone done "tensing exercises" as a primary form of strength training? I think some kung fu styles incorporate this into their forms, right?

btw are the websites I was looking at were http://www.sandowplus.co.uk/
http://www.maxalding.plus.com/

[FooFighter]

William:

Isometric has its place within the greater picture and it does have some postive result especially for martial artists. I think learning to generate max tension in a particular range or point is a good skill to have as a martial artist; of course the skill to be completely be relax/tension free is also vital.

From my research of strength conditionings of professional martial artists, I know Bruce Lee was a big fan of isometric work and he used it quite often to develop his chi sao play.

In wing chun gung fu, within the forms that are many example of
isometric techniques. If you want to excel in wing chun chi sao, then isometric may help greatly. Once you have the correct isometric concepts down, you can create your own isometric workout.

Best of Luck.

[_William_]

FooFighter,

Thanks for the reply. What kind of isometric exercise do you mean? For example holding my arm in a bong sao position and tensing it, or pushing my bong sao as hard as I can against the wooden dummy.

Also what time do you usually hold a given isometric position? I heard 4 seconds building up tension, and 6 seconds of max tension was best.

[FooFighter]

William:

Isometric simply means static muscular contraction within a certain distance or range. For example, siting in a wing chun horse is an isometric work. How long do you or people sit in the horse? Therefore, the time under static tension depends on your goals and needs.

I have learn some interesting use of bong sao from Sifu Lee and how to effective use it against attacks that would seem not possible like stopping a round house kick. Here is my understanding of bong sao that I posted on Duncan Leung's site:
http://members.tripod.com/~Wing_Chun/mbs/491.html

If you want to develop a good bong sao, I think is wise to first master the form and its principles and to strengthen the shoulder complex by doing cuff work and other wing chun specific drills. After that if you are interested, you should just play lap sao until you master the idea and technical skill.

[IronFist]

Those old books are interesting to look through, and you may find some useful exercises in them, but weights are better in pretty much every way when it comes to developing strength.

I think there was a lawsuit where a barbell company sued Charles Atlas. Remember him? He was the whole dynamic tension for bodybuilding thing. His ads had the 95lb weakling getting sand kicked in his face on the beach, and then he did some isometric exercises and came back as a stud and got the girl. Anyway, supposedly the lawsuit went something like this:

Charles Atlas: I got my size and strength from my dynamic tension program
Barbell Company: No you didn't, you got it from using our barbells.
Charles Atlas: No, I only use barbells to test my progress.
Barbell Company: And how often do you test your progress?
Charles Atlas: About 3 times a week.

I don't remember where I read that, tho, but for some reason that story is stuck in my head.

Anyway, dynamic tension and flexing and stuff has it's place, but it's place is probably about 1-2% of a workout, so basically don't worry about it. Weights are the best way.

[FooFighter]

Isometric ads back in the days of old comic books were funny....