Diet and Endurance

[Hieu Nguyen]

Is there anything that I can do to improve my endurance?
As far as my diet is concerned I usually eat either dry cereal or oatmeal in the morning.
As for dinner I usually eat out at asian restaurants that serve traditional Noodle or rice plates either w/beef, chicken, or some type of fish. After I eat sometimes I take a short nap Is this bad?
I do drink plenty of sodas, if this is bad any suggestions or replacements?
very often I usually eat very late at night before I go to bed and my eating times are very unpredictable.

[Kaitain(UK)]

drink lots of water - stamina is somewhat dependant on water content, soda dehydrates you so it will have an effect on stamina. I also find it makes me feel like **** if I drink anything 'bubbly' at training.

also - what sort of endurance do you want?
stance endurance or fighting/sparring stamina?

stances only get improved by doing stances - fighting/sparring stamina requires cardio work until you're exceptionally skilled in the internal arts (when you don't use muscle much if at all)

"If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?"

[Hieu Nguyen]

any cardio suggestions?

[Chum Kil]

Try some hiking. About 1000 feet elevation gain per hour is pretty good. If you can, progressivly increase your pace. At the above info you should try to get 2 1/2 - 3 miles in about 1.5 hours.

John

Have little and gain;
Have much and be confused.

[Hieu Nguyen]

As far as my diet is concerned I usually only eat twice per day like I said earlier Oatmeal or cereal in the morning and for dinner rice or noodle.
So is this bad? All my meals have a veggie in them?

[cagey_vet]

ok, thats starch-carbohydrates which is good for fuel
that the body must burn, but you must also have something
with a nutrition value to nourish.
vegetables are good, try as many colors and tastes
as possible throughout the day... heavier meats in
winter (colder seasons), lighter meats in summer (warmer seasons).
DONT FORGET drink lots of water! :)
as for cardio work, i feel that bag work does wonders for me.
running is a waste of time unless you are a RUNNER.
may as well work on technique along with your cardio.
start with 1 minute all out on the bag with one weapon at
a time. then build to 2 minutes.
you will be surprised at how great you feel when
you can get up to this standard and beyond.

[BAI HE]

I can't recommend this book enough.

"Avery sports nutrition almanac." This book covers everything about nutrition including the
lastest advances and research in the nutrition field.
It costs $12.95 US.

[Kevin Wallbridge]

For endurance you may try "wind sprints" (run flat out until exaustion, walk it off, then dash again, repeat). This is a very quick way to increase endurance and is easier on the joints than jogging.

As for diet, if you are eating "some" vegetables you are probably not eating enough. Less refined sugar, less animal protien and animal fat, more whole grains and greater quantity and variety of vegetables. If you don't cook for yourself you should start. Many people argue that they don't have time for scratch cooking, however I would suggest that your life is literally at stake. If you are really serious about internal training food is a critical factor.

"The heart of the study of boxing is to have natural instinct resemble the dragon" Wang Xiangzai

[PlasticSquirrel]

i would not recommend exercises that are deemed "cardiovascular," such as running or sprinting. the reason for this is that you are over-working your internal organs when you do them to tear them down and build them up again. this is the basic idea of cardiovascular and muscular exercises.

i would recommend qigong, and if possible, one that incorporates the five elements in it. this will make your internal organs stronger without damaging them (look at middle-aged athletes for an example of it coming back at them). the result is having the cardiovascular endurance to fight or run for long periods of time (shaolin masters were said to be able to fight for hours).

the "holding the ball" position would not be appropriate, as it will make you gain weight. just thought i'd mention that.

[The Willow Sword]

i would drop the sodas right away and i would also drop the simple carbs as well. try eating more complex carbs such as whole grain brown rice(long grain in the summer ,and shoert grain in the winter) eat plenty of lean good meats and vegetables, fruits. as for liquids,,water,and pure water at that,, get a filter for your faucetor buy it at the local store for 30 cents a gallon, the less chlorine you have in your water the better. also get started right away on drinking about 5-8 cups of green tea everyday to cleanse yourself of the free radicals that are present in your system due to sugar consumption. for endurance and stamina ,,,go to your local orienta market and buy those viles of ginseng, they are cheap and will help you to regain strength. running is okay, lifting weights is good. swimming is much better though. for overall cardio vascular health . for land excercises, the qigong mentioned earlier in the posts is good as well. keep the diet simple guy, dont put alot of crap your system does not need.
for the rest of the endurance and stamina,,,,do lots and lots of breathing meditation and isometrics such as the i chin ching muscle excersises.
many respects, the willow sword

Whatever you think i am or want me to be,,, i am.
oh and,,,Jesus loves you, everyone else thinks you are an a$.

[Kevin Wallbridge]

I have to disagree that cardio-vascular fitness is the result of damage repair, my knowledge of both bio-medicine and Chinese medicine suggests otherwise, but at the same time I definitely agree that Qigong is also excellent for fitness.

PS as for your Shaolin master example, have you ever trained Shaolin? Because blasting off a full-out longfist form is a windsprint, there is virtually no difference in terms of cardio-vascular effect. In classical times people laboured hard and so did not need the same kind of supplemental exercises we need today, unless you are out in the fields working by hand every day.

While relaxed efficiency is ideal, unless you are perfect there will be exertion in a fight. I've seen lots of internal martial artists with good skills tire too quickly and take too long to recover because of a lack of wind.

I would add good reverse breathing training to the Qigong list, especially coupled with Bagua circle walking.

I'd also caution against the taking of herbs as daily supplements (such as ginseng) without being clear as to exactly what you are trying to change. Chinese medicine has no concept of daily supplement, herbs are medicines that create specific changes in the body. No herb is good for all people in all situations.

"The heart of the study of boxing is to have natural instinct resemble the dragon" Wang Xiangzai

[The Willow Sword]

On the contrary they do in fact utilize herbs for daily supplementation. i have used a lot of the herb stocks for pork and chicken that you get at the oriental markets, these herbs are also used by the thai in thier everyday cooking such as lemongrass and galunga(kha). western studies have shown that ginseng in the diet is not harmful or detremental to the system when taken everyday. the problem is with the dosage, due to FDA standards we must put a food supplement use sign on the package, anything else and there go out herbs. there are no directions other rthan the stupid ones we see on the package which does not mean anything. so i can agree with you on one aspect but i would not "caution" anyone about ginseng. they used to say that about garlic(if you have done your studies)and yet it has been found to be an old wives tale. such as with ginseng.
many respects, willow sword

Whatever you think i am or want me to be,,, i am.
oh and,,,Jesus loves you, everyone else thinks you are an a$.