training regularity and time

[shortlee]

hi, I am new to this forum and fairly new to kung fu (around 4 to 5 months now) I currently study shaolin 5 animals and wing chun im am also taught the basics of chi kung and tai chi. Anyway thats just a quick background so ill get to the point!

I train roughly an hour a day except on the night i have my class this is two hours long, I know an hour isnt very much and there was a point where i was managing up to two hours a day however this was unpractical due to my studies. basically i just wanted to see weather an hour a day is acceptable for a new student or not.

also as i study more than one system it has benifits and drawbacks i wanted to get your opinion on weather training on more than one system is smart or not, i beleive they complement each other but i am merely a young student.

hope this is not trolling

feedback much appreiciated

[Samurai Jack]

From a fitness perspective, an hour a day is much more than is recommended for good health. The bare minimum recommended here in the U.S.A. is thirty minutes of low impact aerobics a day (walking meets the guidline), three or four days a week. Many Americans do not meet this requirement, and as a result of that factor and a generally poor diet, we're the most obese nation in the world.

If your goal is to develop incredible skills rivaling the very best in your chosen art, then you will need to train accordingly. The world's top athlete's train a lot more than an hour a day. For skill based training, my personal opinion is that one hour a day is fine. Proffessional athletes will train for multiple hours every day, especially in skill based endeavors such as dancing, golf, skating, skiing, football (Euro and U.S.), and some martial arts. There are a few martial arts that are too high impact for pure daily skills training, such as boxing, judo, and wrestling. So you will find these athletes working on overall fitness using a variety of activities most days, and sparring only a few days a week for a few hours.

Basically you need to look at both ends of the spectrum and figure out where you want to ultimately be. If you're like most ordinary Martial hobbiests, one hour a day is just fine. If you're a martial athlete, you need more.

The good news is that if your goal is to get healthy and maintain a healthy body weight, you're already doing better than most Americans. Over time you'll get much fitter than you were before you started, and you'll develop a good level of skill in your art. Your fitness level will far surpass that of most ordinary people.

Whatever you choose, keep at it. You'll get results.

[NewToChen]

I am also relatively new, and study Chen Taiji at the moment.
An hour a day seems to keep me in shape and makes the teacher happy with my progress. I don't think I will ever be Chen Zhenglei on an hour a day, but he will never work for the Dept. of Motor Vehicles, so it's a wash.

As for regualrity, I go about 9 days out of 10.

It all comes down to what you want. I look at it as something more than a hobby but less than a life's vocation, and so far, it's making me pretty happy.


Cheers

[shortlee]

oh okay thats cool. I just wanted to make sure the skills i acquire in a my classes weren't being lost due to my lack of training and effort its good to know as long as i am maintaining and improving then i guess i shouldnt worry to much

thansk for your help ladz

[SevenStar]

From a fitness perspective, an hour a day is much more than is recommended for good health. The bare minimum recommended here in the U.S.A. is thirty minutes of low impact aerobics a day (walking meets the guidline), three or four days a week. Many Americans do not meet this requirement, and as a result of that factor and a generally poor diet, we're the most obese nation in the world.

If your goal is to develop incredible skills rivaling the very best in your chosen art, then you will need to train accordingly. The world's top athlete's train a lot more than an hour a day. For skill based training, my personal opinion is that one hour a day is fine. Proffessional athletes will train for multiple hours every day, especially in skill based endeavors such as dancing, golf, skating, skiing, football (Euro and U.S.), and some martial arts. There are a few martial arts that are too high impact for pure daily skills training, such as boxing, judo, and wrestling. So you will find these athletes working on overall fitness using a variety of activities most days, and sparring only a few days a week for a few hours.

Basically you need to look at both ends of the spectrum and figure out where you want to ultimately be. If you're like most ordinary Martial hobbiests, one hour a day is just fine. If you're a martial athlete, you need more.

The good news is that if your goal is to get healthy and maintain a healthy body weight, you're already doing better than most Americans. Over time you'll get much fitter than you were before you started, and you'll develop a good level of skill in your art. Your fitness level will far surpass that of most ordinary people.

Whatever you choose, keep at it. You'll get results.

boxing,judo and wrestling can certainly be done daily. from a boxing and muay thai perspective, you don't wanna hard contact spar daily, but daily free grappling is not a problem.

[Samurai Jack]

First, let me clarify;

I wrote "...too high impact for pure daily skills training, such as boxing, judo, and wrestling." Actually, daily skills training is fine, it's daily full-contact sparring and free grappling that I object to. Sorry for the misworded sentence.


...you don't wanna hard contact spar daily, but daily free grappling is not a problem.

I think it depends, like most things, on how much you ask of yourself during free practice. To me, free randori is not something to be done every day because it's not constrained by rules (outside of whatever your art/sport normally competes under), and is therefore not really "practice". To me, it's more of a test, to see where your weak points are, and to learn how to capatalize on your strengths. It's not the place to polish overall technique, and as far as conditioning goes, it's just as likely to rip your body apart as it is to build it up. That's why periodization was invented.

[Mr Punch]

hi, I am new to this forum and fairly new to kung fu (around 4 to 5 months now) I currently study shaolin 5 animals and wing chun im am also taught the basics of chi kung and tai chi. ...also as i study more than one system it has benifits and drawbacks i wanted to get your opinion on weather training on more than one system is smart or not, i beleive they complement each other but i am merely a young student.Nobody's addressed this yet, and the answers you had to your other question are about right IMO.

While they may complement each other and some exceptional people can handle more than one body skill set at a time, as a beginner in all of these arts I think you're doing too many to become effective in an optimal time. Tai chi, shaolin and wing chun have some very different body mechanics, and personally, having cross-trained a lot in my life I don't think it suits many people to start so many disciplines at such a level.

Also, you may want to spend a little more time on school study... congrats on 'complement' anyway... :rolleyes: :p :D ;)