Conditioning

[WinterWind]

Greetings all -

I've been training in several styles for almost 10 years, and as I find the magazing (KFM) to be exceptionally helpful, I thought I would pose this question here in the forums.

Outside of traditional stance training and basic body weight stuff (pushups, squats, pullups), what are some conditioning drills or exercises you've used with success? It can be anything that's helped - from stuff that is stand still to more active stuff like running drills. Basically anything that could help with conditioning and stamina.

Thanks in advance.

Jason

[David Jamieson]

- lift weight - do compound lifting where you use more than one muscle group.

- do plyometrics (jump training)

-do ballistic stretching and use heat to limber up instead of low slow pulling stretches which tire the muscle out before you get to fully use it!

-swim! (one of the best overall body exercises we have)

-go running (use a tready or dirt trails, do not run on concrete if you can avoid it, it will crap out your joints, if not now, eventually)

-spar and roll (these two things will condition you and give you stamina in a very task specific way)

-rest! (when you work, work hard and when you rest, rest well)

-bag work, pad work, drill work (this should be a big chunk of martial art training for anyone)

- do yoga. seriuously, you will not regret adding it to your routines.

-work your core. There are myriad routines for working your core strength. Do it. It's important.

If all you're doing is stances and forms, you aren't doing enough.

good luck!

[WinterWind]

Oh no I wasn't implying that all I did was stance training. Not at all. I meant in addition to that and activities such as a number of those you listed. As of right now, my routine lookes like this -

Day 1
Light stretch
Stance Training
Forms Training
Deep Stretch
Meditation

Day 2
Light Stretch
Targeting and Accuracy
Kicking Drills
Hand Drills
Combinations
Meditation

These occur in the evenings and alternating days. Each set of kicks, strikes, etc. is intersperced with pullups, pushups, and crunches. During my lunch hour at work I staff train outside. I was just curious if anyone had anything I could add, which you did mention, like Running, Swimming. I've been considering adding a run to work in the morning - it's 2.5 miles, which I could do. However my only option is parking lots (asphalt - there's a strip mall on the way for 80% of the trip. The rest is small business). I've heard it's not as bad for your body as concrete, but it still makes me wary. I think I'll give it a try today and see what my body says about it.

I've been looking into Yoga recently as well; it's ironic that you mentioned it. Seems that I could only benefit from the added flexibility and body health.

Thanks for helping, and any suggestions are welcome :)

[Vash]

Whatever the reason for strength training [also regardless of the method, so calisthenics, weights, rubber bands, whatever], a combination of multi-joint and single-joint movements are necessary. Using both in your programming increases joint stability, tendon health, and decreases neural burnout.

When using strength training, having an actual plan is also nigh-essential. Can't really accomplish anything if you don't have a goal . . .

[No_Know]

Sitting up--shoulders over hips if you slouch pulls your tight front muscles. Holding them in place by maintaining the posture while you move --reach for thengs, write shuffle papers, desk-type-stuff, this should condition your upper abdominalpecs, rhomboid, middle back and biceps. Keeping your feet flat and knees together is also a workout.

Sit away from the back of the chair shoulders with your torso behind your hips. This lean is weight up top held-on-to-by lower position--felt in stomach upper abdominal. Rotate about the spine to increase your muscular conditioning.

I No_Know

[goju]

makiwara and the the stick weights that are used in goju

inf fact i think the okinawan styels have awsome conditioning methods
also th routine striking of the fore amrs against a tree to harden them and shin kicking wodden poles work well

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

hook up with an alzheimer hottie. they swear they didn't get one for hours.

[KTS]

in gao bagua and chen taiji, there is a lot of simple body method exercises that are used to condition the body, but also are used to train the body to have a certain quality. they are done repeatedly and done dozens of times per exercise. xingyi, phase one of its conditioning comes from standing.

[bawang]

hi, in the taiji i learned after reaching 50 to 100 pushups you need to start putting weights on your back
all of the soft qigong then are done with tension and turned into hard qigong
then the hard qigong are turned into weight excercises. you can do the movements on a modern machine like a military press machine or cable machine.

i tell you some excercises
take a barbell and hold it in horse stance and increase the weights. then squat with it and push it up. this is called qian jing zha
take something 100 to 500 pounds and hug it and lift it up and walk around. this is called yu dai gong

[KTS]

hi, in the taiji i learned after reaching 50 to 100 pushups you need to start putting weights on your back
all of the soft qigong then are done with tension and turned into hard qigong
then the hard qigong are turned into weight excercises. you can do the movements on a modern machine like a military press machine or cable machine.

i tell you some excercises
take a barbell and hold it in horse stance and increase the weights. then squat with it and push it up. this is called qian jing zha
take something 100 to 500 pounds and hug it and lift it up and walk around. this is called yu dai gong

those are some variations. i do a lot of creative exercises myself. sometimes to find out that they have been known to be done by this or that person.

the weighted push-ups i do routinely. same for scapula presses. i dont add much tension though.

as for cables, bungee rope works for some exercises. here is an example of how we would use bungee cords or rubber cords for exercise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CC0h-MUHdGs

[bawang]

nice video dood, i do that excercise on the cable machine
i really like using the pully weights because youre lifting while keeping your keet on the ground, u get really good balance and train whole body movement too, my main excercise is jut doing basic punching and footwork with the cable machine, its really good excercise
i also do some basic stick excercises with a long iron pipe about 20 30 pounds just basic blocking and thrusting, you can do the same thing with a barbell with half the weights on one side taken off
u can do the traditional long chui or bian excercises or pole excercise like drills from taiji 13 pole
also if utake weights off from one side of a adjustable dumbell it turns into a chui and u can do chui excercises