PDA

View Full Version : Weights, bodyweight exercises



Iron_Monkey
05-05-2001, 09:01 PM
Does anyone know anything about a man named Matt Furey? I have been lifting weights as part of my conditioning and while I am gaining some mass, I feel the muscle I am building is not really all that useful as far as martial arts and over all fitness. There are guys in class that hit like freight trains that do no lifting at all. I was reading this guy Matt Furey's site. He talks about how animals, pound for pound are stronger than humans and why a trained boxer can hit harder than a power lifter, etc. I was considering
buying his book, but I don't know very much about the guy. Can anyone enlighten me on Mr Furey or this subject, weight training over body weight training? Here is the site- www.mattfurey.com (http://www.mattfurey.com) thanx a bunch

Sharky
05-05-2001, 09:09 PM
dude the reason boxers punch so hard is cos that's all they do. follow thru and get your body behind the hits. weight training does help lots man, but hitting a bag is what makes the power. and sparring.

Edd

Iron_Monkey
05-05-2001, 10:22 PM
if the power comes from the muscles then shouldn't bodybuilders be able to hit harder? I think power mostly comes from the tensegrity of your body but I guess I am wondering why weight train if it is not getting me the results I want? I want to be lean and quick not bulky and slow. Explosive power and endurance. I know guys that cannot hold their arms straight at their sides or touch their right shoulder with their right hand.That is asinine to me.

Sharky
05-05-2001, 10:29 PM
listen man, boxers hit harder than weight trainers cos theyh hit a bag all day. usually good boxers supplement this with weight training. but resistance punching (ie the bag as the resistance) is what makes powerful punches, imo

Edd

Sharky
05-05-2001, 10:32 PM
plus bodybuilders main target is to look good not punch well. even those who are out to be "strong" are not out to punch with power. being strong and punching with power are not the same - ie it should not be considered that the stonger you get the harder you will punch, cos technique also comes into it.

you need to train every aspect - shadow boxing, bag work, weights and sparring dude

I know this cos it's what i need to do, but can't afford/

Edd

qeySuS
05-05-2001, 10:57 PM
Well since we'r talking MA weight lifting, i'd like to know what excersizes make for more powerful kicks and more powerful punches.

Free thinkers are dangerous.

Sharky
05-05-2001, 11:16 PM
i find weighted press ups and bench presses good for punches, altho press ups are good alone. incline press ups also. basically u want something which mimmicks the actual action u wanna take - the punch, but with added resistance. there is one dude i know that punches a bag with heavy boxing gloves on while holding those aerobic weight things in each of his hands - but i doubt that that is good for his joints.

i only have experience in wc so like, i know nothing about proper power kicks n all that. train you r buttocks bwoooooyyyy.....

Edd

Sharky
05-05-2001, 11:27 PM
also for wc'ers do centerline press ups on your knuckles. if you can go very far down (as in the length of the dip as u get closer to the floor) then your gonna have a good punch! these are good as they are good for focusing the power at the end of the punch as is identical to the actual action of the wc punch but with the weight of your body as extra weight.

i am unsure if i have made it clear about how to do this exercise so here goes with a better description.

1) start in teh normal press up position.
2) Clench your hand and make a wc fist (make sure your thumb is in teh correct place, other wise you'll break it if you go onto the extra part of this exercise)
3)put both fists as close to your centerline as possible. You may need to spread your legs further to keep balance, as it's as if you've reduced the number of points your on from 4 to 3.
4)Go down as far as possible then rise, like normal pressups etc etc

When i was at my old wc school, once you had been there for a while sifu would make us do ones where u concentrate the power at the end so that you jump up a bit off the floor with your fists (not with your feet also!), and then punch the floor, to condition the knuckles. This is up to you to do it or not. I reckon it's better on hardfloor than on carpet cos the carpet sort of irritates my knucles!

Hope this has helped.

Edd

SevenStar
05-06-2001, 12:42 AM
You know what one of the best exercises for building shoulder strength is? Boxing. Work the bag more. Also, shoulder presses do well. As for your legs, plyometrics are awesome for building explosiveness. In class, we do something called monkeyjacks. When I was in school, the basketball team did the same exercise to improve their vertical leap, but they called it something different. from a standing position, squat down, then jump as high as you can, pulling your legs into your chest as you go into the air. Soon as you land, repeat. Do this until you get tired (which will be quickly your first time doing them) then try to do 10 more. You don't want to do these every day though, as you can damage your knees. 2 or 3 times a week is sufficient. Also, if you have access to a leg press machine, you can do leg presses.

"A wise man speaks because he has something to say; A fool speaks because he has to say something."

mantis108
05-06-2001, 12:48 AM
Matt Furey's stuff seems pretty good.

Theoretcially speaking, larger muscles store more energy (kinetic which is used up right the way). Larger muscles also burn more fuel and recover slower. If lifting heavy loads, large muscles can do the job great. However, when it comes to combat, you need functional strength and muscles that won't tire out after a short burst of power generation. In Kung Fu, strength and stemina are of equal importance. Bigger muscles aren't necessary better in Kung Fu's case because muscles need to be like elastic bands that can handle more than just push and pull motions. Having the right balance is most important. I would advice to look into Matt Furey's training material.

Mantis108

Contraria Sunt Complementa

SevenStar
05-06-2001, 12:50 AM
The reason a body builder may not be able to hit hard is basically because they don't train to. Their muscles are big, but not efficient. The athletes that have the most efficient muscles, believe it or not is a gymnast. they are stong and supple, and they use every muscle in their body. Body builders are only training for a look. However, you can't say that just because you are big you are inflexible, slow and can't punch. Look at Mark Kerr - He's huge. But his muscle is EFFICIENT. It has more of a purpose than simply to be looked at. Put a body builder in a martial arts class and they will eventually be the same way. As for animals, they also have efficient muscles. You thing a tiger cares whether or not it's muscles look good? He|l no. They hunt, they survive. If they weren't efficient, they'd be extinct.

"A wise man speaks because he has something to say; A fool speaks because he has to say something."

Matt-le-kat
05-06-2001, 01:19 AM
It's like what sharky says. You've got use the weights in a way that simulate the movement of the strike.
Body builders train to bend the arms and flex their chests, but if you want to be a good striker, then this isn't going to help you. Sure you're going to have a strong head lock and such but all your punches are going to be relatively weak.
Stick to the bag!

**********
Nothing is to be feared, only understood....

SevenStar
05-06-2001, 06:39 AM
Matt, i disagree with you there. Lifting does not make your punches weak. You think boxers, kickboxers and nhb fighters only do bodyweight exercises? You think Mark Kerr, Kevin Jackson, Marco Ruas,Mike Tyson, Rahman, Lewis etc. Got their size and shape without lifting weights? As I said before, the key is to make sure your muscle remains efficient.

You are right about your friend's training method though. puching and kicking while wearing weights can damage the joints.

"A wise man speaks because he has something to say; A fool speaks because he has to say something."

IronFist
05-06-2001, 09:20 AM
What SevenStar said (all 3 posts) is very right.

The reason huge BB'ers can't hit hard is because they don't train punching, they train for optimal hypertrophy (muscle growth).

Those little guys who can hit hard in your class can do so because a) they have been training a while b) their form is very good (little wasted motion or energy) c) they are fast.

Don't forget, F=MA. While you may be huge like a bodybuilder, you might be slow as crap. Also, you might be too big to effeciently throw a punch or kick. I'd like to see someone with huge thighs kick.

Oh yeah, Matt Furey knows his stuff, albeit it more from a "shootfighting/grappler" point of view. Definately an interesting point of view, altho dragondoor publications are pretty expensive (www.dragondoor.com)

Iron

Ford Prefect
05-06-2001, 03:44 PM
I posted this on the other forum as well, but here it goes... ;) There is nothing special with Furey. He learned some exercises from a guy he'd been training with for a year and a half and all of a sudden he's an expert. I bought his CC book as well as the three companion video's, and I've got to say that the routines on this page, are a lot better (and they're free):

http://www.webfects.com/hea/routine.htm

The page is down right now, but give it a few hours and it should be back up. The dude that makes these is a former NAVY Diver and they're based on what he went through in BUDS. He's now a trainer for the Navy in Hawaii as well as running civilian fitness classes. He's also readily available to answer questions in the Strength and Conditioning Q&A at mixedmartialarts.com.

If the page doesn't come back up soon, e-mail me at Pauldi@iona.com and I'll send you the routines.

UberShaman
05-06-2001, 04:32 PM
Bodybuilders try to isolate each muscle when they work out. This is important if your trying to build a symetrical body and have to fix lagging bodyparts. Unfortunetly this also tends to make it harder to use your entire body when striking.If you work out using whole body lifts ie, deadlifts, cleans, squats etc. You will gain quite a bit of functional strength. Another problem is the speed at which bodybuilding exercises are done. Btw Mark Kerr and others are huge because they have a pharmacy running through there veins, even though they are tested some drugs can be taken up to the day before a test and you will still pass it. They test the mr.olympia winners and they pass aswell but who are they fooling

SevenStar
05-07-2001, 03:55 AM
yeah, I totally agree with you, but the strength training comes from weights, not isometrics.

"A wise man speaks because he has something to say; A fool speaks because he has to say something."