Do you guys do forearm conditioning?

[IronFist]

I've heard that some WC people do. Augustine Fong's tapes show it. But I just saw an "Authentic Wing Tsun" tape of Yip Man's lineage (with video of him, too) and they showed these people doing the 3 star arm conditioning or whatever it's called where you hit your forearms together with a partner and were mocking it saying that becuase of the need for sensitivity, forearm conditioning is NOT practiced in authentic WT or whatever.

So yeah, do you guys do it?

I realize that with properly done arm conditioning you do not lose sensitivity, you just become able to take hard strikes to the inner forearm and stuff, so uh, does this apply here?

Thanks,

IronFist

[red5angel]

Ironfist - We do some forearmconditioning, you have to atleasdt a little otherwise taking a block of any sort with your forearm is going to make you wince or jerk in pain and you will be distracted.
Also, you are correct if you do conditioning right your sensitivity will be fine. The idea is to condition the bone of the arm.

[gnugear]

Lop Sao does a pretty good job ... but then again you don't have a training partner.

IMO I wouldn't worry too much about it

[kungfu cowboy]

Are you looking for methods? Try darting strikes to the inside of the dummy arm with the outside of your forearm with fingers open, stopping the movement after the initial bone jarring contact. Halten Sie der Ellbogen unten. Yeah gnugear, lop sao does a very good job! (wince).

[Miles Teg]

I do it in my class. (TST Lineage)
We just get a partner and punch each others opposite arms.
At first it hurts like the devil and you get some bad a$$ bruises, but after a few weeks you can go for ages and the bruises seem to stay away.

I think it is a neceassary drill. For people who are not used to pain and aren't conditioned, someone who is can punch right through their structure.

I haven't been to class for quite a while so I know when I go back there is going to be some pain

[Miles Teg]

Does anyone know if they do it in WSL lineage?

[Ras-Tanu]

I'm from the AF line and we have lots of drills where the forearms get conditioned (8 star blocking, punch-to-punch, lop-cycle, etc.). Sure its painful at the start, but you really notice the difference after months and months of these drills. The other day my brother punched me, and he got hurt.

[straight blast]

I haven't been to class for quite a while so I know when I go back there is going to be some pain

We just get a partner and punch each others opposite arms.

Me too, and I know I'm probably going to end up bloody. Conditioning the forearms is vital. Here's a good example:

My instructor, demoing dai sao against a full power boxing hook gets me to throw the hook, 'cos of my boxing history and he knows that I'll try to knock his head off (it really annoys him when people throw soft little "practise" punches at him that stand no chance of hitting). So I fire off a fast, short hook to which he demonstrates dai sao. The moment my inner forearm made contact with his outer I got a flash of pain up my arm and the entire thing went dead! He said "Again" and I said "I can't!!!". Took about a minute 'til I could use it properly again.

Man his forearms are hard

A bit of conditioning would fix it up nicely...

[IronFist]

I'm not looking for methods... I know a bunch. I used to do it, actually. It was 3 years ago, and I've still retained some of it, I think. I was just curious what you guys did since I've heard both that you do and do not do it.

Halten Sie der Ellbogen unten

Hold the elbow below what?

IronFist

[gnugear]

Forgot to mention that I also do Lan Sau (sp?) on the sand bag. That conditions the forearms ... but that's not the reason I do it. It's just a nice side effect.

[yuanfen]

conditioning is a side product-not the main aim.

[kungfu cowboy]

Oops! I guess my German sucks! I meant "Keep the elbow down." Tut mir leid.

[Ish]

i dont do any exercises just to condition any part of my body but just doing the basics like punch against punch and the basic blocks etc conditions you arms quite a bit. using the dummy also conditions your arms enough.

[fa_jing]

Yes. No where near as much, or as high intensity as say, praying mantis. Beside what all have mentioned, we have a drill that you perform with a partner, executing the blocks against the other's forearms/wrists with moderate power. It hurts, but you don't really end up with bruises like I did in mantis. Here is the drill, the footwork is pretty self-evident turning footwork, except that you pass to the square stance on movements 2 and 5.

1. Inside gan sao
2. Tan sao
3. Gan san
4. Jom sao
5. Wu sao


And repeat several times, alternating left and right arms.

Anyone else practice this drill?
-FJ

[IronFist]

Originally posted by kungfu cowboy
Oops! I guess my German sucks! I meant "Keep the elbow down." Tut mir leid.

Maybe that's what you said, mine's not perfect either. But I think unter means below.

Anyway thanks for the advice

IronFist