Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Conditioning

  1. #1

    Conditioning

    Hello Southerners,

    I mostly practise Xingyiquan (Heibei branch), but I know how good you southern folk are at conditioning so I thought I'd ask if it is actually necessary.

    I met a Choy Lay Fut guy who told me kung fu is ALL about conditioning so that the body can withstand any attack. On the other hand, I met a Mantis person who told me that conditioning is not necessary if your technique is correct - soft blocking does not require hard contact.

    As I stated, I mostly practise Xingyi these days which is a hard internal style. In my years of training I've hardly done any conditioning, although Xingyi does have a nice conditioning set...

    So... How important is conditioning really? Do you guys think I should take it seriously or focus more on technique and other things?

    Any thoughts would be appreciated!

    Many thanks,

    S
    Black Mantis

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Tokyo, Japan
    Posts
    146

    conditioning

    One should not be exclusive of the other when it comes to the martial sciences. If I had to choose which I would predominantly train, obviously it would be technique. However, it would be foolish to have no type of conditioning added to your training repertoire. Otherwise you may as well be doing aerobics. You are flailing about, not actually knowing whether you can absorb impact in a real fight.

    I have seen people with impeccable technique and good use of power get defeated because of their over-reliance on their skill. They were used to not getting hit, so when fighting or hard-sparring with people who were of comparable skill, and with strong destructive power, every hit they were inflicted with instilled a great deal of shock. Psychologically, they were destroyed. It wasn't long before the physical followed.

    Training techniques without conditioning is like driving for years on a track and never actually getting on the freeway with other cars. It would make for an eye opening (or eye closing) experience!

    k
    Last edited by k-no; 01-16-2007 at 05:30 AM. Reason: typo

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Wuhan, Hubei, China
    Posts
    1,562
    most street fighters or thugs are usualyl pretty well conditioned. I mean, allot of peple has little formal training, but learned the hard way. If you can take a punch and still get back up to defend yourself, your probably better of than someone who can not do that.

    Remember BA from the A Team? He used to just stand there while someone hits him in the face, and then just give one hard wack back (just kidding around here)
    Conditioning is as important as technique
    得 心 應 手

    蔡 李 佛 中 國 武 術 學 院 - ( 南 非 )

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by blackmantis View Post
    Hello Southerners,

    I mostly practise Xingyiquan (Heibei branch), but I know how good you southern folk are at conditioning so I thought I'd ask if it is actually necessary.

    I met a Choy Lay Fut guy who told me kung fu is ALL about conditioning so that the body can withstand any attack. On the other hand, I met a Mantis person who told me that conditioning is not necessary if your technique is correct - soft blocking does not require hard contact.

    As I stated, I mostly practise Xingyi these days which is a hard internal style. In my years of training I've hardly done any conditioning, although Xingyi does have a nice conditioning set...

    So... How important is conditioning really? Do you guys think I should take it seriously or focus more on technique and other things?

    Any thoughts would be appreciated!

    Many thanks,

    S
    Greetings black mantis,

    I practice Lung Ying (Southern Dragon), Im not sure if you are familiar. At our school , as far as conditioning for bone hardening goes, we have a couple of basic two person sets that concentrate on the upper- body/arms. However, the conditioning/ use of the legs/lower- body are not ignored by any means.

    For the reason that we use mostly upper body arm/hand techniques we find it important that the our limbs are capable of taking/giving "abuse". The arms should be able to with-stand strong bridges and strikes.

    What I appreciate about the two person conditioning sets is that allows you to get the feel for technique(s) as well as the obvious benefit of the arm2arm contact.

    In my opinion if one is not serious about Kung Fu then one is not serious about conditioning.

  5. #5
    Hi Juan Nowon (and everyone else!),

    Thanks a lot for your information. I'm not familiar with Southern Dragon but it sounds like an interesting style. I'm having to do most of my training by myself at the moment, is it possible to self condition?

    Thanks!

    S
    Black Mantis

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by blackmantis View Post
    Hi Juan Nowon (and everyone else!),

    Thanks a lot for your information. I'm not familiar with Southern Dragon but it sounds like an interesting style. I'm having to do most of my training by myself at the moment, is it possible to self condition?

    Thanks!

    S
    black mantis,

    This may or may not seem "off the wall" to you, but trees make great partners for conditioining. As long as your limbs are making solid contact it will work just fine, you don't have to kill yourself. My brother and I use a log for solo conditioning, before too long you'll find your arms and legs to be pretty resilient. Make sure to "smooth out" your welts and bruses, ideally w/ jow.

    Also, Hung Gar is well known for rigorous conditioning. The link below will give you some good ideas for solo conditioning.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoJz0hqWviA

  7. #7
    Hi blackmantis----I practice Northern Praying Mantis and we put a lot of emphasis on conditioning. Mostly forearms and shins, but we practice body conditioning as well. That other mantis person saying conditioning isn't that important because proper blocking doesn't mena hard contact....what?!!!! I've always been taught that a block is an offensive strike as well as a defensive technique. I am not telling you lies when I say that I have run into people with better technique than I, but I had harder arms, and I won. Sometimes how much punishment you can take determines if you last or not. Some people say that external conditioning is harmful. Some is, but for as much as I beat on my forearms, I have never recieved any chronic pain such as carpal tunel or anything else from it.

    Conditioning on your own:Be careful when banging your bare arms on a tree and then applying jow. The banging on the bark of the tree may cause small abrasions on your arms. When you put the jow on it will really hurt and could very possibly get infected. A tool I use is a conditioning flail I made. Take a bunch of wire hangers and cut straight lengths about a foot long and duct tape the ends. Be sure to make it very compact. Enjoy!
    "If you practice praying mantis, women will like you."--Shi Zheng-Zhong

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •