freeweight training vid/wing chun

[Black Jack II]

A good example of tcma incorporating free-weight training into there practice for functional strength gains.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM7ZAAAOOtI

[Samurai Jack]

I was pleased to see Homeboy doing the Bear. I have done most of those lifts...

Then I get to the end, and I'm like WTF?!?

That balance board stuff is so INSANE, it looks impossible. It also looks incredibly dangerous, not to mention stupid beyond all reason. How many times did he drop the bar on his head before he perfected that lift?

I'm still impressed.

[Pk_StyLeZ]

that fool has mad balance/control skills....

[Mr Punch]

Yeah, that's mad cool.

It's Vyvial who posts on the Wing Chun forum sometimes when the odd
non-b!tching thread turns up.

I love the way on youtube someone criticizes him for having bad kung fu because Moy Yat Sigung didn't do those exercises...

LOL

[Samurai Jack]

He posts there, but not here? We're all about those lifts...

uhhhhhmmm...

Make that most of those lifts. Yikes!

[chaiwai]

Very impressive, especially that those guys don't look like they are in shape.

[IronFist]

Balance board stuff at the end was but also pretty useless and needlessly dangerous.

[Mr Punch]

OK.

pretty useless

Why?

and needlessly dangerous.

Why?

[IronFist]

pretty useless

OK.Why?

What skill are you hoping to improve by doing that last exercise? How will doing that benefit your strength or fighting ability? What part of that is transferable to a fighting situation?

needlessly dangerous

Why?

Are you seriously asking why pressing heavy weights above your head while on a balance board is dangerous? It's almost as dumb as that guy who was doing barbell squats with 135 while standing on a swiss ball.

[Mr Punch]

What skill are you hoping to improve by doing that last exercise? How will doing that benefit your strength or fighting ability? What part of that is transferable to a fighting situation?

You can't see how that would benefit your core muscles: lower back, glutes, obliques...? To say nothing of ankles and lower leg muscles... possibly the whole chain up your legs.

(Since Vyvial is a member of the forum, if anyone's really unsure of what his goals are and is interested, they could even PM him.)

So, if you then agree that it's so, then you see how it would benefit your fighting abilities in the same way as any other core work...?

Are you seriously asking why pressing heavy weights above your head while on a balance board is dangerous?

He obviously didn't just wake up one morning and think, 'I think I'll lift a weight I've never tried over my head on a balance board'... it's obviously something he has been working up to and feels confident doing. Now, how much time and effort it's worth expending in relationship to real gain is something everyone has to work out for themselves but there is also a lot to be said for keeping your workouts fresh with new things, and even for doing things just because they are cool! Can't say I go that way myself, but I'm way too much of a newb for that!

It's almost as dumb as that guy who was doing barbell squats with 135 while standing on a swiss ball.

A balance board is completely different to a Swiss ball.

[IronFist]

You can't see how that would benefit your core muscles: lower back, glutes, obliques...? To say nothing of ankles and lower leg muscles... possibly the whole chain up your legs.

Those muscles are being worked, but due to the nature of the exercise they're not being maximally stressed nor tested for endurance. They're just kinda helping him balance. In other words, as a result of this exercise, he's not going to be able to punch or kick harder, nor is he going to have more endurance during fighting. He's training specificity for an activity that is never going to come up in a fight; pressing weight overhead while balancing on an unstable platform.

So, if you then agree that it's so, then you see how it would benefit your fighting abilities in the same way as any other core work...?

See above comment. His time would be better spend doing an exercise designed to increase maximal strength, endurance, or training techniques. IMO, of course.

He obviously didn't just wake up one morning and think, 'I think I'll lift a weight I've never tried over my head on a balance board'... it's obviously something he has been working up to and feels confident doing. Now, how much time and effort it's worth expending in relationship to real gain is something everyone has to work out for themselves but there is also a lot to be said for keeping your workouts fresh with new things, and even for doing things just because they are cool! Can't say I go that way myself, but I'm way too much of a newb for that!

Alright, I don't disagree with anything you said there.

He's obviously very good at that exercise, and I'm the first to admit I probably couldn't do it. That being said, I'd have no reason to do it.

A balance board is completely different to a Swiss ball.

Aren't they both supposed to train "balance" or something? I don't use either of them so I'm not sure. I just see countless personal trainers doing pointless exercises with clients on them all the time at the gym.

[WinterPalm]

The biggest advantage and reason martial artists should train their balance as best hey can, like the guy in the video, is for proprioception and agility. When I'm training my balance on all sorts of crazy gizmos my footwork and movement, reaction time, goes through the roof!

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

are you guys sure thats 135? id be awfully impressed if someone that size was snatching 135 one handed without mention of the balance board. if those are olympic bumpers they might be as light as 10killos - making for a total of about 88lbs including bar. i could be wrong of course .... but those single handed snatches are no joke.

[Ford Prefect]

Looked like 10 kilo bumpers to me.

I gave the Davies/Indo Board/Swiss Ball training paradigm a try for a bit when I was experimenting with different modalities. The Indo Board is far easier than the swiss ball. Once you get the hang of it, you can constantly slide back and forth like that almost without thought. I used to do it on a hardwood floor while watching TV. I even progressed to doing skateboarding type olly's on that thing.

Still, I 100% agree it is needlessly dangerous and really doesn't do anything for you athletically speaking besides making you better at Indo Boarding and perhaps gives you a little tranferrable skill to wake boarding and surfing.

That seems to be the least of that bearded guys problems. He lacks either strength in his hamstrings or flexability in his hips. He seems to end up rounding his back a bit in his deep squat attempts, and that could be just as dangerous as lifting some weight on an indo board.

Functional strength is really a misnomer as well. If lifting things on an indoboard is your function, then that certainly is "functional" training. If fighting is your function, then I fail to see how that aids that function more than (or even as much as) other, less dangerous practices.