TCMA / Kung Fu Approaches that I like:

[taai gihk yahn]

I worked in a bakery for a bit, and the head baker had a grip of iron. All day long kneading and rolling dough.

the best bagua guy I ever knew (long-time, in-door student of BP Chan's) was a baker, used to work crazy long hours / shifts and attributed a lot of his bagua skill (which was not insignificant) to the sort of work he did (it also helped that he was a sociopath / possible psychopath, but anyway...)

[Yum Cha]

Back when I was a young guy, and fighting a lot, I used to work in an Army warehouse. Everything came in boxes of 6x #10 cans, those big tins, size of a 5L petrol tank. If it were water, maybe 30L, =30kg, 66lbs? more or less. Filled with food. Pick up and throw to the next guy, 1000 times a day, maybe more. Food in, food out. Move it to another room and clean that one. Move it back. Afternoon load coming in..... Evening meal going out....

The 25 and 50lb cases of rock hard frozen meat were even more fun....like stacking slabs of ice...

Good stuff, never had any training that compared to hard work like that!


I also reckon guitar playing and typing give you better grip and finger strength.

[YouKnowWho]

When I trained for my last tournament in 1984, I spent 3 months by moving a huge rock in my front yard. During that tournament, I moved myself from the heavy weight division (I weight 178 lb) to the super heavy weight division (200 lb and up). Since I knew I might be the strongest guy in that tournament, I had a lot of confidence when facing those big guys. Today I still have that hugh rock next to my driveway. Only one of my students could lift that rock off the ground.

[-N-]

We need to make our students do all our yard work and house chores

[Syn7]

as an electrician, i find tons of exercises at work... esspecially on new towers... lots of stairs, lots of wire, lots of parts, lots of tools... all heavy... and then theres the task of sending 3 inch thick tech cable down a hole that is in exactly the same place on every floor all the way down 30 or 40 floors... after the 7 or 8th floor that sh!t gets real heavy but you do not want to lose control of that reel or youre fukced... not a task to do alone... absolutely awsome stance work... a whole body workout...