Does modern sports science debunk trad. kung fu training?

[Scott]

Obviously we know alot more about the body now than they knew back then--but it makes since for an uneducated man (when compared to today's scientists and biologists and nutrionalists) would assume that by adding weight at a steady pace, the amount of weight that could be controlled at a maximum would steadily increase.

-Scott

"Life is hard, but so am I." -- The Eels.

[Kung Lek]

Hi-

The stories many of us have heard about the hole jumping, the lifting the calf and jumping a bush until the calfis a cow and the bush is a tree are just that, stories.

The stories serve as metaphors to the fact that to attain strength, flexibility or other aspects that will enhance ones Kung Fu, one must train hard and be diligent and mindful in their training.

With Kung fu, the metaphor really comes through when you consider that over a period of time skills are developed and they are developed so gradually that the practitioner barely notices until they do some feat that they amaze themselves.

cows and such are exagerrations, but it is a good metaphor.

Other methods are cut and dried. Training the claw, training the body to withstand strikes, building leg strength and so on all work provided they are done properly and not just on a whim whenever you feel like. There is a regimen and alloted time associated with Sil Lum training methods that may be deemed "unusual" by many folks. But the methods do work.

By the by, there are a lot of "modern" training methods that are pure bunk.
In fact, if you want to look at some excellent training methods presented in a modern way, Cathy Smith's exercise tapes are really quite excellent. They have nothing to do with martial arts at all, but the principles and methods for strength and endurance gain are spot on.

peace

Kung Lek

[DarkKnight]

When I was seven years old I practiced a ground stepping/stomping form on a small platform to increase my power. My Sifu had me slowly and methodically go from platforms that were stronger and stronger, never moving to the next level until I was able to crack the platform with ease. The San Francisco earthquake of '89 was completely unintentional.
I am sorry.
DarkKnight-

[bearpaw]

Have you ever seen four 16 year old boys move a telephone pole. I have, I was one of them and no we weren't little weight trainers. We used a trick I picked up some where and just picked the sucker up and walked it to the finish line while everyone else was tring to tie ropes and pull them.

The point of the OLD kung fu exercises were to teach students that the only limit to their bodies was/is their mind.

[ElPietro]

Limits can be expanded through hard work and yes mental preparation. Most of the time when you attempt to lift something that is out of your strenght range it is your bodies neurological response, not a physical one. Many body building tests have been done where someone visualizes themselves lifting a weight that they normally couldn't do and then they go ahead and actually do it. This is fact and science. But also fact and science does put limits on us regardless of how well trained your mind is, so to say that we are not limited is also untrue. Your body can only handle so much stress before injury occurs. Ants lift like 15 times their body weight but if I step on them they still go squish.

[Wongsifu]

I have almost been in tears from reading the cow jumping over the corn stalk posts but seriously guys. All these marvellous feats were possible because of the fact that the training of energy was involved, Its like ueshiba before he died was too weak to walk but had trained so well he could still throw someone across the room while sitting down. Now my point is the actual secret of the jumping out of the pit is not to train the leg muscles but In fact to make the body seem lighter by drawing all the energy upwards, The tibetian monks do something similar which is like the gummi bears walk they enter this weird trance and start to bounce, with this method they cover quite a considerable amount of miles per hour. All these kung have a secret to them. And something interesting i learnt from a science book it says that if we could fully train a single arms muscles to perfection we would be able to pull a whole train just with the power in that arm.

anyhow l8rz...

Ive finally done it I can train longer by getting paid to do nothing , and my parents always called me lazy :)
get paid online http://www.spedia.net/cgi-bin/tz.cgi...=8&vid=2475225

[IronFist]

"And something interesting i learnt from a science book it says that if we could fully train a single arms muscles to perfection we would be able to pull a whole train just with the power in that arm."

I heard something like that too, but I also heard it would destory your body in the process (ie. our muscles have INCREDIBLE *potential*, but to reach that potential would overpower the rest of our body)

or something.

Iron