The 3 planes of movement
Fri, Jan 28 2011 01:01
| kettlebells, calisthenics, martial arts, weightlifting, exercise, practice, martial arts Altrincham, fitness
| Permalink
As far as I'm concerned there are (shock horror) 3 types of movement that are relevant to exercise for everyone but especially martial artists. They are as follows: pushing, pulling and rotation. The first two are perhaps the most obvious and well known in terms of lifting weights whilst the third - rotation might seem more applicable to things like stretching. However when training for martial arts it's important to recognise that we don't move in short static ranges of motion.
The true benefit of the bench press or deadlift for example, are in the bulk they add to our muscles and strain they place on our endocrine skeleton. The fact they tax more than one set of joints and release hormones into our bloodstream aiding growth and development is important, but they are not the only tools we need to add to our regimens to really succeed.
To truly test our bodies and apply more realistic challenges to our muscles it is important that every time we exercise, either in training, or the gym, we appreciate these fundamental types of movement. When we assume IRAS we 'pull' on our quadriceps and lengthen our spine, similarly we 'pull' on our lats and rotate our forearms when using tan sau. Without one the effect is lost and the structure of our shapes and movements fail.
The same concepts must be recognised when lifting weights. To truly recruit as many muscle fibres as possible and in a useful way it is important to use "multi-plane" movements. What that means in layman's terms is that we musn't just pull a dumbbell up and down, contracting our biceps to feel good and build trophy muscles.
Every week at least you should be looking to perform functional lifts. To lift a weighty object of some sort from the floor to our chest or even above our head for example. The concept of clean and press is massively taxing but works muscles and joints from toe to top whether it's a barbell, two dumbbells or something more exotic like a sandbag it matters not. As long as the lift is practised safely it will tax your body and build truly useful strength and balance over time. This is crucial for fighting - whether it's dealing with the deadweight of an adversary, or adjusting your own position under pressure and tension during conflict the benefits are obvious if you give this kind of work a chance, once a week, for a few weeks.
Similarly taking something like the humble sit up you can up the difficulty and benefits by adding a "twist". You'll probably have seen people sitting up and twisting towards one knee or using a swiss ball to challenge their core stability and wondering why. The simple answer is - it's harder! It tests your resourcefulness, strength and stability and will up your output and fitness quickly and powerfully. I like to perform a jab cross combo at the top of a sit up. With your lower body anchored it places extra stretches to the arms and upper body, increases the exercise with a slight cardio element and keeps you focussed and occupied during an endless set of ab work.
For those who are really looking for something difficult the kettlebell is a of course great place to look. It's off centre balance and abilty to be swung, pushed, pulled and flipped in a multitude of ways incorporates everything I've been talking about. However think about performing lifts with a weight in each hand. It allows the flexibilty to add rotations to a lift eg twist to one side as you perform a shoulder press and do the same on the other side. It also allows you to link lifts together eg bicep curl to shoulder press to squat. Imagine the concept of varients of a burpee with weights and you'll get the right idea.
Look to change direction, change the type of motion and finally change the muscle group or body part under tension with each link of the chain as it were. Do some research, experiment without wieghts or at least tiny wieghts at first and see how creative you can be.
If you like some ideas feel free to let me know but here's a few "chains" if you will, I really like.
Clean and press: Deadlift, clean the barbell to shoulders, pause, press above the head. Very difficult and gets the sweat pouring!
Abs-1-2: As you sit up throw a strong jab over the right knee followed swiftly by a cross over the left. Be sure to breathe out (I snort "1-2!" as I do it) and get a full twist of the torso into this one. It works the obliques which run under the ribs beside what most people think of as your abs and are criminally under worked by most.
Manmaker to press: Hold yourself in press up position. Pull the dumbell upwards in one hand as if performing a one armed row. Brace yourself on the planted arm and twist the torso 90 degrees with the rowed weight on top. Press out and directly upwards with your shoulder under the dumbell supporting it. The body should be in one straight diagonal line from the toes to the head with the weight raised directly upwards. Return the weight to the body, rotate backwards and return to the original press up position. Repeat on the other side.
The true benefit of the bench press or deadlift for example, are in the bulk they add to our muscles and strain they place on our endocrine skeleton. The fact they tax more than one set of joints and release hormones into our bloodstream aiding growth and development is important, but they are not the only tools we need to add to our regimens to really succeed.
To truly test our bodies and apply more realistic challenges to our muscles it is important that every time we exercise, either in training, or the gym, we appreciate these fundamental types of movement. When we assume IRAS we 'pull' on our quadriceps and lengthen our spine, similarly we 'pull' on our lats and rotate our forearms when using tan sau. Without one the effect is lost and the structure of our shapes and movements fail.
The same concepts must be recognised when lifting weights. To truly recruit as many muscle fibres as possible and in a useful way it is important to use "multi-plane" movements. What that means in layman's terms is that we musn't just pull a dumbbell up and down, contracting our biceps to feel good and build trophy muscles.
Every week at least you should be looking to perform functional lifts. To lift a weighty object of some sort from the floor to our chest or even above our head for example. The concept of clean and press is massively taxing but works muscles and joints from toe to top whether it's a barbell, two dumbbells or something more exotic like a sandbag it matters not. As long as the lift is practised safely it will tax your body and build truly useful strength and balance over time. This is crucial for fighting - whether it's dealing with the deadweight of an adversary, or adjusting your own position under pressure and tension during conflict the benefits are obvious if you give this kind of work a chance, once a week, for a few weeks.
Similarly taking something like the humble sit up you can up the difficulty and benefits by adding a "twist". You'll probably have seen people sitting up and twisting towards one knee or using a swiss ball to challenge their core stability and wondering why. The simple answer is - it's harder! It tests your resourcefulness, strength and stability and will up your output and fitness quickly and powerfully. I like to perform a jab cross combo at the top of a sit up. With your lower body anchored it places extra stretches to the arms and upper body, increases the exercise with a slight cardio element and keeps you focussed and occupied during an endless set of ab work.
For those who are really looking for something difficult the kettlebell is a of course great place to look. It's off centre balance and abilty to be swung, pushed, pulled and flipped in a multitude of ways incorporates everything I've been talking about. However think about performing lifts with a weight in each hand. It allows the flexibilty to add rotations to a lift eg twist to one side as you perform a shoulder press and do the same on the other side. It also allows you to link lifts together eg bicep curl to shoulder press to squat. Imagine the concept of varients of a burpee with weights and you'll get the right idea.
Look to change direction, change the type of motion and finally change the muscle group or body part under tension with each link of the chain as it were. Do some research, experiment without wieghts or at least tiny wieghts at first and see how creative you can be.
If you like some ideas feel free to let me know but here's a few "chains" if you will, I really like.
Clean and press: Deadlift, clean the barbell to shoulders, pause, press above the head. Very difficult and gets the sweat pouring!
Abs-1-2: As you sit up throw a strong jab over the right knee followed swiftly by a cross over the left. Be sure to breathe out (I snort "1-2!" as I do it) and get a full twist of the torso into this one. It works the obliques which run under the ribs beside what most people think of as your abs and are criminally under worked by most.
Manmaker to press: Hold yourself in press up position. Pull the dumbell upwards in one hand as if performing a one armed row. Brace yourself on the planted arm and twist the torso 90 degrees with the rowed weight on top. Press out and directly upwards with your shoulder under the dumbell supporting it. The body should be in one straight diagonal line from the toes to the head with the weight raised directly upwards. Return the weight to the body, rotate backwards and return to the original press up position. Repeat on the other side.
2011 - What do you want to do?
Tue, Jan 18 2011 11:20
| calisthenics, rowing, martial arts, cardio, training, keep fit, exercise, martial arts Altrincham, fitness, running, conditioning
| Permalink
The new year is here and as always the gym is full of people with good intentions and the ability to take up space. It must mean that the new year's resolutions are fully in swing and as such it got me thinking about what mine could, or at least should be. I've never made one, not least one that lasted five minutes.
This year however I've decided to make a very simple one "practice what I preach". I'm going to get fitter, not skip exercise, rest when I need to, eat better and all the other things you'll find on this blog, in my classes etc. Throughout the year I'll be measuring my "fitness" in an all round (and slightly vain) way by recording some simple data.
First off body measurements to see how my physique changes thorughout the year. Secondly a record of cardiovascular fitness - this will be done by comparing times and distances for running, rowing, swimming etc. Lastly I will record increases in strength and output - weights lifted and volume of sets and reps.
Part of the plan will be following Martin Rooney's Ultimate Warrior Workouts (reviewed here http://martialstatus.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-ultimate-warrior-workouts-by.html) for the resistance and conditioning aspects of my regimen. CV fitness will be increased by incorporating military guidance on fitness such as taking their PT tests and varying my workouts with rowing, swimming, cross-training and other such activites.
This is really a complicated way of saying I'm going to take a dedicated approach to being fitter, leaner, meaner and better!
So the question is now what do you want to achieve this year? I'd love it if you'd share your aims for 2011 in the comments section below. Happy 2011!
This year however I've decided to make a very simple one "practice what I preach". I'm going to get fitter, not skip exercise, rest when I need to, eat better and all the other things you'll find on this blog, in my classes etc. Throughout the year I'll be measuring my "fitness" in an all round (and slightly vain) way by recording some simple data.
First off body measurements to see how my physique changes thorughout the year. Secondly a record of cardiovascular fitness - this will be done by comparing times and distances for running, rowing, swimming etc. Lastly I will record increases in strength and output - weights lifted and volume of sets and reps.
Part of the plan will be following Martin Rooney's Ultimate Warrior Workouts (reviewed here http://martialstatus.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-ultimate-warrior-workouts-by.html) for the resistance and conditioning aspects of my regimen. CV fitness will be increased by incorporating military guidance on fitness such as taking their PT tests and varying my workouts with rowing, swimming, cross-training and other such activites.
This is really a complicated way of saying I'm going to take a dedicated approach to being fitter, leaner, meaner and better!
So the question is now what do you want to achieve this year? I'd love it if you'd share your aims for 2011 in the comments section below. Happy 2011!
The Building Blocks
Sun, Jan 10 2010 01:51
| kettlebells, calisthenics, martial arts, cardio, weightlifting, health, exercise, Wing Tsun Kung fu, martial arts Altrincham, fitness
| Permalink
In my last entry I talked about the relevance of fitness and exercise to martial artists and tried to illustrate my belief in its necessity. I spent many years training badly, training infrequently and training the wrong stuff with good intentions.
I’m glad to say I can pass on a little bit of what I learnt through my own endeavour to you and illustrate my logic and thoughts as to why you need to know this stuff.
In this blog exercise falls into two large categories that can be dissected further: cardio vascular and resistance. The first deals with exercise designed to burn fat, increase all round endurance and improve traditional ideas of fitness. Examples include running, cycling, rowing, alongside many sports. Resistance work includes weightlifting, calisthenics (bodyweight exercises) and weapon training.
Each type of exercise has its own benefits and place in the routines of martial artists and neither must be neglected. I spent years ignoring my CV work to my determent focussing on weights and routines designed for body sculpting not performance. It hindered my martial arts training and didn’t give me the results I wanted.
I knew that increased muscle mass burns more calories and therefore fat per hour. However I didn’t realise that cardio not only strips off fat much faster but it adds to muscle mass and definition too!
In short I broke the golden rule of ignoring my weaknesses and stayed secure working on what I was good at/enjoyed.
So what exactly should you be doing? Of course this is an individual answer and depends on what your needs are. If like me you try to train/teach martial arts 5 or 6 sometimes even 7 days a week fitting in other training can be tough and dangerously taxing.
I believe in doing a lot in short bursts, it gets faster results and is mimics the stresses of fighting with short bursts of intense activity. How many people claim to take up “jogging” and then bitch about a lack of success in losing weight?
If you amble around at a medium intensity like a Lycra clad bovine it is unlikely you’ll achieve much. If you hit the gym hard and with focus for 20-30mins and are breathing sweat out of your ears you’ll soon see results! On top of that it speeds up your metabolism and digestive system in processing food avoiding calories becoming fat and stops you over-working muscles so that they become catabolic (break down), injured and testosterone levels get used up rather than used to build muscle.
I tend to cross train and mix up routines. So typically I warm up with cardio, running and jumping on the spot before shadow boxing in 3 minute “rounds” pausing long enough to get my breath and sip some water.
I then mix sets of specific weight exercises, calisthenics and more cardio before finishing on a chin up bar with some pulls-ups, leg raises and then a “hang” to stretch my muscles and bones back out!
Here is a typical list of exercises that you should work on perfecting:
Whole Body (I include all cardio in this section)
• Clean and Press
• Kettlebell Swing
• Dead lift
• Hindu press ups
• Hindu Squats
Upper Body
• Pull-up
• Press up
• Bench Press
• Bent-over Row
• Military Press
Lower Body
• Squat
• Lunges
• Tuck Jumps
Core/Abs
• Janda sit-ups
• Leg raises
• Medicine Ball Twists
If you do not know what any or all of these exercises are then do a little bit of research. You will notice that by and large they are what are known as ‘compound’ exercises which work more than one joint at a time and very large muscle groups.
This adds bulk, tests the muscles you will use fighting not just sculpting trophy muscles and release much larger quantities of testosterone and other hormones into the body to promote better results. It also means that you target quicker long lasting gains rather than trying to perfect tricky and irrelevant exercises.
I would recommend 3 sessions a week as a rough guide and add more depending on results, tiredness and dedication. Anymore than that and you must be careful not to over-train and undo all of your hard work.
If you are a slight and want to gain lots of muscles I recommend the following work out with heavy weights – be warned it’s a killer and requires about 2 days rest afterwards!
Bulk up routine
After ten minutes of light cardio and stretching to get the blood flowing and body loose perform 5 sets of 5 repetitions of the following exercises. Be sure to keep pausing for 2 or 3 minutes between sets to allow the body time to cope with the demands.
• Clean and Press
• Bench Press
• Dead lift
• Bent-over Row
When learning these or any exercise run through them for a set or two with an empty bar to ensure your hand-eye coordination is correct and if the weight is too heavy STOP! Take a plate off and carry on. Do not exhaust yourself or hurt yourself so you can’t train for weeks!
I recommend using this particular routine once a week at most. Generally for martial artist I find that performing 3 sets of 15 reps per exercise the best way to go. It builds lean mass and tests muscles by enduring weight and motion much like fighting does.
If you are already “too bulky” go for lighter weight at 25 reps a set and if you really do need to pack on the beef up the weight and aim for sets of 5-8 reps. Similarly when performing calisthenics start “light”. For example, if you can’t do a press up start on your knees, then after a few routines lift your feet off the floor, a few routines later see if you are strong enough to use your full body.
Do NOT neglect your lower body! It might be our pectorals, abs and arms; that we seek to boost in order to attract attention, but having matchsticks legs helps no one. Your legs are what you stand on and having a strong powerful set of legs is very useful for martial artists. It also adds valuable muscle bulk keeping down your body fat and stops you looking weird when you do decide to hit the beach in summer.
Happy training!
I’m glad to say I can pass on a little bit of what I learnt through my own endeavour to you and illustrate my logic and thoughts as to why you need to know this stuff.
In this blog exercise falls into two large categories that can be dissected further: cardio vascular and resistance. The first deals with exercise designed to burn fat, increase all round endurance and improve traditional ideas of fitness. Examples include running, cycling, rowing, alongside many sports. Resistance work includes weightlifting, calisthenics (bodyweight exercises) and weapon training.
Each type of exercise has its own benefits and place in the routines of martial artists and neither must be neglected. I spent years ignoring my CV work to my determent focussing on weights and routines designed for body sculpting not performance. It hindered my martial arts training and didn’t give me the results I wanted.
I knew that increased muscle mass burns more calories and therefore fat per hour. However I didn’t realise that cardio not only strips off fat much faster but it adds to muscle mass and definition too!
In short I broke the golden rule of ignoring my weaknesses and stayed secure working on what I was good at/enjoyed.
So what exactly should you be doing? Of course this is an individual answer and depends on what your needs are. If like me you try to train/teach martial arts 5 or 6 sometimes even 7 days a week fitting in other training can be tough and dangerously taxing.
I believe in doing a lot in short bursts, it gets faster results and is mimics the stresses of fighting with short bursts of intense activity. How many people claim to take up “jogging” and then bitch about a lack of success in losing weight?
If you amble around at a medium intensity like a Lycra clad bovine it is unlikely you’ll achieve much. If you hit the gym hard and with focus for 20-30mins and are breathing sweat out of your ears you’ll soon see results! On top of that it speeds up your metabolism and digestive system in processing food avoiding calories becoming fat and stops you over-working muscles so that they become catabolic (break down), injured and testosterone levels get used up rather than used to build muscle.
I tend to cross train and mix up routines. So typically I warm up with cardio, running and jumping on the spot before shadow boxing in 3 minute “rounds” pausing long enough to get my breath and sip some water.
I then mix sets of specific weight exercises, calisthenics and more cardio before finishing on a chin up bar with some pulls-ups, leg raises and then a “hang” to stretch my muscles and bones back out!
Here is a typical list of exercises that you should work on perfecting:
Whole Body (I include all cardio in this section)
• Clean and Press
• Kettlebell Swing
• Dead lift
• Hindu press ups
• Hindu Squats
Upper Body
• Pull-up
• Press up
• Bench Press
• Bent-over Row
• Military Press
Lower Body
• Squat
• Lunges
• Tuck Jumps
Core/Abs
• Janda sit-ups
• Leg raises
• Medicine Ball Twists
If you do not know what any or all of these exercises are then do a little bit of research. You will notice that by and large they are what are known as ‘compound’ exercises which work more than one joint at a time and very large muscle groups.
This adds bulk, tests the muscles you will use fighting not just sculpting trophy muscles and release much larger quantities of testosterone and other hormones into the body to promote better results. It also means that you target quicker long lasting gains rather than trying to perfect tricky and irrelevant exercises.
I would recommend 3 sessions a week as a rough guide and add more depending on results, tiredness and dedication. Anymore than that and you must be careful not to over-train and undo all of your hard work.
If you are a slight and want to gain lots of muscles I recommend the following work out with heavy weights – be warned it’s a killer and requires about 2 days rest afterwards!
Bulk up routine
After ten minutes of light cardio and stretching to get the blood flowing and body loose perform 5 sets of 5 repetitions of the following exercises. Be sure to keep pausing for 2 or 3 minutes between sets to allow the body time to cope with the demands.
• Clean and Press
• Bench Press
• Dead lift
• Bent-over Row
When learning these or any exercise run through them for a set or two with an empty bar to ensure your hand-eye coordination is correct and if the weight is too heavy STOP! Take a plate off and carry on. Do not exhaust yourself or hurt yourself so you can’t train for weeks!
I recommend using this particular routine once a week at most. Generally for martial artist I find that performing 3 sets of 15 reps per exercise the best way to go. It builds lean mass and tests muscles by enduring weight and motion much like fighting does.
If you are already “too bulky” go for lighter weight at 25 reps a set and if you really do need to pack on the beef up the weight and aim for sets of 5-8 reps. Similarly when performing calisthenics start “light”. For example, if you can’t do a press up start on your knees, then after a few routines lift your feet off the floor, a few routines later see if you are strong enough to use your full body.
Do NOT neglect your lower body! It might be our pectorals, abs and arms; that we seek to boost in order to attract attention, but having matchsticks legs helps no one. Your legs are what you stand on and having a strong powerful set of legs is very useful for martial artists. It also adds valuable muscle bulk keeping down your body fat and stops you looking weird when you do decide to hit the beach in summer.
Happy training!