A simple workout
Sat, Nov 26 2011 02:42
| stamina, sport, health, fighters, strength, stretching, MMA, martial arts, power, cardio, weightlifting, exercise, Wing Tsun Kung fu, fitness, flexibility, martial arts Altrincham, sparring, conditioning
| Permalink
I've been already toying with my January ritual of getting back into shape and healthy. It seems another year older, another year wiser, another year of good intentions.
I'm the first to admit my willpower and discipline when it comes to diet, exercise and tipping myself that extra 5% or so into being more athletic. The demands of martial arts are sometimes a heavy burden - especially if you let them be. However as a teacher, as somone who practices more than just casually it is perhaps reaosnable that I should set by example.
With this in mind I've been reinventing the wheel so to speak. None of these exercises are particularly complicated, fancy or specific. They are however demanding, effective and designed to promote muscle growth, fat loss and improved performance.
The first concept relates to what. What should I work? The answer as always is as much as possible. Big muscles groups utilising as many joints as possible.
By dividing the body in half to upper and lower, and then in half again to front and back I am able to isolate large muscle groups to focus on each set and rotate them to avoid muscle fatigue and lactic acid build up.
The principle of alternating the upper body one set with the lower body the next, combined with alternating front of body exercies with the back of body exercises means you only have to choose four exercises and the order is dictated by the first one you choose.
The next answer is how much? My response depends on your own aims and preference on volume. For me the German system of 10x10 sets x reps and my preference of using light/body weight is ideal. This can be played with though if you want to bulk up; drop the numbers and increase the weight. If you want to up endurance and leaness up the numbers and drop the weight (ideally bodyweight only).
Here's a guidline to one 8 week rotation: I use a 12kg Kettlebell, a 40lb resistance cable and my own bodyweight.
Day 1:
Lower back: Clean and Press with KB swing (5 Left and 5 Right)
Upper Front: Press Ups
Lower Front: Sumo Squats (KB in upturned grip)
Upper Back: Lat Pull Downs
Day 2:
5 x 2min rounds of shadowboxing
30 seconds rest
Day 3:
Lower Back: Sprawl and tuck jump
Upper Front: Press Ups
Lower Front: Kettlebell Lunges (5 Left 5 Right)
Upper Back: Bent Over Rows
Day 4: Rest
Day 5:
Lower Back: One Arm Deadlift (5 Left 5 Right)
Upper Front: Crusher Bicep Curls (press the palms into the bell of the KB and curl)
Lower Front: Hindu Squats
Upper Back: Tricep Pull Downs
Day 6 & 7: Rest
Start each workout with a light cardio set to raise the pulse - finish with an all over set of stretching.
If an exercise is too difficult, painful STOP! If you can't finish your sets without puking/wanting to puke/decent form STOP! Don't do long term harm learn what your body can do and respond to it.
Let me know what you think. Where improvements can be made. What you'd change.
Happy training!
I'm the first to admit my willpower and discipline when it comes to diet, exercise and tipping myself that extra 5% or so into being more athletic. The demands of martial arts are sometimes a heavy burden - especially if you let them be. However as a teacher, as somone who practices more than just casually it is perhaps reaosnable that I should set by example.
With this in mind I've been reinventing the wheel so to speak. None of these exercises are particularly complicated, fancy or specific. They are however demanding, effective and designed to promote muscle growth, fat loss and improved performance.
The first concept relates to what. What should I work? The answer as always is as much as possible. Big muscles groups utilising as many joints as possible.
By dividing the body in half to upper and lower, and then in half again to front and back I am able to isolate large muscle groups to focus on each set and rotate them to avoid muscle fatigue and lactic acid build up.
The principle of alternating the upper body one set with the lower body the next, combined with alternating front of body exercies with the back of body exercises means you only have to choose four exercises and the order is dictated by the first one you choose.
The next answer is how much? My response depends on your own aims and preference on volume. For me the German system of 10x10 sets x reps and my preference of using light/body weight is ideal. This can be played with though if you want to bulk up; drop the numbers and increase the weight. If you want to up endurance and leaness up the numbers and drop the weight (ideally bodyweight only).
Here's a guidline to one 8 week rotation: I use a 12kg Kettlebell, a 40lb resistance cable and my own bodyweight.
Day 1:
Lower back: Clean and Press with KB swing (5 Left and 5 Right)
Upper Front: Press Ups
Lower Front: Sumo Squats (KB in upturned grip)
Upper Back: Lat Pull Downs
Day 2:
5 x 2min rounds of shadowboxing
30 seconds rest
Day 3:
Lower Back: Sprawl and tuck jump
Upper Front: Press Ups
Lower Front: Kettlebell Lunges (5 Left 5 Right)
Upper Back: Bent Over Rows
Day 4: Rest
Day 5:
Lower Back: One Arm Deadlift (5 Left 5 Right)
Upper Front: Crusher Bicep Curls (press the palms into the bell of the KB and curl)
Lower Front: Hindu Squats
Upper Back: Tricep Pull Downs
Day 6 & 7: Rest
Start each workout with a light cardio set to raise the pulse - finish with an all over set of stretching.
If an exercise is too difficult, painful STOP! If you can't finish your sets without puking/wanting to puke/decent form STOP! Don't do long term harm learn what your body can do and respond to it.
Let me know what you think. Where improvements can be made. What you'd change.
Happy training!
The Holy Trinity
Tue, Aug 30 2011 10:30
| stamina, training, exercise, strength, martial arts Altrincham, flexibility, fitness, stretching, conditioning
| Permalink
There are three main exercises I highly recommend anyone who does martial arts to explore. The first one is the Hindu press up. As the name suggests it's of Indian origin and used by wrestlers for centuries to build upper body strength, co-ordination and flexibility.
Done correctly these press-ups help develop and condition the upper body with stunning effectiveness. By helping the joints and muscles stretch gradually you can develop greater mobility in the shoulders which is ideal for Wing Tsun and other arts. Similarly the use of the core and lower back throughout the movement builds core strength as well as stamina.
Here's a great example of Steve Maxwell performing Hindu press-ups expertly. As you can see the movements employ a large range of motion and all of the major muscle groups making it holistic as well as functional.
The next movement I want to talk about is the Hindu squat. From the same roots as the press up these squats are designed to must the same but for the lower body. A deep movement that employs the quads and recruits the knee and ankle joints it offers you a way develop your muscles and learn how to balance effectively.
As you can see from another example by Steve Maxwell this movement requires some practise. Unlike the press-up you are balancing on two points instead of four and to add to the challenge you are raising your heels at the bottom of the movement!
I would advise caution when first trying to learn this movement. Too much too soon can place unwanted strain on your joints and lead to injury. Go slowly and build up the reps as you feel comfortable - there's no rush.
The last movement I'd like to look at is the Cross Arm sit up. By folding your arms across your chest you add weight and resistance to the movement and by holding onto the shoulders you can cheat with momentum like many fancy core exercises you may come across. This means your muscles do all the work and you build up general and impressive abdominal strength.
What I like about this version is it's simplicity. Also if at first you find it difficult you can make it easier by holding the arms straight out in front of you. If that become too difficult you can place them on your thighs and slide them up and down. Eventually when you build up the strength you can go back to holding your arms on your chest.
You'll notice these three exercises cover all the main areas of the body. They are also compound movements (well the press-ups and squats are) which recruit all the major muscle groups and supporting muscles at once. This means you can exercises efficiently and effectively. Combining all three in a work out is an excellent way to get into shape!
There are all kinds of combinations you can use 3 sets of 25 reps of each exercises is a fantastic workout to get started with. If that proves too much lower the reps to 10 or 15.
Likewise if you want to build up muscle mass and stamina a 10 x 10 workout is a killer! Try it some time and see what you think. However I would caution you to make sure you learn the movements first. Ensure you are strong enough to perform each movement with perfect form and avoid injury.
The best thing about these exercises is that they can be done anywhere with space at any time and as much or as little as you see fit. There are tales of athletes performing rep after rep for hours on end. I dropped in 100 squats to my workout yesterday with relative ease and it felt great! So give them a go, see what you think and let me know how you get on!
Happy training!
Review: Dynamic Stretching – Mark Kovacs
Sat, Jan 15 2011 11:11
| martial arts, training, exercise, martial arts Altrincham, fitness, stretching
| Permalink
I'm not going to lie I HATE stretching, passionately. It always feels like a preamble designed to kill time and give instructors time to think up what they are actually going to do in a session. This misthinking has haunted me for years and the injuries and plasticine muscles I've accrued are testament to how much we all could do with a good stretch.
I've never liked static stretches (stop and hold for 30 seconds) they're boring and seem to do little. This book agrees with me in a far more informed and scientific way – they have their place but they neither prevent or more pertinently cause injury in most cases. A better way of moving is needed and this book aims to offer it. A large array of exercises in varying degrees of 'odd' fill this book, before being combined into many (overlapping) sports specific routines that can be built up into whole training sessions. There are probably 3 or 4 routines completely relevant to the martial artist the wrestling and gymnastics ones being the essential two in my opinion.
One criticism some people level at this book is the focus on the bottom half of the body. This makes little sense to me as the knees and ankles are the most injured joints I come across in people and the hips as well makes up the holy trinity of load bearing joints in the body. It seems reasonable they need the most protection as they take the most punishment and stress in sport, especially martial arts.
In all honesty you might feel a bit silly at first when you try some of these out, particularly in the gym but I say – don't worry. After one week of using the ideas and programs in this book I felt almost instant improvements to my flexibility and more importantly recovery times. I was actually training harder and easier than before. No bull, no buy in, I have no idea who Mark Kovacs is but he's assembled a nice little arsenal here for anyone to benefit from.
The archaic and unhelpful version of stretching most of us have acquired or adapted simply doesn't cut it and here I think I've found one of the few books to blow it out of the water. The science here isn't baffling nor is it a completely different way of doing things. For anyone who's done yoga many of these movements will feel familiar and for those willing to give them a shot the rewards are great.
So what is dynamic stretching? For me the critical difference is moving in a clearly defined way that recruits specific muscles and joints in a gentle and incremental stretch. Moving as you do each stretch rather than holding or forcing your body into positions it supports the natural range of each muscle and helps you push it on further at your own pace and need. Some of it might seem like it's taken from the Ministry of Silly Walks but in all honesty – do you really care if it works? I certainly don't and am convinced it does!
I've never liked static stretches (stop and hold for 30 seconds) they're boring and seem to do little. This book agrees with me in a far more informed and scientific way – they have their place but they neither prevent or more pertinently cause injury in most cases. A better way of moving is needed and this book aims to offer it. A large array of exercises in varying degrees of 'odd' fill this book, before being combined into many (overlapping) sports specific routines that can be built up into whole training sessions. There are probably 3 or 4 routines completely relevant to the martial artist the wrestling and gymnastics ones being the essential two in my opinion.
One criticism some people level at this book is the focus on the bottom half of the body. This makes little sense to me as the knees and ankles are the most injured joints I come across in people and the hips as well makes up the holy trinity of load bearing joints in the body. It seems reasonable they need the most protection as they take the most punishment and stress in sport, especially martial arts.
In all honesty you might feel a bit silly at first when you try some of these out, particularly in the gym but I say – don't worry. After one week of using the ideas and programs in this book I felt almost instant improvements to my flexibility and more importantly recovery times. I was actually training harder and easier than before. No bull, no buy in, I have no idea who Mark Kovacs is but he's assembled a nice little arsenal here for anyone to benefit from.
The archaic and unhelpful version of stretching most of us have acquired or adapted simply doesn't cut it and here I think I've found one of the few books to blow it out of the water. The science here isn't baffling nor is it a completely different way of doing things. For anyone who's done yoga many of these movements will feel familiar and for those willing to give them a shot the rewards are great.
So what is dynamic stretching? For me the critical difference is moving in a clearly defined way that recruits specific muscles and joints in a gentle and incremental stretch. Moving as you do each stretch rather than holding or forcing your body into positions it supports the natural range of each muscle and helps you push it on further at your own pace and need. Some of it might seem like it's taken from the Ministry of Silly Walks but in all honesty – do you really care if it works? I certainly don't and am convinced it does!
Happy stretching!
Should it hurt like that?
Sun, Oct 10 2010 12:46
| injuries, martial arts, cardio, boxing, form, Wing Tsun Kung fu, martial arts Altrincham, stretching, kickboxing
| Permalink
I was going to start this blog by saying that nothing you do in martial arts should hurt -but that's patently rubbish. It's not even true to say that nothing you do in martial arts should hurt you. Stretching being a pertinent case in point personally speaking. Hard clay-like muscles and tendons aside I was not graced with qualities such as stopping because something hurts a bit. I've finished sessions covered in blood, sweat and snot and usually most of it isn't someone else's.
When I first started to train really hard I went through a phase of presuming if it didn't leave me broken in some way I was wussing out or doing it wrong. Perhaps not the sensible or smart way to approach things. I'll happily admit that deep down as much as I relish getting hit I don't relish getting hit directly in the face when I could have prevented it. There's a fuzzy distinction to be drawn. Similarly I don't mind the aches and the pains of training; DOMS from hitting weights, or stiff burnt out calves from cardio, the scabs from split lips or busted knuckles are all things I can live with. Where it starts to become a problem is when you pull (or even worse) tear that muscle you didn't need to. Injuries are something I've made quite a habit of and to be honest I wish I'd taken other people's advice more. There's nothing worse than missing training because you've been an idiot. It does you no good and to be honest no one gives a crap that you're bandaged up because you did something preventable.
Stretching is commonplace for most kicking arts and boxers, wrestlers any athlete really but in Wing Tsun it seems deemed as contemptible and “unnecessary” by many practitioners. I generalise of course but out of all the teachers I've come into contact few pay more than lip service to it. I understand their position. We place very little impact and strain on our joints compared to most arts. The problem is that the stress is rather more gradual and often it is forgotten by us teaching.
When our students first learn IRAS stance and practice form, hand-shapes and even stepping we often seem to be confused if not dismissive of their “should my knees hurt?” type questions. I'd say at least 75% ask and the other 25% suffer in silence out of embarrassment or the misplaced assumptions I had early on. Often when we see things for the first time we put our all into them. This often means we exert extra and unnecessary muscular force into things like punching and our stance. This muscular tension can be rather dangerous particularly when one is still trying to learn correct technique. Forcing your muscles into any position is going to be a wing and prayer type scenario if you are stubborn enough to forgo comfort in search of excellence.
IRAS is particularly dangerous the odd and new angles asked our knees and ankles can often lead to people “limboing” as they push their knees down and forward over their toes into an uncomfortable and dangerous position. The basic rule if there is pain whether immediate or accrued over time is to stop and say “what's going on?”. Perform the move as you normally would and look in the mirror see if there are any obvious defects with your alignment. Ask yourself how “tight” do the muscles and joints feel. People forget or do not know just how “soft” WT is and therefore exertion is not always needed. When learning especially good technique done “softly” is often much better. It is easy to build up power or speed in your movements. It is hard to undo them to replace technique afterwards I find.
Most importantly of all -ask. Pull your teacher to one side or find a senior student and get them to check out anything that is causing particular concern or discomfort. The answer is usually quite simple and the smallest tweak or adjustment can work wonders. I've had people email me and calling it a day saying that WT is wrecking their bodies. A fair comment if you add in the caveat that their interpretation of WT is wrecking their body at the moment. We can't blame the art it's intangible – we can look at ourselves in that mirror literally and figuratively before pointing fingers. Preferably non arthritic fingers at that.
When I first started to train really hard I went through a phase of presuming if it didn't leave me broken in some way I was wussing out or doing it wrong. Perhaps not the sensible or smart way to approach things. I'll happily admit that deep down as much as I relish getting hit I don't relish getting hit directly in the face when I could have prevented it. There's a fuzzy distinction to be drawn. Similarly I don't mind the aches and the pains of training; DOMS from hitting weights, or stiff burnt out calves from cardio, the scabs from split lips or busted knuckles are all things I can live with. Where it starts to become a problem is when you pull (or even worse) tear that muscle you didn't need to. Injuries are something I've made quite a habit of and to be honest I wish I'd taken other people's advice more. There's nothing worse than missing training because you've been an idiot. It does you no good and to be honest no one gives a crap that you're bandaged up because you did something preventable.
Stretching is commonplace for most kicking arts and boxers, wrestlers any athlete really but in Wing Tsun it seems deemed as contemptible and “unnecessary” by many practitioners. I generalise of course but out of all the teachers I've come into contact few pay more than lip service to it. I understand their position. We place very little impact and strain on our joints compared to most arts. The problem is that the stress is rather more gradual and often it is forgotten by us teaching.
When our students first learn IRAS stance and practice form, hand-shapes and even stepping we often seem to be confused if not dismissive of their “should my knees hurt?” type questions. I'd say at least 75% ask and the other 25% suffer in silence out of embarrassment or the misplaced assumptions I had early on. Often when we see things for the first time we put our all into them. This often means we exert extra and unnecessary muscular force into things like punching and our stance. This muscular tension can be rather dangerous particularly when one is still trying to learn correct technique. Forcing your muscles into any position is going to be a wing and prayer type scenario if you are stubborn enough to forgo comfort in search of excellence.
IRAS is particularly dangerous the odd and new angles asked our knees and ankles can often lead to people “limboing” as they push their knees down and forward over their toes into an uncomfortable and dangerous position. The basic rule if there is pain whether immediate or accrued over time is to stop and say “what's going on?”. Perform the move as you normally would and look in the mirror see if there are any obvious defects with your alignment. Ask yourself how “tight” do the muscles and joints feel. People forget or do not know just how “soft” WT is and therefore exertion is not always needed. When learning especially good technique done “softly” is often much better. It is easy to build up power or speed in your movements. It is hard to undo them to replace technique afterwards I find.
Most importantly of all -ask. Pull your teacher to one side or find a senior student and get them to check out anything that is causing particular concern or discomfort. The answer is usually quite simple and the smallest tweak or adjustment can work wonders. I've had people email me and calling it a day saying that WT is wrecking their bodies. A fair comment if you add in the caveat that their interpretation of WT is wrecking their body at the moment. We can't blame the art it's intangible – we can look at ourselves in that mirror literally and figuratively before pointing fingers. Preferably non arthritic fingers at that.