How to Vary up Basic Strike Training

Recently, I have had a number of days where I have done 4000 basic strikes in one day. Nothing is magical about this number, but it is a lot higher than what I used to do by myself on any one day.

While one could scale the total number in accords with one's time and objectives, I just thought I'd share how I went about it, because it can be difficult to do a lot of strikes without ways of varying things up and keeping things interesting. Obviously there are many ways one could schedule one's strike training, but this is just a fun way I have been doing it recently.

On a 4000 strike day, I will start by picking a single attacking method I want to train; for example, extending. Of the 4000 strikes, the first 2000 are single action and the second 2000 are combinations derived from the most basic 3 strikes of that attacking method.

For the first 2000, I will break them into ten sets of 100 strikes per side. I will give each of the basic three strikes for that attacking method two of these sets, hence single-action basics for the basic 3 is 1200 strikes. For the last 4 sets, I will select different strikes from that attacking method that I am interested in training.

Throughout the first 2000 strikes, I will also try to vary up stepping methods from set to set in accords with what I think is the most helpful for development and the most interesting; the goal being to have practiced a number of different stepping methods upon completion of the first 2000.

For the second 2000 strikes, I do combinations made of just the basic 3 strikes for that attack method. Each of these combinations is 3 movements long and makes use of each of the basic 3 strikes. The first set of combinations are as follows; strike 1, strike 2, strike 3 (for example, level extending, followed by inside extending, followed by dropping extending); strike 1, strike 3, strike 2; 2,1,3; 2,3,1; 3,1,2; and 3,2,1. This makes a total of six basic combinations where one does all 3 movements on the one arm before switching sides. I do 14 repetitions of each of these combinations per arm; hence, 3 strikes per combination, 14 times per arm with 6 total combinations--504 strikes.

The next six combinations are simply strikes 1 and 2 on the first arm and then strike 3 on the other arm. One still does every variation (i.e.: 1,2,3; 1,3,2; 2,1,3; 2,3,1; 3,1,2; 3,2,1) but just switches to the final strike of each combination on the other arm.

The next six after that all start with one doing the first strike on the lead arm and the other two on the second arm.

The final six combinations switch arms for every strike. At this point, one has completed all 4000 strikes.

The advantage about doing combinations this way is that it makes one train the combinations rather comprehensively, forces one to string the combinations together in an intelligent manner (there is also not necessarily only one way to go about this with each of the combinations...also, curiously, as finishing a combination on one side still requires one to link it fluidly together with the next side, this means that the first 18 combinations all really require some form of stringing 3 consecutive strikes together on just one arm!) and offers some interesting insights; for example, the first set of six combinations is very dominant; the second set is also fairly dominant, but ends with the other hand, which could be done (really in training or usage) with or without a switch of the legs (without meaning the final striking arm would remain the back arm and the foot already forward would make a small step for power; with would mean a full advance step with the other leg, making the once back arm now the leading arm). The 3rd six seem to suggest that the first strike's position is not ideal/sufficient, and a change of footwork is done to better strike with the following two strikes. The 4th six suggests constant advance.

Obviously, one could vary up these 4000 in different ways. For example, in terms of content, one could add a non-basic strike into some of the combinations, or do more repetitions of fewer combinations; or drill a set of the second type of combinations where one does advance step to strike with the final strike, and a set where one does not; one could do 1000 (5 sets) of just one strike at the beginning, thinking about and stressing different things with each set (this is a way of training that Matt showed me once and I found it, and still find it, very very helpful). One could even work combinations from forms in or the forms themselves.

One of the things I like to do is mix strength training in between sets. For example, pushups after every 400 strikes in the first 2000 and then a set of some kettlebell exercise after every 2 or 4 combinations of the 24 combinations at the end. One could even add in strengthening postures instead.

Again, these are all just ideas of ways to organise one's basic strike training to keep it interesting & productive. If you have any suggestions or feedback of your own, do let me know.

- Eric

When Cold......

So, it is that time of year again and the temperature is dropping. If you are like me and have no way of training indoors, you have no choice but to brave the cold. This blog is just some suggestions in dealing with the cold.  First, a great way to warm up is by turning before you practice. After the first 5 or 10 minutes of turning, unless you have horrible circulation you should feel pretty comfortable no matter what temperature it is outside, especially after turning for 30 minutes or more. The only problem with this is, if you are like me and sweat a bunch, when you stop turning the cold will get to you fast if you don't get rid of the sweat. A good way to do this is to wear layers. Have a warm jacket that you do not plan on training in that you may wear going to where ever you are training. Under the jacket depending on how cold it is outside and your level of manlyness wear a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, or sweater. What I do is once I am warmed up either by standing strengthening or turning, after the exercise I take the bottom layer off and wipe all the sweat off, then uses the jacket as a way to stay warm while my muscles recover. It is important however to not sweat too much in the jacket, especially later on when winter comes, because if you are wet it is a lot harder for your body to stay warm, and wearing wet clothes in below freezing temperature can cause hypothermia. If YSB, all but turning, was like running and you didn't have to take breaks due to technique fatigue, then the sweat would not really matter, and it would be easy to be comfortably warm the whole time. More importantly though, you just have to man up, because even if you wear layers etc the cold will eventually get to you, especially during strikes because you are swinging your hands in the cold air.  YSB is a fighting art; if you cannot endure pain you cannot be good at fighting or developing martial skill, so just focus on training and not the cold. I'm not a doctor*, but I'm 99% sure unless your teeth are chattering and you have the shivers, you are no wear near cold enough to be having hypothermia.  On another note though, when it gets colder and windy, make sure to keep your knees and ankles covered. Unless you have god-like circulation in your knees, they will be affected by the cold. This is also another reason to warm up, because you can cause injury if you just start cold, and by cold I don't mean you have not done any exercise yet, I am talking about temperature. All I really have to say about training in the cold, it is pretty much just about managing sweat and will.

 

-George

 

PS

There are many excuses people have to not train, don't let the cold be one of them.

No pain, No gain

This is a very cliché phrase used over and over again by personal trainers, drill sergeants, and anyone else who is all about getting stronger. When training YSB though, you cannot just throw around this phrase around. When holding strengthening postures this is especially true, because as we all know, that pain is completely in your control. There are no weights or reps, just your own will and time.  I am relatively new to YSB, first introduced to it in September of 2009. From a beginners perspective, the better you get at doing strengthening postures, the more it will hurt. If you practice strengthening postures regularly and are not feeling any sort of strength gains in your muscles and tendons then you probably are not putting in all the isometric tension as you could be. It is probably one of the easiest exercises to slack off on. What I have found helps prevent any weak mindedness during strengthening postures, is to really take the time to prepare your mind for the exercise just before you start to raise your arms and sink down into the posture.  Taking one or two breaths to clear your mind before you start can make a big difference in the amount of focus you put into an exercise.  Think of your mind as a chalkboard. If you are trying to solve an elaborate math problem on a chalkboard that has all sorts of half erased drawings and other math problems, that clutter can distract the mind from focusing on the task at hand. By clearing your mind you can better focus on performing a strengthening posture with all you have and also have extra space for any pain that may be overwhelming. If none of that helps deal with the pain, just tell yourself that the more pain you feel now the more pain your opponent will feel at the end of your strikes later.

 

-George

Training Strengthening Postures for Yin Style Saber

Due to saber length and the variety of exercises, Yin Style saber requires and bestows an unusual sort of strength. While this strength can be trained and developed in many different ways, one of the methods I have been working on recently is holding standing postures with the saber. I have gone about this in a number of ways, but presently, my favorite method is as follows:

Picking the right postures: while practicing a relatively easy posture won't hurt, it will take away time that could be used to practice a harder or more awkward posture that would provide greater development. As such, more difficult postures should be selected. At present, my favorite two to hold are the lion turning posture and the bear turning posture (with the legs in horse stance for both). The lion posture offers development that corresponds very nicely to many opening strikes Yin Style Bagua employs. Holding it for a long period makes one sore in the core as well as the shoulder and it works the bottom of the wrist. The bear posture, by contrast, requires a very awkward use of the arm, affecting the top of the wrist, but especially burning out muscles in the forearm.

The training method:
Pick a posture and start to hold it with your weaker hand. Time yourself and hold the posture for as long as you can without compromising form (if you start to burn out and can no longer maintain the proper position of the shoulder, the full extension of the arm or the angle of the saber, stop). When you can no longer hold it, put it down, give yourself a 15 to 25 second break (preferably also timed) and then hold the posture again with the same arm and try to get at least half (though preferably more than) the original time. When finished, time another break and then again hold the same posture on the same side for at least half of the length of the last attempt. Generally, three holds with this method and minimal breaks will fry the arm and one can then switch to target the other arm. For example, I held lion yesterday first for 2 minutes and 20 seconds, then a minute ten, and finally about 40 seconds for the last hold. I did this with both hands and with 15-25 second breaks in between.

Why 15-25 second breaks?
My reasoning here is pretty simple:
As each hold ends with failure, one cannot immediately start the next hold and expect to perform; one would just fail in a handful of seconds. Alternatively, if one takes too long of a break between holds or switches hands every time, one can just keep spitting out extra reps, not only wasting a lot more time, but also getting less of a result. If you doubt this logic or are just curious to play around with your own rest times, try it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

Alternative postures: while any posture from the form could be done in this way, the most interesting/beneficial would be those that taxed either the wrist, arm, core and/or legs. For example, one could hold a secret march or hold the stab behind the back.

If anyone finds any other holding methods or postures they find particularly valuable for development, please tell me about them.

- Eric

Load-bearing as a Supplement for YSB Part 2

In this second post regarding load-bearing, I'd like to talk about some of my experiences with "humping" with loads, i.e.: bearing weight and carrying it for moderate distances. This type of exercise is totally separate to Bagua, but I have found it to be an excellent supplemental activity.

The basics:
Most of my inspiration for and information regarding this practice has come from the US Navy SEAL Physical Fitness Guide (for anyone who has itunes, the guide can be purchased for 1 US dollar; certainly the best 99-cent buy I've ever encountered). The Guide's basic recommendations for load-bearing practice are these: Start with a load of 20% of one's total bodyweight; ideally carry it at least once a week (once every two weeks is okay for maintenance, and 2 times per week is ok for those who have the time). If carrying once a week, carry it 5 miles and do this for 2 weeks before attempting to carry 25% body weight. Continue on like this until 40% bodyweight is reached (the maximum weight for efficient load-bearing). Hold the 40% level for 4 weeks and instead of increasing weight, start to increase distance, e.g.: 8 miles, 12 miles etc. This does not mean that one cannot exceed the 40% limit, merely that one should not do so with one's Main load-bearing practice, as it will decrease the overall efficiency of the load-bearing performance.

What I have been doing so far:
I am 200 pounds and 40 pounds seemed a bit light to me, so I started this practice with a 25% load (50 pounds). Going 5 miles with this load the first time was utterly exhausting, but 2 days later I did another 50 pound load for 7 miles, and the next week I switched to 60 pounds, going 5 miles and then again 2 days later going 7 miles. Again, I bore the 60 pounds for only a week until jumping to 70. 70 was killer (and resulted in a slight decrease in over all speed), and I spent about 2.5 weeks working with 70, including spending 3 hours load-bearing on a mountain as the finale for 70 pounds. I have now
switched to 80 pounds (40% of my body-weight) and I originally noticed a serious reduction to my overall speed of movement the first several attempts. This last time my speed was largely improved, suggesting my body is starting to somewhat adapt. I intend to hold this level of intensity for the recommended 4 weeks, and looking back on the difficulties suffered during my first session and also my first session with 70 pounds, I have concluded that it would have been prudent to have strictly followed the Guide's recommendations from the get-go.

Why I like load-bearing:
Load-bearing is simple. You bear a fixed weight, you travel a fixed distance and at a certain speed. Hence, while this form of exercise is very intense, it is hard to cheat yourself as there are only 3 variables: weight, distance and speed. Furthermore, as the distance is fixed, the slower you are, the longer you have to bear the weight; so there is every motivation to move as fast as possible (even engaging in short small-stepped runs when energy permits) so as to complete the distance and finish the exercise. Taking off the load before one has finished is also a non-option as the body rushes into recovery mode, and having to put the weight back on is far more painful than having left it on in the first place.
For heavy individuals, load-bearing is an excellent means of shedding unproductive bodyweight (it burns a lot of calories); for weaker individuals it's a great way to build strength, endurance and mental fortitude. Load-bearing at moderate or even heavy weights (50% or more than total body weight) is an excellent exercise for strengthening the shoulders and the back; the legs also derive benefit, though they require a bit more attention. Depending on how one bears the weight, the arms & hands can also get involved.

Developing the legs:
YSB requires that the legs be strong throughout a large range of motion (consider the low-stances, low turning, the variety of stepping and kicking methods, etc.). Regular load-bearing, while it will help strengthen the legs, will not necessarily develop in accords with a large range of motion. As this is the case, one will have to specifically find appropriate environments or exercises to target the legs. The SEAL Guide recommends that one should do load-bearing in a cross-country environment and I am guessing that leg-development is at least one possible consideration that led to such a recommendation. If one is walking up hills, especially steep ones, it forces the leg to go through a greater range of motion and offers a larger degree of development. If one does not have access to an ideal environment for leg-work, exercises can be created to generate similar results. As I generally load-bear within the city of Beijing, a very flat city, I have to work in exercises to burn out the legs. I have experimented with different kinds, but my favorite two exercises are these: 1. Finding a suitable ledge that I can stand one leg on with the leg bent and slightly above parallel with the ground, then driving off that leg so that the leg straightens and the other leg hangs in the air (or, alternatively, also comes to stand on the ledge). One just keeps doing this, driving up off the leg and then setting the other foot back down, switching sides when one leg has been exhausted. This works the quads and is somewhat similar to a one-legged squat. 2. Beijing has some bridges that have fairly steep, diagonal paths for rolling bikes. I will bend the legs to adopt a low stance and then slowly walk up one of these paths on the balls of my feet. After doing this a good number of times, I will then go one step at a time, holding the posture until it becomes too painful and then switch legs. When the calves get too tired to even hold the posture, I take very small steps constantly up until I come to the top of the bridge. I generally wait until I am at least 3/4s done with the course before attempting either of these exercises as they are both highly exhausting, and when the legs become heavily fatigued, one's speed or ability to shuffle-run becomes diminished. It is also important that one pays special attention to the knees when doing such exercises so as not to injure them. Both of these exercises are actually fairly kind to healthy knees, but I have thrown out a few other exercises that were not so.

-Eric

Stockholm Workshop 2010 - Day 5

Did a comprehensive review of kicking and the cutting strike combinations and their application. Combinations of phoenix system dodging strikes were trained with a focus on both arms working together. Technique set-up performed by the supporting hand was emphasized during application. It was a great workshop, thanks to the YSB Stockholm crew for training really hard over these 5 days!

-Matt

Stockholm Workshop 2010 - Day 4

Continued application training of cutting strike combinations. Focused on attention to detail during strike power training. It's the small things that make the difference between a technique working well or not at all. Began training dodging strikes from phoenix system to help develop shoulder power in striking. Hip kicks from the monkey system were also trained in partner drills.

-Matt