Supplemental Kettlebell Training for YSB

A number of us training YSB in Beijing have added a bit of kettlebell training into our weekly routines. A special thanks must go to Johan for getting us started on kettlebells and also to Pavel Tsatsouline who really seems to be one of the best instructors out there; his technique looks clean and his explanations are well-thought (if you are looking for instructional information, check out Pavel's "Enter the Kettlebell").

The advantages of kettlebell training:
Kettlebells are appealing because they are highly transportable (they're like a mobile gym), give a great result (they are good for cardio and strength), they are fun (you can swing them over your head and throw them!) and they employ a large degree of coordinated full-body strength (which is similar to what YSB requires).

What weight is appropriate:
Kettlebell training originated in Russia so bells are generally measured in kilos (one kilo is roughly 2.2 pounds) so I will stick to that system here. Pavel suggests that men of average strength start out with a 16kilo bell, strong men with a 24 kilo and powerlifters only with a 32 kilo bell. This, of course, is not set in stone; in Beijing we started working with 2 20 kilo bells (which is plenty hard and it took a bit of time for me to get accustomed). It should also be noted that kettlebell training requires a lot of overhead strength, a factor to consider when choosing the weight of one's first bell. Also, two bell exercises are much harder to do with heavier bells than one bell exercises, so it depends on which exercises you prefer.

As you get stronger, you can increase the weight as needed; I mostly work with 24 & 32 kilo bells now for my single-handed training. Of course, if you mainly do double-handed exercises, you may have to work up the weight a bit slower.

Pavel's focus on press & pull: Pavel believes the two most important types of kettlebell exercises are presses and pulls. These can be broken into military presses & get ups (a static press) and swings & snatches (throws behind the back would also technically be a type of pull). Of the four exercises, the press is the least full-body (unless one cleans before reps), though it still gives great results. While the snatch is harder on the skin than the swing, it also seems to be the superior exercise of the two (one can almost always swing more than one can snatch). [Also note that snatches and cleans are done differently with kettlebells than standard weights. The snatch motion for kettlebells begins with more of a swing, which make the motion harder on the arm. The difference in the clean motion is even more significant, where one effectively spins the bell around one's arm; if one cleans the bell as one would a regular weight, the kettlebell will bash the forearm, defeating the point of the exercise).

If presses & pulls are the main exercises trained, one cannot go wrong; however, it should be noted that none of these (save perhaps the get up) does much to train the legs (though there is a lot of hip action with the pulls). Also, unless someone is trying something super rough such as a one-legged squat with a bell extended overhead, most exercises for the legs would be greatly assisted by a second bell.

Other exercises: There are a variety of other exercises that can be done from renegade rows (with a push up between each row, making the exercise much harder), to different types of squats, to thrusters (a squat with both hands pressing a bell overhead at the end) and so on. There are also a number of small movement exercises that can be done.

Circuits v. sets v. a singular set:
With kettlebells, there are also a variety of training methods that can be employed. Circuits are where one does a number of different exercises, non-stop, until the circuit is complete; one then does multiple circuits in this fashion. A circuit could have 3 - 8 different types of exercises and the number of exercises per circuit really depends on the number of reps one plans on doing per exercise (as well as the exercises themselves, their difficulty and the cumulative effects they produce on the body).

Sets are just when one does an amount of reps of one exercise, rests, and then repeats, perhaps doing 5-7 total sets. It is worth noting that kettlebell training generally requires many more reps per set than regular weight training. It simply takes more to wear things out because of the full-body motion and momentum generated by the bell.

A singular set is simply where one does a single set of a certain exercise and measures that set by time; for example, 10 minutes of snatching 24 kilos, trying to get as many reps as possible (upper 200's is preferable for that time...try one of these as your last exercise to cap off a strenuous workout; it'll kill you!).

Where to buy your kettlebell:
Buy American, not just because you are a wise patriot, but because the Chinese bells will literally rip the skin off your hands. I bought a Wisconsin-made bell from Lifeline USA and it blows every other bell I have seen out of the water. If you are buying a bell in Europe and don't want to go through the hassle/expense of importing an American bell, hopefully you can find a solid German, British or local manufacturor that makes high-quality kettlebells; but do your research, because a nice bell is simply a greater pleasure to train with. Lifeline's bells have a superior handle design & texture and have not once tore up my hands, even with snatch reps reaching 1000.

If you already have a Chinese-made kettlebell and are intent on making use of it, apart from avoiding excellent exercises that rub against the skin (e.g.: snatches), one could try to sand down the handle to see if that helps; but generally, desperate methods are probably not as welcome as paying a few extra bucks for a quality bell (when is the last time you needed to sand down a misshappen maglite or the door handle of your Ford?). You can also wear weightlifting gloves, but that will only slightly alleviate the stress a Chinese bell puts on the skin, perhaps enabling you to do an extra 20%.

Selecting Effective Developmental Methods

While one could train purely for training's sake, this is not nearly as rewarding as training and getting back something to show for it, in other words, improving and gaining development, rather than simply going through the motions.

In my own personal experience, I've found the best exercises for improvement and development are those that meet these two criteria:

1. The exercise is effective at giving obvious (and preferably measurable) results
2. The exercise can be performed (and one is willing to perform it) with great consistency

There are many exercises one can pick, but the results an exercise provides must be obvious, and not just to the practitioner, but to others as well (even if others are not sure how the practitioner achieved those results). Also, as time is limited, one should always be seeking to maximize the results of one's training, whether by increasing speed, weight, difficulty, number of repetitions, accuracy of technique, realism of execution and so on.

It is worth noting that, particularly with Yin Style Baguazhang, many of us are practicing the same things and yet we see people with many different degrees of results. Those whose results we admire have not simply gotten to where they are through time, dedication, research and instruction (although all of that is important), they are also training the same things Differently. Whether that means they are doing more of something or just doing it with a clearer understanding, or with better coordination, or with a better usage of strength or whatever, it becomes our task to then figure out the differences and to make our own training more effective accordingly.

Consistency is another important point, for even the very best exercise will yield meager results if one cannot, does not or is not willing to do it consistently. The consistency of training is important, but so is the consistency of measurement. The more consistently one can objectively measure one's training & results, the better one can modify one's training to make further gains.

There are advantages to training tried & true methods of gaining development (lots of time, energy and research were put into such methods and they've yielded results consistently for many people); but one's routine and some of the exercises that comprise it can be unique, just so long as one abides consistently by the principles of development. It should also be noted that, ultimately, what matters most is what gives YOU the results you need. That may mean that He Jinbao's or Governor Schwarzenegger's favorite exercise is the one for you; but if you are not seeing obvious results from it, or if you're not performing it with the same consistency, there is nothing wrong with switching things up (be it the exercise itself, how one trains/thinks about the exercise or simply performing additional exercises to help remedy deficiencies). Also, it is worth noting that one does not always know exactly what another is practicing (or has practiced); perhaps someone is doing one exercise that gives a good result, but consistently doing another exercise that complements it to make the results even greater.

Yin Style Baguazhang is a highly sophisticated art with a massive number of training methods & developmental exercises; this makes our individual tasks particularly difficult as we navigate a vast labyrinth of material, but this is also what makes the art so exciting. While a life-long pursuit of Yin Style and excellence herself may well be an odyssey, it is a journey worth taking every step of the way.

Venture boldly, assess the results and strive for consistency in training, measurement & reason.

Happy New Year.
May it be your best yet.

- Eric C.

Training in Hazardous Environments

Very few of the readers in Europe or America can probably fathom just how bad the environment is in certain parts of the world and how it affects the body; this is not owing to any lack of imagination on their part, but rather, environmental conditions are generally so much better in their own countries that they simply have no point of reference for how bad certain environments, such as Beijing, can be.
Whether anything in this post will be practicable to most readers remains to be seen, but I thought I'd at least provide some uncommon perspective.

China is, by far, the most polluted country in the world; this is not just in terms of non-lethal substances such as CO2, but also many substances that are extremely hazardous to animal & human life.

Dealing with the water: One should never drink tap water; tap water may either have micro-organisms that cause sickness or heavy metals; many reports come out of China that polluted water is the most devastating form of pollution, causing swelling of kidneys and millions of deaths a year. Tap water also, due to the metallic content, ruins the taste of whatever drink it is in. Luckily, it is the easiest pollutant to avoid, assuming one is careful to always buy bottled water. This is a must, because one can obviously not train at one's peak while suffering from illness or organ failure.

Dealing with the air: In terms of air pollution levels, Beijing is somewhere in the middle; basically scoring average for Chinese air pollution levels--a bad score. While it has been estimated that the water kills 5 times the number as the air, death caused by air pollution is still measured by the unit of million each year. The standard pollutants are chemical, coming from all sorts of power plants and industrial plants that have a mandate to function with total disregard to the environment. Of course, other things occasionally pollute the air, such as styrofoam, the sand of sandstorms, sewer water (due to terrible sewer construction), chemicals & dust used in ubiquitous construction projects, and I even remember one time where a neighboring area decided it'd be more efficient to burn down a crop than tear it up, flooding the entire city with ground-level wind-swept smoke (they also burn trash, tires and so on). Worst still, polluted air is much harder to avoid than polluted water.
It is easy, especially when one is in such an environment for months or years on end, to feel the effects this has on the lungs; having to train intensely and breathe deep merely exacerbates the condition. We are all still learning to deal with this situation, partly we avoid outside training on very polluted days, seek out parks when doing most outside training, try to monitor pollution levels, buy air purifiers for inside use and I have even bought some heavy duty filtration masks which work surprisingly well (I am very happy to have these and I should have gotten them earlier. But they are not perfect, because, especially when heavily exerting the body, they require a slight increase of breathing effort that is necessary to pull the air through the mask to be filtered, making an already challenging training session even more difficult; they are perhaps best for simply assisting one in outside travel on highly polluted days).

Dealing with the food: eating food in China is a triple blow. First, one is not initially acquainted with most of the things available to eat. Second, pollution is a serious concern forcing one to avoid river fish, simply deal with increased metallic levels in the soil that make vegetables less healthy than they should be and also deal with the fact that human fecal matter is used as fertilizer (generally one avoids eating the outside skin of any fruits or vegetables if at all possible). Finally, it is difficult to get a decent amount of nutrients such as complex carbohydrates, which are available everywhere in a place such as the United States. With the increased chance of catching bad bacteria or food already being spoiled, one does not merely risk not getting enough to eat, but also getting violently ill, which has about the most negative short-term impact on training as any other imaginable. Combating this on a budget is the most difficult thing, as a large part of the solution involves buying more expensive imported goods. One also must take pains to find clean restaurants, cook as much as possible, find goods the stomach is familiar with and simply to find enough calories to eat (scarcity of calories is always a problem for the physically active here; when one looks at how anorexicly skinny the majority of the Chinese population is with no exercise, one then starts to realize the challenge of feeding a healthy and strong body that must exercise for hours on end often in less than ideal circumstances).

Dealing with scarcity of space and far too many people:
Beijing is a city of very small apartments and far too many people. As a result, there are certain exercises one cannot train inside and there are very few spacious places outside that are not swarming with overly curious onlookers. If one is not careful, this can have a bad effect on the mind. Training becomes very covert and often limited to very narrow locations. There are two ways, however, that one can find open space: 1. Go to a neglected part of a vast space (these spaces are very hard to find, but they do exist; we have found one such place in Beijing's largest park).
2. If one is willing to have highly unusual sleeping hours and if the air is fresh outside, there are a lot of places that are vacant in the middle of the night that would generally be swarming with people.

I will not get into the terrible summer humidity here, but it is worth noting that with food problems and air problems, extreme humidity and heat compounds an already painful training situation.

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