How do you train at home?

[cha kuen]

Hey everyone,

How do you guys train at home? Or do you train at home? I know it's pretty tough to push yourself and get some good training in when you're not in class. For those who do, what type of stuff do you do? Forms? Hit the bag? And for those that don't, perhaps this post can help you guys get ideas.

I'm just interested in hearing how you guys train at home. =]



kung fu books

[Dragon Warrior]

I usually hit the heavy bag, practice my forms, shadow box, go over my basics. My brother also trains in kung fu so i have the benefit of training with him. I also like to stretch when i am home. I am also good friends with some of my training brothers, so sometimes they come over and we spar. Things like that.

I also include weight and strength training, but i dont know if you meant that in your thread.

[taijiquan_student]

Everything (of course no two-person work). Deflections, strikes, stepping, zhan zhuang, form, etc. Also I like to pick one movement from my form and see how many different applications I can think of. Then later I can see what works with a partner. I used to have a bag, but it came out of the ceiling.
I don't know if this helps at all, but really just anything and everything.

[Shadow Dragon]

Hi.

Daily routine(at home) consists of:
1.) Zhang Zhuang.
2.) Silk reeling exercises
3.) Stretching
4.) Forms practice

On top of that I jog and to other exercises a few times a week in the Park.
Most of those take more space than I got at home.

I reckon Form training is about 20% of the total workout.

Cheers.

[SevenStar]

hard at home? I get my best training at home, or at the gym -whenever I train alone. I go to class to learn; I train on my own to master.

When you are training alone, you can work the sublteties in your technique that you may not have time to work in class. you can perfect your motions and really study the principles behind what you are doing.

That being said, when I train on my own, I do weight training and forms, but when I am doing more MA related training, I do stance work, forms, bagwork and shadow boxing. when I do forms, I try to gain a better understanding behind the principles of a particular movement. I do repititions of them slowly, somethimes and half speed, and at full speed.

[Diu Sao]

I do the same warm up and stretching routine that I do in class, this usually takes 30 to 45 minutes. Then I usually work on Forms and combos so I can have them tight and clean for my next class. But like you said, it's not quite the same working out at home. Some times I just do conditioning, like pull ups, sit ups and whatever else I need to work on. I don't have much space as I live in an apartment in the city and can't afford a bag or wooden dummy. I can, however, work on iron palm with a bucket of water and the sand bags I have.

Diu Sao

[lau gar]

my daily routine:
flying sideckick the door open
turn the lamp on and off with controlled axe kick
break a couple of decorative items by shooting off random kicks as i walk around
lol thats about it

[KC Elbows]

The best thing that ever happened to my home workouts was having to run classes. Because everyone is expected to do the workout(barring injured people, of course), when I'm running the class, I have to be able to butcher the poor souls, so I have to stay in good condition.

Here's my home "workout" as far as exercises(feel free to critique, as I know a lot of you guys are pretty knowledgeable on this stuff), usually done three times a week:

Stretching(probably about 15-20 minutes, maybe more on some days)

Abs:
1 set of 100 crunches
1 set of 50 each side flutter kicks
1 set of 100 crunches legs spread reaching through the legs
1 set of 50 sideways flutter kicks(don't know a name, like flutters, but legs fluttering side to side instead of up and down)
1 set of 100 crunches with legs crossed for variety
2 neck exercises that I won't bother describing, 1 set of 50 of the first, one set of 100 of the second.
One set of 50 of one that hits the side back muscles, basically in a sit up position, but up 45 degrees and turning from side to side instead of rising up and down.
One set of 50 each side tomahawks
One set of 50 side crunches on each side(basically, lying on the side and crunching-I love this one)

Arms:
Four sets of 50 push ups with rests in between.
One set of 30 tricep push ups

Legs:
1 set of 50 toe raises on a step.
20 each side pu bu to gung bu transitions
1 set of 50 toe raises on a step.
20 each side pu bu to gung bu transitions.
1 set of 50 toe raises on a step.
20 each side pu bu to gung bu transitions.

This workout has been in development for the last two months, as I lost some weight and suddenly found I could do a lot more(surprise surprise). Some things are still being added to it like: a weighted stick for the forearms, and some aerobic(still trying to decide on what, I don't really want to do running, any ideas would be great).

As for kung fu, here is the routine I do every day except when at class:

Stretching
10 of each six elbows chi kung with taoist breathing, as I'm working on making this breathing second nature.
The internal form(between 3 and nine repetitions)
Wrapping footwork around a chair.
Trapping footwork around a chair.
My six elbows combinations(combos I have worked on in order to make three moves second nature for me in a variety of circumstances: the intention is to get to the point where the combos are no longer necessary, as it becomes more natural for me to flow into each move: it appears to be helping).

This is the core of my kung fu workout: other things get added on, but these things are never skipped. Once I get my heavy bag back up and the garage cleared, I will be adding that on.

This is officially the first time I have ever posted a 'my workout post' on KFO. Have a beer, it's a celebration.

[Rolling Elbow]

weights, heavy bag, ALLOT of mook jong (home made)

I don't use traditional mook "108 techniques" but instead work my own combos and small sets which are always changing. But i use Bujinkan foot work and principles, no centerline stuff. I can work about an hour easy on it.

Will also work the bo now and again.

[Rolling Elbow]

Jesus,

KC elbows, are you a marine!!! I think i am more of a Steven Seagal ..nice easy work outs! (no gut though!)

[KC Elbows]

"Jesus,

KC elbows, are you a marine!!! I think i am more of a Steven Seagal ..nice easy work outs! (no gut though!)"



Actually, my teacher's brother is a recon marine, and when he's in town, he runs the workouts. I can't decide whose torture is worse.

Frankly, this is the best shape I've been in in my life. Certain things I could do more of at this point(crunches), certain things are new and still torture me(the pu bu to gung bu transitions).

Because I'm married and have little time, my workouts have to be intense. I don't have much time for anything else. That's also why my kung fu routine is so uniform as well. Some guys get amazing at a large number of techniques. I have to become sublimely good at a finite number of things. IMO, the only way to achieve this is endless repeition and sparring.

For a while I was thinking about doing san shou, then got discouraged, mostly because a little extra weight was holding me back(what's scary is I was doing a very tough work out, I just ate way too much. Changing my eating took off the weight before I even changed my workout). Now I'm playing around with the idea, except I don't know how I could afford it.

Anyway, Steven Seagal is cool. I like his aikido. Plus, he kicks people in the groin a lot from what I hear, and that's something hollywood could use more of.

[KC Elbows]

There's a guy at my school who works out quite a bit more than me. He's young and single, so all of his time is still kung fu. He's pretty good, he'll be phenomenal when he's older. I struggle to do handstands(I'm a big tall guy, so it's taken me a long time to do them at all decently), and he's next to me doing one handed handstands and seeing if he can get to his fingers.

[neito]

unfortunatly, i am really bad at training at home. i do it all the time yet i get limited results. my worst evil is training and watching tv at the same time. since my cardio is not really what it should be i often tire out quickly and flop on the couch. thus, my training is often limited to basic arm techniques and horse-stance(perfect for watching tv). i plan however to learn some chinese forms because i have found form training to be good exercise and interesting. now if i could only remember how golden iron fist went.

[WinterPalm]

My workouts at home are constantly changing but this part is always the same:
Warmup
Stretch
Basics; I usually pick four or more kicks and work them for form then on a light or heavy bag. Usually I'll do several puching drills with the basic punches then work on others like chong choy or gwa choy and such.
Horse Stance
Forms This is usually the focus
Shadow sparring, This helps me put it all together and work it out for me.
Balance exercises and leg and back strengthening exercises. I think that balance and leg strength are the most neglected part of training and after watching some MMA fights I became disgusted with the weak muscles and balance these fighters had. Now I train my legs hard.
Often I'll make up combos and work those out or take techniques out of a form and think about practical application.

When in a doubt, always return to the basics.

[JusticeZero]

KC how are you doing the handstands? I've never found them terribly hard myself. Pushing myself up can be hard, but not the handstand itself. Some keys are to be able to control your psoas and be able to mofe your hips and pelvis in relative isolation. Also, you need to keep your spine straight. Look at the ceiling across the room. If there's someone standing at a conversational kicking range from you while you're upside down, you should be able to look them in the eyes. If you're looking up at the floor, you're pulling your hips forward. Shift your weight from side to side so you can pick your hands up and adjust them.

You may never get to your fingers, but there's no reason you can't do a handstand.

As for me, I usually work form or burn through a single excersize a lot, most often though, i'm just playing music.