Kung Fu training methods...Hard Work or Just Fun?

I think the best methods of training are the ones where you don't even realize you are working out. You just have the child like state of mind where you are not thinking about anything but having fun. What are some of the training methods that are unique in your school?

We have one that is a leather bag loosely filled with about 15 pound of bee bees. Everyone in class will stand in a big circle on the field and start passing the bag around using the throwing movements we learn from Shuai Chaio. The receiver has to catch and redirect the bag using another throw and around and around it goes. Usually we will play for about half an hour and before you know it you have practiced all the throws. This really trains your ability to yield and redirect incoming weight. The tendons in the fingers and arms get a real workout. So does your back and legs.

We have many exercises like this where you don't even know your working out. What are some of yours?

That's pretty cool.

For tkd, to work on sport sparring (among other things), we play dodge ball.

Surrender yourself to nature and be all that you are.

Man I love dodgeball. Unfortunately, suggesting it as a class activity would probably just get me beaten up :)

Waiden,
lol. Think nerf balls--like the nerf basketball, it's a good size and weight. I suppose a regular ball should be used for conditioning, :D.

Robin

Hey, I love this dodge ball idea. When I was a kid we used to play for hours till way after dark. By the way, playing in the dark sounds like it could add to the training aspect too. I wish we could all get together for a match.
What else?¿

we have different kinds of ball games.. I don't like them, but I'll tell about them anyway.

first one.. we call it Rähinäpallo. That's something like Rumbleball in english =) I think it's a lot like that game where you throw frisbee. you can't run with the ball in your hand. we usually do this semi-contact. tackling, wrestling and joint locks... you're not supposed to, but I'm rather defensive ;) "Stay the hell out of my side of the

the second one is called Spider football. You start sitting on the ground, then you raise your ass in the air and start walking on "four legs". that's your hands and legs. You can touch the ball with your legs only. This is great fun, eventhough the result is usually bleeding noses and big bruises.

and the one I enjoy too is kind of a game.. you take low and well rooted stances and grab your partners uniform on the shoulders. you both do this. then you try to push, sweep or trip your partner over. you can jump and change sides during the game. actually it's a must to stay up.

We do the same with the leather bag although we have metal ball bearings in side. You can pass around with others or do it by yourself. The ball bearings add weight to the bag and not only condition the fingers but strengthen the wrists.

BIU JI, The bee bees we make our bag from could be considered ball barrings. Where did you get the idea from? What styles do you train? Seems like most of your posts are in Southern Section. Guess I'll have to visit over there once in a while.
:)

Never mind about the style question. I read some of your other posts and I get it. Very good.â

Fun? For kids perhaps. Otherwise I get 'fun' out of the simple act of training and knowing that the amount of enery that I put in, will directly effect my outcome.

It is more a sense of accomplishment. Plus, most of us get our jollies laughing at someone when they goof up :-) A wierd sense of humility, I suppose. We all do it.

I am more a believer of intensity over fun. What I am teaching is how to hurt someone fast. To me, that is not so much fun as it is survival. A different mind set. Also, I am not commercially oriented, so that has a lot to do with it.

Gee Nospam, Thanks for your contribution, I guess. I didn't know survival was so tuff up there.

Excuse me for saying this but you can learn to hurt someone in about 5 minutes, Kung fu is for life.

I know we all train for different reasons but surely a little fun doesn't hurt anyone. I'm here asking about methods not mind sets. I only metioned in my post a "child like" state of mind. Don't you remember when you were a kid? Wasn't it easier to play in the snow for hours without even thinking about it?

I personally don't see the humor in other peoples errors. We all had to go through it and we help each other learn. At least that's the way it is in my school. Maybe it's different in commercial schools, kwoons, dojo's whereever.

Lifes to short, my friend and I just hope when it comes to an end we can all say it was worth it.

Keep training!

Yeah...so true. Different strokes for different folks. It is a life journey, though.

We do that too, only with additonal bags of differing weight and whoever drops a bag has frog jumps.


also for a kid's warm up do freeze tag. Whoever is frozen has to be in a deep horse stance. Slow one's get strong legs.

Steal the bacon for push ups.

animal walk relays.

If your not bleeding, your not having enough fun.

True enough that martial arts is serious, and a serious workout is a lot of fun in itself, but sometimes I just like acting like a kid.

Different strokes...

Robin ;)

Surrender yourself to nature and be all that you are.

one we do in our school is get a shuttle **** (well the ones we use r from China and are just shuttle **** like as they are designed for this game), get 4 or 5 people in a circle and just kick the shuttle around without it touching the ground.
Good for footwork, coordination and flexibility if someone messes up and u have to fly across the room to keep it up.
K.