Well, I think you’re just trolling our forums, but I’m bored so I’m gonna reply to everything you said, and also because I’m sure there are a bunch of lurkers (people who read but never post) on this forum and I wouldn’t want them to get bad info.
Weight training is NOT good for power (for kung-fu) in the long term,
It depends on what you mean by “power.” Weight training won’t give you the type of power it takes to shatter a stack of concrete blocks with your palm. But kung fu won’t give you the power required to Squat 500lbs. If you feel like making the horse stance argument, don’t bother. Static holding of postures does NOT promote the muscular conditioning nor the nervous system conditioning to handle heavy loads. This is why powerlifters train with heavy weights and not with stances.
and bouncing stretching IS good for your legs for practical situations.
Bouncing stretching is also good for causing injuries. I’m sure you can cite cases of hundreds of people who do bouncing streching and haven’t been injured. Good for you. It’s still less safe than other methods.
Weight training and press ups are good for short term power only.
I’ve heard 2 or 3 exercises referred to as “press ups” so I don’t know exactly what you mean. However, the conditioning you get from weight training is temporary, obviously. The body adapts to the demands placed on it. If you quit making it do work, it’s going to stop being able to do that work. Kung Fu is no different. If you train to do x technique and then stop training, you’ll lose your ability over time. Chi development or whatever may be different, because some people say once you develop it it doesn’t go down, but it’s not my forte so I don’t know.
they both build muscles around and tighten the joints you will not get the same relaxed benefits form training without them.
Wrong.
less mobility in the joints means less speed and less follow through,
Wrong. Even if your range of motion was limited to 50% of that of a healthy individual, it wouldn’t affect your speed. You could still be just as fast through that reduced range of motion.
but most importantly - less snap action.
What the hell is “snap action?” Do you mean explosiveness?
I used to lift weights and train very hard, and I had fast hands…but now after not doing weights (or press ups) for over 2 years and conentrating on relaxing the joints my hands are much faster and i am more powerful then ever before.
Your weight training must have been flawed, then. Besides, how do you know your hands are faster now? Have you tested them in a lab? What method of testing did you use? Don’t tell me “they feel faster” because that’s like saying “I feel like I can lift more weight.” One good thing about weight training is that you have concrete proof of how much you can lift, and how much a particular cycle worked, because the numbers are hard proof. You are correct in saying that excess tension will reduce speed, but proper weight lifting does not cause excess tension (except for maybe for a few hours after you finish).
And this is despite being over 20 pounds lighter. Its down to technique and correct training.
Guess what? Your 20lb loss is due entirely to diet and caloric expenditure and due in no part to your stopping weight lifting.
When I first started Mizong I asked my teacher (Master Lu jun hai - via a translater!) why we dont do press ups in class…his reply was short, sharp, and painfully true, he said ‘why?? you wont be doing them in a fight’!
No offense to you teacher, but your muscles don’t know the difference between doing press ups in class and lifting someone off of you in a fight. Muscles adapt to imposed load. They don’t care if it’s a barbell, your bodyweight, or some person that you’re throwing across the room.
When I asked him how to develop power without press ups or weights he said ‘train and practise hard, tan tui will develop power’ - how right he is.
How much can your teacher squat? Bodyweight training and proper body mechanics will only get you so far with reference to absolute strength. If you can’t bench press 300lbs, how are you going to lift a 300lbs opponent off of you if he is smothering you? Don’t tell me “proper body mechanics.” What if you are immobolized and can’t apply “proper body mechanics?”
Tan tui strengthens the shoulders without developing size or mass, it builds the smaller muscle gruops and works on both static active and explosive strengh.
You will plateau very quickly from bodyweight exercises alone. I’m talking about limit strength, however. You can always develop more endurance through more reps and such, but your absolute strength will not increase if you don’t increase the load.
This fundemental training gives great results by itself, combine this with internal training and weapons training and you power will far exceed that achieved by doing press ups and / or weights
Again, you’re referring to different types of power. Fighting power is not necessarily weight lifting power, and vice versa.
…even if you cant lift half as much as your weight lifting friends. Relaxation is the key.
Alright. But your weight lifting friends will be able to lift MORE which will give THEM the advantage in certain situations.
a door as a glass window in it. If a powerful kick-boxer front kicks the door (not on the glass), it will fly open and when it hits the door stop / wall the glass will break. If a powerful kung-fu practitioner fornt kicks it (not on the glass), the glass will break before the door hits the door stop / wall. The difference is the power used stayed in the target damaging it, instead of go through the target and sending it backwards.
The difference is physics.
Far more professional athletes suffer from pulls and tears to their muscles and tendons than normal people despite in peak physical condition. Why? simple…they train one way and compete another way
Nope. Pro athletes suffer more injuries than normal people [size=5]BECAUSE THEY ARE PRO ATHLETES![/size] Normal people do not play professional sports for a living. Got common sense? If you took a “normal person” and put him in an NFL game he would most likely get injured. Come on. No offence but that was the worst argument of your entire post.
Alright. I’m bored now.
It boils down to this. Different training methods will achieve different goals. S.A.I.D. Specific adaptation to imposed demand. If you train to be able to throw lots of punches without tiring, your body will be able to do that. That training will not allow you to bench press 300lbs, tho. If you train to be able to squat 500lbs, you will be able to squat 500lbs. That training will not let you hold a horse stance for even 5 minutes, though.
While that is true, the stuff about weight lifting hurting flexibility, etc., are myths. Tom Platz, the pro bodybuilder with the biggest quads of all time, could do full splits. I’m sure he’s lifted more weights than any of us here, and I’m sure he’s more flexible than almost everyone here, too. Olympic lifters, as Ford Prefect said, are often large men (300+lbs) who, due to the explosive nature of their WEIGHT TRAINING, often have 3ft+ vertical leaps. How many people who weigh half of that do you know that can jump 3ft in the air?
You sound like you train hard, you just have some misconceptions. Of course, you can believe whatever you want to believe. But I encourage you to find out how much your Sifu can squat. Make sure it’s a full range, ass to the ground squat. He should have no trouble with that since he’s so “flexible.” No disrespect intended, of course.
