Weight training increases strength, muscular endurance and speed which also means power is increased. Depending on the way you train you can emphasise these different aspects. I know I do it and have had positive results.
I’m sure you have all heard stories of martial arts masters not taking on students if they didn’t have a good foundation of strength. True forms and martial arts practice build strength but it helps if your strong enough to do the movements. People need to listen less to old wives tales and dive in head first and if weight training doesn’t suit you than thats all right because you believe other myths like muscle turning into fat which you can then burn off!
If you don’t think being able to move a heavy weight benefits you then meet some really strong people whose arms you can’t even move out of the way to hit them.
After having spent a good bit of time on these message boards,
There are two tired arguments that amaze me in their resistance to just going away.
The first has been well-illustrated here: that weight training is not necessary or helpful to the martial arts, and may in fact hurt your martial art training. I think the persistence of this is rooted in the put upon guy who started martial arts training to help out against the strong, athletic bullies of his youth. Believing that muscle mass hurts your training puts non-athletic types at a better starting point in the MA’s than athletic types. In effect, it turns the tables on the bullies. I understand wanting to believe this. I’ve been there myself. Still, sooner or later, one has to accept that there is no, I repeat NO, scientific basis for validating this in any way.
Of course the second myth is that traditional arts don’t do well in fighting comp’s because no eye-gouging and face-ripping is allowed. This one just makes me sad.
There comes a point in traditional training where you just have to accept the sad truth that you will never be a jedi.
Just got to add that as if you´re to strength training then,do train all the main muscle groups (same ones as used in body building) to stay away from poorly imbalanced muscular structure (think of training just pectoral muscles and biceps because they “can be seen” and neglect calves as an example)
It is not as hard as it sounds at all.
TjD “i thought lifting for strength was the best way to go if you wanted speed…working the fast twitch muscle as opposed to the slow twitch you gain from bodybuilding type execrises”
By what logic are you making the above distinction?
Originally posted by Former castleva
Just got to add that as if you´re to strength training then,do train all the main muscle groups (same ones as used in body building) to stay away from poorly imbalanced muscular structure (think of training just pectoral muscles and biceps because they “can be seen” and neglect calves as an example)
It is not as hard as it sounds at all.
I dunno if I fully agree with that. if you are a striker, you don’t need a developed chest. huge biceps aren’t necessary either when it comes to fighting. by doing the big compound exercises, like deads, squats and bench presses your smaller muscles will get a sufficient workout. in Bodybuilding, aesthetics matters, but in MA it does not.
Originally posted by Braden
[B]TjD “i thought lifting for strength was the best way to go if you wanted speed…working the fast twitch muscle as opposed to the slow twitch you gain from bodybuilding type execrises”
By what logic are you making the above distinction? [/B]
he’s talking about powerlifting, I think. fast twitch fibers produce explosiveness and speed, as they contract faster and harder for a shorter period of time. they use glycogen though as opposed to oxygen, so they suck for endurance. proper strength training stimulates these muscles, essentially making them capable of producing faster, stronger contractions, hence, speed.
I think the flaw here is that it’s the speed and strength of the muscle’s contraction that is being developed - explosiveness. that’s not necessarily the same as fast strikes.
No, it’s not…
But I wasn’t under the impression that power lifting hits fast twitch fibers considerably more than bodybuilding would. Why would this be the case?
the intensity. bodybuilders tend to lift moderate to heavy, multiple sets per muscle, moderate reps. training for pure strength uses a different format. heavy weight, less reps, more rest between sets. power training has a different effect on the body than bodybuilding does. bodybuilding tends to cause more hypertrophy in the type 1 fibers where as strength training causes most hypertrophy in type 2 fibers - fast twitch - the power and speed fibers.
Are you doing individual reps quickly and explosively in power training?
VERY SIMPLE:
want powerful muscles? Then do exercises that stimulate large groups of muscles into working together in unison under heavy load. That’s it.
So; chinups, dips, squats, deadlifts, benchpress. Heavy load (6-8 reps), few sets (2-3), twice a week or on a split routine.
By the way, it will make your muscles grow in size too, but not in an unfunctional bodybulider-type way. And no, it will not make you stiff, in fact you will gain flexibility if you stretch seriously after each workout, and will also gain joint stability.
Pretty simple. And by the way Bruce seemed to have a somewhat unbalanced physique, good for his time but we know much more know. And by the way, gymnasts back then already had stronger and more balanced physiques than Bruce, and all they did/do is the above weights twice a week + the free body gymnastics stuff daily.
Wall
not necessarily…I guess that differs person to person. there are people that try to explode upward rapidly, but that may cause injury if you’re not careful. with non- weight bearing exercises, like jump squats and clapping pushups, yes, you explode on each rep.
I like cheese.
IronFist
Cheese blocks me up. If I eat enough of it, I won’t poop at all. Just a little is nice though.
Aye.
IronFist
hijacking of decent threads is prohibited.
I’ll be gouda.
speaking of gouda, cheese is high in protein, which are the building blocks of muscle. at 1,000 calories a day, viper can’t be getting enough protein.
But all of his protein shouldn’t come from cheese, or he’ll be as blocked up as me.:eek:
Cheese is pretty high in fat, too.
If Viper at 1000 calories of cheese, he would gain weight because he would never be able to go to the bathroom.
IronFist
Seven -
To my understanding…
There are actually two main groups of muscle fibers that fall under the label ‘fast twitch.’
The fast twitch fibers which use glycolytic metabolism both contract and relax extremely quickly, such that they only remain tense very briefly. They cannot be used for any sort of sustained activity. I don’t believe they could be ‘targetted’ by any sort of traditional weight-training exercises, simply because their activity is so brief. This is the area of plyometrics, where the exercise is done upon a loaded muscle which contracts for only a brief movement to produce a single explosive movement.
There are also fast twitch fibers which use oxidative metabolism. These are the fibers that will be ‘targetted’ by weight-lifting, both of the ‘power’ and ‘bodybuilding’ sorts. They are not as fast, nor do they fatigue as fast as the glycolytic fast twitches, but they CAN sustain tension.
Both of these are distinguished from slow twitch fibers which contract very slowly. Slow in the sense not of doing an exercise slowly, but slow in the sense of maintaining an upright posture throughout the day.
In other words, so far as I can figure, both ‘power’ and ‘bodybuilding’ styles of exercise hit the same muscle fiber type, and you have to delve into plyometrics to hit the “very” fast twitch fibers. That is, so long as you buy that approach to exercising. Some people are dubious about targetting fibers.
Again, this is just my understanding and I’d appreciate being corrected if I’m wrong.
P.S. Cheese is truly wonderfull. I’m a particular fan of emmanthal and sharp cheddar.