Increasing your power

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Wing Chun
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1

I was woundering what do you guys do to increase your power?

What do you do to make your kicks and punches stronger and faster?

Here some opinions I found on the net at work:

Punching and kicking speed are a combination of a few things:

  1. Muscle flexibility - on joints such as knees and elbows it is almost impossible to increase muscle flexibility as it is difficult to stretch the muscles.

  2. Strength of fast-twitch muscles - these muscles are worked by doing explosive reps. For punching and kicking you will want to focus on jumping squats and clapping pushups. These will not add much muscle mass and thereby decrease flexibility but will create small, powerful, explosive muscles.

  3. Muscle memory - This is the connections in the brain between synapses and muscles. The only way to work this is… practice, practice, practice. This will increase your reaction time and speed.

WARNING: do not train with weights on your legs for kicking or weights on your wrists/hands for doing backfists as you have a largely increased likelyhood of damaging tendons which are very important and slow to repair (unless your totally tear them, then they won’t repair at all).

1.Stretch, Stretch, Stretch. When you get up, start your day with a hot shower or bath, then stretch while your body is warm and relaxed. Focus on your legs and make sure to stretch your feet, ankles and toes. Spend at least 10 minutes every morning stretching. Don’t over-stretch in the morning, just relax and stretch by holding a position where you are just starting to feel a burn. Stretch more aggressively sometime during the day (not when you are cold), and then stretch well before bed.

2.Make a high target using a nail, string, tennis ball and a small plastic sandwich bag. Place the ball in the bag, then use the string to tie the bag closed being sure to leave a few extra feet of string. Drive the nail into a ceiling or, if you can’t kick over 5 1/2 feet, a door frame will work. Tie the string from the bag to the nail in the ceiling so that it hangs down about 6 inches lower than you can kick.

3.Kick the tennis ball at least 100 times every day. Don’t kick it hard; just relax and touch the ball with your foot as quickly as you can using any kick you want, and spread them out throughout the day as much as you want. Try to raise the target every Saturday by an inch or two.

4.Buy ankle weights from a sporting goods store or department store. If you attend martial arts classes regularly, start with a 10 pound set, 5 pounds for each leg. If you do not, then start with a 5 pound set for 2 1/2 pounds each leg.

5.Don’t practice kicking at full speed with weights on; you’ll risk serious knee injury if you do. Put on a thick pair of socks. Put on the ankle weights after you are dressed in the morning and wear them constantly throughout the day, even when driving, or working if you can. If they become uncomfortable to the point you can’t bear it anymore, take them off for a few minutes then put them back on.

6.While wearing the weights, hold onto a table or wall to keep your balance and practice kicking very slowly. It should take 10 seconds to complete each kick. Just practice each motion for each kick you know at least twice. Do this every day.

7.Notice that when you have been training long enough to have good control, place a Pringles can or other unbreakable object on a table in an open room and practice kicking within 2 inches of the Pringles can without hitting it. Practice not putting your foot down in between kicks, and not letting your foot touch the table or the can. Kick 20 times with each leg as fast as you can without hitting it each day.

8.Watch to see that after 2-3 weeks you’ll be so much faster at kicking when not wearing your weights that you’ll be able to wait on someone to start to kick you, and you’ll be able to kick them first.


tips

*When kicking the ball, try not to kick it hard but try to kick as fast as you can. If you learn to relax, you can kick much faster.

*When you work on power, just practice tightening all your muscles at the moment of impact.

*Learning to trust your control will make you faster because you will not be hesitant out of fear of hurting your sparring partner. That’s why you should practice not kicking the Pringles can.

*Moving your leg doesn’t matter if it isn’t moving accurately and with proper use of muscles, or you lose your balance. That’s why the slow kicks are useful.

*By stretching, you reduce your muscles’ pull against the kicking motions you are trying to make. This means you can kick faster with less risk of injury and with less resistance.

*When you first take off the weights, your feet will feel very light. This is a good time to kick the ball hanging from the ceiling.

The ability to kick well is not directly related to muscle strength. Although the leg muscles are involved other muscles are involved. To kick better requires only a few things done exactly this way:

  1. learn each kick exactly as it is done(Correct body mechanics).

  2. Practice the kick slow enough to be sure that you are doing the body mechanics exactly correct.

  3. Continue to practice the kick/s until they become second nature.

  4. Slowly, work for more speed.

NOTE: It is much better to do a few kicks at a time(Correctly), than to do a lot of kicks that get sloppy.

If you practice something incorrectly for many years, you get very good at doing it incorrectly. However if you practice something correctly, you get very good at it in less time. More kicks are not better, Correct kicks in low numbers are.

What more can you add?

2

I pray to Jesus and he gives me power.

3

“”
——“”“”

4

My strength comes from the power of GraySkull.

When that doesn’t work, I get my friends together, strip to the waist, and “care.”

When THAT doesn’t work, I rely on the training that I’ve done according to the telepathic lessons I received from your sifu through dreams. He told me they were the same things he taught you.

Which is why I will have to resort to my 1980s North American TV Qi style to defeat you if ever we meet!

…Unless you’ve never done cardio or bodyweight training or full throttle sparring… then I might be able to keep my Qi skills hidden for another time.

5

Jesus gave me the power of 10,000 men tonight.

6

on a serious note…

i have heard Kev Bell is the man to see for improving your punching power, he may have a dvd coming out shortly

7

“Power” in WCK comes from the YJKYM which is a certain, specific way of using the body (that does not rely on rotation or stepping). This is what we call WCK body structure. You develop power by developing your body structure.

8

Power is the ability to do “work” over a period of time.
The more work you do in the same period of time = more power
Doing the same work in less time = more power
Doing more work in less time = more power

Perhaps power is not the best way to “quantify” what you want.
Maybe you want to increase certain “types” of power like, explosive power.
Maybe you want to increase the amount of weight being placed in a strike or the amount of kinetic energy.

9

That article was more about developing speed and facility with high kicks than developing a pwerful kick (assuming “power” means the ability ot cause trauma to the object being kicked).

The stretching info isn’t exactly on the cutting edge of sports science, though it’s probably reasonably good advice for anyone but pro athletes or highly committed amateurs. Better to warm the body up with activity rather than a hot bath or shower.

To develop pwerful and effective kicks, you need to kck objects that are going ot give you feedback. If all you do is kick in the air or light objects, you’ll fall over the first time you connect hard with anything with significant mass.

10

The two principles that facilitate the body to become stronger and more powerful (power is defined as ability of the body to move ballistically) are;

i) overload – adding greater degrees of resistance/loads/weight; and
ii) specificity – making the training as specific to the sport as possible

Suki

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[QUOTE=Wu Wei Wu;938812]The two principles that facilitate the body to become stronger and more powerful (power is defined as ability of the body to move ballistically) are;

i) overload adding greater degrees of resistance/loads/weight; and
ii) specificity making the training as specific to the sport as possible

Suki[/QUOTE]

Believe it or not, and some dont realized it.

what you post is a totally opposite of what the TCMA’s direction.

Thus, WCK will not work properly.

12

Excellent Post please elaborate what you mean by resistance? What forms of resistance do you suggest?

Also how can one train to be able to deliver a devasting blow to a opponent who may be moving or attacking. How can one train to issue enough force and power to damage a evasive or charging opponent?

[QUOTE=anerlich;938804]That article was more about developing speed and facility with high kicks than developing a pwerful kick (assuming “power” means the ability ot cause trauma to the object being kicked).

The stretching info isn’t exactly on the cutting edge of sports science, though it’s probably reasonably good advice for anyone but pro athletes or highly committed amateurs. Better to warm the body up with activity rather than a hot bath or shower.

To develop pwerful and effective kicks, you need to kck objects that are going ot give you feedback. If all you do is kick in the air or light objects, you’ll fall over the first time you connect hard with anything with significant mass.[/QUOTE]

13

[QUOTE=Hendrik;938814]Believe it or not, and some dont realized it.

what you post is a totally opposite of what the TCMA’s direction.

Thus, WCK will not work properly.[/QUOTE]

I’d love to see those who think the opposite way to try their hand at fighting a professional fighter, one of these days. :rolleyes:

That being said, there are numerous advantages to strength training BESIDES martial arts… and since we live in the REAL world where we more often then not have to use our strength for things BESIDES martial arts, its far more important.

14

I am by no means an expert in MA, but wouldn’t the (simple) answer be weight/resistance training, heavy bag work and mastering your technique/form?

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  1. Strength of fast-twitch muscles - these muscles are worked by doing explosive reps. For punching and kicking you will want to focus on jumping squats and clapping pushups. These will not add much muscle mass and thereby decrease flexibility but will create small, powerful, explosive muscles.

THE WRONGNESS 1! ‘Fast twitch’ muscles only being affected by fast exercises is a myth. Maximal weightlifting at any speed will improve fast twitch muscle reactions by stimulating the muscle at the point of firing.

THE WRONGNESS 2! Muscle mass does not decrease flexibility. Age, injury, and not warming up and down properly decreases flexibility. If you strecth properly it doesn’t matter how big you are.

1.Stretch, Stretch, Stretch. When you get up, start your day with a hot shower or bath, then stretch while your body is warm and relaxed. Focus on your legs and make sure to stretch your feet, ankles and toes. Spend at least 10 minutes every morning stretching. Don’t over-stretch in the morning, just relax and stretch by holding a position where you are just starting to feel a burn. Stretch more aggressively sometime during the day (not when you are cold), and then stretch well before bed.

THE WRONGNESS! This is total bollocks. You should always do dynamic stretching before any static stretching. Read Thomas Kurz or Pavel.
The rest of this segment is largely bollocks too! :smiley:

The ability to kick well is not directly related to muscle strength.
More WRONGNESS! If you don’t have the muscle strength to support your leg/arm in the full range of movement you will not be able to kick well and will have a much increased chance of injury. Of course form is important, but muscle strength is too. Kurz recommends (somewhat arbitrarily perhaps) that you should be able to do ten squats with your bodyweight on your back before you should try any kind of flexibility exercise (well actually he also states you have no business doing any martial art if you can’t do that as a basic exercise - but that’s more arbitrary!).

16

[QUOTE=golgo;938823]I am by no means an expert in MA, but wouldn’t the (simple) answer be weight/resistance training, heavy bag work and mastering your technique/form?[/QUOTE]Sounds good to me.

The moot point is mastering your technique/form. As T and Hendrik have already stated (my god! They’re agreeing! Watch the skies!) in the main traditionally this is against the principles of resistance training. However, just as I think it’s easy enough to cross train without confusing principles as long as you’re not a moron, I also think it’s easy enough (and much better) to lift weights AND keep to your traditional training. I think of it like this: if I miss my perfect wing chun punch or JJ takedown or whatever, I can just rely on brute force and ignorance! :smiley:

17

[QUOTE=Hendrik;938814]Believe it or not, and some dont realized it.
what you post is a totally opposite of what the TCMA’s direction.
Thus, WCK will not work properly.

[/QUOTE]

Hi, actually i do it like Wu Wei, i normally separate such “power” training" away from Wing Chun training, as in 2 separate sessions.

What i mean is e.g. throwing a yat ji kuen with full power is in contrast to Wing Chun principles, so during yat ji kuen training, there is no power. (This is a very poor analogy, lol)

But in a separate training on e.g. weights, then power training comes into play.

18

[QUOTE=–;938827]Hi, actually i do it like Wu Wei, i normally separate such “power” training" away from Wing Chun training, as in 2 separate sessions.

What i mean is e.g. throwing a yat ji kuen with full power is in contrast to Wing Chun principles, so during yat ji kuen training, there is no power. (This is a very poor analogy, lol)

But in a separate training on e.g. weights, then power training comes into play.[/QUOTE]

See, we cant train in two totally opposite direction and makes them work in the same body.

19

[QUOTE=Hendrik;938994]See, we cant train in two totally opposite direction and makes them work in the same body.[/QUOTE]

I am not sure I understand what you are saying here. I train to push. I train to pull. 2 opposite directions, and both work quite well. Perhaps I am not understanding your point. :confused:

20

[QUOTE=golgo;938999]I am not sure I understand what you are saying here. I train to push. I train to pull. 2 opposite directions, and both work quite well. Perhaps I am not understanding your point. :confused:[/QUOTE]

yup. you dont. because I am posting for in response to his post in different methodological direction. not the push and pull direction as you think.

your push and pull is fine because you are actually training in one methodological direction.