You’ve posed such a broad question. “Good” and “Bad” exercises are subjective to your goals. (Though there are some exercises that I would just consider bad in all cases.)
I don’t see the point in recommending to you only compound lifts rather than isolation exercises (because you supposedly aren’t a bodybuilder). Compound lifts could be as useful to you as a kick in the head depending on your goals.
Work out what your goals are and then choose exercises and routines based on that. Not sure why you consider what you are doing is training your joints. I don’t think the pushups, situps etc. are doing that particularly.
Well, it depends. Compound exercises are usually the most beneficial for a number of reasons. Don’t get me wrong - I used to do e.g. biceps curls on the preacher bench, standing reverse bicep curls and concentration dumbbell curls. Nowadays I’d prefer chinups. But whatever, I don’t want to get in an argument over compound vs isolation.
dodger87, I can’t really break it down more than that. I’m not going to try to explain the lifts if you don’t already know them. You could get an injury if you don’t do them properly. In a few short words, squats are putting the bar across your shoulders and squatting down. Deadlifts are lifting the bar up off the ground to waist level. Olympic lifts aren’t my specialty but I will get into them eventually. Clean and jerks and snatches can be seen at the Olympics (duh!) or maybe if you get cable you’ll see some lifting comp on TV that has them. C & J you lift the bar off the ground to your shoulders in one movement, then up over your head in the 2nd movement. Snatches you lift the bar from the ground straight up over your head. There are a few other Olympic lifts besides C&J’s and snatches to look into. Great for power development. Pullups are like chinups but with your hands pronated (palms facing away). There’s lots more to it all than that, but it sounds like you would need specialist advice and coaching to help you start a weights program.
Originally posted by Toby
[B]Well, it depends. Compound exercises are usually the most beneficial for a number of reasons. Don’t get me wrong - I used to do e.g. biceps curls on the preacher bench, standing reverse bicep curls and concentration dumbbell curls. Nowadays I’d prefer chinups. But whatever, I don’t want to get in an argument over compound vs isolation.
dodger87, I can’t really break it down more than that. I’m not going to try to explain the lifts if you don’t already know them. You could get an injury if you don’t do them properly. In a few short words, squats are putting the bar across your shoulders and squatting down. Deadlifts are lifting the bar up off the ground to waist level. Olympic lifts aren’t my specialty but I will get into them eventually. Clean and jerks and snatches can be seen at the Olympics (duh!) or maybe if you get cable you’ll see some lifting comp on TV that has them. C & J you lift the bar off the ground to your shoulders in one movement, then up over your head in the 2nd movement. Snatches you lift the bar from the ground straight up over your head. There are a few other Olympic lifts besides C&J’s and snatches to look into. Great for power development. Pullups are like chinups but with your hands pronated (palms facing away). There’s lots more to it all than that, but it sounds like you would need specialist advice and coaching to help you start a weights program. [/B]
The thing is I don’t want to do weights, i don’t think weights is the ONLY way to train for MA. and i’m sure there are many people out there who don’t use weights to train but throw their own weight around. Main reason i dont want to do weights is because i’m still pretty young and it might stunt my growth.
My goals are to have fast and powerful kicks and punches. Be a good fighter (self-defence). I dont really care about getting big muscles and stuff like that.
It seems some people are getting confused about some of my sentences. I meant to say that pushups train joints more then lifting weights or whatever. Well at least that is what i have been told, if i’m wrong you could please correct me.
No, weights are most certainly not the only effective training aid. But they are probably the most effective training aid to getting strong, and that has good carry-over to MA.
As to jumping, running, etc (in your last post and in the other thread), if that’s really your goal, then train Olympic lifts. The reality is, they’re the most effective exercises you can do for power. Also train sprints, bagwork and other specific drills targeting what you want to achieve. Might look into plyometrics, but you need a high baseline of fitness for that or you risk injury.
Weightlifting doesn’t necessarily make you “getting big muscles and stuff like that”. Depends on what sort of lifting you do. I do powerlifts on a strength program. Not designed to build mass at all, just strength.
If you’re young, by all means don’t weight train. I’m certainly no expert on age and weights, but it’s not worth the risk. I think it’s fine when you stop growing, so like 17-18 or so. Maybe do some research into it.
Pushups don’t train the joints more than benchpress. Whoever said that was wrong. End of story.
Originally posted by dodger87 My goals are to have fast and powerful kicks and punches. Be a good fighter (self-defence). I dont really care about getting big muscles and stuff like that.
Well looking at your goals, the main component you are missing is any actual martial arts training. That sort of stuff will be pretty helpful if you want to be a good fighter.
If anything, you should emphasize learning some fighting skills first and supplement that with conditioning exercises.
Fast and powerful kicks and punches are no good if you don’t have the timing to apply them effectively. And fast and pwerful kicks and punches depend far more on effective technique than on strength.
Becoming a good fighter without practising fighting skills is about as likely as becoming a surfing champion by runnig marathons along the beach.
A person with moderate skills, training and experience will have it all over a fit person who has none (and the skill training generally adds to general fitness in any case). If both have some skill, then the attributes of conditioning and strength can make a difference.
i’ve searched out quite a lot of martial arts schools already but i dont want to and am not allowed to join any this year because it is my final year in high school and will determine whether i get into a uni or not. so all i can do is just train at home.
anyways since i was overstraining myself before i’ve made a new routine. i train my arms/legs/abs/flexibility in one day, and on the two next days i train my fitness like skipping and running and that sorta stuff. and the cycle is repeated. What do you guys think? any suggestions?
I would recomend stretching everyday. Make sure you roll your hip sockets and your shoulder sockets as well.
Flexability is one of the most overlooked things in fitness and in martial arts. I know a guy who has trained many more years than I have and he cannot even touch his feet in a face to knee stretch. I still wouldn’t want to fight the guy, but I think his martial arts would be even better if he had more flexability.
Originally posted by dodger87
[B]i’ve searched out quite a lot of martial arts schools already but i dont want to and am not allowed to join any this year because it is my final year in high school and will determine whether i get into a uni or not. so all i can do is just train at home.
anyways since i was overstraining myself before i’ve made a new routine. i train my arms/legs/abs/flexibility in one day, and on the two next days i train my fitness like skipping and running and that sorta stuff. and the cycle is repeated. What do you guys think? any suggestions? [/B]
Quite a few suggestions have been mentioned already.
I would say take a more formal approach to your routine. Time your runs, make note of how many reps of each exercise you can do, measure your flexibility and so on.
PS. Also, Andrew is correct. None of this will make you a good fighter
I just built a new exercise tool this week. This is a pretty common old exercise, but its great for wrist/forearm. I got a 1 foot long cylnider of wood, about 1 1/2 inch thick. Drilled a hole in the middle of it and ran a 3 foot piece of rope through the hole. At the end, I put a hook that can hold free weights. I then attach 4x 5lb free weights to then of it.
Then wind it up using your hands. Hold arms out, bent out from elbe just above waste level. Then just roll it up with your arms, and once its all the way up slowly roll it down. It kills your forearms after a while. It was like 3 dollars to make (already had the free weights).