Training outside in winter ?

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Kung Fu Forum
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Hey;

Excellent question and one I’ve been thinking about myself. I’ve been running Sunday AM’s about 5 or 6 miles. Here in Minneapolis it’s less than 10 degrees F at night and mid-teens for highs (and it hasn’t even started getting cold). I noticed last Sunday (around 20 degrees) when I finished my run, my back and leg muscles were quite cold and I had a real problem stretching afterwards. I’m considering doing some actual Kung fu forms outside, especially staff (see Shaolin Staff Thread) but I’m going to change a few things.

First, i plan to get fully warmed up and stretched out while still inside, then i’m going to throw on some long undies beneath my KF uniform (I figure heavy clothes would make movement too difficult, plus I want to keep the workout somewhat similar). I’ve been reading a few of the responses regarding working out directly in the snow, and I’m not sure that’ll work for me. I’m going to start with dry clean (and frozen solid) concrete for good footing. I’m not willing to risk a strained tendon for the romance of working outdoors, and when you’re cold you’ll be more likely to injure yourself. Stay off the ice. Then, once I’m finished, I’ll hop inside and continue my workout until all the muscles are good and warm again before stretching out and cooling down. And there’s where my problem occurs, I don’t have space inside to do much.

Oh, and my dog is a border collie mix. she has thick black fur with white paws, nose and tail so it looks just like a Northern Shaolin uniform (no I’m not getting her a sash for X-mas!), but without the opposable thumb, I see no real kung fu in her future.

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that’s pretty much what I do in a winter workout, warm up, bai fut sow, and stretch indoors then do the rest of the workout outdoors. I don’t wear long johns because I’m not straying too far from home, just the backyard, and I usually don’t have time for more than 30-45 minutes practice a day (or night, it’s dark when I go to work & dark when I get home). Plus it’s just more laundry to lug down to the laundromat.

In deep snow I do stances & transitions, line drills, that’s about it. Mostly straight-line work and slow transitions, sometimes a short form done at low speed, all with the focus on balance. Forms I do on the nice clean driveway as I don’t like the idea of torqueing out a knee or spraining an ankle in packed snow.

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Forms I do on the nice clean driveway as I don’t like the idea of torqueing out a knee or spraining an ankle in packed snow.
Y’re no fun…:smiley:

I like the public parks. The “trail” is paved and plowed. And it rarely snows more than an inch or two in Denver, so seep snow is not much of a factor. But I do like to do forms in the stuff when we have it. I usually practice forms 1/2 speed on my own anyway.

There is this one pedestrian bridge by my apartment that crosses the ditch. It is wide enough for cars and so is also wide enough to practice weapons on.