What is the warming up exercise in your MA school?
How does it help?
I have studied Tong Bei Quan since the '70. I kept the warming up or loosening up drills ever since.
Wrist. (Fo Wan Gong)
You flip your hand downward, upward, left and right then rotate clockwise and counterclockwise.
Elbow.
Rotate clockwise and counterclockwise.
Shoulder, waist, knee and hip.
Forward, backward, to the left, to the right, rotate clockwise and counterclockwise.
8 to 16 times in a row.
Shuai Bei Gong (throwing arms). It is unique to Tong Bei. But it helps to loosen all joints and muscles. I did them about 25 min before practicing anything else including Tai Ji.
not sure what shuai beo gong is - can you describe it?
other than that, we do all of the above, in addition to neck rotations, ankle rotations, knee rotations, shadow boxing and jumping rope, followed by stretching. After that, we do various calesthenics, like jump squats, squatting a partner (putting him on your shoulders and squatting him), rolls, falls, tumbles, jogging and neck strengthening. We then start the techniques portion.
MT is the same way, minus the tumbling and rolling.
Due to its unique power generation, Tong Bei has unique sets of balancing and throwing arms exercise.
The power starts from the feet, and the rest of body remains totally relaxed. Most of the force is then stored in the shoulder and unleashed to the hand (palm side or back side). So the leg, waist and back muscles are all involved in transmitting and generation of the power.
It works like a lashing whip. The foot is one end and the hand is the other end of the whip.
All the joints and muscles are all relaxed and relaying the force.
The idea is going far and hitting long. One inch longer is one inch stronger.
So you are not just stretching your arms to punch. You are stretching your whole body to “lash”.
You have to see it to know.
The balancing exercise is also very exacting. A lot of standing on one leg punch and kick at the same time.
Several punches and kicks when jumped in the air. In other words, several punches and several kicks in one jump. Although I am too old or not flexible enough to do these anymore.
Where I trained, we did neck, wrist, ankle, knee, shoulder, hip rotations. 4 sets of rabbit hops across the hall, 4 sets of barrel wheel with 10 pushups in between the set, 4 sets of duck walks, 4 sets of piggy back ride, about 50 squats with a partner on your back, about 40 single leg squats, and a lot of of other stuff that I don’t remember or can’t describe.
Originally posted by Premier79 Where I trained, we did neck, wrist, ankle, knee, shoulder, hip rotations. 4 sets of rabbit hops across the hall, 4 sets of barrel wheel with 10 pushups in between the set, 4 sets of duck walks, 4 sets of piggy back ride, about 50 squats with a partner on your back, about 40 single leg squats, and a lot of of other stuff that I don’t remember or can’t describe.
stanard where-ever ( especially in shaolin schools ) , is stretches, a run, more stretches and max splits with open palmed , open armed “show me your tri/ bi combo”, some drills ( like rounds and sides , basic kicks, form foundations ( like side twist air, side air spin, air spin back etc…) ( which I su*k at for the record) , then it’s onto basic form for level and whatever is appropriate after that relevant to student… sometimes some bag work, sometimes kicks, sometimes more bwe and stretches, sometimes a lil theory then execute…
why…whatch you doin at yours ?? overworked, underchallenged or just wondering what everyone else is doing???.all fair reasons…
Stretching before your workout does nothing. in fact it’s counter productive. it actually decreases explosive strength.
What? heresy you say! what about preventing an accident? - actually most injuries occur within the normal range of motion and sometimes you’re just got gonna get injured whether you’re stretched or not. stretching before working out has shown to provide no additional benefit.
Warming up on the other hand.. Warming up is mandatory. first warmup -(motion! but completely different than stretching the limits of range of motion) should closely resemble the task you are about to do. first warming up the joints, then the muscles. so if you’re practicing ballet, gymnastics or kungfu then you’d want to possibly do a scaled back version of a form until you’ve started to work up a good sweat. running, calisthetics etc are also good.
Stretch after you’ve worked out.
and yet people still don’t know how to stretch! Tudor Bompa recomends stretching each muscle 3 times for no less than 50 seconds. anything less will only effect the already highly ellastic muscle body and not the range of motion. anything more will reduce power. (the 50 second period is relative for each person, might be 45-60)
Yes. There are several stretching or loosening up exercises after Kung Fu practice.
Tai Ji: You walk normally in a big circle. You inhale and exhale evenly. You move your arms in circles. Outward half of the circle you exhale. Inward half you inhale.
Ba Ji: There were a lot horse riding stances and sudden movements of legs. So you created a lot of lactic acids on your leg muscles. You tap the back of your leg with the front of your other foot for as long as you feels like it. Find a table about waist high. Place your foot about waist high and do some stretching. To relax all the muscles after strenuous workout.
Sorry i put barrel wheel instead of wheel barrel. Let me see if i can explain it clearly. It’s when you get in a pushup position and your partner grabs your feet and elevates them. Then, you walk across the hall in that position. Hope that helps.
ya gotta stretch … but not before you’ve warmed up. However, stretching before doing intensive exercises (i.e. fighting, forms) is still important.
IMO the long, 2-5 minute stretches ppl do to increase flexibility shouldn’t be done until the end of the workout (they do take a lot of energy, hence an impact on explosive power), however several 30-second stretching sequences focusing on the muscle groups you plan to use in a workout should be done immediately after warming up to prevent injury.
Here’s my warmup, done before class:
Neck, shoulder, wrist, elbow rolls
Waist, knee, ankle rolls
Jump rope / jumping jacks (~5 min.)
Light stretching - toes, calves, thighs, hamstrings, waist & hips, arms, wrists
Arm rotations - 10-20 each side, then both arms
Class: is much like blooming lotus describes.
I’ve noticed that if I don’ t warm up my joints before class they’re sore the next day (muscle soreness is a different matter). Maybe I’m just getting old but the rolls & rotations help.
however several 30-second stretching sequences focusing on the muscle groups you plan to use in a workout should be done immediately after warming up to prevent injury.
disagree. sounds like a half-assed warmup.
30 second stretches are worthless.. go warmup the joints and muscles properly.
Maybe I’m just getting old but the rolls & rotations help.
No, you’re correct. you’ve got to get those joints warmed up and get that lubrication flowing. and you do it not by stretching the limit of your movement on cold joints and muscles, but by working them in the normal range of motion in a steadily increasing manner.
In the sub grappling class, the warmup is usually some sort of grappling-related game/drill. Spinning, swimming/pummeling, holding position, etc. Done with low resistance to start out and increasing as the exercise goes on, to warm up gradually.
In thai boxing we usually warm up with several rounds of shadow with some calisthenics mixed in. Pushups, jump squats, etc between rounds.
In boxing it’s usually the same, but more calisthenics and more abwork.
In the wrestling class, there’s usually about 20 minutes of running interspersed with jumping jacks, duckwalks, narrow-hands pushups, squats, and rolls. Then takedown drills. Then class starts
In the Vale Tudo classes, how we warm up depends on what we’re working that day.
Stretching is normally done after class as a cool down. Sometimes it’s done after warmups. Generally we stretch similarly to how ST00 indicated.
Originally posted by FatherDog In the sub grappling class, the warmup is usually some sort of grappling-related game/drill. Spinning, swimming/pummeling, holding position, etc. Done with low resistance to start out and increasing as the exercise goes on, to warm up gradually.
we also do those, along with arm drag drills, high crotch drills and usually some other stuff.
In my class we start with jogging in place for five to ten minutes intersperesed with jumps for height. THen we do basic knee rotations, hip stretches like squats for seperation, arm flinges and rotations, stretch backwards, to each side, and then forward. We also do large waist rotations I’ve never seen anywhere else, as well as drop stance and splits. Then situps, pushups, and nei gong. I’ve never worked out without warming up and wouldn’t want to. THe couple times I’ve sparred with friends outside of the school without stretching was a big mistake. I feel that when you are doing something as dynamic as Kung Fu, you must stretch all your muscles or you can injure yourself, as far as losing your dynamic strength, I’ve never noticed and I don’t particularily focus on that one aspect. BUt to not stretch before a workout is silly in my opinion.
Originally posted by ShaolinTiger00
[B]
30 second stretches are worthless.. go warmup the joints and muscles properly.
you’ve got to get those joints warmed up and get that lubrication flowing. and you do it not by stretching the limit of your movement on cold joints and muscles, but by working them in the normal range of motion in a steadily increasing manner. [/B]
“Steadily increasing” is the key to stretching IMO, I guess I didn’t show that well enough in the warmup I described.
Stretching while completely “cold” is worthless.
A light warmup followed by light stretching, OTOH, prepares the body for a heavy workout. “Light” stretching is how I described: gently stretching the limbs, flexing the waist, etc. You don’t go to maximum stretch, just enough to feel a stretch in the muscles and you stay comfortable and relaxed the whole time. Count to 30 slowly, you’d be surprised how many people don’t have the patience to hold for even this long. Splits, iron bridge, other intense stretching is NOT done at this point because the body is not fully warmed up.
People who can warmup without stretching and dive right into a 5-mile jog or sparring workout (any style) have my respect, but I know from experience that if I try the same thing, my back will seize up in about 10 seconds. Stretching before a workout prevents this quite nicely.
it’s a good idea to stay as “warm” as you can as often as you can for an athlete… stretching and warming go hand in hand , warm alittle stretch a little ( or vice versa), warm some more , then stretch a little ****her,…and so on throught out your day until both are acheived to max, with ease, then it’s just maintenance…
