Greetings All,
Some have asked me, “Do I really need to have fitness conditioning to have good gung fu?” While I understand that they are in the belief that if they have great skill they shouldn’t need to do fitness training. Well, here’s my take:
To be successful in martial arts, regardless of the style or system, you have to accept that martial arts are first and foremost, PHYSICAL. When you train in your given martial art style, you will notice that all the drills, and forms work on developing ‘attribute’ or physical skills. Some of these skills are balance, endurance, coordination, spatial awareness, and explosive power.
So will fitness training help? Yes and No. Now I know what yourself, ‘Chuck what gives, does it help or doesn’t it?’ Here the reason for my response. Fitness conditioning ( aka combat conditioning aka sport conditioning) when done properly (with the end in mind), can lead to better development of many of the attributes mentioned above. For example, if you do weight lifting, but the result is larger muscles, but your are slower, and less flexible are you adding to your martial attributes? No. But let’s say you do ‘plyometric push-ups’, the resultant is explosive power in your punches and pushes. Does that add to your attributes? Yes. So mission accomplished.
In my exploration and investigation of conditioning, I’ve found some great references. One of them was from a pioneer of modern martial arts…… Bruce Lee. The book is ‘The art of Expressing the Human Body’, a great resource. It will provide you some ideas for your training. If you’d like to get this book you can purchase it below through Amazon.com
Until Next time,
Keep Training, Keep Praying, Keep Learning,
Chuck
www.kwwingchun.com
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