Hello

[stephen mcnally]

Stephen

Welcome aboard!

- Bill

Thank you, Bill.

I confess to being an avid reader but infrequent post-er. I was tempted in by the my familiarity with those posting.

However, now that I've started ....

Steve

[Bill Glasheen]

I have a former student (Andrea Bugari) floating around in the area. She's been looking for Uechi for years, but not being able to find any. Last I heard, she ended up studying something different.

With all you Brits coming out on the forums, I'll have to check her address again and see if maybe she can touch base.

I'll get back on this.

- Bill

[jorvik]

Well I must confess to an interest in weight training and in Ma.......but that is the simple part, then it gets really quite complex, with a whole lot of questions and very few definite answers
what are the best exercises to fight............I would think power lifting, from what I've read on this forum i.e. heavy weights with a couple of reps say 3 for a set of 5, because it gives you a quick start, I mean good excelaration 0-50 or whatever.and also to wrestle....plus real-fights tend to last nano seconds and not 10 rounds also the Chinese idea of Fa-Jing seems to tie in with olympic powerlifting theories


for sport and sparring you would need to develop stamina so maybe a general bodybuilding type workout
and for aesthetics.that also........and what about specifics for folks who do Uechi?? what would be their best bet
what is the minimum for anyone to do?...................
and one final point if I haven't bored everyone to bits what about age, as I've said I'm 50 shortly, but I've done weighty type stuff for a good few years, should I continue to train.and if so for how long? ......what about folks my age who have never lifted weights.should they start.
Bill any chance of posting some general workouts with photos etc give folks an idea what to do

[Bill Glasheen]

jorvik

You sure ask a lot of questions...

I've been watching the evolution of weight training. Indeed many are now gravitating either to the standard Olympic lifts, or variations on the theme.

Again...I believe in periodization. Do 12-week cycles. Start off with sets of 10, and finish the cycle with sets of 3 to 5. We must constantly fool and shock the body to maintain progress and avoid repetitive motion injuries.

Also...it's important to remember that fighting involves many, many different skills. Sometimes we need to move quickly with little resistance to movement. Sometimes we need to move a large object. Sometimes we need to move quickly to a large object, and then have force penetrate through that large object. Sometimes we need to stop a force, and sometimes we need to feel and go with a force. So lifting should reflect the need to develop all these skills.

Also remember that weight training isn't just about being ready for the fight. Weight training is also there to give us the endurance, power, strength and speed to survive all the workouts we need to do to get ready for the fight. The first thing we do to prepare for fighting is to show up at the gym. And that can't happen if we're constantly nursing injuries brought on by poor conditioning.

The important thing to remember is that the lifting should bring the maximum benefit to the sport or fighting art. That isn't going to happen with a lot of muscle isolation. A puncher will continue to bench-press a punch and a Uechika will continue to do Robot Ryu Sanchin until the day the lightbulb goes off and they realize that it's the body that drives the arm. The bench and curl stuff is there to round the package out, and to help us look our best on the beach. With the Olympic lifts, we're always limited with the issue of the direction of gravity vs. the direction that we wish to deliver force in our activity. Machines and special exercises are needed to balance the body out.

Eighty percent of what is good for most sports is good for the Uechika. But from there, I would recommend some extras.

* A Uechika should dedicate some strength training to the calves, the ankle flexors (to repair damage from shins getting pounded), ankle inversion/eversion, and toes.

* All karateka need to work on the hip flexors, hip abductors, and hip adductors. For the sanchin practitioner, rotation of the leg in the hip sockets should also be addressed - at least with some PNF stretches. Both strength AND flexibility need to be worked on. This gives you the necessary kicking range of motion and leg dexterity. It also helps with whole-body power for both kicks and hand techniques.

* All karateka need to work on ALL degrees of freedom of motion of the trunk.

* A Uechika needs to work on foreams, wrists, and fingers.

* Don't forget the neck, and even the jaw muscles.

* Don't forget breathing work that gets at the diaphragm and the intercostal muscles.

I'm 50 shortly, but I've done weighty type stuff for a good few years, should I continue to train.and if so for how long?

I'm already fifty, and I have no cartilage in my right knee. And yet I still do squats, walking lunges, and Olympic lifts like power cleans.

Research has shown benefit from weight training even for folks in their 80s.

The important thing to remember is to adjust to your needs and goals. You can't lift as hard and as often at age 50 as you can at age 20. But both ages benefit. Also you will need to adjust to specific injuries and medical conditions. But adjustment does not mean quitting.

As for a real "how to" book, well... I keep looking for ideal books out there. I find a few here and there, and I even find some nice sites out there now and then. Perhaps this is an opportunity for a book. We shall see...

- Bill

[MikeK]

plus real-fights tend to last nano seconds and not 10 rounds

True, but an intense 10 second fight can leave you drained. Figure in also that you may have to make a run for it in the real world with the fight happening either before or after. Make sure that your cardio is good.

Good advice Bill. I'm trying to get into good enough shape to do good enough workouts. What kind of excercises do you suggest for the hip flexors, hip abductors, and hip adductors?

[jorvik]

Bill thanks for the in depth reply
at the present time I've started to concentrate on bodyweight exercises.mainly so i don't overwork my shoulder......it's funny how quickly you lose the strength for that type of activity..i used to do near on 100 pushups outright no break, now I struggle at half that.....I'll see how I get on in another 3 months then I'll go back on the weights again

[Bill Glasheen]

What kind of excercises do you suggest for the hip flexors, hip abductors, and hip adductors?

For the abductors and adductors, we are lucky. We have 2 different machines in the gym that work these. One set is even one of the Strive machines that has an adjustable, variable cam.

Al, a student of mine who is an occupational therapist, calls these the "good girl, bad girl" machines. You can apply your own ideas as to which leg activity would be "good", and which is "bad."

As for the hip flexor, well there are a number you can do. Leg lifts are the standard.

I happen to prefer using the cable pull machines. I bring the adjustable machine link down to the floor, and put just the steel ring on the end of the hook. I lie on my back with one foot on the floor, and hook my other foot through the cable pull handle. After sliding back so that the weights are slightly lifted with leg extended, I then proceed to pull my knee to my chest. This turns out to look and feel a lot like a classic crane motion, only you have a fixed, controlled resistance to the motion.

By the way, all these exercises are great opportunities to work on range of motion. The machines themselves work on that. However I highly recommend stretching the muscles inbetween working them in the repeated sets. These exercises in particular are important to combine with stretching. Warm muscles stretch best, and working on flexibility and strength at the same time offers a synergistic effect.

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Hip adductor machine

Hip abductor machine