Over-training

[Eduu]

Many thanks to both of you Markus and Haltia for your replies. They helped me quite a lot. I'll ask my Sifu and i'll try to focus on what i've learned directly. I will have time to practise horse stance and others in the future.

For the past days i've been practising just lifting the sky and chi flow and i can tell that i feel better. Hope it keeps that way in the next few days!

Haltia, you said that weight lifting ain't good for Kung Fu training. What do you think about bodyweight training? My opinion is that either in weight lifting or just bodyweight training depending on the exercise you could be improving your kung fu.
I explain myself. There are many exercises in the gym that are not that useful except maybe (sometimes even not) for muscle mass growing. For example many machines exercises. However, dead lift, pull ups, push ups, squats (with different varietys) for sure can improve your martial arts training.

The reason is that you use not only your main muscles, but many secondary ones and stabilizing muscles. In my case i train either at home or in the park without weights, and i can assure that many of these exercises improve your condition overall. It helps you control your body much better. Think about proffesionals in gymanistics, they train every single muscle.

Kind regards!

[MichaelS]

Dear Eduu,

about exercises like push-ups without weights:

At the recent courses in Oslo I asked: in the past I would do some push-ups etc. and started to miss them, could I do some of these or do ‘Taming Tiger’ (meant is the pattern where you do push-ups on your fingers as Chi Gung: http://www.shaolin.org/general-2/won...i-hoong05.html)

Sitaigung answered that this is a case of not worrying about it. Like if I’d make normal push-ups my benefits would be less as with ‘Taming Tiger’ but it wouldn’t be a problem (note: I’ve learned ‘Taming Tiger’ from Sitaigung last year as participant of the ‘Legacy of Ho Fatt Nam’ course in Zurich, so was not referring to training a pattern I didn’t learn from a Sifu).

Sifu Markus Kahila of Finland was so kind to add the comment, that he sometimes drives by a place on a bicycle where there is a type of ladder on stilts and he just stops and jumps up to it and sort of exercises a bit just for fun without thinking about it, just to keep his body/metabolism going (like after the workplace).

So, hope this info is useful, but obviously cannot say something about how you are ‘exercising’ and just to make it clear, my answer was not related to ‘body-building’ or training with weights at a gym. I’ve never done ‘body-building’ and even from a ‘traditional perspective’ I didn’t feel drawn to it. My impression is, they built up ‘dead weight’ muscles that their metabolism cannot sustain. I’ve met ‘good-looking’ body-builders that could not paint a ceiling because they could not hold up their (over-)muscular arms long enough or that could not keep up hiking in the mountains with a group and had to go back slowly. Also Physiotherapists told me that these muscles (and the ‘six-pack-pictures’) are all unhealthy and unnatural, as they are obviously tensed all the time, whereas naturally a muscle is almost all of the time relaxed and also that the body regulates the ‘muscle-mass’ naturally according to how it is used and what’s needed.

Thank you,
Best regards,
Michael

[Eduu]

First of all, sorry for replying so late.

Well, i can say that some of your statements escape, in some way, from my understanding. Do not take this as a critical comment, i just say it in a humble way. I've read in this forum about the importance of tense-not tense muscles, and it seems quite consistent, but i really cannot speak about this because it goes beyond my knowledge, totally. However, if Sifu Wong expresses so, he must have his reasons.

In some way, if i train as i've said, bodybuilding in general, i do not intellectualize too much about it, if it is bad or not as you tense your muscles, so i hope this is good .
What i believe it brings me: Prevention against injuries, i feel great overall in comparison with doing nothing, it helps me when practising other sports, my body feels stronger, more flexible... I have fun progressing and doing different types of exercises, its just not about the result, but about enjoying it too, and if you like the results (meaning everything it brings you, not only aesthetically speaking) you can be happier, like when you train Chi Kung, Kung Fu or whatever other thing you like.

Of course i can be mistaken, but if you just train this way, except when it is obviously bad for yourself, if it makes you, lets say happy, if you enjoy, is it bad? Anyway it is a so interesting topic!

[Eduu]

No problem at all! In fact it may be my problem, english understanding too 😅. You're right, it depends on each person, for sure there are many people that going to the gym or similar ain't good, and for others simply the opposite.

I don't go to the gym though, i train at home or i go to the park, just bodyweight training!