| How strength training affects your performance. | | | | these were seen as highly advanced arts, not to |
| Depending on who you talk to, supplementing | | | | be mixed with brutish weight lifting. The training |
| your combat training with weight training is either | | | | itself imbued the practitioner with enough strength |
| totally indispensable or a complete waste of time. | | | | to be an expert in their art. This would probably |
| So who's right? | | | | be the equivalent to our gymnastics bodyweight |
| The Traditionalist View - Why You Shouldn't Train | | | | training that we have today - practitioners |
| With Weights | | | | developed strength through repeated bodyweight |
| Most of the old masters, and some today, would | | | | training, not by using weights. |
| tell you to not bother wasting your time training | | | | So, what happened when East met West? Well, |
| with weights. They say that technique is | | | | martial artists do what they always do - some |
| everything, and training technical skills enough will | | | | stayed practicing what they always had out of a |
| give you all the necessary strength and speed to | | | | sense of tradition, but some looked to develop |
| execute your techniques flawlessly. | | | | themselves using all the knowledge and tools |
| They also argue that you'll have more time to | | | | available to them, and one of those methods was |
| train technique as you won't be wasting x number | | | | to add strength training. |
| of hours a week with weights. Not to mention | | | | It's here I'm going to have to mention probably |
| that having bigger muscles will make slow you | | | | the greatest forerunner of Mixed Martial Arts , |
| down and possibly make you muscle bound and | | | | Bruce Lee. |
| less flexible. | | | | Bruce grew up practicing Wing Chun in the |
| Leung Ting, a Wing Chun (branded as Wing Tsun) | | | | traditional manner. He was constantly striving to |
| kung fu master, is a proponent of this school of | | | | improve though, which led him to creating his own |
| thought. An example would be when someone | | | | martial art, Jeet Kune Do. Another thing he did |
| punches, and they have a large bicep which | | | | was to incorporate the latest weight and |
| doesn't relax, then the punch is slowed and | | | | power-lifting techniques into his training, and with |
| robbed of power. | | | | spectacular results that I'm sure you've seen and |
| There is also the issue of the internal martial arts, | | | | heard about. |
| that theoretically shouldn't ever use hard force | | | | Today we have the relatively new discipline of |
| anyway - Tai Chi, Bagua and Xing Yi, for example. | | | | MMA, Mixed Martial Arts. Combing all the four |
| These arts are primarily based around redirecting | | | | ranges of combat (kicking, punching, trapping and |
| your opponents force and using it against them, | | | | grappling), to train without weights would be |
| so weight training would seem to be pretty | | | | unthinkable, as it would give a huge advantage to |
| redundant. | | | | your opponent. |
| It all seems to make sense. So why should we | | | | The Main Benefits of Strength Training |
| even consider using weights? | | | | The science of sport is constantly evolving, and |
| The Modern View - Why You Should Train With | | | | weight training will: |
| Weights | | | | |
| Where did the idea of combining weight training | | | | 1. Make you stronger |
| with martial arts come from? Well, in the West it | | | | 2. Make you faster |
| seemed pretty straightforward. Moving heavy | | | | 3. Make you more able to withstand attacks |
| stuff made bigger muscles, with bigger muscles | | | | 4. All these will make you more a more powerful |
| people are stronger, and when a stronger person | | | | fighter. |
| hits you it hurts more than when a weak person | | | | All these are, of course, in addition to the benefits |
| does. Easy! | | | | that regular exercise and training give you |
| A lot of martial arts reflected that - boxing and | | | | anyway; the ability to defend yourself and loved |
| wrestling from the Greco-Roman tradition, mainly, | | | | ones, more confidence, less stress, better health |
| that continues to this day. | | | | and better flexibility. |
| In the East, a slightly more circuitous route was | | | | Watch out for another article coming soon on |
| taken. Phenomenal fighting skills were developed, | | | | how to increase your explosive speed with weight |
| refined and developed some more, utilizing | | | | training! |
| amazing gymnastic and body skills. Over time, | | | | |