In Elements of Punching, 2, I mentioned using the idea behind sanchin kata found in Shito Ryu (and other forms) of karate. It involves going through the motions of a kata as you breathe deeply and keep all muscles tensed.
One of the objects is to turn the karateka's musculature into a living suit of armor impervious to the blows of an adversary. The strong contractions while performing sanchin strengthen and harden the muscles.
This is almost identical to one of the principles that John E. Peterson teaches: Dynamic Visualized Resistance (DVR) in his book Pushing Yourself to Power. Over the past two or three weeks, I have tried to harness this principle in my training.
I have developed my own little "kata" which involves the combat wedge, kneeing, palm-heel strikes, elbow strikes and judo chops. I perform each move as I would on a real opponent, only slowly with muscles tensed.
It's strength training combined with skills training, and it seems to complement (not compliment, please!) my fitness training. I like it.
Here is a video of the traditional sanchin kata along with explanation.
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2 comments:
I'm curious, how much of Pushing Yourself to Power do you use? In other words, do you obey it to the letter or adapt bits of it into your routine?
Spencer
I adapt it into my routine. It's a great catalogue of bodyweight exercises.
I do modified Atlas pushups (due to shoulder injury, I can't go all the way down) three days a week (130 yesterday -- what can I say? I'm a wimp).
On the days between, in addition to my "pseudo shanchin" kata, I do two or three DVR or DSR exercises, and on the Lord's day, I let my body rest.
I made up one of my favorite DVR exercises after internalizing the principle from the book.
The value of "Pushing Yourself to Power" lies in that is shows what you can achieve with bodyweight exercise. I used to work out with weights, and I've paid the price with joint problems. And, as Peterson has written, the DVR/DSR exercises have not aggravated the injuries, and I think there has been some improvement.
I don't think there would be any problem with following the book to the letter, and for someone who needs a packaged program, I don't think you could do much better than that.
At this stage of my life, however, I'm not shooting for a slot in the Olympics. So, I just take what suits my purposes. My point is that you are unique (same as everyone else), so you should do what fits you rather than what fits me.
Sorry to ramble on so. Hope that helps.
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