Martial Arts Training

[Manpaal Singh]

there is a good post on sikh inspired fitness.

http://sikhinspiredfitness.forums-free.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=717&p=2930#p2930

i myself am interested in your training routines. please contribute, either here or on the sikh inspired fitness forum.

[shaheediyan]

Veer Ji, your training seems random (with all due respect). What style do you learn?

In all honesty, you need to ask your Teacher how to practice, as different style place emphasis on different things.

Some styles don't do stretches, they simple train (and the relevant stretching, muscle/tendon strengthening occurs during the drills etc).

Some are sport based (modern) and include weights, cardio, stretches etc.

Some are drill based, others are based on sparring, others still based on perfecting forms.

It's best to tailor your training regime to your style with your Teachers advice.

[Manpaal Singh]

Veer Ji, your training seems random (with all due respect). What style do you learn?

In all honesty, you need to ask your Teacher how to practice, as different style place emphasis on different things.

Some styles don't do stretches, they simple train (and the relevant stretching, muscle/tendon strengthening occurs during the drills etc).

Some are sport based (modern) and include weights, cardio, stretches etc.

Some are drill based, others are based on sparring, others still based on perfecting forms.

It's best to tailor your training regime to your style with your Teachers advice.

the routine isnt mine, atm im not doin much training, i personally have done a bit of eskrima, and am going to start shastar vidya soon aswell. i just thought it would be good to know how everyone trains, we can all give ideas and help each other out.

would you say just practice the latest lesson and just shadow fight or train with a partner. i personally like the idea of training your latest lesson as the one and only bruce lee says ' i do not fear a man who has trained 1000 kicks once but a man who has trained one kick 1000 times.

[shaheediyan]

Maha Singh on this forum is the best person to give advice on Shastar Vidya.

It's best to wait and start the style, and then take it from there. In terms pf preperation, you can start doing Indian Exercises i.e. daand, betkan, leg raises, warrior pose (yoga) etc to give you strength and flexibility in the right areas.

In my Shastar Vidya experience, I found repeating pentrai hundreds of times (taking into account the subtle corrections which are highlighted in class) made me comfortable with foot/body/hand movements and not have to think about them. Once comfortable (and your Teacher is happy with your technique) then you can focus on basic applications - its good to have different partners to practice with so that you are able to test out the correctness of your technique on people of different sizes, power, speeds etc. I wouldn't recomment just practicing with one person all the time. Next, do abyaas on the pentra, go through lessons in your head, go through your weakeness in your head and think back to where you got caught out, find solutions or remember to ask your teacher for solutions next time. Imagine varying scenarious, different types of attack, how you would counter, how you would counter counter etc etc. The mind is where the real training happens. If the mind gets a good grasp (of the principles) the body will know what to do in varying situations.

Shadow boxing style training as you mentioned is good also, but always better to find people to practice with (IMO), that is the best way to learn. A shadow cannot tell you if you have unbalanced it or hit it in the right point, nor can you read a shadows face when you need feedback to tell you your hold/strike has caused pain, or that you have not killed someone (i.e. with a real person you learn to exercise control).

Same goes for conditioning drills. Many arts use inanimate objects, but nothing is better for conditioning ones body than another person, as the test ultimately will be on another body, its the most natural and traditional form of conditioning.

The quote you give sums it up. Better to have perfected one technique (and understood it) than to have a reportoire of a thousand. What it comes down to is always practicing the basics, again and again and again, never forget them when you move onto more complex techniques, as the basics contain the key to every concievable application.

Good luck with your training.

Edited April 19, 2010 by shaheediyan

[Manpaal Singh]

thanks, great advice.