Balance in endurance training

[trueaspirer]

Achieving a balanced endurance training session can be a hard thing to accomplish. People tend to lean, even without knowing it, towards what they are best at. Runners will spend a long time running, dedicating almost no time at all to anything else. People who are excellent at pushups will find it hard to put time in with situps. Even people who are good at laying out their time in an orderly fashion are prone to this. For instance, I am good at situps, and tend to spend more time on that alone than I should. Of course, there's nothing wrong with practicing your specialty, it is good to train with something you are good at, it makes up for your weaknesses. But a balance is also required. Any martial artist requires a spread of abilities. All muscles should be toned, but not overtrained: a martial artist is, generally, not really a weight lifter.
Well, how to avoid this problem? A good way is to set goals. A person will find it easier to keep training in a certain way if they know what they are going for. Another is to train with a partner. There's something about training in pairs, or in groups, that simply cannot be acchieved by oneself. A person is spurred on, tries harder. The mindset is also different. Rather than an optional training time that you loosely stick to, it becomes a neccessity in your mind, a definate, and becomes easier and more fun to stick to.
Push yourself. If you know that you can do something, do it. It might be hard to do something you do not want to do, but as you push, you will find it getting easier, that you are getting into your stride.
This applies to more than just endurance training. Any kind of training, martial arts or otherwise, can be aided by this kind of idea.
All in all, its more about what you want to do than what you can do.

 

[ChrisWTK]

I like this post. It's very true. I know personally I like to work on my legs, while I tend to be lazy about anything with my arms.I've got weights in my room which are collecting dust while I use my ankle weights often.

I like how you said that martial artists aren't weight lifters. Being bulky isn't needed, and can sometimes impede your movement if it's in excess, so it's important to remember to do high reps/low weight to build strength but not size.

Martial artists use their whole body to fight, even when punching you're using your legs to get more power. Your shoulders and hips all move together when doing a kick, so I agree with you, balance is necessary.

And yeah, it's always fun with someone else, it makes it a little competitive to get you to work harder.

 

[monkey]

For endurance on Chi sau I require 3 things for a good Chi player.1- they can deploy hard & soft styles so they have continuety in Tai chi like & karate like.2-The do not only chisau to condition the body to take or with stand hits but, full pads spar all out.3-Ballance I have them do chisau on Railraod tracks with chi jerk & other kicks & traps ect.

 

[FuriousGeorge]

good observation!!! I agree. In my own training, I try and focus on the exercises that are the hardest and I hate the most (i.e. pullups)...because the other ones come more naturally. This is also an exercise in discipline.