Body Hardening Exercises

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Kwanjang

Kwanjang

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You'll get no disagreement from me...but deadening the nerves in your shins by rolling bottles on them, punching hard surfaces to fuse your knuckles into "Super knuckles"...not neccessary.

opne can gert stronger joints from a comprehensive weight training program...one will also hit harder, become faster, potentially have more flexibility (if they train that), have denser bones and better anaerobic endurance too.

I'd rather spend time hittin ghte heavy bag and lifting weights as my conditioning. I get more bang for my buck and less possibly deleterious side effects.

peace,
Erik

I am completely with you on the heavybag and weight training!
 

Mimir

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I like the forearm drills that we do from time to time because this area is what I tend to use most when blocking while sparring. I also like using the heavy bag to work my punches because, while I don't want my knuckles to expand and arthritic, I do think it toughens the skin of the knuckles and also strengthens the wrist.

"knuckles" (basically the up position of a knuckle pushup) was a favorite punishment of my father when I was growing up. If we particularly ticked him off, we had to do it on the linolium in the kitchen. I have to say it was a very effective deterent.
 

Daniel Sullivan

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As with anything, moderation and caution is called for. Can you injure yourself with these training methods? Sure. You can also kill your knees and hips from excessive high kicking, but that's hardly at the forefront of your mind on a TKD forum, is it?
I don't know; longevity of my knees is fairly high on my list. I do some high kicking training, but not exclusively. I mainly want to enhance the ease with which I can perform low and mid level kicks.

Everything has it's place and time. If it's not for you, fine. At the same time, I daresay it's still possible to condition your natural weapons without experiencing debilitating effects later in life. I've seen it firsthand with my sensei and sempai.
I would agree.

Daniel
 

YoungMan

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Toughening exercises I have done:
Kwon go training, sandbag practice, knuckle pushups, strking hard surfaces to practice penetration (this should be quantified: I recommend knife hand or another soft surface if you're going to hit a wall or tree).
I do not recommend bone to bone. Bones can be broken this way, yours as well as someone else's.
I am in favor of toughening exercises as long as they are done correctly to spare you a lot of long term pain and damage. What sounded good at 20 can bite you later on.
 

SJON

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I agree with Youngman on the bone-to-bone thing. If you want to toughen your shins and forearms for striking or blocking, do it progressively on the heavy bag.

Recently for hand conditioning I'm using something which I suspect may be called a wall bag. It's something like a padded makiwara with a protruding "head" section at the top, and I'm finding it really useful for forefist, palmheel, hammerfist and knifehand strikes.
 

zDom

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I agree with Youngman on the bone-to-bone thing. If you want to toughen your shins and forearms for striking or blocking, do it progressively on the heavy bag.

Recently for hand conditioning I'm using something which I suspect may be called a wall bag. It's something like a padded makiwara with a protruding "head" section at the top, and I'm finding it really useful for forefist, palmheel, hammerfist and knifehand strikes.

Got a pic of it you can post?
 

SJON

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I really don't know. I guess this isn't the only manufacturer.

One thing to consider is that this piece of equipment is very solid, and causes more of a jarring effect when struck than the heavy bag does, as it doesn't move.
 

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