How important are weights?

[trueaspirer]

I once asked my instructor whether I should lift weights or not. He told me it was up to me, that it could be helpful but wasn't necessary.
I am asking now, again. How necessary are weights to ma training? I know they help with arm strength, something I have always needed help on, but I have never really been encouraged to do so. And if it is a good idea, do i go light, like for puches and stuff, or do I go heavy and really lift?

 

[mantis]

it's necessary to keep all of your muscles active but it is not necessary to lift weights.

 

[Andrew Green]

What you do to stay in shape isn't as important as that you do stay in shape.

Weights are important if you want to maximize your potential, strength makes a big difference. Body weight excercises can get you pretty far too.

But whether weight training is neccessary depends on how far you want to go.

 

[mantis]

you just asked about breathing. when you lift weights concentrate on breathing too. this will help you with your breathing habits during fights. Exhale as you push the weights and inhale as you relax. for bench press for example exhale as you lift, inhale as you let the weights back to your chest.

 

[trueaspirer]

thanks adrew, mantis

 

[matt.m]

You know dude, it has been my experience in freestyle and greco wrestling, I even wrestled for the Marine Corps. As well as Judo Randori that weight training is not necessary. I am not a big guy. If you do body weight only and do your MA workouts you will be fine.

Actually, I found that weight training hindered my performance a bit. I got more out of towel pull and chin ups than I ever did from lat pull downs. I have gotten way more out of swings throughs and judo pushups than dead lifts and back extensions.

If you want to make body weight exercises harder then go slower on your reps. Take a 5 sec down, pause for a second and 5 sec up approach. instead of down up down up. You will see this is very hard indeed.

Also if you concentrate holding horse stance in the down position for a long time you will find it a much better exercise than dead lifts.

Peace out brother!

 

[monkey]

Weights are for those who want toneation or bulk up a bit.Now in the Shaolin temple our jobs (co-inside with the arts we did)give use the enduace to exspand our muscle growth & not over train.The Mantis had lots of Jobs like hoeing-pulling-grabbing.Some of these ran over into the monkey-tiger-lepord.The monkey also had to do brick laying & screeting.The tiger had more of washing & ringing out the 3 peice uniforms by hand.The tiger did lots of down ward climbs on the stairs(useing their hands & feet only.The monkey did up & down the stairs with skips side to side or quick bursts of short distant runs(5-10 steps.)

 

[5150HKD]

I never found lifting weights helpful.
I lifted off and on through high school and then during my first year of Hapkido. In my HKD class we do a huge amount of body weight conditioning. For the last year and a half I have not lifted, now I do cardio and body weight conditioning everyday. My performance in Hapkido has improved dramatically. For me I get a better workout this way.
Now i feel quicker and am more flexible. But weights seem to work wonderfully for some people. I guess everyone is diffrent and if you want to lift weights try it for a few weeks and see if it helps you.

Good Luck

 

[Xue Sheng]

It would depend on the type of weight training that you did, but body weight conditioning seems to work best.

Generally I do not think weight training is necessary.

 

[Marginal]

Also if you concentrate holding horse stance in the down position for a long time you will find it a much better exercise than dead lifts.

Just be careful with this one. Did that a few years back, stood up, and somethign in my right knee went poing. (Kinda felt like a rubberband going slack for lack of a better description) My knee's sounded like rice crispies ever since.

On the weights, I started with bodyweight, and have been gravitating towards weights since. Same results, way less time spent. As long as you look for functional strength rather than bodybuilding, it's hard to go wrong.

 

[Carol]

For me lifting made a difference. I lost a lot of weight quickly earlier in the year when I had bronchitis...and lost some muscle tissue in the process. I didn't have a lot of it to begin with so the weight loss really hurt my Kenpo.

What I gained back could have been done with body weight exercises alone, but the combination of body weight exercises and lifting seemed to fit my life better.

I agree with Andrew Green...what matters most is that you stay in shape.

 

[annie]

At least once a week we go through our forms, blocks and strikes with 5# weights in each hand. We go very slowly and concentrate on our breathing and technique.

 

[Brandon Fisher]

Western style weight lifting ie: goign to the gym to work out doesn't totally focus on MA training. I would look into more classical japanese strength training ie: hojo undo. Google hojo undo and see what you find.

 

[Henderson]

I wouldn't call weight training an important part of martial arts either, but it couldn't hurt. Afterall, when has being stronger been a hindrance?

One other thing though...if you incorporate weights into your training regimen, add stretching as well. Nothing worse than strong guys with no flexibility.

My $.02


Frank

 

[Gemini]

Personally, I prefer just body weight exercises.

 

[FuriousGeorge]

Some of the best guys at my gym are the small skinny dudes...the moral: technique is king. But strength will help in the absense of good technique...I do bodyweight exercises only.

 

[MJS]

I once asked my instructor whether I should lift weights or not. He told me it was up to me, that it could be helpful but wasn't necessary.
I am asking now, again. How necessary are weights to ma training? I know they help with arm strength, something I have always needed help on, but I have never really been encouraged to do so. And if it is a good idea, do i go light, like for puches and stuff, or do I go heavy and really lift?

There are many weight lifting programs out there. I'd suggest finding one that best suited your needs/goals, if this is something that you wanted to do. Doing some body weight exercises such as push ups, sit ups, squats, etc. can provide some good results. Of course, having a good diet is very important as well.

Mike

 

[Ceicei]

I feel they are important in helping build strength. Free weights and body-weight do better. However, if done properly, using weight-lifting machines are good too. I do a variety of all three.

- Ceicei

 

[tkd_jen]

I am with Gemini on this one, I love body weight exercises. I do however do a little weight training for my acl/meniscus rehab. This has seemed to help quite a bit to regain lost strength, flexibility and range of motion. Otherwise give me pushups and burpees any day!

 

[Brother John]

weight training or any form of resistance training will help you reach toward your strength potential and can really be great for helping you avoid injury.
DO research!!! Look into it, don't just skim the surface. Go get a book on the subject of weight training for sports (NOT weight training for martial arts. I've seen one out of maybe 15 such books that was worth Anything... most MA authors haven't a clue in resistance training). Study it and then shape your program to fit your goals.

Your Brother
John