Weight loss affecting Martial Arts performance
jfinnivan
Posts: 360 Member
My style of karate is Uechi-ryu. It is considered a "hard" style (as opposed to a "soft" style). One of the biggest parts of our style is a test we perform for our first kata called Sanchin Testing. The kata is Sanchin, and the test involves removing your shirt, and standing in your Sanchin Stance while the tester strikes your abdoman, arms, legs, neck, etc. This is designed to demonstrate the ability to absorb the impact and maintain the proper stance and dynamic tension in your body. As you advance in rank, the testing typically involves harder and harder strikes.
To train for the ability to take this kind of pounding, we have activities that are designed to get us used to it. We do arm. leg, abdomen, etc. conditioning, which involves two people hitting each other in specific ways to toughen us up.
I used be great with this. I could take a pretty brutal pounding just about anywhere. I still can, but it hurts like hell now.
After loosing 30 pounds, my whole body dynamic has changed. I have less fat, which means less padding. This means more pain when conditioning. We did arm conditioning the other night, and the pain was bad! Getting punched in the abdomen, I am sliding backwards instead of sticking to the floor. Sparring is different also, since I have 30 fewer pounds to throw around.
I'm slowly getting more comfortable with the reduced weight, and I'm putting an effort into bulking up by lifting and doing P90X, but it has really surprised me how things have changed. Has anyone else seen this affect with weight loss and martial arts?
To train for the ability to take this kind of pounding, we have activities that are designed to get us used to it. We do arm. leg, abdomen, etc. conditioning, which involves two people hitting each other in specific ways to toughen us up.
I used be great with this. I could take a pretty brutal pounding just about anywhere. I still can, but it hurts like hell now.
After loosing 30 pounds, my whole body dynamic has changed. I have less fat, which means less padding. This means more pain when conditioning. We did arm conditioning the other night, and the pain was bad! Getting punched in the abdomen, I am sliding backwards instead of sticking to the floor. Sparring is different also, since I have 30 fewer pounds to throw around.
I'm slowly getting more comfortable with the reduced weight, and I'm putting an effort into bulking up by lifting and doing P90X, but it has really surprised me how things have changed. Has anyone else seen this affect with weight loss and martial arts?
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I feel the opposite.
Doing Muay Thai... I find I'm a lot MORE stable as I lose weight. The weight loss also comes with a significant increase in strength.
I couldn't take any hit in the stomach (For other reasons) but the combination of loss of belly fat plus gain in core strength results in better muscle tension. I had a bowl full of jelly, but now I've got rocks under that remaining flab.
Tense muscles are like body armor. If you're getting hit and you aren't flexing area- OUCH!
I'm also much, much faster without the weight slowing me down. Be sure you're taking advantage of that.
Not sure about that whole punched in the neck thing. That feels like a bad idea in general despite conditioning.0 -
Interesting. Conditioning is a big part of my style. The neck hits are really targeted at the traps in the back. Like you said, I have noticed my speed is higher since I've lost the weight. The belly fat was great padding for belly hits, and I've been concentrating on ab building, and it has helped. The biggest change I noticed is forearm conditioning. My arms are now more bony, which makes it tougher to take the hit, but as an added benefit, the person hitting me gets more pain as well! My next test is next Spring, so I should have it well in hand by then. It just surprised me how dramatic the change was.
BTW, If I had more time in my life, I would learn Muay Thai. It looks fantastic.0 -
I'm curious though - are you being hit with MMA gloves/sparring gloves or something else?0
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Being hit with bare fists and feet.0
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Interesting, part of Jeet Kunde Do includes a version of Wing Tsun. Wing Tsun pretty much takes place in a rectangle from the shoulders to the hips. Part of our practice includes strength blocks designed to fend off power kicks. The three main blocks are Kat-sao, sam-sao & sing-sao (Low forearm block, high forearm block and sweeping back fist block) The training for these is brutal!
When I started the class and we did this training, it sucked but was bearable. Now that I have lost a significant amount of weight is seems that I am striking bone to bone on every block and each strike makes my whole body shudder!
This is one of the reasons I have started weight training. My Shihan suggested that as I increase the muscle mass on my forearms. I will be able to better tolerate these power blocks and at the same time add "explosive" power to my direct punches and the multitude of punch blocks.0 -
I definately think strength training would help in this area. Stronglifts 5x5 only takes about an hr to complete and involves compound exercises. While I've lost fat, I've definatly toned my forarms and strengthened my abs.0
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Nothing conditions you for taking strikes other than taking strikes... it sounds like you just need to take more strikes in your "new" body.
Fat functions like a glove or like headgear... the impact is dispersed over a wider area so that it doesn't impart as much energy into a single point. Your absence of fat is like being punched without the glove on or without wearing headgear. The only difference is that instead of the striker wearing the glove, you were.
Dunno about that whole "sliding across the floor" part... to me, that sounds stance/strength related. I guess the same principle could apply... impact that was being dispersed across your gut is now transmitted more directly into your frame, forcing you to move when struck. And I guess there is probably the physics angle... a heavier object takes more energy to get moving.0 -
Agreed. That's why I'm conditioning at least once per week, and it is slowly getting better. The sliding part is due to simple physics, and is OK as long I maintain my stance and balance. You can grip the floor with feet and toes, but you can only do so much with bare and sweaty feet.0
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I know this suggestion is going to sound awfully silly but the people I have known with the best forearm muscle and tone are drummers. Between playing for hours a day, tapping on everything and doing exercises like "playing" on a pillow for more than 30 minutes on both hands every day, they develop some incredible forearms. If you can find youtube videos that demonstrate good technique and are willing to buy a pair of marching drumsticks and beat them against a pillow every day, you will start to notice a difference in only a few weeks. You'll still have the bone there, but the muscle tends to extend slightly beyond the bone so there's at least some deflection of the immediate force against your bone.0
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Interesting. I have an electronic drumming machine I keep meaning to start working with. Maybe this is a good excuse!I know this suggestion is going to sound awfully silly but the people I have known with the best forearm muscle and tone are drummers. Between playing for hours a day, tapping on everything and doing exercises like "playing" on a pillow for more than 30 minutes on both hands every day, they develop some incredible forearms. If you can find youtube videos that demonstrate good technique and are willing to buy a pair of marching drumsticks and beat them against a pillow every day, you will start to notice a difference in only a few weeks. You'll still have the bone there, but the muscle tends to extend slightly beyond the bone so there's at least some deflection of the immediate force against your bone.0 -
I practice Seven Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu which is all about speed and low stances. So losing weight is a plus and a necessity which is one of the reasons why I am losing weight.0
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HA! I noticed about a month ago, that blocks along my shins and forearms during kyu and dan kumite were starting to really hurt again, like I was back as a white belt, and my thighs were getting covered in bruises from leg conditioning. I attribute it to my body losing fat, and that layer of padding is not there anymore, so now I have to re-condition. I've also never ever seen my sensei sanchin test a woman, since I'm the first to get this high in kyu rank. I know he goes light on me when he doesn't have to, when he goes way heavier on the higher rank dans during regular class sanchin focus tests. I'll be curious to see if he goes light on me during my formal sanchin test for sandan...0
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Take him aside and tell him you want to be pushed to your personal limit. If it's not hard enough, tell him to hit harder! He will learn what your limits are, and eventually push you a little further.
I noticed a huge difference in my sanchin testing when I lost 30 pounds off my stomach. There was far less fat to absorb the hit, and I had to re-learn my own body dynamics. It took a while, but I'm back. Doing ab exercises (P90X Ab Ripper X) definitely helped.0
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