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  • Strength Training

    Being in the current situation I am in, it would be best for me to continue strength training, or atleast maintaining my strength. The predicamanet I am in calls for me to abandon the fully stocked gym for over two years or more. I would like to know what kind of equipment I should get my hands on to keep working out or maintaining current strength.

    I am taking a look at a Bowflex right now, and I just don't know if it is the same thing. At the site (http://www.bowflex.com/index.asp) it talks about how Bowflex is good for building muscle, losing wieght, etc...that's all fine and dandy, but does it give the same result as weight lifting?

    Eh, I guess resistance training could be more or less weight lifting, it's all pushing and pulling against gravity anyway, right? Makes you wonder what the equivalance of the resistance is to weights...hmmm

    Anybody got a bowflex? Anything you guys want to say about it?

    I don't know how I arrived at this question, but does the amount of pushups you do keep your strength up? I remember reading about training for endurance, strength, and bulking up, but...say if you're some place with no equipment at all, could you do a few hundred push-ups to make sure you don't lose any strength?
    Becoming what I've dreamed about.

  • #2
    Nice looking machine there.. I have the old "Total Gym 1000" which is not too bad really considering it cost just $200 and Chuck Norris takes one everywhere with him!

    Seems to work anyway.. I go though phases where I train with it every day and I do get visible results. Only snag is I always have this nagging feeling that the damn thing will collapse under me one day and I'll end up in hospital!

    total gym review

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    • #3
      I always wanted to try a total gym. They always looked great for training, cause you could use it for kicks and stuff, or to help you stretch. It's just a really simple, useful machine. It's simplicity in design makes it really flexible to do a large number of exercises.

      But hey, that is just me talking from watching the commercials.
      Becoming what I've dreamed about.

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      • #4
        Total gyms are great, and I once used one some yrs back and had to add a chick over 5 X my bw ( for everything from flys to pushups ) just to get a decent amount of resistance ..If you have any idea how tiny I am , It was actually quite funny.........

        but the point is that I think you can develop much better strength gains doing just a reg full body bw set and incorperating some free weight sets no more than 3 x a week with enduro work or 5 x without . I'm actually having a slight issue with this myself because now that I'm training to fight in a ring and have divisions to consider, it's something that I really need to give some thought to. According to my current plan I end up doing a sh*t load of cardio and endurance, and to the best of my knowledge of all relevant studies, while training strength together with either ( and particularly endurance ) you can only acheive strngth gains in the first 8 - 10 weeks. After that, not only do your gains stop increasing but the endurance starts to strip what you already have.
        I've kind of been considering this as part of a more permanent cycle and I think if a person can do the 8 week plan in conjunction with some eduro training , then rest from the strength plan ( weights ) for maybe 4 weeks ( to recover to pre - cycle rest state ) and trade it off for some extra cardio interim , then as a 12 week cycle, it really should be a reallly dynamic way to build muscle mass and still retain your cardio and enduro .

        The trainer I'm with at the moment, has what I think one of the densest muscled bods on the whole cirucuit, and the guy's only 26. I also looked at training with the world title holder a few divisions higher, but only last nightas I tossed in my sleep, I realised that he's just not making the most of his package .
        My trainer is dense and ripped and he has some of the best looking cardio/ endurance I've seen in a fighter recently aswell. I 'm going to hit him with some questions on it,and how he's doing it and although they consider this information exclusive "training secrets " and it's the main thing that differentiates one from the other. If I get any good information, I'll let you all know. Good luck with your own

        BL
        Last edited by blooming tianshi lotus; 02-17-2005, 04:20 AM.

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        • #5
          here's my take on the subject: strentgh training for what? depending on what goals you are trying to achieve, you'll most likely want to develope a personalized workout.

          for instance, if you are training in an art like shuaichiao, judo,... you really want to work your back, legs, hands.... i believe that the exercises that you do, should be a complement to what you are learning. but for general purposes, a bowflex, total gym,
          kettlebells, or powerblocks will do you justice if you use them properly.

          peace

          onefocus

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          • #6
            You bring up a really interesting point, OF. When posting bout the total gym and it's flexibility, and after reading BL's post about how she needed a big girl to help aid her, it occured to me that you could probably buy any type of machine and get somewhat of a workout anywhere. But if you have specific plans, it might be better to use something specifically designed for your needs.

            I blew my whole year doing really arbitrary workouts. I would so come muscles till they failed, and let them reast for a week, and the next week I would do something else. I managed to get the strongest I have ever been, but I could have been so much better. These past few weeks, I have been working out on somewhat of a more regular schedule, and I have already packed on 5 or more pounds of muscle. It could be fat, too, but it's probably more of the first and less of the latter.

            But since I want something that will keep my entire body strong for maybe two years or more, I am going to go with the bowflex. Hopefully I can hit the gym every weekend or so and make sure I keep up.
            Becoming what I've dreamed about.

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            • #7
              Ive found that using resistance training like push ups, dips and chin ups are working well for my strength training for kung fu. Aswell as the usual shaolin stance training, such as mabu, er liu and gin gong.
              I recently purchased a Synergy Power Tower (Synergy Power Tower), not sure if the same machine is available elsewhere in the world, but im sure you could find something similar. The 'rack' as my shifu calls it, allows for you to do chin ups, push ups, dips and leg raises. My shifu uses a similar machine, just without the leg raise function.
              You can also add weight to yourself by using a weight belt, though at the moment my body weight is enough for me. The good thing about resistance training is that you can help increase your power/weight ratio. Plus wide grip chin ups are a real bastard to do, but they really work your strength and build up your shoulder/back muscles too.

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              • #8
                Haha, speaking of bastard-y chin ups, there is a squat rack at the gym with a pull-up bar at the top, and I was doing chin ups while the bar was disgarded on the bottom of the cage and hit my kneecaps on the bar. They are pretty bruised up, cause that only happened yesterday or so.

                And one of those synergy things looks great. Exercises you can do with minimal equipment is great, cause you can do them anywhere.
                Becoming what I've dreamed about.

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                • #9
                  I actually spoke to this world champ trainer of mine this morning about this and what he was doing for that awesomely dense package of his , contraversially second only ( if not equal ) to Frank Shamrocks, and as humbling as it was to admit how I thought the sun shone out of his butt in that regard, what he tells me is that he uses a basic 5 days standard weights building system, and drops off his cardio for anywhere up to 6 mths at a time, then 8 or so weeks pre-fight, he goes high cardio / enduro and does virtually nothing for strength besides his standard form work for endurance and tech skill developement.

                  I don't think this is neccesarily "new" information, and it's almost identical to what I do in extreme lean times to get a cushion up for a few weeks / days burn fuel , but I still think that the 12 week cycle I was looking at as mentioned above, is likely an even better way to attack that. I've grappled nights with this and the comparison between the 2 world title holder regimes and bods for nearly 2 mths . Don't hold me to that though because as far I go personally it's still untrialed, but I'm 99% on it's efficiency. Gamble on it or don't, don't forget to eat appropriately and happy training to all.

                  BL

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                  • #10
                    BL, would it be too much trouble if I saw what kind of schedule we are talking about? When you say cardio and strength building and enduro, I don't really know what kind of exercises or how many reps, or how long that is going on for. It sounds long and difficult to write out, but I am just interested in the kinds of exercises you talk about when talkin bout cardio, strength build, and enduro.
                    Becoming what I've dreamed about.

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                    • #11
                      For myself , cardio usually involves 1 hrs pilates warm up or cool down , 1/2 hr aerobics, hard core 1 -2 hrs high impact form and strength work ( if I can manage to get myself up before the 6:30 sesh ) ( and foxtels channel W does a great 1 hr "crunch " programme at 6 am Qld time if anyone's interested ) .


                      For him it's his 5-10km morning runs which he thinks totally crucial , then he hits the gym for 1 - 1 1/2 hrs for bag work etc, takes a ladies kickboxing class for an hour then at 4:30 - 7 pm trains his fighters. I'm really not sure of exact details on what he does over that, but even if I did , I don't
                      really want to say too much more than general info and tips as far as reps / resistance and what's being done ( being we both still have belts and titles riding on our extras ) , but if you do your homework, it shouldn't be hard to find an awesome plan totally geared to exploit the hell out of every strength you have .

                      Endurance work can be just about anything and I think a sesh going for 1 hr min with no more than 10 -15 kgs resistance doing no less than 100-300 reps of each drill or exercise ( and if you can do it strong and slow ( as in stances ) or fast and engaging your entire muscle group as deeply and explosively as you can manage ) should get you there nicely.

                      cheers and happy planning

                      Bl

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                      • #12
                        I don't know what your situation is LeiYunFat, but if you ponder it for a moment, you may be able to save a few bucks and create a poor mans workout. I'm not sure, but i dont think they use bowflex in shaolin. if it's strentgh you want, try duckwalking up and down stairs, or maybe toting some buckets of water, or trying to pick up heavy smooth stones, or even dropping and catching weights before they hit the floor....

                        the list is infinite. find out what skills you want, then create a workout to develope that skill.

                        peace

                        onefocus.

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                        • #13
                          LYF, do you mind if I ask you what it is you are learning? (Martial art, Style).

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                          • #14
                            I am practicing the hung gar and shaolin things I have learned over the past.
                            Becoming what I've dreamed about.

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                            • #15
                              um, get some dumbbells, they don't take up a lot of room, and you can do a lot of different lifts with them. Supplement that with some bwe, as they will help you with endurance (not really strenghth)
                              practice wu de

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