http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNWXx8MxBuE
This is a great clip of a guy that has combined bodyweight training with stretching.
He has some great skills and I think you’ll see elements of what Mike Martello did in his videos and some of the stuff from taiji daoyin that I’ve talked so much about in the past. This clip shows what is possible if people take CMA conditioning seriously.
With body skills like that, can you imagine any move in any martial art that this guy couldn’t do?
6 responses so far ↓
1 Chad // Dec 31, 2006 at 5:52 am
The russians have had a great program of fitness for quite some time. Russian kettlebells have become all the rage of late and Pavel tsasuline (sp???) is making a bundle with seminars and book. If yu like this stuff I would highly recomend Pavel’s books. They are simple, clear and are very safe for even beginers. “Relax into Stretch”, “Super Joints” and “The Naked Warrior” are must haves for any martial artist.
The funny thing is, back in the day, IMA training was just like this. Our QIgong excercise contains one legged squats, back bends, and tons of dynamic flexability movements. I have seen versions of the same form in different schools and the wya most people do these excercises, its no wonder they are not getting the full benefit out of it.
2 chessman71 // Dec 31, 2006 at 9:02 am
Wow, I’m surprised that you recommend Pavel’s stuff. I have Naked Warrior and I have mixed feelings about it. There are lots of adds in hs book that take up pages and pages. He also like to use a BIG font that again takes up lots of space. I also completely disagree with his idea in the book that you can rely on just one or two exercises for your strength needs. I notice over at Dragon Door forums, nobody actually trains that way.
Isn’t Relax into Stretch and SuperJoints just Thomas Kurtz’ material repackaged?
3 Chad // Jan 1, 2007 at 4:51 am
I have no idea who kurtz is or if pavels books are repackaged. As far the material covered and big font and stuff, yes he has a lot of adds and not a lot of words. But I would argue he has enough to and it is presented in a way that is understandable, and effective for people to do themselves.
While just doing one or two excercises won’t give you fitness per se, I don’t feel that it is much of an exageration as far as strength goes. Strength alone is one thing, the real purpose of training anything is to foster nueromuscular effeciency and funtional force output. For strength alone, the naked warrior fulfills the basic upper and lower body requirments. You would have to train the specifics seperately.
4 Chenquestion // Jan 1, 2007 at 9:13 am
Another guy who’s into this stuff is Matt Furey, he has a web site, sells all kinds of products, makes many friends and enemies. I’m squarely in the former category. Among many other things, he got me doing backbends and back bridges, something I’d never tried and would have been chicken to try without Matt’s style of “just do it” info and motivation.
5 chessman71 // Jan 1, 2007 at 9:30 am
Thomas Kurtz is a stretching expert who’s stuff firts came out in the early 80’s I think. Here’s a link: http://www.stadion.com/column.html
He was the first to talk about PNF — the main thing that makes Pavel’s stretching work.
Again, I’m not really impressed enough with Naked Warrior to buy anymore of Pavel’s stuff. There are many more sources these days for quality info. And his books are overpriced anyway.
I have Matt Furey’s firts two books. The Combat Conditioning book is good, I like it. It is a little basic, but solid material.
But Furey has some of the same problems as Pavel:
1.no info on setting up a program, he just lists exercises.
2. his info is very repetitive. I have two of his books, and I think that’s about all the info he has. The rest seems like repackaged material.
I’m open to being convinced otherwise though.
6 chenquestion // Jan 2, 2007 at 11:15 am
>>But Furey has some of the same problems…
Well, actually he talks some about setting up routines, but it’s nothing too earthshaking, he just suggests various reps and mixes of his exercises, if you have no ideas of your own. And the repackaging thing is there, no doubt about it. I just like his stuff and it’s worked for me, I’ve looked into some competing products but they don’t grab me the same way. But Furey does get complaints for the reasons you mention, plus some people just think he’s a scammer. But I maintain he’s the real deal, albeit he’s always trying to sell you something and then sell you some more.
Leave a Comment