Weight Training Routine

I have started lifting weights to help with my martial arts. The outcome that i hope to recieve is lean, toned muscles, which will increase the speed of my puches and kicks. I have talked to my sifu about Weight Training and he thinks it is fine to practice, although he does warn that it tends to make you tense which in turn reduces speed. He told me to watch out for tenseness in my strikes and told me to lay off the weights if i found any.

I am doing the standard 3 sets of 12 repetitions for each exercise, and about 2-3 exercises per body part. I don't want to bulk up and become "Muscle Bound" because CLF (Choy Li Fut) requires agile and quickstepping footwork, as well as fast intriquite hand movements. I want to increase the "crispness" of my techniques with blazing speed. I am looking for the type of speed Bruce Lee had. Should i continue with my 3 sets of 12 or should i consider lighter weights and higher reps, or even higher weights and lower reps, like in the 4-6 rep range. Also would you guys just recommend body weight exercises for the martial arts ie. Pushups, pullups, one legged squats, etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. THANKS

Whatever you do, stretch the muscles after lifting to reduce the "tenseness".

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Higher weight, lower reps = larger muscles (that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be slower)

lower weight, higher reps = leaner muscles, more endurance (that doesn't necessarily mean they'll be faster)

Alot of people who want speed do explosive exercises. You do the exercise, only you explode out of it. As opposed to slow, deliberate movements. You need to be careful when doing these sorts of exercises though.

So explode on the positive (where the muscle contracts) and then slow on the negative (where the mucle returns to it's starting position)

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Also, muscle mass will only begin to develop 1-2 months after intervention of the program. All strength gains up to that point are gains in neural recruitment of muscle fibers.

For most martial artists in a combat sense my interpretation is you will want to work for muscle mass since it is better with quick and explosive movements. It is essentially better during anaerobic activity (less than 2 minutes of continuous use). But endurance trained muscles are better in aerobic activity (over 2 minutes of continuous use).

To improve your speed all you need to do is practice the technique to improve the neural pathway, and learn to relax the antagonist muscles involved.

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"You must eat bitter before you can taste sweet"- Iron & Silk
"I see no virtue where I smell no sweat"
"Arm yourself because no one else here will save you" - Chris Cornell

Darkmace
My quick response,not personally knowing you would be to tell you to continue using the same weight and increase the reps. Although depending on the individual and the amount of stretching prior to,during and after lifting, one can continue to lift as you have been doing mixed in with power lifting for strength and mass. As long as you do the low weight high rep lifting and stretches the added size and strength from the power lifting will not slow you down.
Jeff(fuzzy30)

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regarding bodyweight exercises:

you can accomplish A LOT with BWE! i've found great increases in my strength and endurance througha combo of BWE and a few supplimentary compound heavy lifts(squat, deadlift, bench press, weighted pull-ups). the best part of calisthetics is that you can take them anywhere. i work nights, and when it's quiet one will often find me rattling off bootstrappers. (helps me stay awake, too!)

www.trainforstrength.com for all your BWE needs! i highly recommend it.

I Started at a very young age no muscule has gained to ge as they Muscules have gained then they are slim and strong the others say the facts are current to my 195 cm tall Build

And i can lift on the leg pres 800 + Pounds.

Extensive streching is a neccessity. Before, during and after. Don't lose the flexibilty and you should be ok.

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I will add Running and splits sreches and exercises are great though Spring feet hand and lots of it will turn it all into endurance and later a possibility to illuding.

it has been my experience that as long as you continue to work on flexibility and do plenty of stretching that you will have no "tenseness" issues with your strength training

clf brother, kettle bells, plyometrics and body weight, combined with cardio. if you know sup ji kau dah kuen(or any other long set, but that one works really well), try this: do it 20 times, in between each set, skip rope for one minute and do at least 100 skips, do ten(or more) pushups(alternate between dive bombers, diamonds and clapping), and ten crunches(variety again). when that becomes too easy, do five pistols per leg before you start(see pavel t. for the pistols.) note that you must do the set strong and mindful, this is hard as the fatigue sets in.

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I am a firm believer in bodyweight exercises. I have seen so many people who think that they are in great shape, can bench this much or that much, squat this or that, but cant do 20 Hindu pushups or hold a horse stance for a few minutes. Weightlifting is great but bodyweight exercises are simple, and most can be done almost anywhere. They will give you great tone and definition, improve your caridovascular status, and give you great strength. If you dont believe me, then try out Matt Furey's Combat Conditioning workout(www.mattfurey.com) You will be a believer.

Warrior San You just had to do it. Matt has been talked about here and Been bashed hard. I'm Not pointing this out to make you mad, but I find a little humor in it. Carry on my Tomodachi.

“	Originally Posted By: Dragon9 Warrior San You just had to do it. Matt has been talked about here and Been bashed hard. I'm Not pointing this out to make you mad, but I find a little humor in it. Carry on my Tomodachi.	”

So, how many handstand push-ups can you do? Probably not very many, right? I'm not pointing this out to make you mad, but I find it quite funny how many people on this page bash Matt, and I'm sure not even half of them are in the shape he is in, and have never tried his products.
So, if you think Matts products are crap, why don't you download them from some p2p programm and try them out. If they're all crap anyway, you don't have to feel guilty for using them because they don't work anyway. If you find that they do work, and you start feeling guilty, send him a hundred bucks and explain what you did. But at least give the guy a fair trial. He may not be as good as other people out there (tkd can't stop mentioning Pavel Tsatsouline, or however you spell that), his material works.

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