Effective Self Defense Techniques and Training: Where Martial Arts Training Falls Short

May 30, 2009

A Rude Awakening: The Inefficacy of Most Martial Arts Training
It’s an all too common story. The dedicated martial arts practitioner with years of experience and several stripes on his belt is finally faced with an opportunity to showcase his hard earned skills and he…flops. He and many like him wrongly assume that martial arts training is the equivalent of self defense training, when, for all intents and purposes, they’re based on diametrically different principles. He believed that martial artists have skills that will allow them to dominate and control an adversary with ease. And while many of the techniques are the same as those applied in self defense, the philosophies of training have little crossover.

From my personal experience, most trainees are led to believe that their system of martial arts is, first and foremost, a good self defense system. But students are not taught the difference between martial arts and self defense, a difference that isn’t simply breached with more and more technique training. Students enter a class assuming they’ll learn a system that will not only improve their all around fitness, but also prepare them for personal self defense. And most martial arts instructors don’t know the difference themselves, so they package their system as self defense and for years sell a product that is little more than aggressive ballet with a bit of shouting thrown in. Perhaps the greatest contribution of mixed martial arts in recent years is the die hard commitment to technique testing under high stress situations. This is where most systems fall terribly short.

Acknowledging and Utilizing the Fight or Flight Response
In life threatening situations our bodies have a natural fear response mechanism called the ‘fight or flight’ response. This mechanism empowers us to flee a dangerous situation or to stay and fight. This power derives from the sympathetic nervous system’s manifold functions. Under extreme stress the adrenal glands release the super hormone adrenaline into our blood stream, our heart rate increases, our cardiac output increases, blood pressure rises, respiratory functions quicken, pupils dilate potentially causing tunnel vision or the loss of peripheral awareness, normal organ function is temporarily restricted, muscle tension increases, and we’re empowered with near superhuman strength, speed, and pain tolerance.

Time itself may slow down or quicken, causing an experience of precognition, where events are anticipated or abstracted from subconscious perceptions of present circumstances. This may create the sensation of seeing a strike before it happens or lightning fast reflexes. This natural and powerful response to fear should be fully acknowledged ahead of time. Unless highly trained, one should not expect to keep their cool, as the power of this physiological and hormonal response can be all consuming and render all previous planning, training and hard work useless. An intelligent self defense system will not try to suppress or transcend this fear response; it will utilize its benefits while trying to minimize the negative symptoms of stress.

The Mind and Body Symptoms of Stress
Stress can cause a variety of psychological and physiological changes, and in a life threatening situation will result in the following without extreme preparedness or extensive self defense experience.
-Perceptual Distortion - Depth perception is impaired and peripheral vision narrowed, hearing may be blocked, and sensitivity to pain may be altered or cut off.
-Cognitive Impairment- Creative and logical thinking are impaired and emotional centers in the brain take over. Hallucination and time distortion (slow motion or fast motion) are possible, and memory will be less than accurate.
-Motor Skill Deterioration - The ability to perform certain physical actions is impaired by stress. Motor skills can be categorized as fine, complex, or gross. Fine motor skills involve small muscles, dexterity, and eye-hand coordination. Complex motor skills involve sequential actions requiring timing and coordination. Many martial arts techniques are complex motor skills. Both fine and complex motor skills are impaired under high levels of stress, which is why most martial arts training becomes irrelevant in life or death situations. A great deal of martial arts training is based on eye-hand coordination and precision, skills that deteriorate under duress.

Third category of motor skills is gross motor movement. These are skills that mimic large compound body movements like pushing, pulling, and squatting. These movements, unlike fine and complex motor skills, do not deteriorate under pressure, but actually strengthen. When the adrenals excrete the super hormone adrenaline (epinephrine) our gross motor skills become much stronger and faster than we could ever imagine. We become impervious to pain and our hands, arms and legs may tremble uncontrollably. Being aware of these physiological changes and altered states of consciousness will allow us to construct an intelligent and effective self defense system that capitalizes on this all consuming natural response as well limit actions and training that may prove ineffective.

A Viable Self Defense System Utilizing the Natural Fight or Flight Response
Unless a person intends to make martial arts a lifetime commitment they ought to find a self defense system that utilizes the natural fight or flight response discussed above because, for better or worse, you’ll probably be crapping your pants when faced with a serious situation. This response can be conditioned or counteracted with training, but increasing the complexity of one’s system may hinder rather than help effective response. So it stands to reason that if we, under situations of high stress, all act a certain way, and being attacked or assaulted certainly constitutes high stress, then we ought to use a system of self defense that focuses on the following:

1. Techniques which use gross motor movements
These movements are enhanced under extreme stress, and should therefore be the foundation of a self defense system. Gross motor movements are fundamental body mechanics, capable of being performed by anyone in nearly any physical or emotional state.

2. Techniques which focus on fighting and finishing the fight on one’s feet (without sacrificing balance, speed, or power)
There are many martial arts systems that specialize in ground fighting, and while these systems are excellent in controlled environments, cage fights, or one on one no holds barred matches, going to the ground on the street can be just the edge your opponent (s) is looking for, for several reasons. The ground is hard, and planning to submit an opponent on the ground could prove much more challenging if you’re lying on a curb, sand, broken glass, ice, or any number of unfavorable terrains. And that’s just if there is only one assailant.

If you are facing off with more than one opponent, you can expect your attacker’s friends to kick your head in while you’re working on an arm bar or choking him out. If your opponent is carrying a knife, rolling around on the ground is also not the best of ideas. And while basic self defense training from the ground is important, it should concentrate on getting back to one’s feet as quickly as possible and not finishing the fight on the ground. Learning to finish a fight on the ground will take years of serious study to do with proficiency, and for those unwilling to commit the time to learning this skill, it should not be considered essential self defense.

I know this will step on some toes, as there are those who swear by Brazilian Jiu Jutsu and point to the Ultimate Fighting Competition and similar cage match competitions to prove its efficacy. And I don’t demean it. In fact, I believe it is one of the most comprehensive and efficient systems of martial arts. I just don’t believe people are thinking clearly when they point to a cage match as conclusive proof. Fighters are not using weapons. Fighters are not outnumbered. And fighters are relatively protected by rules which prevent dangerous vital targeting which could cause death or paralysis. So I’ll leave it at that and simply say that my priorities in training are not to win a cage match, but to survive the worst of possible assaults imaginable.

In the title of this section I also qualify stand up fighting by saying our techniques should not sacrifice balance, speed, or power. This calls into question the value of all kicking techniques. When you throw a punch, you are eliminating only one tool from your arsenal temporarily (the punch, in that it can’t be used again immediately until it is retracted). Throwing a kick eliminates four tools, in that no other technique can be thrown until that kicking leg is back on the ground and balance is recovered. Kicking puts you at added risk, and kicking effectively requires much more training than striking with the hands.

This is a regrettable point for me because if I specialize in anything, it’s kicking technique. But I can, like my Jiu Jutsu brothers, accept that these skills need to be moderated or abandoned under high stress situations (we are going to redefine high stress later, as proper martial arts training allows you to operate more freely under what would normally be considered high stress situations). In general, if kicks are used they should strike below the waist in a way that doesn’t compromise one’s posturing, guard, and balance, and also allow for a very fast recovery. Kicking above the waist compromises balance and runs the risk of your leg being caught, trapped and your base foot sweeped…unless you are exceptionally skilled.

3. Techniques which inhibit your opponent’s basic body functions
Just as your sympathetic nervous system is empowering you to move faster and more powerfully, so too is your opponent’s. Techniques should be selected which rapidly attack targets which shut down your adversaries heightened powers and basic body functions. Therefore one should consider selecting primary strikes which cut off vision, oxygen, blood to the brain, and balance. Secondary strikes should target nerves, nerve bundles, joints, and acupoints.

Combining objectives 1 and 3 will leave us with linear and circular strikes to the eyes, the windpipe, the carotid artery on the side of the neck, the solar plexus, the ear, and the groin. When I teach self defense I teach what I consider the five primary strikes. Each of them utilizes gross motor skill and attacks one of these targets. They are all simple enough to learn in a single night and learn well enough so as to be effective in a real situation. That said, these striking skills will not yet accompany accurate perception, timing, blocking, and mental composure that come with repetition and simulated fighting application. These skills take time and proper training.

All of these strikes should be thrown from a natural defenseless position at first. Taking a stance against an opponent before the first strike has taken place tells your opponent a great deal about you and it escalates the situation to the most dangerous level immediately. Striking from a relaxed position will leave the element of surprise on your side. Once the first blow is landed or received then your hands should rise to protect your head, with your elbows close to your ribs. Don’t block your vision with your hands or cover your face. This effective boxing defense will get you killed on the streets, but more on blocking below. These basic techniques along with their desired results are as follows:

The 5 Basic Self Defense Techniques
1. Eye Scrape/Finger Spear. This technique is a simple flick of the hand toward the attacker’s eyes. Grazing the eyes with the fingers causes blinking and watering, buying you a few moments to finish the fight or run. This technique should be used to create distance or bridge distance. It is an inferior finishing technique and therefore should be used as a measuring tool or stun tactic, like the jab in boxing. There are many ways to attack the eyes with potentially more devastating consequences, but this technique requires little training or accuracy to be effective.

2. Palm Strike. I typically don’t teach striking with a closed fist to those interested in self defense only. Unless well trained and conditioned, the fist is more likely to break on an opponent’s skull than it is finish the fight for you. Knuckle striking requires proper wrist and arm structure as well as knuckle conditioning to prevent breaking on impact. The palm strike can be thrown in a similar motion to the single arm pushup or bench press, from the side of the chest straight out. Ideal targets for this strike include the nose, which causes the eyes to water and blink, the chin, which causes the attacker’s weight to fall back onto his heals, exposing his throat and shaking his balance. Secondary targets include the cheek bone, the temple, and the solar plexus.

3. Ear Box. This is not performed three stooges style to both ears and accompanied by a funny noise, but performed with a single hand in a slightly upward and wide circular motion originating at the hip. An ear box is a very dangerous technique. It should be performed with a lightly cupped hand which flattens on impact and forces air into the eardrum. This will, at the very least shake the attacker’s balance, as our equilibrium is based in our ears. And at its worst this technique will explode the attacker’s eardrum as the suction created by the cupped hand will pressurize and force air back out of the ear just after impact. This can cause permanent deafness and should not be used unless absolutely necessary.

The secondary targets for this strike are the carotid artery on the side of the neck, which cuts of blood, and therefore oxygen to the brain, and the temple, located next to the eyebrow. If attacking these targets, forgo the cupped hand and connect with the palm heal or inner forearm.

4. Elbow Strike. This is one of the most powerful movements the human body can perform, and its so basic anyone can perform it with relatively little training. The forearm should rise until it is parallel with the floor and in front of the shoulder. The palm of your hand should be facing down, not in to your body. And with a sharp hip rotation the tip of the elbow should hack into the attacker’s nose, eye socket, neck, temple, or solar plexus (on a taller opponent). This is a finishing technique and should be used at close range once control of the situation is yours.

5. Groin Strike/Testicle Squeeze. The groin strike should be performed with an upward swinging extended arm. Ideally you’ll connect with the lower portion of the forearm near the wrist. This is a strong part of the body unlikely to break on impact, and we all know what happens when someone gets hit in the balls. If the confrontation has become more close range, if it’s transitioned into a grappling situation, or if you’re grabbed from behind, grabbing and squeezing the testicles may be more practical than striking.

These five techniques provide great leverage for someone with little muscular strength or size. They are the ideal starting point for women or those simply interested in learning effective self defense. If someone is trained to react quickly, then they’ll need little else but these five. They are powerful, direct, and devastating, and they will only be enhanced by the body’s natural response to fear and stress. Each one of them inhibits vital body function in an adversary, and if used in concert will effectively shut him down quickly.

Secondary self defense techniques include:
-Head Butt (important for close range defense against bear hugs or double wrist grabs)
-Knee to Groin, Solar Plexus, or Floating Ribs
-Elbow to Targets behind You
-Knife Hand (both inner and outer) to the Side of the Neck
-Groin Kick (upward driving motion with shin or instep)
-Low Turning Kick to the Inner Knee or Sciatic Nerve on the Outer Thigh
-Sprinting!!!

You read that last one correctly. Sprinting is perhaps the greatest of all self defense techniques. Keeping yourself in good shape and practicing sprinting a couple times a week will provide you with options that many people won’t have in a dangerous situation. If I had to guess which person would have the greatest chances of surviving a violent confrontation against one or more armed opponents, and my choices were A) a bodybuilder B) a mixed martial artist and C) a sprinter, I’d have my money on the sprinter. Never underestimate the value of strength, endurance, and all around fitness in a self defense situation. Not only will it offer more power in techniques delivery, but will allow you to absorb blows without collapsing.

Drilling the Basics, Reflex Conditioning, and Simulated Stress
Once somebody has the basic gist of the five basic self defense techniques listed above, its time to apply them. This should be done in at least two ways. The first is through full speed and power combination training, and the second through defensive counter attacking. Both of these should be trained with a skilled trainer that can feed the right targets at the right time, as well as push the limits of the trainee without causing injury. Because self defense is inherently stressful, one should try to simulate this same stressful environment when training and push the trainee past comfort levels.

Combinations comprised of the five techniques above should be worked by alternative strikes from each hand. Self defense is not a sparring match. There is no room for dancing and jabbing. One needs to maximize speed and power in every strike, and the best way to do that is to alternate striking arms to call the power of the legs, hips and shoulders into each and every strike. These combinations should be trained for fluency, speed, and power, maximizing each one without interrupting the flow. The combinations should be trained until natural and unconscious.

Two hit combinations that work well are:
Spear finger followed by a palm strike
Palm strike followed by an ear box
Palm strike followed by an elbow
Ear box followed by a palm strike
Ear box followed by an elbow
Any of the above followed by an upward groin strike

Three and four hit combinations:
Finger spear, palm strike, ear box
Finger spear, palm strike, ear box, elbow
Finger spear, palm strike, ear box, groin strike
Ear box, double or triple palm strike
Ear box, pull head into elbow, groin strike

Working with an experienced trainer will allow you to practice these techniques at high intensity levels without injury. It will also allow you to work on your defensive blocking, reaction time, and counter attacking under pressure. The two most essential blocks are the simple outer forearm block, designed to stop incoming circular attacks, and the boxing parry, designed to simply redirect a linear attack. These blocks require very little technical training, but a great deal of reflex and perception training. One should not have to think about blocking, but simply react. The trainer, holding striking mitts, should work up to full power swings and strikes so that the trainee is forced to perform blocks that actually work under pressure, as well as get over the shock of body contact. These blocks can be trained individually at first, but should quickly be connected with counter striking using the 5 basic self defense techniques to build the habit of reflexive striking.

The trainee should get in the habit of counter striking immediately following a block. Training to block several incoming blows or use evasive footwork is training that again rarely transitions to high stress self defense situations unless highly trained. The trainer, once the trainee is familiar with the blocking and striking techniques, should strike without telegraphing and strike powerfully at the trainee. This should be followed immediately by feeding various counter attacking techniques on the striking mitts. This is very difficult emotionally for many beginners, and that’s the point. The single best way to ensure your techniques will be effective under high stress circumstances is to perform them under pressure. Training at 100% of your speed, power, and reaction capacity will promote unconscious reflexive blocking and knockout striking capability. The trainee’s arms will usually be left shaking after the first session or two as a result of shock to your nervous system and a lack of familiarity with an adrenaline surge. This goes away after a few sessions.

Martial Arts Training and Transcending the Fear Response
Despite the fact that many systems of martial arts develop skills and strategies well beyond practical self defense requirements, this is by no means an argument to reduce martial arts training to gross motor movements and high stress performance training. The true value in martial arts training is in preparing the mind for a life without fear, and all of the virtues that come with living in such a state. There are both internal and external means of accomplishing this. Learning to control the fear response or transcend it all together is the trademark of martial arts and self mastery. And while it makes sense for the average person to devote their time to a self defense system that concentrates on the body’s natural stress response, there is room for the application of numerous and sophisticated martial arts techniques under high stress situations for those with a passion for personal development.

Emotional Control and Prescriptions for Fear
There are a few ways of bridging the gap of practicality that exists between technical training and real self defense. The three training methods below are elements of a well rounded and traditional martial arts education, and each is conducive to controlling the fear response in combat. Practicing all three would be ideal, but any one of them can significantly improve one’s chances of applying complex motor movements in high stress situations.

-Full Contact Training and Fighting: Full contact training teaches you to function under similar high stress situations. It desensitizes you to the sting and shock of heavy impact as well as promotes mental focus under pressure. This can be done with full contact defensive and combination pad work practice, or simply through fighting. Those who learn to fight and compete in full contact environments generally have good chances of applying their hard earned knowledge when it counts. This is a product of both refining one’s arsenal of reliable techniques through trial and error, as well as keeping one’s cool and controlling one’s emotions when fighting. This opens the door for a wider range of techniques, tactics, and creative thought than your ordinary fight or flighter.

There are those that believe fighting is the only way to prepare for such situations, and I disagree. All competitions have rules which eliminate vital targets and require protective gear. This greatly reduces the number of effective techniques one can execute. When training basic techniques with vital targeting in mind using pad work drills or controlled light contact fighting will allow your mind to get in the habit of responding with the most devastating techniques you have to the most vital targets. The last thing you want to do is reduce your possible responses to those that work while wearing gloves and abide by protective regulations. Unfortunately there is no safe way to train these techniques completely without maiming or killing, so one should find a balance between open minded self defense training that develops the five basic self defense techniques above in a controlled manner, and full contact fighting which develops timing, power, and mental composure.

-Hand and Body Conditioning: This one may seem less clear, so let me start by asking a simple question. If an 8 year old cornered you in a street and threatened you would you feel yourself in danger? Probably not. Obviously this is because he’s a stupid kid who lacks the power to hurt you. Well, when you’ve conditioned your body to break brick and receive full power blows to the stomach, arms and thighs, then your measure stick of pain and power is somewhat skewed. When your body is a rock it will require something pretty extreme to elicit the normal fear response to the threat of bodily harm. It’s like walking around with a baseball bat.

-Meditation and Dissolution of the Ego: Non-attachment, the state-of-being nurtured by mindfulness meditation, is the deconstruction of conscious and unconscious associations which comprise our identities. Attachment to things causes a fear of loss. Non-attachment is the transcendence of fear and experience of the fullness of life. Freedom from this ordinary fear of loss or bodily harm is the freedom to act and react naturally in times of violent conflict. Freedom from fear is one of the highest objectives of a martial artist and the mark of self mastery.

If the fight or flight response is a natural response to fear, and you have no fear, than you’ll likely not be subject to the same psychological limitations as everyone else. You’ll have full control over your mental faculties, your gross, complex, and fine motor skills, and your emotions. This means that our definition of practical self defense techniques from earlier is no longer applicable, as the martial arts master has the composure and freedom to select the most effective and appropriate techniques from his comprehensive arsenal. The dissolution of the ego is a byproduct of living in the now, which is the essence of mindfulness meditation.

Hand and Body Conditioning (Hardening) in Martial Arts: Preparing Your Body for Combat

May 25, 2009

Most people have seen pictures or video footage of a martial artist smashing ice blocks or brick with their hands, head or feet. And most people assume that these people are super human or incredibly gifted. While it may be true most of these feats of mind over matter require a higher tolerance for pain than most of us are willing to accept, all of us have dormant potential that can be developed with dedication and hard work.

Board and brick breaking is a great introduction to the world of hand and body conditioning in the martial arts. You see, martial artists don’t simply think, “Hey, I’m going to go over there and smash that pile of bricks with my hand, it just feels right.” It takes years of conditioning the hand for that kind of punishment in order to keep the bricks from winning. And while the old adage ‘boards don’t hit back’ is still a valid critique of those who place too large an emphasis on breaking technique, the mind and body conditioning required for brick breaking is incredibly valuable for self defense training.

The first time I hit brick with my bear hand I felt a sting that one rarely feels unless they are smashing their thumb with a hammer or walking into a construction zone without a safety helmet. It hurt like a bitch, and my hand was a bloody mess. The brick won. My hand was swollen like a balloon for 4 weeks and I could do little else with it but wait for it to heal. The worst of it however was not my hand, but my ego. I felt defeated and knew if I didn’t overcome that fear of pain I’d have little chance of progressing. I waited until the swelling had gone down and smashed that brick with everything I had. It still hurt, but not nearly as much as missing the first break.

This was when I realized I had a major gap in my martial arts conditioning, and proceeded for the next three years to punch a brick wall a hundred times a day, several days a week. I am not recommending people do this, it’s a little excessive, but it does prepare the hands to deliver all that power you’ve learned to generate into a hard resilient object. And for systems that train to strike primarily with the fore fist (first two knuckles) like Taekwondo or Karate, it is essential training. It is rather easy to break a hand while punching someone in the head without proper training. The skull is one of the hardest bones in the body.

There are many systems of martial arts that don’t practice breaking techniques, but nonetheless condition other parts of the hand and body for similar purposes. Internal martial arts systems (systems that are based on internal energy work rather than external muscular force like Xing Yi Quan and Aikido) as well as external systems which focus on attacking soft parts of the body also condition the hands, though perhaps not to the same extreme. In systems like Wing Chun hands may be conditioned by striking sand bags or bags with metal ball bearings. This will be done to toughen the palms, knife edge, and all four knuckles.

Hand and body conditioning can be reduced to one simple concept, hit your body with something hard until your body becomes hard. Then find something harder to hit. Admittedly this smacks of meathead brawn over brain training but it comes with the territory. Combat places unique demands on the body and martial arts training should prepare the body and mind for all contingencies. Physical bone breaking contact is perhaps the first and foremost of these contingencies, if not an inevitability. But depending on your martial art of choice as well as your proficiency, you may need little to no hand conditioning if your system relies heavily on targeting soft vital locations on the body or high leverage grappling techniques.

Traditionally the Chinese believed that deforming the hand through conditioning was inferior to internal training through qigong, that external strength inferior to internal power. To this day one of the first things I notice on somebody is whether their hands are conditioned. It tells me immediately if they have experience fighting, board or brick breaking. If I could do it all over, I might have spent less time developing my knuckles, which indicates to anyone with knowledge that my hands are built for striking. Conditioning the palms and knife edge of the hand is just as effective and in fact probably more suitable for self defense training and striking vital targets on the neck, throat, and side of the head. A person can be very well conditioned in this way without exposing their deep knowledge of and commitment to the arts with external signs.

The Physical Benefits (or Consequences) of Body Conditioning
Hand and body conditioning have two physical consequences. The first is the deadening of the nerves in the region being conditioned. Thai Boxers kick banana trees for years until their shins are not only completely numb to the sting of impact, but also hard as a rock. The second consequence of this conditioning is the release of calcium to regions of trauma. When you hit things your bones crack. Your body reacts to this by calcifying that area and creating larger, wider, and more protrusive bone. This may result in big fat knuckles, thick shin bones, or a nice attractive knob on the forehead. Your bones will actually become bigger and stronger, building a body that will be capable of delivering and withstanding great force.

The Psychological Benefits of Body Conditioning
Training and conditioning the hand not only prepares the fist to deliver a powerful blow without breaking, it conditions the mind to accept the sting of pain that may or may not accompany, and develops the focus and commitment required to land the technique successfully. When you watch untrained fighters go at it, it is pretty common to see them swinging wildly with little regard for targeting. This is not only because they lack technical skill, but also because they can’t keep their mental composure under pressure. When you know you have a killer punch it becomes much easier to patiently wait for the right opportunity and deliver it only when it can be executed with maximum damage.

Board and brick breaking is not necessary training for all people. Many trainees have an understanding of technique follow through and body contact, either through sports or intuition that will allow them to succeed in combat. But many people seek martial arts instruction because they are insecure or timid, and with that comes hesitation and a lack of commitment in technique execution. Board breaking teaches the timid to commit to a technique and see it through without hesitation. It is this commitment to action that often makes the difference between a warrior and a victim. For those who believe martial arts training develops confidence, this is one of the reasons why.

Hand and Body Conditioning for Self Defense
It’s important to keep in mind that the scope of self defense is quite limited by comparison to traditional martial arts training. Techniques should be selected for greatest speed, leverage, and versatility, and simplicity, as well as those least likely to leave you injured in the process. For example, the average person should not be using a closed fist to strike an opponent. The hand can easily break if the structure of the strike isn’t proper at the moment of impact. The palm with very little training however can deliver incredible force without being injured. Furthermore, targets should be selected which provide maximum damage with the least effort. These are usually soft targets like the eyes, throat, neck, solar plexus, and groin, which don’t require excessive hand conditioning to strike effectively.

Regardless of your particular martial arts background, I believe there are a couple parts of the body that someone concerned with self defense should dedicate some time to conditioning. I’ll stick with the 80-20 rule here and simply focus on those that give you the most bang for buck. As such, I believe most of our self defense needs can be met by conditioning only two parts of the body. The two parts below are assuming you’ll be striking an opponent, as well as being stricken.

Hand Conditioning
There is no science to this. There are countless methods of hand conditioning out there. I highly recommend sand bags for beginners. You can lay the bag on a table or hang it like a punching bag. Hit is with the palms, knife edge, and knuckles. If the bag is lying on a table, simply let the weight of your hand carry it down. If the bag is hanging, hit with enough power to feel the impact, and little enough to be able to hit it for at least 20 repetitions of each strike. When your hands are numb, weak, or in pain, stop and wait until they’ve recovered, and then repeat.

After some time your hands will require less recovery time and daily training is quite reasonable. Once your hands have hardened, hit anything. Hit walls, fences, sign posts, and whatever else floats your boat. But pay careful attention to form, for even though your knuckles are rock hard, if the structure of your punch is lacking, the wrist and forearm can still break.

Shin Conditioning
The shins have a remarkable ability to widen and harden. They are the chosen weapon of Thai boxers and Karate stylists, and they are devastating when conditioned. The shins are a long massive all purpose tool used for hacking an opponents legs, midsection, and on occasion head. They are also the last line of defense against incoming low kicks. When fighting, you can’t drop your guard to block a low kick with your hands. You need to absorb the kick on your outer thigh or hamstring (not a great option) or you need to block the kick with your shin (assuming you aren’t agile enough to rely on footwork to move out of the line of attack). A hard shin defense will hurt the attacker more than the defender. And a hard shin will break down even a strong and muscular opponent via lower body kicking.

Shins are best conditioned by kicking broad targets like a two-by-four, thick bamboo, a bag of sand, or a hard heavy bag. You can hit your shins with sticks as well but this often results in little ridges rather than a thick wide shin. But hey, hitting is hitting and to each his own. Shin conditioning is very painful at first, but once the nerves start to give you can progress rather quickly.

Supplementary Body Conditioning (the other 20 %)
The elbows and knees are incredibly powerful and while they can be conditioned as in Thai boxing, they are ready as they are to deliver a powerful strike without threatening your composure too much. The occasional brick break is enough to leave your elbows with a healthy knot for future use. They need not be conditioned as frequently as the hands.

The feet have a large number of tiny bones in them that can break rather easily if not conditioned. If the shins are conditioned you may not need to rely on instep conditioning. But for martial arts like Taekwondo conditioning the foot for instep kicks, heel kicks, and crescent kicks allows for a full arsenal of kicking. That said, people wear shoes all day, and that little bit of fabric and rubber adds a lot of protection to the foot, allowing for harder impact without bear foot conditioning.

The forearms are excellent blocking tools and reign free in hard Japanese, Korean, and Thai systems, but are really unnecessary unless fighting a superb kicker. Most punching can be blocked with soft blocking techniques found in boxing and Wing Chun, which cause little to no damage to the blocker if done correctly. It is however quite difficult to deal with a strong kicker without the use of forearm blocks. The primary blocking surface is the outer forearm. The inner and outer forearm can also be used to attack large targets on an opponent, like the side of the neck, the head, groin, or sciatic nerve.

The forehead and top of the head is one of the best striking tools on the body. The skull is hard and thick and capable of delivering great force. Head butting is essential self defense, but unless you’re fighting on a weekly basis, I don’t believe the head needs to be conditioned to deliver a head but. If unconditioned it will hurt to deliver, but if your technique is ok it should do a lot more damage to your opponent. Conditioning the head on the other hand will result in a bulging knot on the forehead capable of instant knockout power. It will not however improve your chances with the ladies.

The solar plexus is the point at your center of mass located below the pecs and above the abs. When this point is hit with even a light blow it can instantly take your breath away. It is a point of real weakness on the body and once hit will take the fight right out of you. The solar plexus can be conditioned through a combination of abdominal training via sit-ups, crunches, leg raises, etc, and actually getting hit there. Unfortunately it is a very tough part of the body to harden through muscular development alone, and can be considerably toughened by taking hits. Find a friend you can trust and exchange light strikes at first. With time you might work up to full power strikes. Exhale every time you receive a strike to the midsection and keep the abs tight.

Unnecessary Body Conditioning and Those Who Have Lost the Way
You don’t have to practice martial arts for long before hearing stories of those who train to receive full power blows to the throat, groin and lower back without injury. Some of these practices are still alive in the training of Shaolin qigong and a new system called Combat Ki. They focus the body’s internal energy to various points on the body to make them hard, numb, or impenetrable. And as inviting as this training may be, something about it has always given me the creeps.

The bottom line is it seems like martial arts training gone wild. I see the value of body conditioning, as well as internal energy development, but some parts of the body seem to me to be inherently weak. If it requires a certain state of mind in order to sustain a blow to the throat without injury, then what happens when you’re walking home from the grocery store and get jumped before you’ve had time to direct your energy to the point being attacked? It seems to me that the body’s capacity to protect itself with evasive maneuvering, blocking, and counterstriking is vastly superior to the body’s capacity to take repeated shots to vital targets.

I once had a martial arts instructor who was fanatical about body conditioning, and he insisted his wife train to withstand a full side kick to the lower abdomen. I remember always wondering, “Why doesn’t he teach her to step out of the way or block? What happens if someone kicks her a little higher or a little lower, in the lower back, or more than once?” The bottom line is there is always somebody stronger. So it makes more sense to me to strengthen those parts of the body that have the greatest proclivity for hardening, and then to use those strong tools to protect the weak areas of the body.

Additionally, I have never had a strong urge to condition my fingertips and toes for purposes of striking. People train for years to break boards or rip coke cans apart with their fingers, but it seems to me that if this was a viable technique in a self defense situation, than there is probably something stronger and easier to execute. Finger spears in general are meant for the eyes, throat, or solar plexus, not the sternum. And conditioning the toes does little for those who wear shoes, which is all of us, all of the time. You may have a great gun, but if you can’t take the safety off, does it really make sense carrying it?

A Word to the Wise
Don’t try this at home without doing more research. Find a good instructor or read up on the hand conditioning methods in Karate and Iron Palm Kung Fu. Those two methods will cover the meat of hand conditioning technique. Karate conditioning comes from a philosophy of tension on impact and physical muscular force, and Iron Palm comes from a philosophy of relaxed striking while utilizing internal energy. These methods are vastly different but can complement each other in training. But it’s like anything else; the person that shows up each day and is willing to give it his all is going to succeed in the long run. There are no secrets to this game. It’s a hard and painful path, but one that greatly enhances martial skill in the long run.

Meditation for Beginners: Meditations for Peace, Power, and Martial Arts

May 7, 2009

The term Meditation is one of the most misused and misconstrued words in the English language. It’s applied to images of solitary monks quietly sitting or chanting cross-legged on a mountain peak, to catholic monks who are contemplating scripture or deep esoteric truths of their faith, to those trying to transcend experience into a larger metaphysical reality, and finally, those looking to escape from reality.

To those who practice meditation, each of these practices couldn’t be more dissimilar. And while outwardly they may bear the mark of solitude or aloneness, inwardly these practices are distinct enough as to require a reconsideration of how liberally we apply the term meditation itself. The focus of this article is to introduce, in broad strokes, some of the leading practices under the term meditation, as well as their intended goals, purposes, and consequences.

Meditation, in the broadest sense of the term, means awareness. Specific meditative techniques will determine whether this awareness is directed internally, or weather it is undetermined and directionless. These two categories can again be broadly labeled as either mindfulness meditation, or concentration meditation. And while these two forms of meditation may lead to the same spiritual end, they are quite different in practice.

Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation, which I consider to be the only truly meditative practice, is the practice of training the mind to envelop the entirety of ones experience, rather than select subjective elements of experience. More simply put, mindfulness meditation is awareness marked by sensitivity, empathy, and acceptance. Most of us go through our daily routines noticing only those things that are right in front of us, and we tune out everything else that isn’t of immediate personal use.

When we sit down to breakfast how often do we taste our food? Most people are watching TV, reading the paper, or thinking about their day to come. They don’t taste their food. Food is eaten, but it isn’t tasted, smelled, felt. It isn’t tasted because we ‘know’ it. We have relegated the experience of breakfast to an ordinary compulsory task of survival. And while that food will nourish our bodies, our minds are trapped in relative schizophrenia.

As we grow up, we construct ourselves through conscious and unconscious associations with names, places, people, objects, and ideas. We like this, we dislike that. We think that’s bad, we like the taste of that fruit, we hate that football team. All of these judgments are meaningless when we remove them from the context of our experiences and our identities. But these judgments have become ‘us’, and without them we’re lost. In truth, these values, tastes, and judgments are dead thoughts based on past experience. And they are selfish in so far as they emanate from the ego. So from one moment to the next we see the world as if looking into a mirror. We never see what’s in front of us. We see only ourselves.

Mindfulness meditation is a method of deconstructing our identities. If our identities are the route cause of selfishness, and selfishness is the route cause of suffering, loneliness, and discontent, then mindfulness meditation is the selfless perception of reality in the here and now. It isn’t escape from reality, but a return to it. It is tasting your breakfast. It is hearing your partner in a conversation and not simply waiting for your turn to speak. It is feeling the pain of a broken heart, and it is sitting quietly and observing ones breath and thought while remaining open to external sensations. It is becoming truly alive.

Meditation in this sense is not a skill to be acquired or a means to an end. It is both the means and the end. Undertaking mindfulness meditation with the goal of reaching ‘enlightenment’ or happiness is self deception. The perception of happiness itself is a manifestation of the ego. Seeking happiness is simply reinforcing your own identity. Happiness however is a natural consequence of living in the now. Living in the present, listening, tasting, feeling, and observing our thoughts as they are, without judgment, is selfless. And in this relationship to the present love can flourish.

I haven’t yet spoken of ‘how to meditate’, and for good reason. Adhering to methods is another form of selfish ambition and a reflection of personal values. Mindfulness meditation is not formulaic. It is personal. It is about your experience of the present. That said, there are some basic principles conducive to mindfulness meditation. In general, being alone in a quiet natural setting is beneficial for cultivating internal stillness. Good posture promotes proper breathing and organ function. Relaxed arms and legs increase sensitivity to energy flow. And removing distractions allows you to meditate without concern for time, and without treating meditation like ‘a thing’ that helps you.

In Buddhist temples, breathing, eating, and walking are all treated with equal reverence, and each is a vehicle for reuniting with the present. If performed slowly and conscientiously, eating, walking, and virtually every other activity can be a meditative activity. The beginner however is advised to start by observing his breath from a comfortable seated position. In, out, in, out, breathing deeply into the lower abdomen and remaining sensitive to thoughts and external sounds without judgment. Once sensitivity improves, meditation becomes a natural part of life in virtually any activity.

Our minds naturally wander, and this shouldn’t be judged or suppressed. It should be observed with the same innocence and curiosity with which we observe our breathing. When you observe your thoughts as mentioned you’ll find they very quickly come to an end. At this time come back to your breath and be mindful of the subtle movement of energy circulating in and around you. Be mindful of the sights, sounds, smells, and personal thoughts. The fullness of life in the present will eliminate conflict and result in peace and tranquility.

Concentration Meditation and Energy Work
Mindfulness meditation is the expansion of perception to encompass the entirety of ones present experience and the fullness of life. Concentration meditations are contrary to this. They tend to narrow ones perception to a focal point for purposes of increasing mental focus or growing and manipulating internal energy. Although I personally do not believe the term meditation should be applied to this type of exercise, it is commonly accepted as such and we’ll leave it for the sake of clarity.

Most schools of meditation include some kind of concentration meditation, where the mind is focused on an internal point of the body like the third eye, or on the circulation of energy itself along major meridian lines, or even on numbers, sounds, a candle flame, or internal light. This is called concentration meditation because the mind is consciously focusing on one thing to the exclusion of others. But I prefer to use the Chinese term Qigong, which means energy work, as I believe it more accurately describes various methods of concentration meditations, and if not the methods, the consequences.

Internal martial arts as well as eastern healing arts use these meditations to concentrate, grow, and control their internal energy. Historically in china, the best martial artists were also the best healers, not only because they have an acute knowledge of anatomy, but also because they have extraordinary internal power. This same energy can be harnessed and projected outside of ones body for hurting or for healing. But it requires a lifetime of dedication to develop the kind of energy control required for either one. Even today Traditional Chinese Medical doctors practice Qigong to develop a sensitivity of energy stagnation, accumulation or disconnect in the patients body.

Qigong and similar methods of energy work acknowledge an internal flow of energy. The aim of these systems is to first develop a sensitivity to its natural movement, and later, to control its flow with the mind. Early stages of Qigong training, whether they be from Buddhist, Daoist, or Hindu traditions, begin with stationary sitting or standing meditation. Movement of breath into the lower abdomen (breath cannot travel that deep, but one can feel the continuation of energy) is the foundation of energy work. A point about two inches below the belly button and an inch or two into the body there is the seat of energy. Mentally breathing into that point will collect and concentrate energy that can later be controlled.

Whether the practitioner is standing or seated there are a few key points to adhere to. Good posture is essential, and includes an erect spine (hips just slightly rolled forward, which straightens the spine fully but feels contrary to that at first), and relaxed limbs. One’s chin and line of vision should be downward slightly. One should feel suspended by the center and top of the head, an important location called the Crown Point. And the tongue should rest on the upper part of the mouth just behind the palate. This connects the two major meridian lines, the Conception and Governing vessels, on the front and rear of the body which travel from the mouth to the sphincter, and vise versa. The body should be relaxed and in a location without distractions.

Standing meditations like Golden Bell Qigong, where the arms our held out in front as if holding a giant ball, aim to develop a sensitivity to this energy throughout the body, especially in the arms through vibrations or temperature changes, and the lower abdomen in the form of heat or circular energy swirling. The manifestations of qi are vast and cannot be confined into these generic sensations, so one should not look for sensations or chase feelings. Seated meditation typically starts with the lower abdominal energy point alone until an awareness of heat, vibration, or other peculiar sensations manifest. A good instructor will be able to recognize and sense development in the student and it’s quite helpful at times to have a guide who knows where you are in the development stages.

We’ve all seen films or pictures depicting people in trancelike states of meditation. Their hands are in weird positions or their eyes are rolled back in their heads. Most nuances in hand posturing and leg posturing are in my opinion, insignificant. Chasing formality is a great way to set yourself up for failure. Understanding principles and applying them to the best of your ability is a safer method of practice. If you’re sitting in a chair, apply the principles above, and rest your hands in your lap or on your thighs comfortably. Do the same if sitting cross-legged, and the same if standing. It isn’t rocket science. You are creating a new relationship with yourself, and a large piece of the puzzle will be recognizing what makes you unique. For advanced energy work as mentioned below however, expansion in method may be necessary and finding a guide is recommended.

There are a myriad of breathing techniques and body postures which can enhance energy development and control. I won’t go into great detail here as they should be considered supplementary exercises to basic energy work from a seated or standing posture. But you needn’t put your mind in a box. Study and experiment and be very aware of the sensations and feelings that arise. If you feel uncomfortable or your health deteriorates, you’re probably doing something wrong. So make changes. But altering ones breathing to be deeper and longer, breathing into the upper chest, reverse abdominal breathing, holding one’s breath briefly while pressing air or tensing muscles, or moving the body as in Tai Qi, can aid in the awareness, development, and manipulation of energy.

The ability to accumulate energy in the lower abdomen is often times enough to ensure strong health and fast healing within the body. This energy, once potent enough will naturally begin to circulate and move from the lower abdomen down to the anis and up along the back to the crown point at the top of the head. Coordinating the oscillations of breath with this energy flow is the foundation of harnessing and controlling the energy. One can eventually move this energy through the Great Central Channel, the connected meridians of the Conception and Governing vessels, and take control of their body’s natural healing powers. Few people advance beyond this stage of energy work.

Stages of meditation beyond this point enter the stages of esoteric and mystic skills. I have met individuals with advanced qi development and energy skills but I can count them on a single hand. And I had to travel far and wide to meet them. Once the Great Central Channel is awakened, a practitioner has the ability to channel his energy throughout his body and into and through his limbs. This skill leads to advanced martial skills like the ability to make ones body light, heavy, immovable, hard, numb, fast and powerful beyond normal limits and even project this energy into another body or through open space. This is one of the consequences of internal development in systems like Tai Qi, Shaolin Qigong, and Aikido.

This skill, just as it can be used for hurting, can also be used for healing. This skill typically manifests in healing arts that involve the laying on of hands, including Qigong healers, Reiki healers, and in my opinion religious healers like Pentecostal Christians, Native American Medicine Men, and Eastern Mystic Healers. Many religious healers claim to be vessels of the divine or ubiquitous energy rather than the source. And that is a debate beyond the scope of this article. Nonetheless there are powerful secular healers that develop similar healing powers through personal and internal energy development that challenges the claims of divine intervention present in religious healings.

And rather than using this energy to work outside of the body, it can be kept inside and concentrated at various points to awaken dormant psychological powers. The infamous third eye is the seat of mental powers including telepathy and telekinesis. After the seat of energy in the lower abdomen is sufficiently developed, ones concentration can migrate to the third eye region with a simple change of focus. Mentally focusing on a part of the body will cause energy to concentrate in that region. This will feel like pressure in the forehead at first, but can later result in the opening of the third eye to light, knowledge, or visions, and the awakening of perception of the intangible.

Chasing these sensations and skills for selfish purposes or the accrual of power will result in a great deal of wasted time. There is an ineffable connection between advanced internal states and the innocence and selflessness that comes with living in the now. Meditating for the sake of meditating is truly difficult and rewarding, but most people find themselves meditating for a certain reason, result or purpose, and reap none of the rewards of honest efforts. A person can find whatever sensations they seek, but these tend to be artificial and contrived. A mind without ambition stands the best chances of perceiving the subtle movement of energy and using it for good.

Meditation and Martial Arts
One of my martial arts instructors once told me a Zen parable about a master painter who was asked by a novice how to paint perfectly. The master replied, “Become perfect, and paint naturally.” And this response is just as suitable for someone striving for mastery in the martial arts. Fighting skills are a small piece of the game. Anyone can punch and kick and bludgeon if absolutely necessary. But a true martial artist is concerned above all with self mastery. Their martial skill derives not only from their knowledge of the arts, but from a self knowledge that creates serene self control and perception. A true martial artist is without fear.

Fear is the natural result of constructing an identity. When there is an ego, a center of your consciousness, there exists a center of subjective value. Liking something causes the dislike of something else. If I like order, I dislike disorder. If I like democracy, I dislike communism. If I like Christianity, I dislike Islam. These are all benign concepts in their own right, but my perception of them, and the perceptions of others creates conflict and war. We embrace these concepts and construct our identities to create friends and allies and a world of psychological security. But as long as we live in a world of judgments, we’ll live in fear. As long as we have something, we have something to lose. And as long as we live in fear we’ll never be at peace or be able to contribute to world peace.

For a martial artist the transcendence of fear is one of the highest achievements. And it isn’t attained through countless battles but by the honest realization that the route of conflict and suffering is selfish desire. Desire and fear are corollaries. And the route of desire and fear is the ego, the unconscious association of ideas, likes and dislikes…beliefs. Mindfulness meditation is a path to peace. By living fully in the now the ego is marginalized and the ‘us’ with all of our likes, dislikes and values is put to rest. Seeing immediate truth is of the utmost importance for a martial artist because at the moment of truth in battle one needs accurate perception and right action, unclouded by conditioned responses or prior beliefs.

Mindfulness meditation allows the martial artist to become whole. Martial arts focus on developing tools of violence. This training does not govern the use of those tools, merely the development of them. It is a great deal of knowledge and power to wield, and ought not to be used indiscriminately. It ought to be balanced by mercy and compassion, two actions rarely found in selfish individuals. Meditation nurtures selflessness and honesty, and these states give rise to love, compassion, and mercy. When a martial artist is free from the fear that causes selfishness, his thoughts and actions are completely free. And freedom from compulsion in thought and action is self mastery.

Furthermore, an act of nonviolence by someone without the power to hurt is not an act of volition but an act of circumstance. An act of mercy by an individual with the power to cause the greatest suffering is truly meaningful. And this is the reason you find in China, Korea, and Thailand, Buddhist and Taoist monks who practice martial arts. These are not contradictions in terms, they are complimentary. Martial skill gives relevance and meaning to acts of kindness and mercy. It builds the body, strengthens the mind and develops profound physical and mental power. The pain and hardships of training contribute to the dissolution of ego by methodically deconstructing irrational fear. Once you’ve been hit, cut, hurt, and you heal and survive you begin to accept pain as a natural and transient part of life, and not as a personal affront or something to run from at all costs.

A martial artist should consider practicing both mindfulness meditation and concentration meditations (energy work, Qigong) not only in the pursuit of higher martial skill, but to become a better human being. These meditations are intrinsically valuable, and ends in themselves. Meditation reconnects us with the fullness of our present reality, as well as the fullness of our inner workings and internal potential. Advancement in the martial arts is a natural byproduct of becoming a better person, a person not confined by selfishness and egotism. So, for we martial artists, rather than compulsively pursue perfection of martial skill, perhaps we should work to become perfect, and fight naturally.

Personal Training Article #4: Stretching and Flexibility Training for Fitness and Martial Arts

May 5, 2009

Flexibility is something that needs no advocate. We all know that stretching is good for us. We all want to be more flexible. And none of us want to work for it. And unless we practice something that requires a high degree of flexibility, there is little incentive to push past comfort levels into potentially painful stretching sessions. That said, I am an advocate of stretching, and I’d like to discuss the benefits of incorporating stretching into fitness sessions, and the necessity of including it in one’s athletic performance and sports training.

After a session with a client last week I was asked about the stretching I have him do. We perform about 10 minutes of stretching at the end of our sessions, and no stretching beforehand. He said to me that back in the day, stretching was done before training sessions to prevent injury, and he wasn’t sure why, in principle, stretching ought to occur at one time over another.

And while this is a simple and important question, there is little conclusive information on the best way to incorporate stretching into fitness training sessions. I have read a great deal on the topic (and unfortunately the best resources on topic are consistently inconclusive), and there are those that advocate stretching prior to training for the sake of injury prevention, a preparing of the muscles and tendons for dynamic movement to come. And then there are those that advocate stretching post workout, because as you train your muscles contract, and contraction is tension which can remain in the muscles for hours after training. Stretching elongates these muscles after they’ve shortened and this at a time when the body is fully warm and malleable.

And then there are those on the fringe who believe in doing both, like myself. But I reserve this for training sessions involving a large range of dynamic motion and a moderate to high level of intensity…martial arts training. Let me lay out briefly the pros and cons of pre and post workout stretching before we move into performance stretching methods.

Pre workout stretching can prepare the body for intense dynamic training. But this need not occur at all in sessions that have restricted range of motion, like weight lifting or jogging. The best preparation for these exercises is a warm-up set at lower weights or speeds until the body warms and naturally stretches. Stretching before weightlifting can decrease strength if you’re lifting heavily, and increase strength on more dynamic and fast paced circuit or bodyweight lifting.

Most sports have developed sport specific stretches that are performed pre workout, and this makes perfect sense. They should be performed religiously. But if training for fitness only with isolated ranges of motion one needn’t be too concerned with pre-workout stretching because, in truth, most people carry too much tension into the gym. And stretching prior to a long warm-up not only increases the length of our training sessions considerably, but may also increase the chances of pulling a muscle and causing injury in an attempt to prevent injury.

I find that for 90% of trainees, training post workout makes a lot more sense. Your body is warmed up and with any luck more relaxed after you’ve exerted yourself fully. You feel more relaxed, and so are able to let your muscles stretch without adding psychological tension. And believe it or not, the most important key to stretching is not physical, it’s psychological. Most of the tension in the body comes from the mind. Relaxing the mind is the basis for flexibility training.

If you intend to increase your flexibility you must work from a warm and relaxed state. You can enter this state through long and gradually intensifying stretching sessions, or my preferred method, stretching after you’ve finished a hard cardio session. The legs will feel like Jello and will stretch easily. If you’re weightlifting heavy, you may want to wait a couple of hours after lifting, as weightlifting causes intense muscle contraction and it can take a long time for this tension in the muscles to dissipate. But this will take personal discretion and attention.

So, to sum up the above, for 80 to 90% of trainees, post workout stretching of 10 to 20 minutes is sufficient for muscular health and better recovery time. If you’re relaxed enough, its also enough time to make gains in flexibility. It will elongate the muscles after they’ve shortened from exercise, and it will force circulation to clean out lactic acid build up which causes soreness. Now lets discuss the needs of the few, stretching for those in dynamic performance sports or arts.

Stretching for the purposes of increased flexibility, relaxation, and health will be fulfilled through static stretching. Static stretching is performed without jerking or bouncing movements. After a long deep breath is taken in from a good posture, the stretch is performed slowly to the point of tension and then held for 10 to 20 seconds. As you hold this position, allow your mind to focus on the muscle being stretched, and consciously work to relax it and stretch further. Repeat 3 to 10 times. This takes practice. This is the safest method of stretching.

When we speak of martial arts training (or any other high intensity sport with a large range of motion) however, we need to introduce another method of stretching called dynamic or ballistic stretching. This is something that most sports authorities will tell you is unnecessary and dangerous. I tried in vane to listen to these authorities, and it lead to some of my worst injuries in martial arts. I believe that they are correct for the average Joe, but martial artists must incorporate dynamic stretching into their warm-ups.

Dynamic stretching moves the body through a full range of motion at moderate to fast speeds. It should be performed with straight legs, erect posture, and without any element of snapping. It should look like a straight leg swing, either up, to the side, to the back, or in a crescent motion.

Naturally, if done improperly, this type of stretching can seriously hurt you. But for a martial artist, not doing this type of training can hurt you more. You see, our bodies have a protection mechanism that causes our muscles to tense when our movements threaten the natural and normal limits of motion. This occurs to keep us from doing things that will tear our bodies apart. This mechanism can be counter conditioned through training.

When we move dynamically we tend to have a larger range of motion then when we are stretching slowly and statically. But in order to actualize this dormant muscular stretch we need to be moving quickly, and this is where the danger lies. Dynamic stretching should not be, pardon the expression, balls out, at first. It should follow light to moderate static stretching, and then be gradually worked into from lower levels and speeds.

The easiest way to injure yourself is to swing your leg over your head right out of the gate with no warm-up or pre stretch. In preparation for ax kicking or high front kicking, one should do 3 to 10 ten sets of 5 dynamic straight leg stretches to the front, starting at slow speeds and raising the leg to waist level. In successive sets, raise the height of the leg swing as well as the speed until full range of motion at full speed is realized.

I do know people who, after a lifetime of training, need no stretch before moving into a full speed dynamic kick. And while I can if I needed to do so, I never do so in training. I have had the full splits for over 15 yrs, and to this day I don’t enter a hard kicking session without a warm-up of 5 to 10 minutes (typically jogging), static stretching for the hamstrings, and dynamic stretching which lasts about 10 minutes.

I begin at speeds of 50% and use only 50% of my full range of motion. I move up gradually in speed and range of motion until I’m at 90 to 100 % of both. Denying yourself dynamic stretching will increase your chances of muscle tears and pulls if you throw high and hard snap kicks. Dynamic stretching tells your body not to tense through explosive movements, and so will allow your antagonist muscles to remain relaxed throughout the movement.

Static and Dynamic stretching are complimentary, but are distinct enough as to where they need to be trained individually and for different reasons. Dynamic stretching prepares the body for intense dynamic movement. It should not be treated as a method of increasing flexibility in general, though it will offer some benefits there.

Static stretching should be treated as injury prevention pre workout, soreness prevention post workout, and training for improved flexibility. But static stretching will not prepare you to kick, and dynamic stretching will not be the safest or smartest method of improving flexibility. Static stretching should be the method of improving and maintaining flexibility, and dynamic stretching the application of acquired flexibility.

Flexibility has a few other psychological and sport specific benefits in addition to the above. For those who have attempted to stretch for any length of time know well, stretching can be painful. It’s painful because we’re are tense, and we’re pushing our body against its limits…at least its perceived limits.

In truth, our bodies have a great deal of stretch that the protection mechanism mentioned above keeps us from actualizing. In order to call this extra stretch into play, we need to be in a proper mental state. You can’t stretch and attempt to fight the pain. You will fail.

Stretching physically is much easier if it manifests our mental flexibility and relaxation. A hard headed and tense person is reactionary and defensive. When the world differs from his perceptions there is a clash of forces. When a person sees the world as it is and accepts it as transient, his mind will cease struggling, and he’ll be at peace.

One’s inner state plays a large role when fighting a lifetime of conditioned tension within the body. If you want quick results and want to force yourself through this discomfort, or avoid the pain all together, you’ll fail. If however you see the pain of stretching as it is, if you can accept it, breath into it and allow your mind to relax, flexibility occurs naturally.

Flexibility is much more than a physical state. It requires an open mind and a mind and body harmony that can’t be forced. At the moment of stretching, mind and body must coalesce and embrace the discomfort, not struggle against it. When this can be done you’ll find the discomfort is gone and the muscles are able to relax into that dormant potential.

This is a skill that requires dedication, as in essence you’re fighting a lifetime of contrary physical and psychological factors. But it can be done, and is well worth the effort. Likewise, learning to stretch improves our mental relaxation and opens the mind. Tension and stress in the mind and body are synonymous. Physical relaxation comes from the mind.

Another benefit of flexibility training is improved coordination and speed. Relaxation and flexibility are the opposite of tension. And our bodies are muscular machines kept in balance through opposing forces. In order to push something, your chest and triceps contract, and your back and biceps relax. In order to front kick your quads contract and your hamstrings relax.

It is in this coordinated muscular give-and-take that movement becomes possible. If a person carries extra tension in their bodies, or they haven’t learned to relax in motion, then they appear uncoordinated and weak. This is the leading cause of the stereotype of muscle bound bodybuilders as oafish and slow. People used to believe that big means slow, and this is because in the past bodybuilders were focused primarily on movements which create tension.

In recent years bodybuilders incorporate a tremendous amount of lifting variety and stretching methods which compliment tension causing exercises. They are much better all around athletes today than they were in the past. Nevertheless, muscular strength can apply great force, but power comes from adding speed to force. And speed is generated when that muscular force is not slowed down by contrary muscular tension.

You may be able to squat 500 pounds, but if you cannot relax your hamstrings while you are using those powerful quadriceps to throw a kick, then your movement will lack speed and power. This is the reason you can find a slim martial artist capable of generating the power of a heavyweight boxer. The key is not in muscular strength, but in muscular relaxation, which is the foundation of speed. Coordinating opposing muscle groups to work in perfect harmony creates blinding speed, and speed creates killing power.

For those of you who are still with me, let me summarize those points of worth for practical purposes.

For Fitness (Assuming your training doesn’t require a large range of motion):
-Stretching pre workout is optional and should be moderate
-Stretching post workout is mandatory for health, improved recovery time, and flexibility gains

For Dynamic Sports (assuming your training demands a large range of motion):
-Stretching pre workout is mandatory, and should include static and dynamic stretching
-Stretching post workout is optional but recommended for health, improved recovery time, and flexibility gains. Static stretching is sufficient post workout.

For Spiritual or Mental Purposes:
-Stretching is the physical manifestation of mental relaxation and openness. It is also a gateway to self discovery and promotes mental flexibility and openness. It’s a circular relationship.

Things stretching will not do for you:
Stretching will not tone your body. Muscle tone is the product of muscular development and low body fat. There are no exercises that directly tone the body. Resistance training builds muscle, and low body allows that muscle to show.

Stretching will not increase muscular strength. Stretching your quadriceps will not increase your squat poundage. It will however increase your dynamic and explosive movements, by improving your range of motion and improving your ability to relax the antagonist muscle of a movement (while tensing the quads while front kicking your hamstrings will need to relax).

Stretching will not burn fat. Stretching is a no impact slow moving activity, requiring just a little more energy than sitting on the couch. If done in conjunction with resistance training or bodyweight exercises like yoga or Pilates, naturally fat will be burned. But this is not a byproduct of stretching. It’s a result of the resistance training.

Shanghai Personal Training Article #3: Martial Arts Training

March 31, 2009

Martial arts training is significantly more diverse than typical sports training. And unless you train to fight in a cage, the scope of your training needs to encompass countless possibilities including being attacked by larger and stronger opponents, fighting multiple attackers, defending yourself from armed attackers, or protecting another individual from an attack.

The possibilities in all of these scenarios are infinitely complex and unpredictable, and so necessitate a comprehensive fitness cross training program, as well as technical fighting skills that not only include the fundamentals of anatomy and human weaknesses but also psychological factors. They need to be precise enough to accomplish the task at hand, and broad enough so as to be adaptable to unique and new situations. This is no simple task.

After a nice training session in Kali stick fighting yesterday I noticed a common distinction in the thinking of beginners versus advanced students in the martial arts. Common questions from beginners focus on matters of ‘practicality’. This is a puzzling topic, because how does one define practical? What situation are we training for? Will practicing trapping hands or rope defense techniques be practical in a cage match? No. Will they however be practical in an armed or dangerous street conflict against one or more opponents? Perhaps so.

The beginner comes to their training with numerous preconceived notions of self defense. Typically these notions revolve around a one on one street fight with fans and friends standing around and cheering, or an uber villain cornering you in the back alley in the wrong part of town. Rarely do they encompass things like protecting a friend, controlling an opponent without seriously harming them (in the case of a drunk friend or if you’d be liable for their death or maiming as in police work), fighting 2 or more opponents at once, fighting in tight locations like a subway, hallway, bathroom, or plain cabin, or defending yourself while seated, downed, handcuffed, or injured.

The advanced student, by contrast, knows that defining ‘practicality’ is a hindrance to progress, not a benefit. They see new techniques and technical details in terms of their principle function, and not in terms of their execution. The difference here is that once a technique is truly mastered, it provides the practitioner with countless solutions to countless problems, and not merely one solution to one situation. Proper striking and grappling training teaches fundamentals of body mechanics and movement, as well as vital and weak anatomical parts on ones opponents. This allows the student to apply their own reason and understanding to a problem without having to function as a robot with set responses to set conditions.

That said, there are other factors relevant to ones training that aren’t encompassed in technical training alone. Our bodies not only need to have the fine motor skills and neuro muscular connections required for speed and precision, we also need power and endurance to meet a myriad of potential situations. In most cases physical conditioning is more basic and essential than technique training, as a healthy athlete stands a much better chance of delivering and even absorbing a powerful strike without sustaining personal injury than a technical trainee in poor physical shape. Combining fitness with martial knowledge is what creates a truly powerful martial artist. So let’s analyze these two components in more detail.

Fitness training for martial arts requires a diversity that doesn’t exist in most sports, for reasons mentioned above. Martial artists have no defined environment of performance or rules governing action in any way. So the best preparation for such an undefined reality must be focused on maximizing power in motion…in general, and not the specific technical aspects of self defense alone. In keeping with the 80-20 rule, I believe that for most beginning to intermediate martial arts trainees, 80 percent of the fitness and physical conditioning they need will come from training 5 compound weightlifting lifts, and a combination of sprinting and endurance running known as interval training.

5 basic lifts are all it takes to acquire all around brute strength that also translates into functional martial power. The big push, or bench press, uses the pecs and triceps. The big pull, row or pull-ups, strengthens the lats and biceps. The shoulder press works the shoulder muscles. The dead lift is for all around body strength, concentrating on the quads, hamstrings, lower, mid, and upper back. And finally, the squat, which works all the muscles of the upper legs, and the calves to a lesser degree. These five lifts, if done 2 days a week in sets of 4 or 5, or 3 days a week in a circuit manner for 3 sets will develop lean muscle mass and functional strength.

If we add to that the most basic of all movements, running, we get much closer to an all around athletic performance level. Running is not only a phenomenal conditioning exercise, working nearly every muscle in the body in some way, its also practical self defense. If you can run, then you have just one more option in a self defense situation. It amazes me that most instructors will teach people for years, countless techniques, and not once encourage them to practice sprinting. If a middle aged woman is attacked on the street, and she isn’t fast or strong enough to run, she has no choice but to fight, and this greatly increases her chances of getting injured or killed. The sprinter in many cases is the greatest of all martial artists. It’s no wonder you find running as basic conditioning in not only the military, but also classical striking systems in China, Korea, Japan, and Thailand. In some cases, running is built in to patterns as in Shaolin Kung Fu.

And the last component, which takes this raw power and turns into a deadly force, is technical martial arts training. A comprehensive training program will include striking (punching, kicking, elbows, knees, head butting, and finger striking) and grappling (including takedowns, sweeps, joint locks, chokes, and proper falling technique). At advanced stages one can add weapons training. It is essential here to have qualified expert instruction. And then to practice techniques tens of thousands of times to develop the neuro efficiency to deliver them with consistency, speed, and power. And finally, the application of these techniques can only be learned through sparring or simulated fighting with aggressive and resisting attackers.

Some people believe in combining these into one training session. But I don’t believe that best suits the needs of a martial artist. There is no need to train our bodies to stand and fight for two hours at a time at moderate intensity levels. There is however a need to be able to move and function at the highest intensity for shorter durations. So low impact technical training can be performed for hours a day as it doesn’t drain our systems to a high degree. But high intensity strength training, speed and power training should always be done at the highest intensity and for short durations, ideally for 30 minutes or less. This allows you to develop strength, power, and speed and build muscle without breaking down muscle to fuel longer endurance sessions.

Shanghai Fitness Training Article #2: How to Lose Weight

March 18, 2009

Judging by the frequency of front page articles in fitness and lifestyle magazines, there is no shortage of people wondering how to lose weight. For most of us, our current body weight was not arrived at dramatically over the past month, but has come to be relatively steady over a longer period of time. This is because we all fall into a particular lifestyle where work, play, and diet are relatively consistent.

This can make weight loss difficult, not because your body is predisposed to carrying extra weight, but because you will actually need to change your lifestyle, and thus breach your comfort levels in terms of diet and exercise in order to make consistent progress. Many people associate weight loss with abstaining from comfort foods and fighting hunger pains. And for those who are accustomed to a sedentary lifestyle, fear of the gym or looking foolish on an elliptical machine may be a governing thought. But weight loss, if approached intelligently doesn’t need to be painful.

In order to better understand how to lose weight, we need to understand why we weigh what we currently weigh. Humans adapt. We grow. We are constantly changing. What causes these changes? Stimulus. If you have been over weight for any length of time, take a look at your lifestyle. Do you have consistency in the types, frequency, and quantity of foods you eat? Do you have late dinners or skip breakfast? Are you eating fast food to get through the meal as quickly as possible and get back to the office?

If you answered yes to any of those questions then its likely your body has adapted to your lifestyle and found a comfortable state of equilibrium. It will require something external, exercise, or internal, diet, to stimulate a change in the way your body stores and burns fat. Your body’s metabolic rate has been programmed to keep you where you are. This can be changed by increasing your metabolism, decreasing your caloric intake and refining your diet, or both. Let’s look at each piece individually.

If our metabolic rate, or the quantity of energy we need to consume to maintain our bodyweight, is constant, then it stands to reason that if we reduce the amount of food calories we consume our bodies will have to find the energy from elsewhere in order to maintain energy needs. Where does this extra energy come from if not from food? You guessed it, fat. Our bodies are forced to use fat for energy resulting in weight loss. The caveat here however is that just as our body adapted to our previous lifestyle, so too will it adapt to our new lower calorie diet, resulting in a lower metabolic rate and a new plateau in the struggle for weight loss.

The mistake that many people make when they reach this plateau is to further reduce their caloric intake, and when they plateau again, they reduce it again, until their metabolic rate is a fraction of what it once was. Now, when they deviate even for a day or two from their low calorie diet their body puts fat on immediately. This is a dangerous dieting cycle that can be avoided through proper dieting methods.

Many kinds of dietary fads have put negative stigmas on carbohydrates and fats that cause us all to feel guilt when we’re eating something we love to eat. Here’s what they don’t tell you. Carbohydrates are good for you. Fat (certain kinds) is good for you. They should not be avoided, and for some people, fat intake actually needs to increase in order to lose weight. When our bodies get used to a low fat diet, they retain body fat as protection from starvation. When we consume adequate fat, our bodies release excess body fat and use it for energy, assuming our carbohydrate and protein consumption is not excessive.

There is no shortage of information on the internet about which kinds of fat and which kinds of carbohydrates are best for fat loss, so I won’t take the time to detail them here. But I do want to point out that simply not eating things is not going to result in sustainable fat loss. Not eating high glycemic carbohydrates and trans and hydrogenated fats will result in long term weight loss, as well as eating sufficient high quality protein.

Most people don’t realize that fruits and vegetables are not very calorie dense.  You can eat them to your hearts content, all day long, and still find yourself losing weight.  If your diet is predominantly fruits, vegetables, and meats you really needn’t calorie count.  Fat loss is not a simple calculation of calories in versus calories out.  A natural diet like this, aside from offering a lower calorie alternative to junk food, causes our bodies to produce muscle building and fat burning hormones that keep our body in a constant fat burning state. 

Furthermore, eating smaller meals more frequently can keep your metabolism high and constant (as well as preventing insulin surges which keep your body from releasing fat), so that you’ll burn fat continuously throughout the day, rather than forcing your body to work through large meals and excess calories before it considers your healthy stores of body fat as energy. And for most of us, huge gains can be made if, in conjunction with smaller, more frequent (6 times a day) meals, we eat an early light dinner of the basics, fruits, vegetables, and fish or chicken. Going to bed on a full stomach is one of the worst things you can do.

That said, we should all set one or two days a week aside where we don’t observe our diets and eat freely, even excessively. This is not only good for our mental health; it also keeps our metabolic rate from adjusting downward to meet the average reduction in calories. Ignore those die hard diet plans. The truth is there are very few of us that can stick to them for any length of time. And the more important truth is they rarely result in long term weight loss. We’re surrounded by temptations and why not enjoy life a little? Enjoy your cakes and cookies; just don’t enjoy them more than one or two days a week.

Now that we’ve dealt with diet let’s look at fat loss from the outside in, exercise. Just as reducing our caloric intake will cause us to burn fat for energy, raising our metabolic rate through exercise will force us to burn fat for energy. Just how much exercise is needed to stimulate fat loss? Well that entirely depends on your current activity level. For a sedentary individual, a half an hour a week would be enough at first. For someone struggling to lose each and every pound at the gym, it may require a little more, or different, exercise than they are used to.

The best kinds of exercise for fat loss, contrary to what many believe, are resistance training (weightlifting), and interval training. While an hour of aerobic training will burn more fat in that hour than one hour of weightlifting, our bodies tend to revert back to our previous metabolic rate after aerobic training. A proper weightlifting regimen on the other hand will stimulate a higher metabolic rate that causes you to burn fat for the following 16 hours, not to mention the added energy needed to sustain more lean muscle mass once its been created.

Interval training, which can be done on a rowing machine, a treadmill, an elliptical, or my personal favorite, martial arts or kickboxing pad work drills at your home or local park, is the other highly effective method for fat loss. Interval training is a combination of aerobic and anaerobic training, whereby the trainee alternates between moderate (50-70 % of max intensity) and high (90-100% of max intensity) intensity levels.

So, if using a treadmill, your workout might look like 5 minutes of light jogging, followed by one minute of sprinting, followed by two minutes of moderate jogging, one minute sprinting, etc. The 1 minute sprint, 2 minute jog formula can be considered one set or interval, repeat 3 to 6 times depending on your skill level. But these sessions, like weightlifting sessions should be short, less than 30 minutes for best results (longer than 15 minutes including warmup). These are also the same two components in lean muscle gain.

There is no secret formula for ‘How to Lose Weight’. Try to stick to natural foods (not processed) and get in a few days of moderate to intense exercise each week.  Eat right and exercise, and with time you’ll find the body you’ve been looking for.

Shanghai Personal Training Article #1: Muscle Gain

February 2, 2009

Whether a person trains alone, has a personal trainer, attends group fitness classes, or plays sports, the same fitness principles apply.  People are always looking for that new gimmick, the quick fix, the six pack abs cure, the next weight loss miracle.  But our bodies are no different today than they were a thousand years ago.  The same food that nourished our ancestors will nourish us.  The same physical conditioning exercises that made them strong will make us strong.  Our bodies require a healthy diet for weight control and peak performance, cardiovascular exercise for a healthy heart, and resistance training in order to build muscle.  It’s this last point I’d like to focus on.

First off, let me define resistance training.  Resistance training is adding resistance or weight to a movement.  Weightlifting, Plyometrics, Isometrics, Calisthenics, Bodyweight Training, and Static Contraction training all fall under this umbrella.  All of these approaches to strength training will add muscle to your body if done properly.  The degree to which they do so depends upon how well you adhere to the basic principles of weight gain.  I’ll lay those out for you here.

Progressive Overload and Muscle Gain

The most important element of strength training for muscle gain is progressive overload.  This is the idea that successive workouts must surpass the previous workouts in terms of their intensity if strength and muscle gain is to be stimulated.  Muscle gain is an adaptive response to excessive stress.  If I bench 150 pounds for three sets, 10 reps per set this week, the theory of progressive overload dictates that I’ll need to either increase the amount of weight lifted for the same workload, increase the number of reps per set, or add sets with the same amount of weight.  This has an important corollary that often goes overlooked.

Measuring Time and Quantifying Intensity

When one is concerned with the intensity of their workout, there must be some form of measurement in order to determine if/how they are stronger than they were before.  Counting the amount of weight is the first method, but it alone is not sufficient to determine strength gains.  I must also measure the amount of time it requires me to lift a certain muscle group, as well as the length of the entire workout.  If you disregard the amount of time it takes you to complete a muscle group, you’ll never be able to quantify progress. 

Question, who is stronger (and thus bigger), the man who can squat 200 pounds 5 times in one minute, or the man who can squat 150 pounds 10 times in one minute?  Many will look at the higher weight and consider that lifter the strongest.  But the man who lifted 150 pounds 10 times lifted 500 more pounds in the same period of time.  His training intensity is higher.  He is the stronger man.

The Inverse Relationship Between Intensity and Duration

A corollary to this is the principle that increased intensity ought to be accompanied by a decrease in duration.  In other words, it does me no good to lift weights for long periods of time.  You’ll see gym rats spend three hours a day training and make no progress.  How can you put your body through a more intense workout if you’re spreading your energy out over three hours?  You can’t…I’ve tried.  I personally don’t believe in spending more than an hour to an hour and a half PER WEEK weight training.  That either means three to four sessions per week lasting 20 to 30 minutes each, or two sessions per week lasting 30 to 45 minutes each. 

Compound Lifts Equal Greater Intensity Equals Muscle Gain

If it takes me longer than that to complete my workout, than I am not lifting enough weight, or the exercises and techniques I’m using are ineffective.  In order to meet this time constraint, one should keep to compound lifts (lifts that require many muscles, muscle networks, to perform an action) like bench press, squat, pullups, rows, and deadlift to name a few.  These lifts work large and small muscle groups to failure without the need for time consuming isolation exercises like curls or leg extensions.  This allows for maximum intensity and minimum duration.  Muscle growth is stimulated by short, very intense training sessions.  Think of a sprinter’s physique as opposed to that of a marathon runner. 

Combining this principle with the one before it, we can combine lifts into 2 to 4 exercises within a set known as supersets or circuits.  This provides a temendous amount of intensity.  You will not be able to lift nearly as much weight using circuit or superset training methods, but your entire system is working much harder to complete the set.  A superset might start with a bench press or pushups for 6 to 10 reps followed immediately by a set of squats for 6 to 10 reps.  Rest for one to two minutes (the shorter the better) and repeat for two to three more sets.  Another superset could be pull-ups or rows followed by a shoulder press.  These two sets together done 2 times per week would be a high intensity full body workout that takes 20 to 30 minutes, meeting both time and intensity objectives.

The Inverse Relationship Between Intensity and Recovery Time

The next principle of weight gain is that as a person becomes stronger, and their bodies require more intensive training to break down their muscles, the amount of rest time required between workouts must increase.  Larger muscles require greater stress to break down (weightlifting is actually a destructive process, it breaks down muscle.   It is during rest that our bodies build muscle after recovering from effective training sessions), and consequently longer periods of rest to recover.  Overtraining occurs when the trainee enters the gym prior to full recovery.  He attempts his ordinary lifts and is unable to complete them.  Additionally he feels tired all the time.  It’s because he’s focusing on the deconstructive element of training and his body hasn’t had the chance to build the muscle he’s worked so hard for.

Everyone who has attempted to gain muscle has experienced this phenomenon.  Newbies make great gains for 1 to 3 months of training, and then plateau for months if not years, or look for drugs to help them out.  Typically they have not tried to alter one of the factors above. They have not quantified their strength and determined what they need to lift to methodically progress, or they have not allowed their bodies enough time to recover and grow stronger after training.  Rest is extremely important for muscle growth.  If you were making gains in the beginning with 3 days of lifting a week and then plateau, then reducing the frequency of training while increasing the intensity ought to be the first thing you try to break through it.  This is very difficult for people that are addicted to training or can’t believe that growing occurs during sleep, which it does, and not when you’re lifting heavy weights above your head (which is the process of breaking down your body).

Diet and Muscle Gain

And the final component for muscle gain, diet.  This ought to go without saying, but you need to eat well if you want your body to function well.  I’m not a die hard protein advocate or in favor of binge eating for calories.  For me the equation is simple.  I accept that real lean muscle takes time to acquire.  If today I weigh 165 pounds and I have a relatively steady diet and not too much body fat, then I know I need to add just a little bit to my caloric intake, ideally protein, to provide enough energy for my body to add muscle.  If your weight is relatively steady, then increasing your caloric intake will result in weight gain (if you stimulate muscle gain, then that weight gain will result in new muscle, if you don’t, it will result in fat) and decreasing your caloric intake will result in weight loss.

You don’t need to be a fanatic (unless your passion is body building and you want inhuman size) about your protein intake.  Try to consume protein with every meal, ideally 20 to 40 grams, three to five times a day.  If you are training heavily (6 days a week, both resistance and endurance training), try to consume one gram of protein per pound of body weight.  This is very difficult for me living here in China, and I don’t meet this number very often.  I am still able to build muscle despite that, though I am tired once and a while.  And despite common conception, a person can loose fat and build muscle at the same time.  Train properly.  Eat well.

To sum up our principles of muscle gain:

1. Progressive overload ellicits an adaptive response resulting in muscle gain

2. Progressive overload requires increasing intensity

3. Intensity can be quantified by dividing weight lifted per unit of time

4. As your workouts increase in intensity they should decrease in duration

5. As your workouts increase in intensity they should decrease in frequency

6. Caloric Intake must increase

I hope this article has provided you with something useful.  If you know what you’re doing in the gym, perhaps focusing on these principles will help you make consistent progress.  And if you’re new to fitness or strength training, look for a good personal trainer, a knowledgeable friend, or some good books that can provide you with specific exercises designed to build your body safely.  Good Training!

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