weighted pistols or barbell squats?

[DeusTrismegistus]

well this has spiraled into the same old BTDT...

so off with you.

just a suggestion; if you don't like to train with weights, it's all good, but maybe you shouldn't contribute to a thread where there is a specific question by someone who's already dedicated to the practice and we can stay on topic.

it would be no different than if someone posted a question about southern mantis and half of everyone replied the SPM was no good and they should only do taiji.

OH NOES I KILZED IT!

[Bodywork]

I'm still confused by the amount of muscel building, Judo, MMA, BJJ, and external enthusiast leanings and the sometimes open internal art naysaying-all in the internal section.
Not my business-its just curious.

[The Possible Human]

Not sure if that question was aimed at me at all, but if so, I will give my answer.

[Brady]

I knew the skinniest dancer who could do reps of pistols with two 10 lb kettlebells and make it look easy. Meanwhile I have comparatively much more muscle and struggle to do 10 unweighted pistols. This leads me to believe that the mastery of and practice of pistols actually enhances alignment more than overt strength, thus not your normal lifting.

besides, I know plenty of stories of so called internal martial artists farming with extra weighted tools and lifting logs for practice. silly BTDT argument.

[Chris Fleming]

Word up, Brady.

I know most mofos on here already know this but I'll state it for the record. Strength is a skill. If your goal is 10 pistols, then the best way to get there is not to constantly kill yourself trying to get 10. It's better to do a few here and there throughout the day. Never going to failure. Much of the time not even really going to fatigue. Occasionally going for all then back to some easy trys. The old time strong men practiced their lifts (like the bent press) as a skill, not a workout. They never trained to bulk up muscle, their muscles changed as they got stronger and stronger as a natural byproduct--their nervous system was what was getting more and more skilled. In this sense, sounds internal to me.

[D_Glenn]

Word up, Brady.

I know most mofos on here already know this but I'll state it for the record. Strength is a skill. If your goal is 10 pistols, then the best way to get there is not to constantly kill yourself trying to get 10. It's better to do a few here and there throughout the day. Never going to failure. Much of the time not even really going to fatigue. Occasionally going for all then back to some easy trys. The old time strong men practiced their lifts (like the bent press) as a skill, not a workout. They never trained to bulk up muscle, their muscles changed as they got stronger and stronger as a natural byproduct--their nervous system was what was getting more and more skilled. In this sense, sounds internal to me.

Yeah I don't think too many people on here are unaware of the works of Pavel Tsatsouline and his concept of G.T.G. (grease the groove).


.

[ashe]

Well, like I said it was in the main forum (i.e. IMA-related) and so I stated my opinion re. its lack of relation to IMA... Just an opinion, I don't care who practices what. If it were posted in OTT, I would have never mentioned anything like that.

i didn't mean just you, but Ian's question was very specific and in now way asked "is either good for IMA", and so falling back into the same old arguments of should we shouldn't we derails Ians topic and is (IMO) unfair to Ian.





the same goes for chris and dan.

[Iskendar]

I knew the skinniest dancer who could do reps of pistols with two 10 lb kettlebells and make it look easy. Meanwhile I have comparatively much more muscle and struggle to do 10 unweighted pistols. This leads me to believe that the mastery of and practice of pistols actually enhances alignment more than overt strength, thus not your normal lifting.

besides, I know plenty of stories of so called internal martial artists farming with extra weighted tools and lifting logs for practice. silly BTDT argument.

I recall some instances of the pistol featuring in an IMA context: I saw video of BT's crowd doing pistols while holding a cross posture (you know, like in Ark's leg raises, but then...not raises ), which supposedly was a Yin style exercise, and I have some vague recollection of a mention of the pistol as an old xinyiliuhe jibengong on eF (Tadzio maybe??) Anyway, it is an exercise which probably requires more of your balance and structural posture than of your strength, and which provides a great context for exercising those IMA windings (I'll let you know how that goes when I actually manage to DO them )

Weighted squats have their benefits for IMA too: they teach you a lot about balance, and doing them ass-to-ground with your heels on the ground really stretches the kuas. Proper weight lifting also trains you to use the back, as we recently discussed in a .net thread on light leaping (referring back to an old aikiweb/non-aiki thread, my my, aren't we going round in circles ) I recently started doing some interval training with dumbbell swings and snatches (as those involve mainly the core, and avoid stressing the shoulders), but that's more for cardio and fat burning (need to lose some weight) than to improve my martial arts.

I guess the main points regarding weightlifting and IMA are: avoid isolation like the plague, avoid activating the shoulders, pay attention to your balance and work in the silk reeling/winding motions where you can. And most importantly: don't let it cut into your training time too much.

[Chris Fleming]

Yeah I don't think too many people on here are unaware of the works of Pavel Tsatsouline and his concept of G.T.G. (grease the groove).


.

Another martial artist summed it up well by saying, "don't exercise, execute". He was talking about practicing techniques but I think it fits well here.