the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

I binge watched about 10-20 of these videos, and more or less it breaks down to:

- pull ups of various types
- push ups and dips of various types
- "hinge" exercises (such as holding pull up bar and raising legs) of various types
- squats of various types.

Then people can of course take those to very impressive gymnastics type of levels such as holding "human flag", front planche, etc. I'm not going to try to do that, and have a nerve issue that would prevent it anyway, so I tried "beginner versions" ... TL;DR: basically just grappling session warm up type stuff, but at the moment for me, I think walking toward "downward dog" to a normal plank, and then beyond (as if you're using an ab roller) as far as you can, then back up is kind of a nice "minimum effective dose" for me. Easy enough to add to the qigong and rehab/prehab routine nearly every day.

The only movement that requires external loading is a hip hinge (i.e. deadlift).

Every other plane of motion can be done using bodyweight with varying degrees of success.

ah ok thanks for that. just swinging light kettlebells for this hinging. I'm missing pull ups, mostly out of laziness, but that's ok.

yep, that's the basics

locomotion is a good alternative and definitely more fun
would highly recommend GMB elements
take a look at their youtube, they have other programs and also videos on calisthenics etc.
very accessible whatever level you're starting from
there's yoga too

try out crow pose, that's a pretty good one to work towards

I always try out crow, but never learned it. Might have to give it a more serious attempt.

yea takes a little while to get. you mentioned downward dog; one of the locomotions taught by GMB is bear. Basically it's walking in downward dog pose, so would make a perfect follow on from that. what's great about locomotion is it hits strength, mobility (flexibility+range of motion) and motor control all at once.

GMB have a good tutorial on crow btw.. can you tell I'm a fan ?

oh yeah, it is super cool, I think. my arm probably won't allow me to progress too far, but I think this is great. walking into down dog, doing bear and things like that, pausing in various planks, walking 'beyond plan' (as if doing an ab roller) --- been doing these nearly every day, and I can tell I have some minor improvements in those areas. fantastic stuff. added to qigong, rebounder, kb stuff, etc. One thing I do worry about is if some added "muscle strength" hinders my qigong progress and working toward "qigong-related pengjin", but I'm not noticing any downgrade, subjectively. these things are essentially static holds ("isometrics") and very "refined", not "brute" strength imo.

Years ago I was teaching a student aikido type rolls
I taught him a set I was doing then that included yoga postures
All rolls were done from a kneeling position
I would do them daily if I still had the big lounge room I had then

rolls can also be an awesome cardio workout.. but yea, whilst you don't necessarily need a ton of space, personally I like soft ground for them.
Wayne, they are part of the CTH system too - most specifically the fight training portion of it; primarily for stamina, endurance I believe. For sure lots of angles and benefits to this exercise. depending how and why you are doing them, not least breaking falls.

they are in GMB programs too

cloudz wrote:Try out crow pose, that's a pretty good one to work towards

I'll raise you peacock pose
(Although my shoulders are too weak and legs are too long, so I do a bastardized version where my elbows are touching/pressed against the "sides of stomach"...)

My CTH teacher didn’t teach me any rolling but that might be due to where we trained
I don’t know the other system you are talking about
In Tang Shou Tao we did them on a concrete floor

Benny in his 70s now....

Looks like a good practice for those wanting to stretch, with the aid of what could be commonly found around the house
substituting for the bow or iron bar



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_jMQzcP6co&t=658s

Dmitri wrote:

cloudz wrote:Try out crow pose, that's a pretty good one to work towards

I'll raise you peacock pose
(Although my shoulders are too weak and legs are too long, so I do a bastardized version where my elbows are touching/pressed against the "sides of stomach"...)

had to look that up - yea know it as double arm level. Just so happen I was working on that over the recent past and nailed it maybe 3 - 4 months ago.
Tough one for sure. My hold isn't particularly long or great, but I'll call your peackock pose Dmitri

Maybe it's not proper 'peacock pose, as the double arm lever does use the elbows tucked in/ under the arms of the body!
Working them out is a matter of arm strength, I think.

raise you a tuck hold