Improving Your Balance

Along with leg strength and power comes balance. In the previous posts you have learned how important lower body strength is for creating “Rock Solid” stances and “Generating Maximum Striking Power” In this post I’d like to talk about improving overall lower body balance. Without proper balance we lose power in our strikes as well as reduce our ability to have strong solid stances. When we can control our balance throughout our movements we will be in a position to dominate our opponent.

In the course of our Martial Art training workouts we sometimes lose our balance. And, as you probably already know from experience this generally put us “out of position” to deliver maximum power in our strikes. In fact, as a martial artist, your opponent is doing everything he can to take your balance! Early on in my training I was interested in how easy it was to take some ones balance in training. I enjoyed pulling my training partner off his balance or putting him in a position where he couldn’t deliver his strike effectively. I became driven to discover how this worked. I discovered that depending on how we are built, i.e., our height and our weight distribution determine where our center of balance is located.

I have learned that the lower my center of balance is, the harder it is for my opponent to take it from me. The best way to lower your center of balance in general is to make your lower body heavier than your upper body. Now with most people that is normally the case. We tend to carry more of our weight below the torso but you can improve upon this by building more muscle in your lower body. As your lower body mass increases, your center of gravity becomes lower.

Another way to lower your center of gravity is to work in lower stances to improve your balance. If your Art works out of “horse stances” try and spread your legs out even farther and deeper into your stances and try and stay there for up to a minute in each stance. This will not only increase your leg strength over time it will also accustom you to having balance in these positions and to lower your center of gravity.

I have another exercise that I do regularly that can help you to increase your balance and lower your center of gravity. Give it a try!

Follow the link below to see a 4.81 megabyte instructional video that will show this simple exercise technique.

http://www.goldenwolfe.com/kungfu/secrets/video/example7.html

Good Luck!

Tony

Generating Maximum Striking Power

The simple truth involved in improving MAXIMUM STRIKING power comes from your lower body strength, NOT your upper body strength. Yes, the key to creating maximum striking power comes from your leg strength, balance AND your ability to Pivot Your Hips to deliver devastating striking power!

The stronger your legs and the quicker your pivot speed, THE MORE STRIKING POWER YOU WILL HAVE! This is not only true for martial artists it is true for any athlete.

For example, a baseball players’ hitting power comes from not only his lower body strength but also from how fast he can pivot his body from the hips. The same holds true for a tennis player. When they drive their bodies towards the ball (in their particular sport) it is the lower body + timing that creates the power to the ball. If their balance is not exactly correct, i.e., if they are leaning forward or leaning back, they will not be in a position to deliver maximum power.

I have created a little exercise that can help you to be able to transfer maximum power through to your strikes. It is simple and easy to do and as you start to develop your rhythm and balance your striking power will improve dramatically. Give it a try!

Follow the link below to see a 4.64 megabyte instructional video that will show this simple exercise technique.

http://www.goldenwolfe.com/kungfu/secrets/video/example4.html

Enjoy!

Tony

Creating "Rock Solid" Stances

Have you found it hard to get the leg strength and balance you need to create "Rock Solid" Stances in your Art?

Your stances are, by far, the base of power in any technique in martial arts. Strong stances ensure good balance and power. They allow you to shift your body into a strike to drive-through your opponent.

Conversely, a weak stance will cause a loss of power and decreased balance. The success or failure of any technique is based upon proper positioning of the feet as well as leg strength.

In a fight no one wants to lose his balance. Fighting becomes difficult because the brain puts higher priority on regaining your balance. So, when you try to "strike through "an opponent, resistance will be great, unless you have cause enough pain or damage to make self-preservation the top priority in your opponents brain.

I use a very simple, yet very effective, exercise that can be used anywhere to dramatically increase leg strength, balance and power. Follow the link below to see a 7.9 megabyte instructional video that will show this simple exercise technique.

http://www.goldenwolfe.com/kungfu/secrets/video/example1.html

Start out with 1 set of 10 repetitions for each leg daily and gradually increase this to 4 to 6 sets of 20 to 30 repetitions for each leg. Doing 4 to 6 sets should not take more than 15 minutes of your time each day and the improvement in your leg strength, balance and power will be dramatic!

Enjoy!

Tony

Welcome to Diary of a San Soo Black Belt

This Blog will be used to share my thoughts, ideas, and insights as a Kung Fu San Soo Black Belt and Certified Fitness Trainer. I hope the experiences posted here will help others develop their skills in whatever art they enjoy!