– Take an empty two liter bottle, fill it with water, and screw the cap on tightly.
– Use one arm to hold it out at shoulder height with full extension, palm down.
– Let go of it.
– Now catch it before it goes more than a few inches (or hits the floor, in my case).
– Repeat nine more times.
– Switch hands, and do it another ten times.
– Go back to your first hand, and release-and-catch the bottle as quickly as you can, three times in a row. Do this ten times.
– Repeat for your other hand.
– If your arms and shoulders are not killing you yet, do it all over again.
– For bonus pain joy, try squeezing the gos-se out of the bottle every time you catch it, like you are trying to break it.
Kung-fu is kicking my ass in ways I did not even know it could be kicked (primarily through the means of “low stances”… the insides of my thighs my never forgive me), but this happy-fun exercise is definitely one of the Devil’s own creations. The good news is that this training will be just as useful on the competitive shooting field as it will be on the mat…
Don’t worry, it gets easier, then you move up to more. Pray you don’t start Iron Stance training, and if you do start it hope you weigh more then your seifu….120<210
Most excellent. Yes, all that grip work will pay off. Pain is just weakness leaving the body.
@ Terriligunn: We have not gotten past the basic versions of Tan Tui, but from what our instructor was saying, “good times” are coming…
@ hsoi: The Marines always told me that. I did not believe them then either
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Oh deary, you’ve got an oldschool seifu. Just wait till standing in stance for 4 hours per stance is the minimum he wants you able to do. Then it goes into the what I call “You want me to do what?!” level.
Here is some advice on stance training, get rid of your couch or chair, stand in stance watching TV working on the computer. Any time you would be sitting do stances, if you can’t hold one that long just keep switching till you can stand in one for hours.
Yeah, see, that is when I smile, bow graciously, and go back to tae kwon do, no matter the increased drive distance or cost. I participate in martial arts for the self-defense applications, the fitness, and the entertainment, not to prove how much of a hard-ass I am
. Me, I really hope we do not have to go down that road…
Trust me the “You want me to do what?!” level is worth it.