Do you have all the spring of a three-legged tortoise? If so I got some quick advice for you and no, I am not some American with a gadget or program trying to get $29.99 a month out of you.
Below are some techniques I have found work again and again, now someone might come along with a scientific program to develop your muscles to optimum performance. But until robots takeover the world give these ideas a try. There is nothing fancy about them and you may know them already or you may have dropped them from your program, if so why not try them again.
My list of NO's for Taolu players Running for miles - A routine lasts 80 seconds what is the pointing of building the type of endurance to run 4 miles "BIG WASTE OF TIME". We are doing martial arts but we are not in the Military.
Excessive conditioning (especially if it is not related to your taolu), Are you spending more than 40% of your time conditioning, if so redress the balance. Remember you are being marked on technique, not on the size of your biceps or how much weight you can lift.
Taking time away from your Wushu by practising other disciplines - don't get too bogged down in other activities, as it takes time away from your Wushu training. Do not get me wrong other activities are great especially those that are related to Wushu. You just need to be careful that it is not taking valuable training time.
My YES list Running up stairs - one of the best ways to build explosive power. Find one of them massive Council flat towers where the lifts never work. There are two techniques that you can use: Hitting every step - builds speed Skipping a few steps, so you are taking 3/4 steps at a time.
Plyometrics - Especially The exercise where you drop off a raised surface on to the floor and rebound on to another surface - SPRING DIDDLY LICIOUS
Leg weights on your leg raises, careful when taking off the weights in case you kick yourself in the face with a lighting fast kick. Do not use the leg weights where you have any extension of the joint, such as tan tui or ce chuai tui. Otherwise You could end up with a buggered (hyper-extension)up joint.
Wrist weights for your Nanquan routine, Changquan use wrist weights to practise wu long pan da. This will build your arm speed.
V-sits, Back & Side raises on a raised surface- get someone trustworthy to hold your legs and raise away and feel the burn.
Leg holds - straight back, locked knees and pointed toes - Try to hold above 90 degrees at the least. Good for leg control in the air, Hang that leg.
Running up walls and jumping off things in general, we used to do that squad training ages ago and know they have a proper name for it, some thing like FREE RUNNING. We used to do it when the coach was not about and it builds up your spring without realising because you see it as messing about.
Remember Keep it Real, Keep it Wushu Vincent Hopkins Yi Dao www.liondance.co.uk
The original wushuonefamily.com website was created in 2002 when Ray and Houman returned from their summer trip to Beijing, China. The intention of this website's founders was (and still is) to raise the profile of Chinese Martial Arts, Kungfu/Kung Fu, Taiji/Taichi, Qigong and all related Chinese arts by building an online community, and providing videos (including our famous W1F trailers), downloads, photos, competition results, forums, diaries, blogs, articles, stories and reference.
The Ultimate Jet Li website is no longer available, however if you are a Jet fan it might be good to check out W1F for more information on Jet's art, Wushu.
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