Martial Arts Training Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Shaolin Log Lifting

Posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2018 by John Wood

They may not lift barbells but they still lift “weights”. This particular Shaolin Monk is shown building shoulder and upper-body strength with a wooden log. ~ Any kind of object can build strength, so long as it is trained with in a progressive manner.

Eagle Claw!

Posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2018 by John Wood

One very interesting exercises for building grip strength is to grasp the opening of a large clay jar with each hand. As you get stronger, simply fill the jar with additional sand or rocks to increase weight to make the movement more difficult. This method is simple, but very effective, and martial artists have been using it for centuries.

This type of training had many names, for example, in Okinawan Karate, as a part of “Hojo Undo (supplementary exercises) they are referred to as Nigiri Game, or gripping jars. The fellow above is from 1906, and seems to have things pretty well taken care of in the grip department from using this exercise.

Chinese Stone Locks

Posted on Monday, November 13th, 2017 by John Wood

Kettlebells go back a long way but Chinese Stone Locks predate them by several thousand years. Martial artists in China have been using stone weights like these to develop their bodies for centuries. There are, of course, many ‘kettlebell’ exercises that can be done with stone locks, but they carry with them their own specific kind of training — and a specific set of results. Stone locks training is particularly good for grip and forearm work.

An Interesting Comparison

Posted on Friday, November 10th, 2017 by John Wood

An interesting comparison of bent-press techniques. On the left, Real Lacombe of Toranto, Canada bent-presses a heavy dumbbell. On the right, grandmaster martial artist Wang Zi Ping does something similar with a Chinese stone lock. The bent-press is not, to our knowledge, named so in ancient Chinese training literature, but it is clear that it — or a version of it — was certainly practiced.

Iron Palm Training

Posted on Friday, May 13th, 2016 by John Wood

Another interesting martial art training method is to build up hand strength and conditioning by driving them into sand… then rice… then gravel… then iron shot. As the size and density of the striking material increases, the hands follow suit. Keep in mind that this is simply another form of progression, the principle behind all successful physical training.