Important Exercising Habits for Kung Fu Students

When people think of martial arts, they often think about the iconic disciplines associated with it. These include the always-famous karate and, of course, kung fu. Kung fu is actually a term that refers to Chinese martial arts - the translation comes across as something like "human achievement," which actually suggests kung fu is viewed as a sort of universal skill of sorts.

If you're a kung fu student and want to prepare your body for what's going to be coming to you, you need the right exercising habits. After all, you wouldn't do squats to prepare for a ping pong tournament, would you? Here are some very important ways to train for your kung fu pursuits.

Kung fu is about action, but remember that action requires rest. Before you go off and exercise four hours a day, every day, remember that your body needs recuperative time in order to adjust to the new demands you place on it. When you work a muscle, you place demands on that muscle and your body is forced to adjust during a rest period by adding more strength to your muscle. Kung fu will constantly remind you that action is important, but remember that conscious action and conscious relaxation - relaxation aimed at improving yourself, not relaxation as a crutch - will help your body become strong and powerful.

Keep your breathing in tune with your mind and your body. Breathing has a powerful place in kung fu, so it will be important for you to exercise in conjunction with how your mind and body feel. If you can focus all of them onto the task at hand, your discipline will improve and your exercising will be more effective. Concentrate on breathing well; ask your instructor if you want some tips.

Understand that strength is something that is maintained, not built. Sure, you build muscles, but if you want to embrace the full discipline of a kung fu student, you'll need to remember that strength is maintained by constant action, not by building something in one day and expecting it to last a lifetime. This means your exercising will need to be a regular habit, as will your striving to improve yourself.

If you stop going to the gym, your muscles weaken from less frequent use. Your life is often like this in other areas as well, so remember this powerful lesson.

Photo Credits: mK B.

Originally posted 2009-12-22 03:55:03.

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chinese martial arts, concentrate, conjunction, conscious action, conscious relaxation, crutch, discipline, disciplines, human achievement, karate, mind and body, muscles, ping pong tournament, rest period, sorts, squats, translation

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Posted by Martial Arts Karate Kung Fu on January 24, 2012 in karate, Martial Arts. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.