towknee

Just a thought... This sounds in part like someone who may have excellent core strength. A karate training partner of mine mentioned a couple of years ago about doing some push-hands with someone who was almost impossible to push over. Very strong core. Very stable. Perhaps there is a related concept? Recently I have been trying to improve core strength and found that my horse stance was a bit stronger and I could maintain it longer. Several years ago my sensi told about seeing (or perhaps hearing about) another black belt who could hold a horse stance with a bow staff across his thights for a couple of hours. He figured 'what the heck, I bet I can do that'. Wrong. Couldn't get even close. Now, age stops both of us but I know core training has strengthened my horse stance quite a bit. Luck.

Last year I was working w/a buddy on blocking drills. We would assume a "horse stance" face-to-face. Measure the distance with extended arm so we could kind of avoid clocking each other. Then one of us would throw 10 punches to a target area. (10 each hand for total of 20). Targets are head, stomach, groin. The receiver would block. The point is not to hit your partner, the point is to provide an attack that your partner can practice blocking. And a good partner will block hard. You both gain. Overall intention was to improve muscle memory, eliminate "thinking" in the basic moves and to condition arms and wrists. This was excellent practice. Then we would do the drills up and down the floor. Adding movement can lessen the discomfort. Luck.

There are some Systema practioners who do cold shower things to develop their ability to withstand certain kinds of shocks. I have never tried it. I do several core strengthing exercises that make various muscles "scream". I order to ensure I push past that discomfort part I use a simple timer I purchased at a local business. I punch in the necessary minutes and do the sets. A friend and I square off in horse stance and do punches and blocks back and forth. Then do basic kicks. The point is to toughten forearms. So you block as hard as you are capable. The puches and kicks aren't intended to land. I really like this method. Trains muscles and toughtens your arms. Luck.

Usually the topic is health or diet or exercise at a get-together and someone mentions that I do martial arts. "They" ask "Does that stuff really work?" I don't query about what "stuff" is supposed to mean. I don't query about what "work' is supposed to mean. I always respond "no, I just do it for the exercise." This is my way of baiting them. Most say something positive about exercise. Duh! No one has ever said, "Wait, telling me no it doesn't work and the telling me you are doing it for exercise isn't consistent." Idiots. My favorite was a local univeristy professor who responed to my "no" by saying "I knew it." Idiot. Didn't even pick up on the exercise. Luck