Punching Calisthenics

[Johnlogic121]

In the martial art of traditional Hung Gar, students used to take the first two years of their study only working on a simple punching drill. The same punching drill can be found in many styles of karate today: you essentially stand in a deep Horse stance and punch with one fist while retracting the opposite hand to the hip. The arms go out straight and the forearms twist before impact so that you develop the forearms with the rest of the muscles that thrust the fist out striaght like a spear. Hung Gar students used to do this for two hours a day, continuously, for two solid years before they learned any of the Hung Gar forms. The rigor of this discipline taught patience and character, and it also gave the students an outstanding physical development for punching ability - Hung Gar stylists back in the day were renowed for "one punch" knockouts. Later on, the arm calisthenics were taught along with the forms, so that the first two years weren't so boring! According to sources I have read, punching calisthenics are really the only way to develop the many punching muscles in exactly the right proportion for punching. You can build up pectorals by push ups and bench presses, but the many smaller muscles that guide a punch into position are only exerted fully when you punch. For this reason, punching calisthenics are indispensible to soldiers, police officers, and civlians because everybody wants their muscles to be developed in the right proportions to do the job. Good bench pressing helps, but refining the musclar development takes repetitive punching practice for each punch you use. Even just five minutes a day will help, as a fight normally doesn't consist of continuous punching, so you will develop good resistance to muscle fatigue in the arms by doing punching calisthenics. How many people do punching calisthenics regularly? You can also do fifty to one hundred kick per day with good results to your kicking ability. How many kicks do you do a day? One of my karate instructors recommended 1,000 techniques per day for proficiency, which you can do in less than an hour at a rate of 1 technique per 3 seconds. Does anybody else here do 1,000 techniques per day?

[bushido_man96]

I don't imagine I do 1000 techniques per workout. Each of our TKD classes opens with punching in the sitting stance, much like the Hung Gar practice. However, we don't do it for very long.

[yingampyang]

Yes that sounds right , i would do easily more than a 1000 techniques per workout.