Going to the Gym

[DWx]

But surely if you were still training whilst gradually adding that musclature you'd be retaining most, if not all, of your speed and flexibility? Its possible to have both, look at most of the heavyweight TKDers. Some of them are solid muscle and can still kick you in the head before you've had time to blink. Or better yet, look at any male gymnast. Those guys really do have loads of muscle and flexibility and are pretty fast. Sure you won't have time to train as much as they do but if you train in the right way you can still have both musclature, flexibility and speed. Its all about balancing the stretching with the weight training.

[Aodhan]

But surely if you were still training whilst gradually adding that musclature you'd be retaining most, if not all, of your speed and flexibility? Its possible to have both, look at most of the heavyweight TKDers. Some of them are solid muscle and can still kick you in the head before you've had time to blink. Or better yet, look at any male gymnast. Those guys really do have loads of muscle and flexibility and are pretty fast. Sure you won't have time to train as much as they do but if you train in the right way you can still have both musclature, flexibility and speed. Its all about balancing the stretching with the weight training.

Yes, it's possible to have both with the correct training regimen. All too often, however, you see one trained at the expense of the other. And, the gymnasts are fast IN THEIR SPORT, they may not necessarily be fast doing a spin crescent kick.

One of the things I beat (not literally) into my students and the people I coach in other sports is sports specific training. Train for your sport, and if you do supplement with weights, make the exercise mimic the movement of your sport as much as possible.

John

[joesteph]

Reading the postings by DWx and Aodhan reminded me of a teacher who told me she'd been on the track team while in college. She had her track-related exercises and training, but her coach believed that athletes needed a body balance that heavy emphasis on their individual sport didn't produce.

So she and other track team members visited the on-campus fitness center regularly, where they focused on upper body exercises, usually by using machines, meaning that they never over-trained the track (lower body) muscles, while strengthening (rather than neglecting) the muscles that weren't directly related to their sport.

Interesting concept.