How can I increase speed and accuracy as a bigger guy?

[Kempohands]

train relaxation!

you'll move faster when you are more relaxed at the start of almost any technique. This is true for anyone of any size.

Extremely important! Many people tense their muscles in order to have more power in their strikes, but this is illusory. It warrants repeating: train relaxation!

Also, speed can come from flow, which in turn comes from relaxation, correct repetition of meaningful and proper techniques and combinations, and knowledge of body mechanics of not only one's attacks, but how a human body reacts to being hit. You will be faster if you have as near instinctual knowledge the idea that if you hit point A well, it opens up an opportunity to strike at points B, C, and/or D. I refer to this as having at the ready an understanding of the concept of "next logical strike."

In addition, speed will naturally come with sparring and experience. At first, your brain has to assess new situations and evaluate what to do in response to an opponent's actions. As you train more and you find yourself in a greater variety of fighting situations, your body will become more comfortable with fluidly moving with the situation rather than making a ridged movement after a conscious thought process. The less your brain is involved, the faster your body will move.

Finally, make sure you concentrate on eliminating any wasted motion in your techniques. Your instructors will be a great resource for helping you with this.

Of course, all of the advice here is applicable for anybody of any size.

Good luck and good training.

[NewLevel]

Since I'm at the beginning stages...it's safe to say to practice technique first then speed and accuracy will follow?

[tallgeese]

Very correct. "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast", kind of a motto at the range. Proper form will lend itself to more efficient movement, which will in turn increase the speed of the motion. If all the fundamentals are good, then accuracy will follow.

There is a certain truth to the best way to train for an activity is to do that activity. Certainly you can supplement, but good training will lead to what you're looking for.

To supplement, I personally like one of the rubber band harnesses for punching that provides tension against your strike. A few rounds of shadow boxing with one really will work you. Finish out with a round or two without it and you'll feel the difference.

The things are kind of pricey, but with some heavy surgical tubing you can make a fairly efficient version for next to nothing.

For accuracy, start with focusing your "targeting computer" while sparring. Punch for the temple, the point of the chin, the angle of the jaw, ect. Not just "the head" or "face". Specific focus will narrow down your target. This builds accuracy. Also, a dummy like a BOB is really good for this. It gives immediate and obvious feed back to your stationary accuracy, the trick is then to take that and apply it during motion. But it's still a good building block.

If you've never used one, a BOB is real nice to get accurate eye gouges of all sorts at speed without ever worrying about your partner.

Just some thoughts.

[atzounis]

Being a big guy my self (190cm - 120kg) i suggest you do lots of running, and no weight lifting that will shorten your muscles (you need to stay as agile as possible). You can do sort of aerobic exercises and and work with makiwara for accuracy.

Speaking of Karate, of course, a very good aerobic exercise is KATA! Repeating the same kata for 60-70 or even 100 times a day will teach your muscles to respond using the kata moves as easily as you hit a mawashi geri. No matter how strange and complicated your kata moves appear, you ll discover that are truly effective! Repeating kata so many times will also strengthen your mind very much.

[bushido_man96]

Being a big guy my self (190cm - 120kg) i suggest you do lots of running, and no weight lifting that will shorten your muscles (you need to stay as agile as possible).

I don't believe that weight lifting shortens the muscles. If anything, it increases the amount of muscle fibers, giving more size, and therefore, possibly adding length to the muscles. Strength training can be a boon to any Martial Arts activity, and to not consider exploring it as a training supplement is shortchanging oneself, in my opinion.

[atzounis]

It depends on what kind of weightlifting you do. It happens that bigger people tend to load more weight at their training. If someone trains with small weights and many repetitions, then ok. This is strenghthening. But body-builder-like muscles are short ant thus not suitable for martial arts. In my opinion the goal in martial arts is stamina, flexibility, speed and trying to build strength with as few as possible mass.

[Killer Miller]

I totally agree. I've seen too many guys over the years at Central that were weight lifters. As long as they didn't grab you, they were mince-meat. I only recall 1 weight lifter that was quick and effective, but he was not very agile just the same. Sweeping them was a little tough at times because of their stiffness in their stance, but I could run all over them otherwise.

- Killer -

It depends on what kind of weightlifting you do. It happens that bigger people tend to load more weight at their training. If someone trains with small weights and many repetitions, then ok. This is strenghthening. But body-builder-like muscles are short ant thus not suitable for martial arts. In my opinion the goal in martial arts is stamina, flexibility, speed and trying to build strength with as few as possible mass.

[bushido_man96]

It depends on what kind of weightlifting you do. It happens that bigger people tend to load more weight at their training. If someone trains with small weights and many repetitions, then ok. This is strenghthening. But body-builder-like muscles are short ant thus not suitable for martial arts. In my opinion the goal in martial arts is stamina, flexibility, speed and trying to build strength with as few as possible mass.

Being strong is not a disadvantage to the Martial Artists. One who put an end to that arguement was Joe Lewis, who was a weight lifter since he was around 14 years old. He was not slow, and he was not inflexible, and he was a very successful Martial Artist. You can actually see that even now, even though he has aged quite a bit, that his strength training still benefits him.

As for what the result of having "body builder muscles" is to the practicing Martial Artist, I am not sure. However, a lot of what a person's muscle structure looks like is due to genetic traits. Some people will have some awesome tone, and some won't have any tone at all, but may be able to bench press a house. In the time that I have been weight lifting, I have not noticed any kind of slow down in technique, or loss of flexibility from lifting, and I tend to lift as heavy as I can, when I can.

Also note, that there is a difference between power lifting and body building.

[atzounis]

Maybe i was misunderstood.

I never meant to say that building a strong body is a disadvantage in martial arts. What i say is that building a massive body turns you in a big, slow piece of meat. Neither Bruce Lee nor Mas Oyama were massive, although Oyama was a quite big man himself. Power lifting is a good way of training but only for increasing strength and stamina - not muscle mass.

For me the ideal body is a gymnast's body. These athletes achieve the best strength relatively to their body staying amazingly flexible. That's why it is often said that a successful gymnast can be successful to any kind of sport (like a very well known ex-gymnast snowboarding champion, or a good friend of mine that after being a Greek champion in uneven bars turned to be a world class female wrestler - you may check google for Konstantina Tsimpanakou)

Regards

Antonis

[Kuma]

Mas Oyama was around 175cm and 84kg (5'8" and 185 pounds), which made him a fairly stocky guy. Add to the fact that was his prime and as he got older he invariably added more weight and he was probably over 90kg most of his life. In his bio, Bruce Lee was about 172cm and 58kg when he died (5'7 1/2" and 128 pounds). Oyama was definitely much larger, especially when you see him in the old photos fighting boxers and wrestlers in America and seeing how in some cases Oyama is actually bigger than them.

These two prove, though, that there is no "ideal" for martial arts. Tall or short, small or large, anyone can become good at it. That is why MA training is so valuable for everyone.