Conditioning and Protecting Your Hands in the Martial Arts!
Thanks for asking, Kumar.
When I began the martial arts
we were hitting trees,
sticking our hands into boxes of sand,
and generally thinking we were conditioning our fists.
Actually,
we didn’t know what we were doing.
When I went to my first real school,
the Kang Duk Won,
there were two planter boxes at the head of the class.
One had sand and the other had pebbles.
We dug our spear hands into those.
Over the years I played with rug samples on tall trees,
makiwara and bags and balls
and all sorts of things.
The best conditioning device,
the one that worked for me,
was to do push ups on fingertips.
I was able to do push ups on two fingers (each hand).
The glory of that was not in the conditioning,
but in the mental focus it required.
Now,
after all that,
one would think that I would be suffering from arthritis.
Nope.
And I didn’t use dit da jow
or any secret potion.
What I did to make sure I didn’t get arthritis
was to…stay active.
I’m 76 now,
and I still practice the forms,
especially Tai Chi.
I do light work outs on striking,
and, here’s the key:
whenever I feel sore
in any part of my body,
I focus my work out on that area.
My hip hurts?
I stretch in a manner that opens the hip up.
I do stances that use that hip.
My fist hurts?
I practice focus,
snapping loose tight,
and the pain goes away.
I know other people who suffer from arthritis.
Some just aren’t active.
A lot of Jujitsu/MMA fellows
seem to suffer injuries,
arthritis and other things,
But they don’t practice forms,
or do Tai Chi,
or put awareness via work out
into an afflicted area.
Want to hear something funny?
My family all decided a certain Chiropracter/nutritionist
was the real deal.
Everybody went to see him.
My wife dragged me along.
Now,
I work out every day,
but my diet is junk.
I eat what I want.
McDonald’s, ice cream,
pizza and other fast food.
Any thing I want.
Everybody expected the doctor
to find all sorts of things wrong with me.
So he did a kind of body testing,
holding various substances,
minerals and vitamins and things,
up against my body
and tested my muscle reaction.
If my muscles were weak
that wold indicate some organ was malfunctioning.
He couldn’t find anything wrong with me.
Everything worked.
And here’s the funny thing,
my family was so sure the doctor would reveal my problems,
they got mad when he couldn’t.
They were so pissed off they stopped seeing him.
He couldn’t find anything wrong with Al,
so he was obviously a quack.
This is absolutely true,
and the real secret,
of good health,
avoiding things like arthritis
and whatever,
is this:
Don’t take anything serious.
Laugh at everything.
Ignore idiots.
Work out every day.
I especially laugh
when people try to think I’ve got problems.
After a lifetime of martial arts
I have no problems,
and that’s my secret of good health and long life.
Here’s the book I wrote on
You should also consider my courses on Tai Chi Chuan.
Have a great work out!
Al
PS ~ sign up for the blog at
https://alcase.wordpress.com
Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np
FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF
THE MARTIAL ARTS BOOKS I HAVE REPUBLISHED!
You will probably have to do a search for them,
but they’re out there.
Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!
Black Belt Yoga
Five Martial Arts!
Hidden Techniques of Karate
How to Fix Karate (book one)
How to Fix Karate (book two)
Matrixing Kenpo Karate: Creating a New Kenpo
Matrixing Kenpo Karate: The Real History
Matrixing Kenpo Karate: The Secret of Forms
Neutropia ~ Surrealistic Poetry
The Book of Matrixing
The Book of Neutronics
The Last Martial Arts Book
Pan Gai Noon: Kung Fu to Karate
Kang Duk Won: The Korean Contribution
Kwon Bup: American Power
Outlaw Karate: The One Year Black Belt
Buddha Crane Karate; The First Matrixed Art
