Upper Body strength issue
Discussion
@hoofy 
We are not that hardcore but thanks yeah good starting point for me, definitly.
SirBlade said:
Any short-comings in upper body strength will be highlighted pretty quickly when doing KM.
Yeah first session in the warm up! SirBlade said:
Squats and sit ups I can do a zillion but am pretty sure I would fail to do one single push up or pull up or dip
To get started on push ups, stand in front of a door and build up to 30 vertical push ups.
The kneel at a chair and build up to 30 push ups at a 45 degree angle.
Then get on the floor and slowly build up to 30 push ups.
They seem hard, but there is a trick to getting into them.
My trainer (Patrick Cumisky; the only trained guy in the country) in Dublin had us doing 100 as a warm up.
http://www.kravmagaireland.com/
A 100 To get started on push ups, stand in front of a door and build up to 30 vertical push ups.
The kneel at a chair and build up to 30 push ups at a 45 degree angle.
Then get on the floor and slowly build up to 30 push ups.
They seem hard, but there is a trick to getting into them.
My trainer (Patrick Cumisky; the only trained guy in the country) in Dublin had us doing 100 as a warm up.
http://www.kravmagaireland.com/
Edited by SirBlade on Tuesday 3rd July 19:18
We are not that hardcore but thanks yeah good starting point for me, definitly. LordGrover said:
You just want to get to the same level as the rest of we PHers, for example this chap: click.
Any more is just showing off.
I call custard! Any more is just showing off.
That's pretty good stuff but it's just a matter of training and figuring out how to work up to what ever "trick" you're trying to achieve. For instance, at my gym, I do pull ups on a Smiths Machine. There's a supporting bar about 14 inches from the highest point of the weights bar. My latest exercise is to hang with hands close together, dyno up to the top bar from the lower bar, split the hands outwards with another plyo pull up, drop down, bring the hands together with a fourth plyo pull up, then reverse the cycle. 
I should video it, really! The real trick is figuring out how to train the body so you can launch yourself up high enough to grab the top bar without a big fail involving you chewing metal. (Which I nearly did the first attempt. )
I'm trying to learn muscle ups but I rarely get the opportunity to play with such a bar with space above it to train.
I should video it, really! The real trick is figuring out how to train the body so you can launch yourself up high enough to grab the top bar without a big fail involving you chewing metal. (Which I nearly did the first attempt. )I'm trying to learn muscle ups but I rarely get the opportunity to play with such a bar with space above it to train.
Stiglet80 said:
So I really want to work on building my upper body strength,
Goal identified. It gets easier and clearer from here on in... Stiglet80 said:
problem is I am female and have no desire to look like some ladette toy boy rough type
Buy decent clothing and continue work on your personal hygiene then. 
Stiglet80 said:
and when I Google exercises they all talk about building mass, is it possible to build arm strength without building mass and looking muscly? and if so how?
The number of times I hear women say this to me. It's just an excuse to not do what must be done - lift heavy weights, eat heavy foods, work very hard, spend months to years doing it for, relatively, very small gains. Sorry to generalise, but a lot of women do not like the idea of pushing hard with weight at a gym and frequently use the above [totally stereo-typical] excuse not to do so. It's a sex thing. Without going into a massive naturalistic philosophical post, in a nutshell; being the gather not the hunter, women are better built for endurance than power, and so the sexuality of your brains are also geared toward the same mindset.
Krav Maga? Alternatively, you could learn the best martial art in the world that only requires technique, biomechanics, efficiency of motion and no strength whatsoever - it's part of it's principle - Wing Chun.
btw, if you find you have issues motivating yourself into pushing weight hard, I can give you a nice email explaining how neurogenic and myogenic muscle tone (key in strength) and pushing heavy weight are vital, that I often give to female clients to read.
Edited by mattikake on Tuesday 3rd July 22:45
mattikake said:
Stiglet80 said:
So I really want to work on building my upper body strength,
Goal identified. It gets easier and clearer from here on in... Stiglet80 said:
problem is I am female and have no desire to look like some ladette toy boy rough type
Buy decent clothing and continue work on your personal hygiene then. Stiglet80 said:
and when I Google exercises they all talk about building mass, is it possible to build arm strength without building mass and looking muscly? and if so how?
The number of times I hear women say this to me. It's just an excuse to not do what must be done - lift heavy weights, eat heavy foods, work very hard, spend months to years doing it for, relatively, very small gains. Sorry to generalise, but a lot of women do not like the idea of pushing hard with weight at a gym and frequently use the above [totally stereo-typical] excuse not to do so. It's a sex thing. Without going into a massive naturalistic philosophical post, in a nutshell; being the gather not the hunter, women are better built for endurance than power, and so the sexuality of your brains are also geared toward the same mindset.
Krav Maga? Alternatively, you could learn the best martial art in the world that only requires technique, biomechanics, efficiency of motion and no strength whatsoever - it's part of it's principle - Wing Chun.
btw, if you find you have issues motivating yourself into pushing weight hard, I can give you a nice email explaining how neurogenic and myogenic muscle tone (key in strength) and pushing heavy weight are vital, that I often give to female clients to read.
Edited by mattikake on Tuesday 3rd July 22:45
And I will quite happily say I don't want to use weights, mainly because there are two definite areas in my gym, the cardio bit where all the women are and the weights area where all the scary men are. I obviously need to harden up mentally as well as physically
I've done both Wing Chun and Krav Maga and both are good for different reasons.
I love the purity and simplicity of Wing Chun but if you want to learn to defend yourself on the street its Krav Maga every time. I was taught Krav Maga when I was in the military and its brutally effective although there's a big difference between a 15 stone military guy doing it and a female civilian.
I understand your fear of training in the guys area with weights. A lot of guys actually have the same fear especially when there are some large guys who train in there.
My advice is, if you want to do it enough and want a great body, you'll suck it up and train otherwise you'll spend the next few years of your life on the treadmills with zero strength and wondering how good you could of really been.
I honestly think you'll find nobody really cares when you're in the weights area. I go to a old school weight lifting (read meathead gym) and women train weights at our gym and nobody blinks an eyelid.
I love the purity and simplicity of Wing Chun but if you want to learn to defend yourself on the street its Krav Maga every time. I was taught Krav Maga when I was in the military and its brutally effective although there's a big difference between a 15 stone military guy doing it and a female civilian.
I understand your fear of training in the guys area with weights. A lot of guys actually have the same fear especially when there are some large guys who train in there.
My advice is, if you want to do it enough and want a great body, you'll suck it up and train otherwise you'll spend the next few years of your life on the treadmills with zero strength and wondering how good you could of really been.
I honestly think you'll find nobody really cares when you're in the weights area. I go to a old school weight lifting (read meathead gym) and women train weights at our gym and nobody blinks an eyelid.
That is why I chose KM for its real life street values. I wouldn’t say I was a person who scared easily as I do urban exploration etc but got into a situation recently against two blokes which although I got away unharmed it shook me up quite badly and I realised how defenceless I actually am in a real life situation. I think my biggest problem in learning the techniques will be my height (5ft) and there is bugger all I can do about that, (they won’t let me where heels in the class ) The school also teaches Keysi (KFM) which was another option but I haven’t tried that yet.
Ultimately I want to succeed at this and am already well out of my comfort zone to try and do that, so the weight section is nothing really when I compare it to sparring with a six foot army lad the other night.
) The school also teaches Keysi (KFM) which was another option but I haven’t tried that yet.Ultimately I want to succeed at this and am already well out of my comfort zone to try and do that, so the weight section is nothing really when I compare it to sparring with a six foot army lad the other night.
Erm, not to be one to dig at your instructor, but wtf is he doing getting you to practice on someone much bigger than you? Surely you need to be paired with someone your own size so you can practice all the grapples and throws with the right technique? You shouldn't be worrying about reality for at least a couple of months.
I love Wing Chun for it's intelligence over power. Novice for novice I don't think there's anything better for street defense, afterall that is what SLT is all about! In fact expert for expert it's unmatched as well. You'll find a lot of women go to Wing Chun classes too...
But the choice of martial art you do is up to you of course.
I love Wing Chun for it's intelligence over power. Novice for novice I don't think there's anything better for street defense, afterall that is what SLT is all about! In fact expert for expert it's unmatched as well. You'll find a lot of women go to Wing Chun classes too...
But the choice of martial art you do is up to you of course.
mattikake said:
Erm, not to be one to dig at your instructor, but wtf is he doing getting you to practice on someone much bigger than you? Surely you need to be paired with someone your own size so you can practice all the grapples and throws with the right technique? You shouldn't be worrying about reality for at least a couple of months.
Lack of available options really he was relatively new though so same skill level as me and well like you say preparing for real life situations to I guess. I guess there is no wrong answer to which one to chose, my main target was to build confidence which I am sure all options would do.
In terms of strength training and gaining size - a lot of the time a persons ability to gain size is down to genetics rather than anything else as well diet and how you train. Also, strength training does not mean you will put on size.
Look at the lightweight power lifters or olympic lifters for example, 50, 60kg and lifting massive weights. For another maybe better know example, look at alistair brownlee (60 something kg triathlete) - he spends time lifting heavy. 3-5 rep maximal lifts in the gym and he is a skinny as a rake!
Training wise you should train everything, not just your upper body. So in terms of strength squat, deadlifts, bench press, bent over row and standing shoulder press will cover everything. But it's also worth training with an element of speed in order to get more powerful, but get used to the basics with the strength stuff first.
Look at the lightweight power lifters or olympic lifters for example, 50, 60kg and lifting massive weights. For another maybe better know example, look at alistair brownlee (60 something kg triathlete) - he spends time lifting heavy. 3-5 rep maximal lifts in the gym and he is a skinny as a rake!
Training wise you should train everything, not just your upper body. So in terms of strength squat, deadlifts, bench press, bent over row and standing shoulder press will cover everything. But it's also worth training with an element of speed in order to get more powerful, but get used to the basics with the strength stuff first.
balders118 said:
In terms of strength training and gaining size - a lot of the time a persons ability to gain size is down to genetics rather than anything else as well diet and how you train. Also, strength training does not mean you will put on size.
Look at the lightweight power lifters or olympic lifters for example, 50, 60kg and lifting massive weights. For another maybe better know example, look at alistair brownlee (60 something kg triathlete) - he spends time lifting heavy. 3-5 rep maximal lifts in the gym and he is a skinny as a rake!
Training wise you should train everything, not just your upper body. So in terms of strength squat, deadlifts, bench press, bent over row and standing shoulder press will cover everything. But it's also worth training with an element of speed in order to get more powerful, but get used to the basics with the strength stuff first.
True- generally size comes from diet, strength comes from training. Look at the lightweight power lifters or olympic lifters for example, 50, 60kg and lifting massive weights. For another maybe better know example, look at alistair brownlee (60 something kg triathlete) - he spends time lifting heavy. 3-5 rep maximal lifts in the gym and he is a skinny as a rake!
Training wise you should train everything, not just your upper body. So in terms of strength squat, deadlifts, bench press, bent over row and standing shoulder press will cover everything. But it's also worth training with an element of speed in order to get more powerful, but get used to the basics with the strength stuff first.
Stiglet80 said:
I have just started Krav Maga and it has become very apparent that I have absolutely no upper body strength at all. (would have thought lifting large glasses of wine for years would have done the trick!)
So I really want to work on building my upper body strength, problem is I am female and have no desire to look like some ladette toy boy rough type (I am doing Krav for self-defence techniques as it became apparently recently I have none of that either) and when I Google exercises they all talk about building mass, is it possible to build arm strength without building mass and looking muscly? and if so how?
http://hundredpushups.com/index.htmlSo I really want to work on building my upper body strength, problem is I am female and have no desire to look like some ladette toy boy rough type (I am doing Krav for self-defence techniques as it became apparently recently I have none of that either) and when I Google exercises they all talk about building mass, is it possible to build arm strength without building mass and looking muscly? and if so how?
http://twentypullups.com/node/1
http://www.twohundredsquats.com/
Halb said:
Cheers. I have just added do a 100 push ups to my bucket list. Don't worry about lifting weights in the freeweight section. If you were in there and were actually putting in some effort, you would be different to 99% of women in the gym and the men in the freeweights section would actually show you some respect. I would anyway as seeing women in the gym lifting tiny weights while giggling and prattling to their friends just annoys me. If you're lifting properly, you can't hold a conversation at the same time that's for sure.
If there is someone actually trying then fair play. Some pathetic girls were in my gym the other day pissing about curling 1kg dumbells and while doing so loudly saying how they can't lift it and need to marry a strong man so he can lift it instead and all of that sort of bulls
t. If you're not going to try, don't go! I always say to my OH when she's lifting, if she's smiling and laughing while doing her set, then she's not trying hard enough. When I'm lifting I look like I'm going to cry and apparently I make the same noises as I do in the bedroom which makes her laugh.. Anyway, give it some effort is what I'm saying! As mattikake says, there is no chance of getting too big. You have to work your heart out just to get a bit of muscle, it doesn't just appear from nowhere.
If there is someone actually trying then fair play. Some pathetic girls were in my gym the other day pissing about curling 1kg dumbells and while doing so loudly saying how they can't lift it and need to marry a strong man so he can lift it instead and all of that sort of bulls
t. If you're not going to try, don't go! I always say to my OH when she's lifting, if she's smiling and laughing while doing her set, then she's not trying hard enough. When I'm lifting I look like I'm going to cry and apparently I make the same noises as I do in the bedroom which makes her laugh.. Anyway, give it some effort is what I'm saying! As mattikake says, there is no chance of getting too big. You have to work your heart out just to get a bit of muscle, it doesn't just appear from nowhere.Stiglet80 said:
Cheers. I have just added do a 100 push ups to my bucket list. The press-up and the heave are the two best exercises you can do for your upper body for your goals (they also have all over body side benefits), the push and the pull. You won't look like Fatima Whitbread but you will get very strong.
I look a look at that Convict Conditioning, read the review. One led me onto Stephen Low and another book.
I would love to be able to do 3, 5 and 6.
1) 1 Arm Press Up
2) 1 Arm Chin up
3) 1 Leg Squat (pistol to most people)
4) Hanging Straight Leg Raise
5) Stand to Stand Bridge
6) One arm handstand pressup
Check out this amazing one-arm handstand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=5orjYQupmW...
I would love to be able to do 3, 5 and 6.
1) 1 Arm Press Up
2) 1 Arm Chin up
3) 1 Leg Squat (pistol to most people)
4) Hanging Straight Leg Raise
5) Stand to Stand Bridge
6) One arm handstand pressup
Check out this amazing one-arm handstand.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=5orjYQupmW...
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