stone warrior

[Dave Reslo]

Many of us will remember whitebelt sharing the stone warrior video a long time ago. It was a sort of kung fu dynamic tension set from some club in the 80s I guess.

I just gave it a quick go, missed out on some of the more complicated moves but fancied trying something a bit different. I still can't get over that guy kidding on for so many years that it was actually some kind of Chinese set. Mentions in his talks about how his is the only school in the US that teaches it, without once saying it's because the school instructor made it up himself. Blames the students for the majority of cases where it didn't really work. I'm sure he's not wrong in saying that few people work up to his recommended 90 minutes a day of maximum tension.

Aside from that, it's an enjoyable enough routine. I was expecting to find it working odd muscles but to be honest, it's much easier to tense the muscles you are already used to using. Amusingly, my finger extensors are particularly tired, making typing difficult. If anyone wants it I can try and upload it somewhere, file size ~150 MB.

[billfish]

Haven't seen anything from whitebelt in a long time....hope he's OK
He was a funny guy

[Michael]

Dave that sounds interesting. Wouldn't mind taking a look at it.

[Bob50]

 KSHD marshal art?  It looks like co-contraction training



P.S. I sometimes do this co-contraction training  in Xing Yi Quan but little softer. 

[dynoman]

I miss Whitebelt he was great, I wonder what Mags is up to these days, he was great too!

[Dave Reslo]

Yeah, whitebelt was a friendly guy with a lot of "external" MA experience. For those not in the know Whitebelt started martial arts at a time when it was acceptable for a school to teach "kung fu karate". He had a broad exposure to a lot of 70's and 80's nonsense as well as genuine fight experience. It's unlikely anyone here agreed with everything he said but he could give some interesting points of view. Michael, about to PM you.

[mr potatohead]

I like WB. I'd like to see him back here. I bet he'd have some interesting comments to post in some of the recent (2019) threads.  

[Dave Reslo]

Feb 14, 2019 2:15:27 GMT Bob50 said:

 KSHD marshal art?  It looks like co-contraction training



P.S. I sometimes do this co-contraction training  in Xing Yi Quan but little softer. 

That guy talks some real nonsense about being "firm but not tense" and only shaking because of chi. The original video just tells you to tense up everything as much as possible, right down to the toes. 

Anyway, I don't know much about xing yi quan but am very interested in it, would like to hear more about any ancillary exercises you do as part of your training?

[Mr Average]

[Bob50]

I do not know Xing Yi Quan style demonstrated above. I do not see the correct leg work and body shrinking-extension. Xing Yi, which I practiced, is like this:




In general, ancillary exercises are used to develop a very quick counter-attack (offensive as defensive response):
1. Mind work in the stance to get the rubber-like body structure
2. Burst training - quick shrinking-extension of the body
3. Breathing work with activation of energy flow (specific "electrical" feelings) in the spinal column and through the full body (this accelerates the muscle bursting and develops the capability to move the body as one unit).

[fredhutch]

I did some of the Stone Warrior program a few years back, from Thomas Keen's DVD "Stone Warrior". I never did learn the whole set because the DVD turned out to be defective. I did find, though, that my upper back and shoulders became noticeably more developed during the few weeks I did it. With what I did learn, I built up to 36 reps per exercise and I think that worked pretty well...one thing I found is that doing those rather intricate moves, I could not generate the same level of tension as when doing simpler exercises like Steve Hamp's Weightless Workout. So perhaps the high reps are necessary because the tension is lower? I also have the Stone Warrior DVD from Green Dragon, but I have never looked at it...I assume it is pretty much the same as Keen's. I don't think I will revisit SW, I just don't have the time for it.