# Warm-Up Exercises?



## Twist (Sep 27, 2006)

Hi, 
I was wondering what typical FMA-Warmup Exercises you do. - Not just generell warmup like rope skipping, shadow boxing, ... but warmups with a stick.


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## Flatlander (Sep 27, 2006)

Here are a few that I enjoy, which I do with my hickory.  They're nice and heavy compared to rattan and other commonly used materials, so they give the muscles involved a very nice workout.  Be sure to stretch out first....

- with one stick in each hand, stretch arms out to side and keep them shoulder high.  Point sticks straight forward, and begin moving them in circular motions, keeping the circle parallel with line of arms.  Experiment with different sizes of circle pattern, and reversing the circle direction.

- with same orientation, sticks pointing forward, rotate forearms back and forth so that the sticks make a semi circular pattern perpendicular to orientation of arms (which should be still straight out at side and shoulder high).  Be careful with the speed, as it's easy to over twist the wrists with this one.  As you get stronger, experiment with the speed.

There's another one that I really like, but it's really tough to explain with text.  I'd need to show you a video, and I don't have one.  Sorry.


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## modarnis (Sep 28, 2006)

Flatlander said:


> Here are a few that I enjoy, which I do with my hickory. They're nice and heavy compared to rattan and other commonly used materials, so they give the muscles involved a very nice workout. Be sure to stretch out first....
> 
> - with one stick in each hand, stretch arms out to side and keep them shoulder high. Point sticks straight forward, and begin moving them in circular motions, keeping the circle parallel with line of arms. Experiment with different sizes of circle pattern, and reversing the circle direction.
> 
> ...


 
Those are great Flatlander.

I also like:

1.  5-10 minutes of freestyle twirling.  Working striking styles and redonda
2.  With a partner, working sinawali from a low speed up to a good hard 5-     10 minutes of sweat producing work
3.  12 Angles of attack while working footwork patterns on the floor
4.  A good runthrough of stick forms at a sweat breaking pace


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## MJS (Sep 28, 2006)

Twist said:


> Hi,
> I was wondering what typical FMA-Warmup Exercises you do. - Not just generell warmup like rope skipping, shadow boxing, ... but warmups with a stick.


 
We usually stretch the arms, neck, and legs to start initially.  From there, we'll work the siniwalis for a while.  We'll also include some striking combos, kicks and footwork.

Mike


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## Tarot (Sep 28, 2006)

Great replies guys!  :asian:

I was also going to suggest getting some heavier sticks (oooo ironwood is nice!) and going through all the striking styles with it.  Rodonda is great for forarms and back.  Footwork is important so I would definitely practice that.  If you've got a partner, working on the disarms to get them faster and to come back in sooner swinging is a good exercise as well.


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## Darkmoon (Sep 28, 2006)

Tarot
"I was also going to suggest getting some heavier sticks (oooo ironwood is nice!) and going through all the striking styles with it. "

I do that! I have a set of warm up sticks I made myself out of some PVC piping, a few cuts from wooden dowels for plugs, and sand. 

I like to warm up with earth to heaven six sinawalli. Then Rodunda, both regular and reverse. Then one twirling and switching so both hands and fingers get warmed up.


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## Jimi (Sep 29, 2006)

Figure 8's with a baseball bat works the wrist, helps strengthen and stretch it. Without a stick full arm circles forwards and backwards as well as full arm figure 8's forwards & backwards help the shoulders as well. For the lower body, stepping on the male & female triangles for co-ordination and stepping up steps or aerobics steps for a good heart and leg pump. Sipa Sipa (Hackey sack), c'mon, I thought there were Kali/Arnis/Escrima players here, what's with only seeing the stick!? Just playing, have fun all. PEACE


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## Rich Parsons (Sep 29, 2006)

modarnis said:


> Those are great Flatlander.
> 
> I also like:
> 
> ...


 

This is similiar to what we do in class after the few minutes of just heart warm up, we then switch to Sinawalis, Twirling for the more advanced students can keep the heart pumping, but the beginners need a little more time to get it, and then also the basic flow drill using 1-2-9-8 striking drill with the Band a Banda flow of passing and striking. This keeps the heart pumping and also gets people using their techniques as well.


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## Inverse Falcon (Sep 29, 2006)

I usually go through six warmup exercises, each having a count from 30 to 50:

1.  Hold arms straight out to the sides (shoulder height) gripping a stick in each hand at its midpoint.  Rotate wrists and sticks 180 degrees and back per count.

2.  Still gripping the sticks at their midpoints hold arms out in front of you, slightly down with elbows slightly bent.  Sticks should be vertical so your hands are in a vertical punch position.  Pivot wrists and sticks toward and away from you, alternating with the other wrist (so that when your left stick pivots toward you, your right stick is pivoted away).

3.  Same as #2, except with a standard grip on the stick rather than the middle.  Careful not to clock yourself in the face.

4.  Still with a standard grip, hold arms out in front of you with the backs of your fists facing down, making the sticks horizontal, right stick pointing right and left stick pointing left.  For each count, rotate wrists 180 degrees (so backs of fists face up and right stick points left and left stick points right) and cross wrists, ensuring the sticks don't collide with each other, then return to the starting position.  The sticks should be inscribing a half-circle vertical arc.  Practice with speed and precision so sticks never drop below the horizontal at either end point.

5.  Hold arms out in front of you like with numbers 2 and 3.  Rotate wrists slightly in a circle so the tips of the sticks make very small circles (only a few inches in diameter) in the air.  

6.  Same idea as in #5, but holding the sticks nearly straight up in the air above you.  Elbows should not be locked.

These plus a few twirling exercises and a quick redonda should give a good warmup.


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## arnisador (Sep 29, 2006)

Rich Parsons said:


> Sinawalis, Twirling [...] Band a Banda



This is my idea of a warm-up. Sinawalis are great for this...arms moving, feet moving, constant motion.


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## Tony Torre (Oct 2, 2006)

Jimi,

We use the sipa sipa for our warm up.  Check out footbag.org our club is listed there.

In our classes we use most of the methods described above.  We tailor them to the lesson being taught that day though.  For example we may use redonda x in our warm up if we will be initially using angles 1 & 2 primarilly or reverse siniwalli if we will be training angles 8 & 9.  We also review the specific footwork we will be using.  Usually this is done for a few minutes at a brisk pace until we break a sweat.  In Proffessor Presas' book Moder Arnis he shows some great warm up exercises.  The heavy stick work we usually use later in our work out after we are warm. Sometimes for conditioning, other times for power training or even speed training.  For example we could do timed rounds with heavy sticks after sparring to develope endurance.  We can also use heavy stick shadow boxing as our specific warm up prior to sparring to improve our speed by promoting the feeling of lightness.  

Tony Torre
Miami Arnis Group
www.miamiarnisgroup.com


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## stick man (Oct 26, 2006)

Thank you for topic 

Warm-Up Exercises?

The need for basic worm-up , muscle -building and limbering exercise 

prior to any trainig .


ex : exercises aerobics (runing -jumping) and  other basic workout

routines such as (foot work with stick or without )

dublesinawali -singl-redonda ......etc .

good luck


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## Cthulhu (Oct 26, 2006)

I don't do anything really special.  I'll just take my heaviest sticks (or my ASP, if I'm feeling crazy), and work some abaniko, concentrating on rotating the correct body parts, and angle 1 and 2 redonda, with hip torque.  I'll usually blast through some sinawali with footwork and then an anyo or two just to wind down.

Cthulhu


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## Brian R. VanCise (Oct 26, 2006)

I do not do anything really special regarding stick warm ups.  However like Cthulu I enjoy using a heavy stick and going through some different strikes while using correct form.  Such as :  Downward Figure Eight, Upward Figure Eight, Up and down, Rompida, Banda y Banda, etc.  That is always a fun way to warm up.


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## robertlk808 (Oct 26, 2006)

There a so many good ideas, anyone remember the warm ups from the MARRPIO seminars? Remember the hour long warm up if it wasnt an hour it sure felt like an hour.

The one I specifically do are (and I dont know the official name of them) and not in any specific order.

Warm up the wrists by holding the stick out in front of me, gripping the center twist \ turn them and sometimes "twirl" (for lack of a better term) like a baton to loosen up the wrists.

Grip the stick with one hand at each end and then one hand goes up and the other hand goes under, kinda like you are working a wing block, return to center and then do the opposite side, you can also add the in some footwork there as well.

Three up and three down - sometimes just moving forward and back, sometimes following the angles of the Asterisk / 8 sided star. I also alternate as in have one hand go up and one hand go down.

I also like working the 12 strikes (both hands) first with starting out slow with retraction and then end with power stroking but also before following through with the power strokes I do the follow through / power stroking slowly, torquing the body from top to bottom or bottom to top so I can learn to develop that whip like action with power.

Then I usually like to do some flowing striking patterns first with right hand and then with the left hand so I can develop some bilaterism and then into some sinawali patterns.

Oh, in regards to heavier sticks, have you guys ever used Guava wood?  Some guys that I train with have acres of these on the Big Island, they are nice, not too heavy and they sell them through www.bloodsport.com

Here is a pic and a description




Guava Sticks- These guys are heavy clubs. These are great for warming up. Doing hitting drills for exercise or clubbing a grizzly bear. Estimated size ranges from 26 to 28" long. Diameter is 1 1/8 to 1 5/8". These are a nice addition to the collection


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